Anchor Bar: The Home of the Chicken Wing

After living in Buffalo for four years, I finally decided to check out what is arguably the most famous restaurant in the city: The Anchor Bar. The Anchor Bar is famous because it claims to be the place where chicken wings were invented. Due to its high popularity with tourists, I expected to be impressed by my experience at this restaurant but I left feeling disappointed.

The Anchor Bar is located on Main Street in Buffalo. For safety reasons, I would not feel comfortable leaving the restaurant's property, especially after dark. However, it is in a good location in that it is near downtown and a short drive from other places that you might be visiting.

We arrived at 6PM on Saturday night and were told that there would be a 45 minute wait. This seemed reasonable so we decided to wait. After 55 minutes, one of the people in our group went to check how much further down the list we were and was told that there were five parties in front of us. An hour and 15 minutes after we arrived, we all went to see what was taking so long. Our group had been crossed off the seating list. No explanation or apology was given but we were taken directly to a table.

The room we were seated in was not very attractive. There was grease all over the floors. The walls were covered with mismatched photographs and newspaper clippings that were not attractively framed. Because of the volume of customers that pass through the restaurant, the tables were crammed very closely together and I was forced to sit very close to the table so that the waitresses could fit through the gaps.

Speaking of waitresses, ours was not very polite. She was impatient and not willing to give good answers to our reasonable questions about the menu. This may have been because the restaurant was so busy. When the bill came, the tip was already added and was more than I would have given her had that not been the case.

After another wait for our food, I was disappointed again. The chicken wings were slightly burnt and not well flavored. I ordered an appetizer for my main meal and it was so spicy that I could not eat it, not that I wanted to since it was cold.

Overall, I have no desire to return to the Anchor Bar. It seems more like a tourist trap than a restaurant that appeals to the citizens of Buffalo. Going earlier or during the week might improve your experience because the restaurant would not be so busy.