Pigpen Sports Bar: House of Wings, a Great Bar, Restaurant, and Club

The Pigpen Sports Bar is a very popular sports bar in the Lehigh Valley that is comprised of several smaller parts that are all connected. It is located at:

702 Union Boulevard
Allentown, PA 18109

This review is specifically for the House of Wings food but I will give a quick rundown of the six different sections of the Pigpen Sports Bar. Pigpen is a huge multiplex comprised of more than one floor and building.

House of Wings

This is the Pigpen's nationally acclaimed chicken wing restaurant with over 20 sauces, including their "Inferno" hot sauce that requires patrons to sign waivers! Every Sunday and Tuesday they have an all-you-can-eat wing special for $9.99. Besides wings, House of Wings also offers a menu filled with appetizer finger food for lack of a better term -- it's a step above fast food.

Pigpen Sports Bar

This is the main attraction of the Pigpen that by day is a sports bar/restaurant and by night a dance club with a large dance floor and a 500 square foot stage with a sound & light system for great live bands and DJs.

Riccione's Bikini Bar

This is the hottest venue at the Pigpen with plenty of the hottest bikini-clad female DJs from New York City, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, and elsewhere.

Slaughter House Pub

The Slaughter House Pub is attached to the side of the PigPen and allows patrons to step away from the club scene to smoke, drink, and relax.

Boulevard Lane

PigPen's popular bowling alley uses state-of-the-art digital screens & equipment and has comfortable furniture. Get a free game with the purchase of a pitcher of beer or soda every Monday-Thursday.

Pigpen Fun Zone

The Fun Zone and arcade is the Pigpen's venue for the whole family, children and adults alike. It is attached to the bowling alley and offers great food as well.

Reservations & Special Events

VIP Booths

The VIP Booths are sections of the Pigpen that can be reserved for parties, birthdays, office parties, event, VIP events, bachelor/bachelorette parties, karaoke, and more.

Special Events

The Pigpen has special events almost every day and each month has its own theme (this month is Pajama Jam). There are Happy Hour Bands every Friday and Saturday from 6-9pm EST and $4 drinks from 5-7pm EST. There are specially priced items for game days. They also have special DJs like DJ Licious. Check out the Pigpen's official schedule on their site for current details.

Menu

Chicken wings are, of course, House of Wings' specialty coming in their self-proclaimed "man-size" in either bone or boneless styles. They come in 12 different sauces including Pigpen sauce, Bay Ranch, dry Ranch, honey mustard, teriyaki garlic, General Tso's, garlic parmesan, tequila lime teriyaki, garlic, ranch, Cajun, and Old Bay. Hot wings come in 9 levels of heat (from mildest to hottest) mango BBQ, sweet & sour, mild, sweet & sweaty, medium, hot & honey, hot, suicide, and inferno. As stated previously, inferno requires patrons to sign the waiver -- I'm not sure if this is enforced and whether or not this is for health reasons or just a gimmick to get people to try it.

Other items on the House of Wings menu include Just For Starters (quesadilla, nachos, mozzarella sticks, little wieners, chips and salsa, pierogies, chicken fingers), Make You Say "Ah"ntrees (Iron Pig (pulled pork), glazed chicken breast, chicken Parmesan, cheese steak, cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, chicken Caesar wrap, buffalo ranch chicken wrap, GQ's BLT), Finger Foods (House of Wings fries -- with any wing sauce, Chesapeake fries, pig fries, original fries, cheddar bacon fries, onion rings), Salads (Caesar, House, grilled chicken), flat bread pizza, and soft drinks.

Most menu items cost between $2.50 and $8.99 which is pretty standard for this type of appetizer finger food. The wings cost 69 cents each with a 10 wing minimum.

My Order

I used another Half Off the Valley certificate worth $30 and my takeout order came to about $33 with tax. It was not a bad price considering the wide selection of items I tried and even better once I saw the enormous size of my order.

Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are the House of Wings' specialty, so I tried 4 different varieties of their chicken wings (5 of each) and I wanted to go authentic and bought the bone-in wings. The wings are lightly tossed with sauce but enough to let you know that they are there with some covering the meaty taste of the chicken.

Pigpen Sauce

I just had to try this namesake sauce because I like to try food specifically named after the restaurant as it's almost their trademark. This sauce was very mild and it kind of made chicken wings taste like roasted meat, like a pork roast rather than chicken. I quite enjoyed it and it is my favorite flavor so far.

Tequila Lime Teriyaki

The uniqueness of the name alone made me try this flavor. I was not sure what to expect and thought it would have a strong teriyaki flavor. On the contrary, I really could not taste the teriyaki as it kind of all blended together although I could detect some of the lime. It's not a bad flavor but really did not add much to the chicken.

Cajun

I knew what to expect with this flavor and pretty much got what I thought. It has a slight taste like Popeye's chicken but a little bit milder with some of the heat. It's not my favorite but, again, not bad.

Hot

I tried the hot variety to mix it up a little bit. I wanted some heat but not enough to require a gallon of water, so I went two levels from the inferno and got plain hot. This was a little hot and I can handle more -- possibly suicide but definitely not inferno, although I might try one bite next time. Hot is pretty much your standard hot sauce, like Tabasco, and what you would expect from a hot wing.

All of the chicken wings were perfectly cooked -- tender and juicy. If you prefer crispy, what I received would not meet to your satisfaction but I imagine that you can specify the cook make it crispy. They came with blue cheese dressing and celery sticks. These were some of the best wings I have ever eaten anywhere.

Quesadilla

I decided to try a quesadilla because it sounded interesting. House of Wings' quesadilla contains Monterey, Pepper Jack, and cheddar cheeses with jalapeno peppers in a large tortilla and served with salsa, sour cream, and guacamole. Plain costs $6.95 and chicken or pork costs $8.25.

I ordered the quesadilla with pork, which is basically their pulled pork, so no surprises there. The quesadilla was really thick and fully loaded to the max with only a small amount of toasty tortilla left without meat. Everything blended well together with just a little bit of heat.

The sauces that came with the quesadilla were very good as well. The sour cream was just plain sour cream, the salsa was a little bit chunky and tasted homemade with quite a bit of heat (even a little bit hotter than the hot wings) but manageable, and the guacamole was fantastic and I don't usually like guacamole. After trying each sauce with the quesadilla, I mixed all of the remaining salsa and guacamole with about half of the sour cream together and it tasted really good with the quesadilla.

The quesadilla was just terrific, especially when coupled with the sauces. It was definitely worth $8.25. Next time I might try the chicken.

Bacon Cheeseburger

I usually try burgers at every restaurant I order from -- it has become sort of my specialty. I ordered the House of Wings bacon cheeseburger with fries (more on that later) for $8.99 which I thought was a little steep until I received the burger. This burger was a humongous 1/3 pounder, rivaling that of Five Guys, with a wonderful charbroiled flavor combined with what I believe to be American cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and some raw onions. The roll was not the best -- a little doughy but serves its purpose as the burger's container.

This burger should fill the bellies of the biggest eaters and I could only eat half in one sitting! Everything tasted homemade except for the roll which was probably ordered from a local bakery. This was probably the best burger I have ever eaten at a restaurant and will definitely order it again and again.

Fries

My burger came with enough fries for three people! They were crispy, unlike McDonald's soggy excuse for fries, and used a great clean oil or possibly shortening that tasted almost buttery. Another great menu item at the House of Wings!

Atmosphere

When we went there in the afternoon, it wasn't very crowded with only a few patrons but we heard music from a jukebox and TVs on all around. The place was huge with a high ceiling and very spacious with several entrances. There were several bars we could see from the bar where we ordered. Everything was nice and clean. I imagine the place gets crowded and much louder at night when the club scene opens but I can't speak on that as we weren't there in the evening.

Conclusion

Overall, the Pigpen Sports Bar is a great bar, restaurant, and club with something for everyone. The food I tried is the best food of its type that I have ever eaten in the Lehigh Valley. The prices are reasonable for the great taste and sheer enormity of each menu item. I highly recommend everyone in the Lehigh Valley or visiting parties to try this establishment at least once.

Rating: 4.5/5