OK…I’m going to say it: The only difference between Quaker Steak & Lube and Buffalo Wilds Wings is that they give you licorice at the end of the meal at Quaker Steak. Other than that little perk, they basically have the same menu, the same sauce options and the same loud atmosphere. My mom and I went there on a Friday night and the Middleton location was pretty busy. I was super hungry so the short 10 minute wait was very much appreciated. We got a table in the middle of the dining room, which is not my favorite place to be but it was busy and someone had to sit there.
We started with an order of fried pickles and what came out was exactly what I was hoping for. There are these fried pickles (I’m assuming they are from Sysco) that a lot of chain restaurants serve. They were the first fried pickles I ever tried and even though they come frozen in a box, they have a great crispy batter and the pickles are always crunchy and flavorful. I’ve had them where they weren’t fried long-enough, but the ones at Quaker Steak were perfect!
My mom and I decided to split an order of wings and a grilled chicken wrap. The traditional wings at Buffalo Wild Wings come in portions of six, but the portions at Quaker Steak are a little odd. I believe the sprintster comes with 6, the single order comes with 10, the supersize single comes with 15, the compact bucket comes with 20 and the full bucket comes with 30. We went with the single order (leftovers are always great!) and got them with the boom boom sauce. Boom boom sauce is a garlic, red pepper sauce just at the bottom of the medium-spiced sauces. The wings were bigger and meatier than the wings at Buffalo Wild Wings, but the sauce was not as good. The boom boom sauce was spicy but didn’t have as good of a flavor as compared to the spicy garlic sauce at Buffalo Wild Wings.
I always like to get the grilled chicken wrap because it is filling, but feels healthier than additional wings. Plus you get to pick any of the sauces to go on the chicken in the wrap. The wrap comes with lettuce, carrots, celery, chicken and we got it without the blue cheese crumbles and with ranch dressing and fiery BBQ sauce. The wrap had crunchy veggies, grilled chicken and too much sauce. I didn’t notice that it comes with sauce and ranch dressing, so ours had a lot of sauce on it. I would suggest getting either ranch dressing or a sauce…not both. The french fries (presumably out of a box) were crispy, hot and salted just right.
FOOD NOTES: Quaker Steak and Lube is an extremely similar, but slightly better option than Buffalo Wild Wings. The wings are bigger, the french fries are better and the wrap is basically the same. Once I get a chance to try some more sauces, hopefully I will find my go-to sauce. I would suggest only getting one sauce on the wrap otherwise it is kind of messy and the sauce combo overpowers the rest of the ingredients. The fried pickles are the best possible fried pickles you can get that come frozen out of a box, and they totally give you licorice with your bill!
Small Town Tourist 