Lisa's Buffalo Grille
65 Broadway
Greenlawn, NY 11740
I moved to the Centerport area of Long Island almost a year and a half ago, and the best non-fast food, fast food in the area is Lisa's Buffalo Grille in Greenlawn. It is a very small shop with limited seating and lots of people coming in and out placing and leaving with take-out orders. I have never seen the place slow. The phone is always ringing, people are always there and the staff seems to never stop working. They have a very nice menu of wraps, burgers, sandwiches, salads and fried appetizers. My wife and her family love the Buffalo Grille, I on the other hand am not a huge fan. The food has been good, but not that good. I don't mind eating there, but it is never high on my list of places to stop when we don't feel like cooking.
So when I was driving home thinking of where to go for wings, the Buffalo Grille never even crossed my mind. I was going to stop at
Nicky's again, but as I thought about Nicky's great wings, I remembered the conversation I had with the young couple at the bar and recalled their recommendation of the Buffalo Grille's wings. So I stopped at Lisa's and ordered up some wings.
I placed an order for 12 hot wings and 12 honey mustard wings. I ordered them to-go because I just wanted to get home and relax. It had been a long day and all I could think about was popping open a Blue Moon, eating up on some wings and watching a little House or CSI (Las Vegas) on my DVR. A night to relax always gets better with wings, beer and good television shows. As I waited for the wings to be cooked, I got more excited about my evening.
Lisa's Buffalo Grille was, as I had explained, packed. There were at least 10 pick-up orders ready and waiting for people to pick them up, 3 of the maybe 10 tables had dine-in customers and there was a line 7 people long ordering food to-go or picking up their orders. I was towards to front of that line, so I got my order in and then waited for about 20 minutes for them to be ready. I should have called ahead, the number is in my Blackberry... oh well.
I grabbed my wings and went home. Opened the beer, flipped on the TV, grabbed some napkins and started to chow down on my 24 wings. They were great! Big, juicy, coated in sauce and perfectly cooked. They were super crispy, which was a huge surprise because they had sat in the Styrofoam containers for close to 10 minutes on the drive home. I was very pleasantly surprised. As for the sauces, the hot were HOT. I mean these had to be some of the hottest wings I have had that actually had taste to them. There was nothing surprising about the recipe, cayenne pepper, hot sauce and butter, but their mixture of those ingredients is better than almost any wing I have had. I know, bold statement, but these were damn good. I only ate 10 of the hot wings because I was full from the 12 honey mustard wings, but the heat also started to get to me. That doesn't normally happen from a buffalo wing;
Dirty Canz Wings, yes, normal hot wing, no. The honey mustard wings were also some of the best I have ever had. I still like the
West Taghkanic Diner's honey mustard wings better, but these were a very close second. If you are into honey mustard wings, I suggest trying these, you won't be disappointed.
The prices are also really good here. 12 wings for $6.95, 24 wings for $11.95, 60 wings for $28.00 and 120 wings for $53.50. That is $.58 per wing on the high side and $.45 per wing on the low. You only get better prices than that at wing nights. They also come in the following flavors: Mild, Medium, Hot, Blazin', Ragin' and Inferno on the spicy side and Honey Mustard, Honey BBQ, Cajun, Teriyaki, and Bold BBQ on the savory side. Looks like I have a trip or two left to try the other flavors. Everything else on the menu is also priced well, so you really can't beat Lisa's Buffalo Grille when you want good food and don't want to spend a lot (wow... I sound like a commercial spokes person). In all seriousness, I have a new appreciation for the Buffalo Grille. I will eat their wings again... probably soon.
I do suggest taking any food you get there to-go. The majority of the crowd that eats in the restaurant are teenagers from the local area. They are pretty loud and having a good time. I have no problem with it, but I am passed the point in my life where I want 15 to 20 teenagers running around the tables as I try to enjoy a meal. I also think that the constant ringing of the phone, people walking in and out placing and picking up orders and the people milling around waiting for their food to be ready (like I was that night) could get very annoying while eating.
They also supply the wings for Off Broadway's wing night in Greenlawn. It makes sense since Off Broadway supposedly does not have a kitchen and is owned by the same people as Lisa's Buffalo Grille. I will try and go to Off Broadway's wing night soon and do a review. I'd like to know how the wings hold up when traveling across the street.
Right from the first bite I could taste the recognizable combination of Frank's Red Hot Sauce and butter. If I had to guess, I'd say the normal 1:1 ratio was slightly skewed in favor of the sauce, giving it a little extra heat. There were also some added seasonings which kicked them up a bit. The wings were relatively plump with a decent amount of meat, but very little (if any) crisp in the skin. These were pretty average across the board. I wasn't disappointed because I didn't have high hopes, but I wouldn't go out of my way for them either. Put simply: they'll do.
