Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings: The Challenge - A comparison of Salt and Pepper Chicken Wings

You can't attend a Filipino party in San Diego without them, those miniature deep fried limbs, full of MSG goodness. Pulling yourself away from the aluminum tray of Salt and Pepper chicken wings sometimes takes a Herculean display of will power. I had long contemplated doing a comparison of Salt and Pepper wings, and after all these years, with the help of Howie, who having done comparisons of everything from Carne Asada Burritos from 'Berto's to New York style Pizza to Fro-yo i n San Diego, is master of organizing such events, I finally managed to do a tasting.

For the tasting, I had an enthusiastic crew, who displayed no fear of the MSG bloat; Howie, Candice, Sarah, Jenne, Mr & Mrs Zompus, and Dennis. I had a list of five places, one of which was closed and had to be replaced by a last minute substitute due to sad and unfortunate circumstances.

The rules were simple, each person would try at least one drummette, and one wing. They would than rank each sample from first to fifth. The lowest total amount of points would be number one.

The results are startling, and I'm sure will be quite controversial. At the end, I'll list my picks which seemed to go totally against the trend. So without further ado.

#5 - Royal Mandarin:

  

Yes, the mecca of Salt and Pepper Chicken wings ended up dead last by a large margin. Some of the comments: "more like American fried chicken...." "rating of meh...." "underwhelming in flavor...." "overcooked...."

This one was a surprise, and I'm sure will raise eyebrows.....

Royal Mandarin Restaurant
1132 E. Plaza Blvd
National City, CA 91950
(619) 477-4151

#4 - Golden Chopsticks:

  

Yep, the other popular Salt and Pepper Chicken wing joint finished second to last! "bland....." "soggy......" "not even spicy in the least...." "don't like the light color...."

Another big surprise!

Golden Chopsticks
1430 Plaza Blvd #E/22A-23A
National City, CA 91950
(619) 336-1888

#3 - A & D Hawaiian BBQ - National City:

  

Another surprise. The darkhorse last minute replacement came in a respectable third, and missed second place by one point! Yikes! "most flavorful by far...." "thinner crust but better taste...."nice spice, lots of garlic, but too salty...." "right amount of spice...."

A&D Hawaiian BBQ
Grove Plaza Center
2220 Plaza Blvd
National City, CA 91950

#2 - Panda Palace:

  

Well what do you know...another surprise. This one was all over the board with three fourth-place votes, and two first place votes. It managed second by one point.

The comments were the most entertaining of all the entries: "tastes like Panda Express smells...." "someone didn't change the oil after frying all that shrimp" "too sweet..." on one hand, "very flavorful...." "like the garlic and spice..." "not greasy...." on the other.

Panda Palace Chinese Restaurant
1105 E Plaza Blvd Ste D
National City, CA 91950
(619) 336-1725

#1 - Mandarin Chinese Restaurant:

  

The favorite overall by a whopping six points, and voted the best by four! Some of the comments; "lightest and crispy-est..." "good crunch, but meat a little dry...." "definitely the best, the only one I wanted seconds of...." "nice and light batter".

Mandarin Chinese Restaurant
945-A Otay Lakes Rd
Chula Vista, CA 91913
(619) 656-8080

So there you have it folks! Surprised? I sure was......

The gang did a great job going from this:

 

To this:

 

It's amazing what you can learn while chomping on wings with one another. For instance, Candice makes a mean Cucumber granita and Mango Sorbet which helped to keep our palates fresh, I never knew Librarians can sing so well, and there were moves attributed to the movie Flashdance that I don't recall....or umm...maybe I don't want to recall????

My thanks to everyone who participated!

Oh yes, how did I see things?

#1 - Royal Mandarin

#2 - Mandarin Restaurant

#3 - A & D

#4 - Golden Chopsticks

#5 - Panda Palace

Let the debates begin!!!!

Comments

[Kirk]

Hi MA - Now how many stops would that take??? ;o) Whew, I'm tired just thinking of it.

Hi ETE - Yes, that pale color really made an impact, the contrast to the other wongs made it stand out even more.

[santos.]

i've had a lot of s&p'd fried things but never a chicken wing....

[caninecologne]

hi kirk
yeah - the owner was so nice too. bert ordered wings for my bday party from him back in april...that's such an awful thing to happen to someone...and you're right - he was found in t.j. in his car but was murdered elsewhere

[Kirk]

Hi Santos - It's a kind of San Diego thing.

Hi CC - Yes, we used to see him all the time....really very sad.

[Cstu]

I now live in Los Angeles, but grew up on the salt-n-pepper chicken wings from Royal Mandarin (still a sentimental favorite!), but recently had some from Mandarin Chinese... very little difference to me. Also, price should be a consideration in the rankings.

BTW; can anyone tell me where I can find a place that makes these in the Los Angeles area? I've tried several places in Chinatown, but unfortunately nothing comes close!

[Kirk]

Hi Cstu - If prices mattered A&D would be #1, it was the cheapest. The prices really only differed by a dollar or so at the most. If we did price, than should we do quantity....you can see where this is headed. I wanted to determine which chicken wings folks enjoyed the most, not which was the cheapest, or who give the largest portion sizes.
Funny you should mention location, I've never had any good S&P Chicken wings outside of the National City - Chula Vista area. I do find that strange.

[Elijah]

Do you have the recipe for the chicken? I have been trying to make them for years...but it never turns out.. There is no where in the North County to buy these wings...and I drive so far to get my fix.....help!!!

[Jerahmya]

Does anyone have the recipe for Royal Mandarin wings???????? I'm trying to make it....and my wings and batter taste and look nothing like the chicken :(

[Danielle]

Ahahaha. Not a day goes by when i dream of wings just like the ones in Natl. City.

Pittsburgh sucks when it comes to Chinese or Asian cuisine. :{

[Kirk]

Hi Danielle - I hope you're able to get back to San Diego and get some wings soon!

[RightCowLeftCoast]

Kirk, it's been a long time but have you tried the S&P Chicken Wings at "Liu's Chinese Restaurant" in Nestor down in the South Bay? The yelpers are giving it decent marks and say its comparable to the wings from Royal Mandarin. Might be something to try out the next time you're down there near the drive in on Coronado.

[Kirk]

Hey RCLC - How are you? I hope all is well. I actually have the place on my list....it's just that I don't get down there enough! Maybe this weekend!

[RightCowLeftCoast]

There needs to be an update to this, given this survey:
https://www.sandiegomagazine.com/Blogs/SD-Food-News/Fall-2019/The-Best-Chicken-Wings-In-San-Diego/

[Kirk]

Not quite sure about that list RCLC......you can actually find some of these places under my Chicken Wings category.

https://mmm-yoso.typepad.com/mmmyoso/chicken-wings/