Ho-hum at Hugo's

After looking for a new place to try some wings, a small group of us ended up at Hugo’s Bar & Grill which is located in the Shannon Park Plaza.  I havn’t even heard of this place until about an hour before I went there so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect, but then again, I was pleasantly surprised the last time I ventured to an unknown spot. 

Hugo’s consists of a fairly large open space with a couple of pool tables, and I was surprised when we walked in, a bit after 6:00 PM, that we were the only people there besides a few chancing their luck on the VLTs.  There was also a guy playing guitar and singing on stage, which was very loud even though we sat at the back of the place and still had to talk really loud or lean over and talk directly into someone’s ear to carry on a conversation without just smiling and nodding at every sentence.  

I understand places have live music but I thought that usually waited til a bit later in the evening, but maybe he was just getting warmed up and testing out the speakers.  Even though I could barely hear myself think, I was still wondering why this place was so empty on a wing night. 

An order of a dozen wings is regularly $12.95 but that price drops to $5.00 for their wing night on Thursdays.  The apps are also half off between 5:00 - 7:00 PM on wing night, even though the menu is very limited.

Breading: 2/5 – The wings were coated in a lightly crisp breading and looked great when they arrived minus a few burnt spots here and there, but lacked flavour.

Not the best breading

Overall quality: 2/5 – The wings had potential since they were cooked well and didn’t contain any dark meat, but I couldn’t get over how bland they were, no flavour at all.  A little bit of care during some preparation and perhaps some dry spice mixed with the breading could have went a long way.

Strike 1, 2 and 3

Sauce selection: 2/5 - You can choose between Mild, Medium, Hot, BBQ, Sweet Chili, Honey Garlic for your sauce, even though it arrives in a very small sauce cup, not adequate for dipping at all.  I went with Hot on the side and it was the best part of the meal. 

Service: 3/5 - We were greeted fairly quickly and drink orders were taken however the food took a while to arrive.  A few more people arrived as the night was going on and that’s when I noticed there was only one server for the entire place.  I’m not sure if this is normal for them or not.  Needless to say drinks were taking longer to get and after sitting around for quite a while waiting for the bill we decided to walk up to the bar to pay just so we could get on with our night.

Size: 3/5 - Even though there were a few oddly shaped wings there were still a fairly average size. 

Fairly standard sized wings

Overall rating: 2.4/5

As a side note, a couple people ended up ordering some nachos and I have to say these were the saddest looking nachos I have ever seen; the cheese situation was pathetic as it took all the cheese from the entire order just to coat one chip.  I couldn’t believe it.

Hugo’s may not be the best spot to stop in for a bite to eat based on this experience however it may not be a bad place to stop by for a game of pool and a couple of drinks on the weekend as it has more of a bar than a grill type feel to it, just make sure you’re full before you go.