Wing House (Tampa Stadium)
3712 Columbus DriveSpending eight days away from home, in a hotel, working 14+ hour days can take a toll. By our sixth day in Tampa, we were looking forward to the flight home and a return to not figuring out what our one meal for the day was going to be.
We had two work sites while we were in Tampa. We had office space downtown near the Hillsborough River and we had a remote work site not too far from Raymond James Stadium where the Buccaneers play. We spent our mornings in the office and the evenings at the remote.
Our break was around 3:00 when we were moving from one worksite to the next. A lot of days, we grabbed something on the way. Dale Mabry Highway has a lot of chains and it was quick and easy to grab something on the way to the remote worksite.
Early in the week I noticed a Wing Place not too far off our route from one site to the next. I put off ordering there until Friday for some reason. When Co-Worker got done with his morning assignments, I asked if today was a good day for wings. He said yes, I put in an order, and we headed to the second part of our day on site.
Wing House is a chain of 22 wing restaurants in Florida. The one we stopped at is the one near Raymond James Stadium on Columbus Drive between Himes Avenue and Dale Mabry Highway in the Northeast Macfarlane Park neighborhood of Tampa. The restaurant is a two story sports bar that looks out over Columbus Drive. You can see Raymond James Stadium in the distance and the New York Yankees training complex directly across the street.
Wing House has online ordering which was a big reason why I picked them for lunch that day. We may have had time to actually dine in but with very few restrictions on dine-in service in Florida, we were both a little hesitant.
The parking lot for the restaurant was very busy. I found a spot and headed inside to pick up our order. Our hesitation to eating inside was totally justified when I walked in the door. I had an anxiety attack just asking where I would pick up my to-go order.
The restaurant is a pretty typical sports bar. There are TV’s everywhere and the centerpiece is a large circular bar in the middle of the space. The restaurant was packed shoulder to shoulder on a Friday afternoon. There was no spacing out tables and almost every seat at the bar was filled. They do take precautions for their staff who were all wearing masks. There are plexiglass dividers hanging between the bar patrons and the bartenders but not much physical spacing between patrons who make a conscious choice to sit where they do.
The second thing I noticed was the waitresses uniforms. Hooters actually sued The Wing House for copyright infringement in 2004…and LOST. Not only did they lose but the lawsuit was declared frivolous and Hooters had to pay the Wing House damages. While legally it’s not a copy of Hooters, it does have a similar to feel to the larger national chain.
I was pointed to a small area off the main dining room to pick up my order. There were a couple of people standing at the pick up window, maskless….but with drinks in the hands….in front of me. I tried to stay as far away as I could while I waited for my food but there wasn’t much room in the small hallway that led to the elevator and stairs leading to the balcony.
It took about ten minutes to get my order which was sitting behind the counter the whole time. I’m not really sure what was going on in front of me. When I grabbed my food, I headed out a side door that lead to a patio so I didn’t have to walk through the dining room again.
We got out to our remote location and popped open the to-go boxes after getting settled. I kept things pretty simple ordering just wings and fries.
I started with the fries first because fries are the real victims when it comes to carry out. These fries were quite tasty even after being steamed in the to-go container. The steak fries I got were a pretty large portion and they’re covered in a pretty thick salt and pepper seasoning. The fries were really good on their own without the need for any ketchup or other condiments.
The wing choices at Wing House are Original or Buffalo. The difference has to do with breading. I chose the Original because why not get what they’re known for. I did an order of ten wings with garlic parm sauce. When I popped open the container, the wings were naked. This is actually a pretty great idea because it keeps the wings crispy. Not sure if this is how they do it at the restaurant..and if they do, I’d probably not be happy about it, but for carry-out, this is actually really smart. The wings stay really crispy doing it this way.
There were probably five little plastic cups of the garlic parmesan sauce in the bag and I poured it over the wings the best I could. The wings were really plump and juicy. The breading was super crispy and gave them a much different flavor and texture than typical Buffalo style wings. The garlic parm sauce is pretty thing but has a lot of garlicky flavor packed in to it.
Wing House was a pretty interesting experience. There is no way I would have eaten inside this location on this particular day. It was right before the Super Bowl so maybe every day isn’t like that but it made me, a Michigander who hasn’t eaten in a restaurant in over a year, pretty anxious just walking through the dining room.
The food, however, was pretty good and I would go as far as to say better than the restaurant who accused them of copyright infringement. I actually did really enjoy the breaded Original wings and the seasoning on the fries maybe them stand out a little as well. I wasn’t expecting much when we ordered from a chain wing place, but the food from Wing House beat my expectations.
SW Michigan Dining 
Is the bird walking in black a worker at Wings or has she just forgotten her pants?
That is a waitress….like I said, they draw inspiration but are not legally infringing on Hooters copyright.
That would put me off my tucker…..
Disgusting lack of regard for the health of customers and staff. I expect no less from Florida businesses these days. Sorry you spent your money there.