Buffalo Wild Wings and Jethro’s Bacon Bacon are two great barbecue places, but can they be compared?

Buffalo Wild Wings is a nation wide franchise, known as a sports bar for wings and football, while Jethro’s is a local Iowa chain, known for their famous barbecue wings, pork chops, jambalaya and smoke house.

Service/Environment

Jethro’s Bacon Bacon and Buffalo Wild Wings are both categorized as barbecue restaurants. Even though they serve roughly the same food items, Jethro’s servers energy matches the serving time. While Buffalo Wild Wings was the opposite. At Jethro’s we were seated right away with an energetic host. Our server came over with a huge smile and asked for our drinks and if we would like to order and we did. Through the ordering process we changed our minds and she caught it all. The waitress came back with our drinks. Maybe 10-15 minutes after we got our drinks, our food arrived. I got 10 traditional BBQ wings, my dad got a skillet with over easy eggs and hash browns. My boyfriend got garlic parmesan boneless wings. Our waitress came back frequently and made sure that we had filled drinks, along with napkins and wet wipes.

Buffalo Wild Wings was a different story. We walked in, and were told by a host to seatt ourselves at the bar. We sat there for quite awhile until we met our waiter. He asked us for  our drink orders and delivered them moments later. He then asked if we’d like appetizers or go straight to ordering dinner. We decide to go straight to dinner, so we ordered. The wait time for our food was no doubt longer than at Jethros. Our order did not come out together. The wings came first. I got 10 traditional barbecue wings. My boyfriend got 10 boneless garlic parmesan wings. They came in a little dish that didn’t look like much but it still good. My dad’s burger came a little later with his fries as a side. We didn’t see our server until we had to wave him down for the check. 

Pricing

While Jethro’s menu has a very wide range of food items and Buffalo Wild Wings has a shorter menu, they both have relatively good priced items, Jethro’s being a little more expensive.

Food/Menu

Jethro’s Bacon Bacon and Buffalo Wild Wings are both considered barbecue restaurants and have relatively the same items on their menus: wings, burgers, sandwiches, small food items, desserts and drinks.

Jethro’s has a little extra on their menu such as brisket, ribs, salmon, and pork tenderloin. No doubt the place to be for barbecue, but when brunch/breakfast items come around, that’s when Bacon Bacon, in the West Des Moines location name, comes in.

At Buffalo Wild Wings my traditional wings were smaller than Jethro’s wings but they were still good and warm. My dad’s burger was still warm but the fries were a little soggy.

Maggie Schiller ’21 had a different experience than what myself and my family did. Schiller ordered Jethro’s Mac and Cheese because a lot of people talked it up. Schiller thought differently. “It was one of the worst things I have ever had,” Schiller said.

Overall

Jethro’s beats Buffalo Wild Wings in service and menu size. Yet Buffalo Wild Wings takes the “Wings, Beer, Sports” slogan. When it comes down to choosing my favorite out of the two, I used to be in favor of Buffalo Wild Wings but now I favor Jethro’s.