Nightlife: Wild Wing Cafe makes a power play for sports fans

Photo by Greg Wood

Danny Erwin and Devonah Cantrell get cozy at Wild Wing Cafe in Farragut.

Photo by Greg Wood

The Vols and the New Orleans Saints give a tip of the hat from Chris Simmons and Andrew Kosko, respectively, at Wild Wing Cafe in Farragut.

Photo by Greg Wood

Danny Erwin and Devonah Cantrell get cozy at Wild Wing Cafe in Farragut.

KNOXVILLE — There are several facets of nightlife responsible for bringing people out to the local bar scene - such as live music, dancing, and so on.

But this is the time of year where sports games draw me out.

It's the perfect excuse to go out on literally any night of the week. College football may be winding down, but pro football is going strong on Monday and Thursday nights and all day Sunday. College basketball is picking up steam, with our Vols off to a good start. Pro basketball seems to be on TNT nightly. And hockey's going strong as well.

With basketball and hockey having a fuller schedule than football, you're pretty much guaranteed to catch a game on any weeknight.

I don't personally have much of an attachment to many teams from this region (except the Vols, of course). In fact, I'm a fairly casual sports fan. But sports and beer go together so very well.

Until recently I had never been to Wild Wing Cafe in Farragut. Bailey's has the stronghold in the West Knoxville sports bar scene, with their enormous screens and massive sound system, but it doesn't have the down-home sports-bar feel. And sometimes, it's simply too loud.

Places like Rookies offer great deals on beer and wings, but the atmosphere isn't always what I'm looking for, though it certainly has character.

I tend to lean away from chain establishments like Wild Wing, but honestly, every now and then I just need the consistency and familiarity of such a place.

Fortunately, the environment of the place also delivers. There are plenty of TVs and they usually keep up with the diversity of winter sports. They don't have the booming sound setup of Bailey's, but seeing as how I'm usually just going to the place to catch whatever game may be on, it doesn't even really matter that I can hear it.

Most importantly, I've always been able to get a table when I go. It's fun to watch a Vols game in a packed bar, but this is a different nightlife experience altogether.

Sometimes they even have live music, usually something modest like someone strumming a guitar and covering familiar tunes on the tall stage.

It's similar to the college bar scene at times, but far tamer.

The crowd typically is in their 30s, but ranges up into the 50s frequently. And even though games abound, the mid-week crowd seems less enthused with sports and more interested in socializing and sharing pitchers of beer.

Staying true to its name, the bar offers a plethora of wing specials. The menu features an enormous list of wing types, describing the varying degrees of hotness or sweetness. You are also able to choose the level of spice you'd like, resulting in even more wing-style permutations. All of which come out to decent prices. It's nothing like the dirt-cheap wings that some places have - which is good because the quality is far higher.

The food is reasonably priced, as well. The times I've gone I've stuck with the spicy chicken sandwich, which rings me up a tab of less than 8 bucks.

Several other places have cheaper beer, but Wild Wing's deals aren't disappointing. Grabbing a few domestic drafts for $2.75 is never bad.

Wild Wing advertises that they go all out on certain special occasions (they had a costume party on Halloween and will have specials for upcoming major sports events). I've yet to attend on such an event, but I've grown partial to swinging by on weeknights.

And on a recent Monday night they surprised me by hosting a Monday Night Football bingo of sorts, with an emcee calling out each winning choice, which ranged from penalties to catch phrases announcers used. They also have buy-eight-wings/get-eight-free specials on Monday nights, which is well-suited to go with the football games playing on literally every TV in the establishment.

The Wild Wing Cafe experience makes for a pretty straightforward evening, but it's always a good time.

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