Buffalo Wild Wings

[Dan]

We've had a few "Wild Buffalo Wings" restaurants open up here in Denver recently. I called thier home office & was told that out of their 12 sauces only 2 were NOT gluten-free (Teriyaki & Thai). They also said that the wings are not breaded & are cooked separately.

Has anyone had a good or bad experience with Wild Buffalo Wings restaurants ?

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

I go the Buffalo Wild Wings here in Las Vegas all the time! (I'm originally from Ohio, so I have always been hooked)

When I eat there, I usually get the bacon cheddar burger (no bun) and hot sauce on the side (spicy garlic).

I have heard their chicken cesar salad is gluten-free, but I do not know yet!....Man, I miss those wings!!!!

[elainegl]

There's another wing place in Denver that I got excited about at first b/c they said they fried their wings in separate oil, but then I found out that they move their oil "down the line" at night, so the wing's oil was once upon a time "breaded item's" oil. I chanced it anyway and ate them and boy did I react!

However, I did call Wing Stop today and they said that they only fry two items, wings and fries, and they fry them separately. Even if they didn't, they'd be safe. Plus the wings aren't floured. :-)

Elaine in CO

[casnco]

I emailed BW3's about a month ago. No reply. If anyone gets a reply back could you post it to this board so we could all see. I miss wings almost as much as I miss beer.

[lovegrov]

The wings at BWW are gluten-free except the Thai and Teriyaki.

richard

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

Don't they fry their wings?

Or are they cooked in the oven?

Let us know Richard....

[lovegrov]

The regular unbreaded wings are deep fried in their own separate fryer. Sauces are not added until after frying, otherwise the sauces would be fried off. As always, check at each individual place, but I'd be surprised if they didn't all do it this way.

richard

[VegasCeliacBuckeye]

Thanks Richard...

I went last night and tried a couple of wings --- no damage, no pain..

I am going back tonight for 18 Spicy Garlic Wings -- YUM, YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[casnco]

YEA!!! I am on my way!!! Thanks for the infomation.

[Bastyr-Lynn]

Hi everyone - I wrote to the company and got the following response. I thanked them for the detail - seems like many restaurants wouldn't take the time to send such a thorough response.

Thank you for contacting us concerning gluten in our menu items. Marzetti

produces all our dressings and sauces and cannot guarantee that any of the

Buffalo Wild Wing dressings or sauces are "gluten free". All of these

products contain distilled vinegar, which is fermented from ethyl alcohol,

which can be derived from wheat. Therefore distilled vinegar may contain

trace amounts of gluten. For the most part, this trace amount is

inconsequential, but patients with celiac sprue may be concerned. The Thai

wing sauce and Teriyaki sauce contain wheat from soy sauce in addition to

distilled vinegar.

As far as other menu items, we can tell you that our chili is gluten free.

Our bone-in wings and naked tenders should be safe to order, but we suggest

you request the sauce on the side as the breaded boneless wings are spun in

same sauce container as regular wings. You may want to check with the

kitchen manager about what items are grilled on the same surface as some of

our breaded items.

We wish you all the best!

Your Friends at Buffalo Wild Wings

[cdford]

A friend of ours works at a BWW and wanted to know if he could bring us some food home one day. I was unsure, but I will print this response and share it with him. At least he will now be able to answer questions for their customers when he is asked.

[MindytheOrganist]

I'm constantly on the lookout for new restaurants that have gluten-free options for newly diagnosed hubby. We've never been to Buffalo Wild Wings, but if they offer gluten-free options, we could become good customers.

Thanks!

[modiddly16]

I've actually eaten there several times with no issues. Outside of two sauces which both contained soy sauce all the sauces were gluten free. I was also told the wings and the fries were cooked in dedicated fryers, obviously check with your local one but their menu lists allergins as well. Potato ROUNDS (there's another kind of potato, so make sure its the rounds) are also gluten free. I get the naked wings and the honey bbq sauce on the side.

Obviously, like with any restaurant, you have to be aware of the possibility of cross contamination but some places are more accommodating than others

[Shess0816]

I'm constantly on the lookout for new restaurants that have gluten-free options for newly diagnosed hubby. We've never been to Buffalo Wild Wings, but if they offer gluten-free options, we could become good customers.

Thanks!

My boyfriend and I have eaten there almost once a week for the past 6 or 7 months. I haven't ever had any problems with the food I eat from there. Now, the options are definitely limited, but you can make a meal out of it! I emailed them a little while back and they were kind enough to email me a list of their gluten free products. -- Actually, it is the allergen listing, but it shows specifically all the products that are gluten free. I don't have the email anymore, otherwise I would post it here, but they got back to me within a few hours when I emailed them.

My Buffalo Wild Wings does have dedicated fryers for all the items I eat, so I think that is important to check on before you eat there. Some stores may have different kitchens or policies.

Anyway, here is a list of the things that are currently on their gluten free list (and again make sure they have dedicated fryers!):

Traditional Chicken Wings (make sure fryer is dedicated to just the traditional wings)

Bleu Cheese Dressing

Ranch Dressing

SW Ranch Dressing

Sweet BBQ Wing Sauce

Miled Wing Sauce

Parmesan Garlic Wing Sauce

Medium Wing Sauce

Honey BBQ Wing Sauce

Honey Mustard Diping Sauce

Spicy Garlic Wing Sauce

Caribbean Jerk Wing Sauce

Hot Wing Sauce

Hot BBQ Wing Sauce

Mango Habanero Wing Sauce

Wild Wing Sauce

Blazin Wing Sauce

SW Chipotle

Caesar Dressing

BBQ Ranch Dressing

Marinara Sauce

Queso Cheese Sauce

Salsa

Celery

Naked Tenders With Seasoning

French Fries (the regular ones)

Buffalo Chips

Buffalo Chips with Cheese

Coleslaw

Tortilla Chips

Salsa

Ice cream with chocolate sauce

Kids meal traditional wings

Kids meal naked tenders

So again, as long as they have dedicated fryers and you let your server know you have a gluten issue, I think it's completely okay to eat there. Like I said, we've been there a TON and I'm super sensitive and I've never gotten sick from eating there. I usually always get the 4 piece naked tenders with regular fries or buffalo chips. Then for sauces I get a side of ranch and a side of honey bbq. It's nice to be able to have a normal meal sometimes! )

[lovegrov]

IT IS NOT SAFE TO EAT THERE AT ALL.

Where did you get this from? Their traditional wings are naked and done in dedicated fryers. All of their sauces except two are gluten-free.

Of course there's always a chance of CC, but there are in fact things we can eat there.

richard

[minniejack]

Where did you get this from? Their traditional wings are naked and done in dedicated fryers. All of their sauces except two are gluten-free.

Of course there's always a chance of CC, but there are in fact things we can eat there.

richard

I was under the same impression. Last year we got a BWB gift card that we gave to the inlaws 'cause we were too afraid to use it.

Maybe we should look into it again--my DS14's favorite food is wings.

[laylamc]

Just to update this, I ate at a BWW in Nyack, NY last weekend.

I knew that the naked wings were definitely okay and that the traditional wings were a maybe depending on the fryer situation, but oh no - no separate fryers. Our waiter told me that he's seen a number of celiacs get the traditional and not have any problems and said not to worry. I still did. His only suggestion was to order with someone else also getting those, to limit chance that they are going in the fryer with the boneless wings. My boyfriend and I went with the traditional, sauce on the side (his recommendation as well, as the breading from the wing sauce can get in the saucer). Zero problems. The honey BBQ wings were my favorite, followed by the ridiculously spicy mango habanero.

Sweeeeet!

[suepooh4]

We live here in Ohio and my husband,Jeff who has celiac sprue gets the medium traditional wings. We ALWAYS ask them to spin them in a clean bowl(so there isn't any cross contamation). And they have always been fine. He has had them at the BW3's in North Myrtle Beach too.

[zeta-lilly]

I just ate there yesterday in fact. I had a long talk with the manager and explained about cross contamination and all that. He confirmed that the fryer for the traditional wings is dedicated to only traditional wings and that most of the sauces are gluten free. I asked about the place where they add the sauce and he confirmed that they use the same bowls to toss them with the sauce for the traditional wings as they do the boneless breaded wings. I told him that was a no-go because that's a huge source of cross contamination, so he told he we could figure something out. Either I could get the sauce on the side or they could put the wings in a to-go box and shake them with the sauce in there. He then went back to the kitchen to explain it to the kitchen staff. I was pretty impressed by how good they were about the whole thing, not all restaurants care that you have food allergies or are willing to help you.

So A.) speak to a manager B.) make sure they have dedicated fryers and C.) ask them to skip the shared sauce bowls and either get the sauce on the side or have them toss it in a to-go container.

I had avoided BW3's for so long because I thought they weren't gluten free that I'm excited I get to eat there :-)

[Andoveran]

I received the following email from Buffalo Wild Wings:

Thank you for your request. We do not have a specific gluten free menu. Attached is our Allergen Reference Sheet, Sauce Nutritional information for your review. Please note the preparation process below for the fried items in regards to the crossover of food. The Naked chicken tenders do not contain gluten and they are cooked on the grill this may be a great alternative.

Preparation Processes:

- Our Traditional Wings are a fresh chicken product that we deep fry at 350'F and shake in the sauce of choice.

- Our Boneless Wings are a breaded chicken product that is also fried at 350'F and then shook in the sauce of choice. The same container is used to sauce the boneless and the traditional wings.

- Our grilled chicken products and burger products are cooked on a 550'F char broiler, a grill seasoning is applied at the time of cooking the seasoning does contain Soy. The

Burgers themselves do contain gluten

.

- Our Tortilla chips are fried fresh in the restaurant.

As a note, in the preparation process of all our fried items we do not segregate individual product into separate fryers when they are cooked so there is the potential of crossover of fried items and oil in the fryers.

This includes our fish, shrimp, potato products, chips, chicken (breaded and traditional wings), All Started and Sides (mozzarella sticks, mushrooms, dippers, onion rings, corn dogs)

In regards to the frying oil, we use a Beef Tallow Shortening from Cargill to fry all of our products.

The Shortening ingredient Statement Lists: Deodorized Beef Tallow, BHT and Citric Acid (to protect flavor), Dimethylpolysiloxane (added as a stabilizer).

We hope you find this information helpful.

So don't eat the burgers, and be careful with the traditional wings! Only the Teriyaki and Asian Zing sauces contain gluten.

[kdonov2]

I had heard so many great things about B-Dubs from this site and got all excited and went with friends one day. When asking the usually questions, just in case, I was told that even the naked wings were contaminated because they cook them in the same oil as the other breaded wings. They said the oil would be fresh and gluten-free if I came first thing when they opened and happened to be the very first customer. The only food they said I could have were those stupid buffalo chips. They are basically plain, cooked potato smashed into a ball yet deceptively made to look like a tasty french fry alternative. I was very unhappy with my experience at that particular location, but at least I didn't eat anything bad.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I just wanted to point out that this thread was started in 2005. It seems like from reading the responses here this place had only unbreaded wings up until recently when they started frying breaded wings as well and using the same sauce containers to coat both unbreaded and breaded. Restaurant often change their menus and prep methods so we need to pay attention to the date posts are made and always ASK at the restaurant (as the pp did). Sounds like this place was okay back in 2005 and maybe even in 2009 but something changed recently and then no longer have the gluten-free options they used to have.

[lovegrov]

If they are frying everything in the same oil now, then they've changed the way they do it. Same with the sauce thing, although I imagine that could be worked out as it was in the January post. I'll be checking with my local BWW but that place might be off the table now.

richard

[lovegrov]

Went to my local BWW and talked to the manager, and unless he's lying, they do NOT fry breaded items and the naked wings in the same vat or oil. According to him, the naked wing vat(s) stays too busy and mixing would change the flavor. Also shook the wings in a clean container. We ate there and I had no problem. When I got the check, I even saw that the waitress had typed in instructions and "wheat allergy" into my order. Of course there's no guarantee they never make a mistake or contaminate things, but that's always a danger when eating out.

richard

[ajbardalo]

Hey guys so just today I received lab results that Gluten was the reason why my stools were unhealthy and Ive been feeling not so great(mystery for around 2-3 years). I go in tomorrow to talk to a gastro. Anyways, knowing this, I went to Buffalo WW and I ordered the Traditional wings in Medium and Parm. Garlic. I read the allergy report before I went in and saw both were Gluten free so i felt comfortable going. All in all I had 6 of each and a side of celery/carrots with ranch as a dip. Immediately after eating I felt my bowels go crazy and I ran to the restroom and pretty much had a watery explosion. Do you guys believe it is due to the mixing of the Wings and breaded boneless in the same bowls? It was a very busy night and I doubt they used separate bowls to mix. I thought maybe the parm. garlic or the ranch could contribute to maybe an intolerance for lactose but I came home and ate a full yogurt and glass of milk to test but nothing, not even bloating. I do have the rashes associated with Celiac (Dermatitis herpetiformis) and it is flaring pretty bad now, which I think again, is from tonights meal at BWW. If this sounds correct can someone please assure me of this haha...I never thought I would have a "disease" but am more than willing to work with it, ive been malaise too long!