The Bar & Restaurant Society

Update: (04/08/01) Starting this week, $0.25 wing night on Wednesdays
is gone! It appears this particular location had issues with local
clientele.

We here at The Bar and Restaurant Society are confused because this spot
had several bouncers working on these nights and still had issues with
local riff raff. No place is perfect, but the location in Hollywood is
packed on Wednesdays and appears to have far fewer issues, including the
lack of a line.

We spoke to one of the wait staff who was nice and extremely apologetic
for the recent turn of events. In replace of the original special, now
Happy Hour on Wednesday runs from 3pm to 8pm and the wings are half off.
This means the wings are practically $0.50, which isn’t bad and follows
suit for most hot wing establishments.

Yet, the time frame is confusing. Why does the special run from 3pm to 8pm? Why not start the special at lunch and get the working class clientele? I’m sure they don’t start fights during their lunch breaks. We’re not really sure what the management is thinking.

Go for the wings.

Review and Overview

• Drinks ($)

The idea here is to hit this place during one of their daily happy hours. Happy hour is 4pm-close Monday-Wednesday and 4 to 7 Thursday-Friday. There is also a Late Night Happy Hour seven days a week from 10pm to 12am.  The drink prices for Late Night is $3 Corona, 3 Wells, and $5 Calls. This is in addition to their daily Happy Hour Specials. There is also a wheel of beer that is spun every 15 to 30 minutes similar to the one at Happy Ending. On Wednesday these beers are $2.50.

• Food ($-$$)

Wangs fashions itself a sports bar, so expect burgers and the like. Of course everyone knows that you go for the wings, particularly on Wednesday when they cost $0.25 apiece ($2.50 for 10, $5.00 for 20). You really can’t find a better deal than that. Check out the food menu for the other daily specials.

• Games

Except for the sports playing on the overhead flatscreens, not too much gaming here. There is an unused pool table that doubles as a table though…

• Events

If there is a game or a fight, it will be playing at Big Wangs. The sport determines the pricing for some of the specials.

• Staff

The staff can range from friendly to surly depending on who you are dealing with. The servers are generally nice, many of whom are attractive, unless they are having a bad day. This may mean your table may go ignored or unattended for a bit. This is also true for the bartenders, who may sport an attitude on their busier nights.

To be fair the place is generally packed and some of the patrons can be idiots. One server told us that she was tipped $0.60 on a $500 bill, which completely killed her mood (at most restaurants servers generally have to tip out 8% from all of their tables, regardless of whether or not they were tipped). This means if your server is having a bad night, you will know.

The bouncers here can be cool, depending on if they are experienced at their jobs. There have been times where bouncers have helped me get people in and other times when we could barely get in ourselves. Of course from the bouncers point of view, they can’t let anyone in if management tells them to hold the door. It really doesn’t make sense for management to hold the door, when the patrons can see that there are empty unreserved tables inside. Glass walls don’t hide much.

• Parking

Pretty easy to park here. There is street parking and a free lot across the street.

• Cover/Line/Dress Code

There is no cover, but there is a line and it can get pretty brutal. Try to get there early around 6pm to 7pm. If there is a game the place fills up quick and its virtually impossible to get in unless you know someone inside. It also helps to know the bouncers/servers here. If you show up at the wrong time, expect the full Hollywood experience because you will be in line for while (30 minutes, an hour, maybe more). Dress code is casual.

• Recommendations

If you don’t want to get there super early, show up around 11:30pm after the line clears out. Virtually no line and less people taking up the servers time. It also helps to have someone there with a table secured.

• Website

http://www.bigwangs.com/

• Address

5300 Lankershim Blvd

North Hollywood, CA90025

• Phone

(818) 985-2449

Information:

Big Wangs is in North Hollywood, located at Lankershim and Chandler and can be reached from the Lankershim exit on the 134.

Our History:

We had mad love for this place back in the day. Among other things, Wednesday night was epic because of their $0.25 wings, $3 mixed drinks, and $2.50 beers. I first started going here after I met up with a coworker at the Big Wang’s in Hollywood. After finding out that this location was in North Hollywood, had free parking, and was close to The Park, I was hooked.

Initially we went to Big Wang’s to eat wings before drinking at the Park. The only issue was that on many nights there would be a massive line due to whatever sporting event was playing. At first the line was ok, but over time it became much worse. Eventually we decided it would be wiser to go to the Park first, then head over to Big Wang’s for some late night grub. This actually worked much better because by 11:30pm the line and number of patrons subsided.

However we did notice that the more often we would go to Wang’s, the more the service would slip. There are nights that were amazing and other nights when we would barely get served. Some nights the wings were hot and others they were cold. Then the line situation became worse later in the night. Some nights we would get in without an issue and other nights we would wait outside when there were clearly tables open. Didn’t make much sense.

On one particular night my friend complained to the manager about the service. He offered free wings as compensation, but they never came. In the end the inconsistency of service led us to take an indefinite hiatus from Big Wangs. It’s not that we do not like the place, in fact we LOVED Big Wangs. We were going there every week for about 6 months or more.

However it came to the point where we didn’t feel as if our interest in the place made a difference. Why should it? They are serving delicious food at an extremely low price. Yet, service means a lot to us and we’d rather go to a place that treats us right, over a place that can shoot us cold wings and a bad attitude from time to time.

Pros:

Food is inexpensive and the drink prices are amazing. The servers can be really chill and some of them are pretty cute. Good place to go with friends with a fun atmosphere.

Cons:

Service is inconsistent at times. The line can be ridiculously long and time consuming. There is a definite Hollywood vibe here, and not in a good way. The larger your group, the harder it will be to get in, unless you already have a table inside. Also prepare to get cut in line more times than you can count.

Also the $0.25 Wing Happy Hour on Wednesday is now gone. It has been replaced with half off wings from 3pm to 8pm. The price isn’t atrocious but the hours are half-baked. As stated before, why not make it a lunch special?

~P-Tyme