The Ugly Mug

723 8th Street SE

NEVER AGAIN

Talk about being totally stoked and then having one of the biggest let downs of my life’s when I walked into the Ugly Mug on their Tuesday wing night. After a night of summer bocce at Garfield Park, Jay P, Kate LW and I decided we were in need of some wings and drinks so we went around the Eastern Market area looking for some great wing specials. We stumbled across the Ugly Mug who advertised half price wings and though, can’t go wrong here… FALSE!

I ordered the Old Bay and Chipotle, Jay got an order of the Cajun and BBQ and Kate LW got an order of the Hot. I decided to be fare I had to at least trade of one wing from my plate for each of theirs so I could try the different flavors. The only flavor/type wing we didn’t order was the plain, but who the heck ever orders a plain wing anyway?

1. Spicy- Kate LW’s wings came out and she raved over these wings like they were the best thing since sliced bread so I had to try one. I was all excited about how these spicy wings were going to be the new excellent spicy wing of D.C. Now I know that Kate LW just needs to get a little more get wings with me because these were some pretty nasty wings! For one they were not spicy at all and I would have labeled them plain, which makes me wonder what the actual plain wings were? There was still a little flavor to the wing which was nice but it was definitely not spicy. Also the wings were WAY over cooked making the meat crunchy. NEVER AGAIN

2. Chipotle- These were the wings that when I went to order them the waitress warned me by saying, “are you sure you want to order those, they are really hot!” I said, “YES, and if they are as hot as you say I am going to really enjoy them.” The sauce that these wings were covered in was made with actual chipotle peppers but I have a feeling that the cook in the bag misread the can and grabbed roasted red peppers because there was barely any heat to these wings. They had the smoky flavor that you can find in a chipotle flavor but that real burn that comes with them. These wings had a slight kick and after burn but not strong enough to call them chipotle and give a warning to all that eat them. They also came out over cooked with the meat crunchy, WTF! NEVER AGAIN

3. Cajun- Jay ordered the Cajun and he was a trooper and ate all his wings even though they were disgusting too. All overcooked dried meat with some funky spice mix that was not Cajun. Whatever this was seemed to be a salt, pepper, garlic and funk spice. When you have a Cajun spice you should be able taste some heat or a little kick of cayenne and/or chili powder mixed in there. Without that you have a salt and pepper funky wing not a Cajun wing. NEVER AGAIN

4. Old Bay- I love a good Old Bay wing and I really HATE a bad one. This was a very very bad Old Bay wing. These were also over cooked where the meat was dried out and crispy and taste if they had just stuck the wings in a bowl of salt. You know those nights when you are drunk and doing tequila shots and you lick your hand for the salt and forget that you already licked your hand and put salt there and lick your hand again… that flavor of pure salt is what these wings tasted like. NEVER AGAIN

5. BBQ- The other wing that Jay ordered was the BBQ. This was the last wing I tried and I would say last but not least but I rated these all the same so I can last and all sucky! These wings like the other four we ate were over cooked and the meat was dried out and crunchy meat. The BBQ sauce was super sweat and sticky and would make anyone’s stomach after eating a whole dozen. Now that I think about it I hope Jay’s stomach is doing okay after eating the whole plate of wings because he was trooper and finished his plate of nastiness. NEVER AGAIN

Overall I would never go back to the Ugly Mug for wings. They were so over done and funky I am surprised they didn’t make us all sick. Also, I was up all night from this place drinking water from the stupid Old Bay wings that more like Salt wings. I mean that was the worst take on an Old Bay wing I have ever had.

I mean what was going on in the kitchen?
a. Did the cook forget the wings in the fryer and they over cooked
b. Was he flirting with the waitress and left them in the fryer
c. The cook was drunk and doesn’t know how to cook wings
d. They just suck at making wings and you should stick to other food when ordering off their menu