I love Sparky’s. I say this not only to blatantly say this is an opinionated piece, but that Sparky’s has the greatest wings around. Better than Buffalo Wild Wings, better than the owl place that shan’t be named.
However, every store has their hits and misses, so what should you get at Sparky’s? Well, I went to Sparky’s and got every wing on the menu. I will grade them and let you know what I think of them. I will also be accompanied by my friend Anthony Delacono as we discover the goods and greats of Sparky’s.
Sparky’s Wings and Things
Before we establish the food, how is the place? The place is a small store in a line of many many stores. From the outside it is just another store along a line of stores in downtown Haverhill. However, once you step inside it is a small diner with an old TV and a big flatscreen with the food items. I rate the vibe an 7/10. Nothing special, but does not ruin the eating experience.
The service is slow, at least when you get a lot of food. For this article, we had to get five separate orders of wings, which no doubt makes it harder for the food to come out in a timely manner. Nevertheless, the people at Sparky’s are saints. One time, we were sitting down and the man behind the counter asked if he could give us this sauce he made. It was a mix of teriyaki, barbeque, and sweet and sour. The sauce tasted amazing, and went really well with fries and our wings. I rate the service 9/10. A little slow, but the food makes it worth your while.
The Things
Other than the wings, the non-winged food is great. Their burgers are tasty, same with their chicken sandwiches. Their chicken sandwiches have cajun and a delicious sauce on them. Their fries are also amazing, both cheesy and regular. Overall, I rate the things an 8/10. I haven’t had all of them but what I have had has been really good. However, you do not go to a place that specializes in wings to get their burgers.
The Wings
This is the long part. There are 33 different flavors of wings. Since there we never had F wings, we will start out with a D grade. Another thing to put into factor is we only got boneless wings, meaning the rankings could be completely different for their winged counterparts.
D Grade
D grades are the ones that aren’t all that. While yes, you wouldn’t mind the wings, but they are not particularly ones you would go out and get over their other wings. However, there are not many on this grade. The only ones we have put down were the Dragon Breath, and Holy Chipotle!
The Dragon Breath tastes just like a plain wing. There is no problem with that, however when you want wings with flavor, it isn’t the way to go. The Holy Chipotle! was by far the “worst” wing we have tried, but overall it was mid. We simply found it lacking compared to most other wings because of the flavor. While it advertises heat, it just comes off as an okay flavor.
C Grade
C grades are not bad in any way, however they were bumped down due to the magnificence of the other wings. These are the average wings you can get anywhere, and the wings that were okay, but not really that good. These wings include honeybee, Vermonster BBQ, Teriyaki, Bonfire BBQ, Bayou Dry Rub, Must Have Honey Mustard, Tongue Thai’d Two Peppers, Jamaican Me Crazy, The General, and Hot Rod Buffalo.
The Bayou Dry Rub suffers the same problem as the dragon breath, just it has a little more seasoning. The wings like teriyaki, Must Have Honey Mustard, and The General all suffer the same problem of being the average wing. You can get these wings anywhere, and in the lineup of the Sparky’s menu, they are nothing fancy.
B Grade
These wings are good, on the cusp of being great but not quite matching up to the rest of these wings. These wings are ones you would get again, but maybe not as frequently as the A grade. These wings include Hickory BBQ, Berried Treasure. Brushfire and Voodoo. These wings stand over the C grade due to their unique flavor.
The Hickory BBQ is kind of a contradiction to the C grade, a wing you can get at many other places. However, that is not necessarily the case as these wings have a unique sweetness that puts it above other bbq wings. Berried Treasure are wings with a berry flavor on them, unique in it’s sweet taste along with their unusual flavor that puts this above the rest. The Brushfire and Voodoo fall in the same category of solid wings with nothing too distinct about them but the flavor which it brings you.
A Grade
The A grades are the best. There are 5 wings in this grade. These wings are the best of the best and deserve to each be talked about separately instead of being summarized. I highly recommend it if you ever go to Sparky’s to get one of these top contenders.
- Teradactyl
The Teradactyl is really good, that’s all there is to it. A good, strong flavor that we come back to time and time again. It takes the great simple taste of teriyaki, a household flavor, and pumps it up with the spice that comes with the new Teradactyl fusion. A great mix of teriyaki and buffalo that just makes these a really good wing.
- Ghostriders
The Ghostriders are not for the faint of heart. They are the kind of wings that will burn your face off. They taste good at first; however, eventually they burn your mouth and make milk a necessity. We gave one to a friend, and she took one bite. The second her teeth sank into the wing her eyes widened as if she had been shocked by electricity. She began freaking out and made us drive to Stop & Shop to buy milk. Nevertheless, the Ghostriders are still very tasty and a must if you are a fan of spicy food.
- Wicked PB+J
When we first started rating every wing, I have to say, I was not excited for these. The idea of peanut butter and jelly on chicken did not sound appealing to me in the slightest. However, these are the contenders for the best wings on the list, the only reason they aren’t the best is because the top two are out of this world. The Wicked PB+J brings a somewhat sweet and salty taste with it. A true must have if you go to Sparky’s.
- Shanghai-Noon
Shanghai-Noon wings are incredible. They perfectly combine two wing flavors, teriyaki and BBQ. There isn’t much to say about this combination besides the fact that they are to die for. They take everything great about both flavors and smash it into a single takeout box. While these wings are amazing, they are missing something the number one pick obtains perfectly.
- Firecracker
The Firecracker wings were one of the first wings we got. They are some of the best wings I have ever had in my life. They just pop with flavor. It’s like tiny explosions in your mouth. Overall, these are the best wings, and we had to stop ordering because we were getting it too much and we needed to try other flavors.
Now, I feel as though I have to give out this piece of advice after reading. Everyone has their own taste. What I might find mediocre or not as good can be really good for other people. I encourage you to go to Sparky’s Wings and Things at 20 Emerson St in Haverhill. Another thing to note is that we ranked almost all of the wings. We missed a few in the need to fit the deadline of this article. As for the ones we missed, I recommend you go yourself and figure out where those wings lie on the list. That’s all, folks.
