Hooters
Where: 178 Florida Road, Morningside
Open: Daily noon to 11pm
Call: 031 006 5191
It’s a spot on Florida Road that has had something of chequered history. The grand old Hollis House, built by the man who built the City Hall, has been a fine dining restaurant, before it burnt down, a society lounge, night club, Mozambican restaurant and now a local branch of Hooters.
So when the Glass Guy and the Fashion Student popped round early one evening, and I didn’t feel like cooking, it was suggested we give it a try.
Hooters is known for two things: It’s chicken wings and its waitresses wearing ridiculously short shirts and ridiculously low tops. The boys were out in force.
On the day Donald Trump was handed the keys to the White House, I’m sure the Orange Guy would fit right in, diet Coke in hand.
We’re welcomed warmly and soon have beers in hand. The vibe is convivial out on the terrace.
The menu is everything you would expect from American pub grub. There’s nachos loaded with the kitchen sink which can come in chilli con carne or chicken, there’s quesadilla with cheese, chicken or fajita style, buffalo shrimp and sliders, either beef, chicken or pulled pork rib.
Mains include a rump steak, Texas T-bone and pork ribs. There’s a Philly cheese steak sandwich and various loaded tacos. And then there are burgers which include a Buffalo wing burger, a bacon mac and cheese burger and a twisted Texas melt burger. Or you can build your own topped with things like bacon, egg, avo, guacamole and more of that chilli con carne.
For the healthy there are some salads ‒ Greek, taco, Caesar and buffalo chicken. There’s also fish and chips.
But Hooters is perhaps best known as the home of chicken wings, which take pride of place in their advertising and on the front of the menu. World famous, they call them. There was a special on that evening of a platter of 20 wings for R149. It sounded like a good bet.
These are breaded and tossed in a sauce of your choice which ranges from a chilli-less lemon pepper rub or teriyaki to a four-flame hot chilli sauce dubbed 911. Then there are the boneless wings which get the same treatment or their Daytona Beach style wings ‒ these only have two flames.
We opted to share a range of food options we could put in the centre of the table. There was a rib and wing combo (R209.99), a plate of four beef sliders (R129.99), a 10-portion of original Buffalo shrimp (R139.99) and a tower of onion rings (R44.99).
The Glass Guy and I both enjoyed the wings which were done Daytona Beach style. They had a good chilli kick. The only complaint was that these were very cold by the time they arrived at the table. They had probably been sitting in the kitchen waiting for the ribs to finish. The ribs were meaty, tender and cooked in a sauce that wasn’t overly sweet ‒ for us the pick of the evening. They came with some signature curly chips which were gimmicky but not offensive.
The shrimp were breaded and cooked in their lemon pepper rub. They were pleasant but desperately needed a dipping sauce, with the Glass Guy pointing out the rub tasted a little like popcorn salt. We dunked them in the blue cheese sauce that came with the onion rings.
These were the big puffed-up style of onion rings, but the batter was light and crisp, if a little salty. The Fashion Student found them a bit oily. They worked well with a sweet chilli that also accompanied the tower.
But we were all disappointed with the sliders. They desperately needed some sort of spicy mayo just to hold them together and stop them being dry. The Glass Guy suggested that a smashburger style would work better, while the Fashion Student didn’t like the “quite sweet” brioche-style buns. All I could taste was processed American cheese, which is never going to be a favourite. So stick to the ribs and wings.
Desserts were dull ‒ a choice of ice-cream and chocolate sauce, chocolate brownies and malva pudding, which is hardly American. I had half hoped there might be an offering of an American-style apple pie.
We skipped this for another round of drinks. It’s what everyone else was doing.
Food: 3
Service: 3
Ambience: 3
The Bill: R760.92 for three