I’ve heard many a people talk about Boomerangs Bar and Grill, making me wonder why the hell we haven’t been to wing night on Wednesdays. So when Boomerangs was the next dive bar on my list, I already knew which night we should check it out. It all boils down to four words: thirty-three-cent-wings. Was it too good to be true?
Boomerangs Bar and Grill is a quintessential dive bar in that it’s located next door to a strip club. It’s nothing too fancy on the outside, but I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was on the inside. It’s quite large with a boomerang shaped bar on an elevated level and more seating and pool tables on the lower. There’s also an outdoor patio with seating and a large gazebo.
We often like to saddle up to the bar and tonight was no different. The closer we could be to the wing action, the better. First up were some drinks to hold us over and on Wednesdays the special is $2.50 well drinks. I ordered a gin and tonic and the husband ordered a whiskey and ginger. We then mulled over the 12 different wing flavors to choose from….for our first round. We ordered them naked (that’s the $0.33 one, breaded is more) and I chose 6 BBQ, 6 garlic parmesan and the hubby ordered 6 Jamaican jerk and 6 hot, both with a side of blue cheese sauce. We also threw in a half order of fries ($1.50). We waited, talked about our day, and ordered more drinks. You have to expect for there to be a little bit of a wait time on wing night. The place was hopping and they were cranking out orders as fast as they could. To our detriment, the wait time only caused us to continue drinking more drinks, and I was sufficiently tipsy by the time the food came out. This is also why my photos include fully stripped wing bones — our starving, tipsy selves just dove right in before I could take pictures.
bbq; garlic parmesan
I ordered garlic parmesan to try theirs because everywhere else I’ve had them I’ve always been disappointed. This was not the case here; I really enjoyed them. The wings were huge, just as advertised, and cooked to perfection, still nice and juicy. The skin was crispy and the flavor was spot on. The BBQ was really good too, very mild. The blue cheese sauce was divine and the fries were great dipped in that too. I didn’t even use ketchup. The fries were probably some of the best I’ve had in a while. The sweet and heat of the Jamaican was really good. It’s listed higher up on the spice scale, but I didn’t think it was too over the top. The hubby really liked the hot also but was looking for a little more heat because he’s a masochist. So for his next round, he tried the cayenne. Everything up to this point was so, so good, but we ended on a disappointing note. The cayenne was neither a sauce nor a dry rub, but just cayenne pepper powder dumped on top of the wings very unevenly. I like saucy wings, so I get it, but maybe if it was more of a spice mixture instead of straight up cayenne? Either way, we still loved the wing experience and will most definitely become Wednesday wing night regulars. Also, how can you not love a place has both Michael Landon and Mister Rogers memes in their bathrooms stalls?
Jamaican jerk; hot
cayenne
Boomerangs has food and drink specials Monday through Friday, and even breakfast on Saturdays. I had no idea they served breakfast and I’m very intrigued. Biscuits and gravy are my breakfast version of nachos in that I’m always on the lookout to find the best in town. I think every place boasts the best fish on Fridays, but I’ve heard some great things about his one in particular. Their website and Facebook page list lots of events like live bands, Boom-Jam open stage, dueling guitars, and karaoke to name a few. If you want to check out the wing special on Wednesdays, just know that it’s from 5 to 9 p.m., and dine in only. Enjoy!
Boomerangs Bar and Grill is located at 1309 West Washington Street, Urbana, and open on Monday 11 a.m. to 12 a.m., Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., and Sunday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Check their website for kitchen hours.
All photos by Bobbie Bonebrake.