Shark Bite: A Review of Lost Pizza’s and Soulshine’s Wings

By Wesley Brown, Charles Matranga
Contributors to Hottytoddy
sharkbiteoxford@gmail.com

Lost Pizza Wing Review
Overall: 6.3
Price: 12 wings for $14.99

Lost Pizza’s wings had a generic buffalo taste, but not quite “hot” unless you’re a soccer mom, 8-year-old, or great-grandparent. To the rest of the world, it was a slight kick away from being a Heinz 57 wing. There was a noticeable and at times even audible, crispiness on the outside of the wing. And with this crisp, they still managed to achieve tender, well-cooked meat underneath.

A big hit came from the unexplainable lack of sides with these wings. There was not a hint of celery or carrots anywhere on the menu or on our plates. A cool, crunchy celery stick is the perfect counterbalance to a savory and soft chicken wing. Any reasonable, prudent person should appreciate its culinary significance. Since we had to order a side item in order to give a fair review, we were compelled to add a side order of the homemade potato chips normally served with sandwiches. The cashier was as shocked as we were that we were going to eat wings and chips. Served more as a dip with a side of ranch, they stuck to the basics: thick slices, a crunch you could hear from Hong Kong and a liberal amount of salt n’ pepper seasoning.

If a great ranch is a priority for you when ordering buffalo wings, look no further than Lost Pizza. Ranch should be served cold to compliment the temperature and spice of the wings and it should have a thicker consistency that allows a decent amount to stick to the greasy, buffalo covered wing without dripping down your hand. Lost Pizza checked both of these boxes. Getting buffalo sauce on your favorite shirt is always at stake when eating wings, so there’s no need to add “ranch soup” to that equation.

However, the ranch was sadly wasted on the Chicken Little quality of these wings. The disproportionality of the dollar price and the minuscule size of the wings was frankly a deal breaker for us. Barreling in uncomfortably close to $1.50 per wing, either leave this meal still hungry or expect to receive an overdraft fee on your checking account.

Ordering these buffalo wings when you’re craving wings is like taking a puff of your buddy’s cigarette when you’re downtown wanting a nicotine fix. It’s better than nothing, but far from satisfying. All in all, this is about what you would expect for an appetizer order at a local pizza joint. People aren’t going to be busting down the door trying to eat these wings after this review goes live, but that comes with the territory.

Soulshine’s Wing Review
Overall: 6.2
Price: ½ pound for $8

We arrived at yet another pizza joint searching for the best Buffalo wings in Oxford. And we departed yet another pizza joint searching for the best Buffalo wings in Oxford. Right off the bat we both knew that we were dealing with an “appetizer quality” wing. Mainly due to the fact that they were listed as an appetizer on their menu.

Most appetizer wings are ordered by people who absolutely couldn’t wait the 20 agonizing minutes until their entree arrived, so they are normally served at a reasonable temperature that allows them to be eaten as soon as they touch the table. If you were served these wings with that in mind, you would be leaving the restaurant with no skin left on the roof of your mouth. Appetizer wings are also served in a larger quantity for people to share, and oftentimes sacrifice taste and texture in order to quickly get them to the table before the main meal arrives.

We agreed that the best part of this meal was the ranch we were given alongside these wings. The ranch had an incredible garlicky flavor, you can tell Soulshine’s ranch dressing guy had a good childhood. The only thing that took points off the ranch for us was the consistency. A good ranch dressing sticks to the wing regardless of any greasiness or sauciness. It’s never good when you’re having to use a wing as a ladle to transport ranch into your mouth.

The sauce was textbook Buffalo. It was hot enough to satisfy your Buffalo craving, but not hot enough to make your nose run. Overall a good, but less than memorable Buffalo sauce.

Below the ranch and Buffalo sauce were a series of unfortunate events. The best chicken wings have a distinct crispness to them while still maintaining juicy and tender meat underneath. These wings were chewy and soggy and tasted like they might have been made in an EasyBake oven.

It’s rare to get an appetizer wing served with a side item, but the inclusion of celery sticks was a welcomed surprise. The celery was crisp, cool, and added a false sense of healthiness to the experience.

Unfortunately, the ranch and Buffalo sauce were wasted on wings that ultimately just weren’t a satisfying size. We thought Krystal and White Castle had already cornered the market for miniature versions of foods that make us look like giants while eating them, but looks like you can add Soulshine wings to the list.