Duff’s Famous Wings

At the risk of being lynched, I don’t get the Duff’s craze. Unless you have an emotional connection to Duff’s or have not had wings at other local wing joints, I am not sure how one can claim these are better.
Don’t get me wrong — the wings are decent, as is the sauce. The wings are small and not breaded (which is a +1 in my book). They have improved on how they cook the wings since their opening. For the record: I don’t think their medium is hotter than other local wing places.
One time, I decided to venture outside the wing section of the menu and I do not recommend it. The rolls they use are pretty tasty but the copious quantity of butter used on the bun (on my grilled chicken sandwich) was unpleasant (I know, I know… I am not American.) Their sandwiches are priced around $ 8 – 10 and do not include a side.
Their fries are not salted (must be their signature thing as it is the same in their original Buffalo location) and seem under cooked. I would recommend skipping them and eating more wings.
Also, do not wear any clothing that you love or is expensive to launder. My clothes smelled like fryer oil after my meal here. This is also not a good place for a quick lunch. No matter the crowd, your food is going to take quite a while. The service can be spotty but on my last visit, the server was on point.
My visits here are mostly because a co worker is a massive fan of their wings and I don’t like denying people their dreams… at least not all the time.
Try Duff’s but definitely do not go in thinking you will have the BEST buffalo wings in the world. You will have decent wings but they are unlikely to make you want to write off every other wing place in Rochester.

My visit here was totally «a-​ok.» The wings are good. The atmosphere is so-​so. The fries were not special, but I did appreciate that they came out piping hot. Beer selection is good. I don’t think Duff’s is a good value though, you can get pretty decent wings on special at a lot of places in this town for far less. Also, our order did not come out with half flats/​half drums. It was mostly drums, I’m a flat person.
Service from the bartender was excellent.
Wouldn’t turn away going here again, but I have a few other places I like to go where I enjoy the menu/​atmosphere more.
If you have never had Duff’s, you should definitely go try them though because a lot of people (particularly Buffalonians) swear they are the best.

This is the worst order of chicken tenders I have ever received and they even forgot the blue cheese. I have ordered this same thing multiple times and this time the tenders are literally half of the size of normal. The order took 40 minutes instead of 15 – 20 like they said. I do not recommend duffs at all. The food is good sometimes but times like today make it hard to even go back. They have horrible service and ticket times are atrocious. When I’ve spoken up about my bad experiences to their staff they seem to not even care. This rochester location is honestly ruining the duffs reputation.

Meh. Not sure what all the hype is about. The chicken fingers were frozen and thrown in a fryer basket, the French Fries were frozen and thrown in a fryer basket, the onion rings were frozen and thrown in a fryer basket. My husband’s wings were scrawny. The sauces were tasty though. The blue cheese dressing was nothing special. The service was good and somewhat attentive but let me tell you about the ladies room. This place just opened and the bathroom was disgusting. The stalls looked like it was going to collapse, the floor was dirty, the trash was overflowing and the sink was dirty. They had a cleaning schedule on the wall and according to the schedule the bathroom is never cleaned. Pretty gross. I’ll just keep going to L&M for wings like we usually do. Plus you can bowl!

Utterly disappointed. I had dinner there once with my girlfriend, and we both agree that those were the worst wings we had in Rochester, and that we shall never go there again, even tho it is right across the street to where we live.
We ordered onion rings, fried pickle and fries. The onion rings and fries are okay. But seriously you can get better onion rings at Burger Kings. And the fried pickles are cut so awkwardly thin, it tastes like nothing but grease.
And regarding to the wings, which we thought would be their forte and maybe saving gracing for our unexciting dinner, are so hard and bland, that it chews like something fresh out of a wood shop. My girl friend found it simply too hard to eat, and gave up at the second wing. As for me I tried not to waste our hard earned money and tried to keep eating, but i had to finally gave up and throw out the rest away. My gum hurt a bit from the wings that seems to have been fried for three days straight, seriously.
All in all, if u look for good wings, you are lucky that there are many other wing places in Rochester that have good wings. The same is true if u looking for a bar to hang out at, this is not the place. And finally if u want to visit this Duff’s simply because you have seen one in the Simpsons, just like I do, think twice my friend.

The Duff’s franchise on West Henrietta Road was packed for lunch on a Friday, and we had to wait 30 minutes to get a table. The kitchen must have been backed up, because we also had a decent wait for our food to arrive. The wings were very good with plenty of flavorful sauce. They were cooked perfectly, although they appeared to be a bit smaller than the huge wings served at the original Duff’s location in Amhurst. The fries were thin, under-​cooked and disappointing. I would only return again if I happen to be in the area.

When I’m craving chicken wings, I immediately think of Duff’s.
I’ll admit, I haven’t sampled much of the menu. My staple order is «Medium-​Light» chicken wings with a pitcher of Pepsi and fries (a combo meal)… I’ve ordered it a dozen times… The wings are amazingly consistent, large, and crispy. The best Buffalo/​Rochester has to offer. And who doesn’t love a heaping bowl of string fries?
The inside of the new Henrietta restaurant is a bit plain and needs improvement. I prefer more of a sports bar atmosphere with better seating and more/​larger TV’s.

After hearing how delicious Duffs was, I needed to try this place. We came here on a Monday evening and the place was dead, probably because of the bad weather and college isn’t back in session yet. There’s a waiting area when you enter with a bar. The seating area isn’t too big. There’s tv screens all over the place to watch sports.
We ordered the 20 mild wings plus large fries and a pitcher of pop combo. They are only about 7 choices of wings sauces, I wish there were more. The wings were alright, not great. They give you a very generous portion of blue cheese. The wings also come with carrots and celery. I liked the fries, small and thin. They remind of fries at In and Out Burger. The Sprite the waitress gave us was not sweet at all so she had to bring us a different batch after they fixed the machine. We ordered funnel cake for dessert. I should have known not to order dessert. The funnel cake was so hard to the point of being crunchy, topped off with yellow vanilla ice cream and whip cream.

This is not the Duff’s you’re looking for.
Move along.
In my younger days, the Duff’s in Amherst was a holy place. The wings, just magnificent. When I came to the ROC, I could not understand why it was impossible to get good wings just an hour down the thruway. Probably better for my health though, as Duff’s became a once-​a-​year thing at most. I probably haven’t been there since 2013.
Well, in the interim I went vegetarian, and loving it. I do eat a few meat treats a year, the father’s day cheeseburger has become a tradition. And no way I’m passing up a trip to Duff’s if it falls right in my lap.
Well, I can confirm that everything you’ve read in the other reviews is true. It’s really just an ordinary Rochester wing place. The wings aren’t bad, but it’s not really Duff’s. Let’s get specific:
— Undercooked. I don’t mean the meat is pink, but they’re not cooked enough to melt all of the connective tissue inside like at the real Duff’s. The skin was not rendered completely, making it more chewy than crispy.
— Underspiced. The sauce had a really great acidic tang to it, but it was not nearly as hot as the real Duff’s. The difference in hotness between hot and medium-​hot was negligible. At the real Duff’s, hot will cauterize your palate.
— Undersauced. At the real duffs, when you finish your wings there is a respectable amount of sauce at the bottom of the bowl. This means you can dredge each wing and, when you’re done, your fries too. Not so here. The medium hot were bone dry. The hot had maybe a thimbleful of sauce at the bottom.
I’m being reeeaaallly picky. But dammit when you put the Duff’s sign out front, expectations are high. You could just as easily get wings like this at any of the crappy pizza places in town (Mark’s, Pontillo’s, etc.)
Probably good for my health that this place doesn’t measure up.

I just want to express my gratitude for coming to Rochester. Thank you. Thank you.
Being new, this location is not yet up to par with most of the Buffalo locations so it still leaves me motivated to visit the original whenever I’m in Amherst :-)
Duffs are hands down my favorite wings!
Medium is «just right»
On another note, the price of wings increase seems to have soared past the rate of inflation since my UB days in the early 90s. I remember 10¢ or 25¢ wing nights all over Buffalo. Maybe the wings were considered scrap back then. Now they must be prime chicken real estate. ;-)

Oh Duffs. It’s been a roller coaster ride. I’m still with you, but my overall impression is modest. This assessment incorporates my experiences in Buffalo (see previous reviews) as well.
As for your debut in Rochester, I am mixed. The venue is nice — the bar area and the service — and a solid beer selection. As for the wings, well… ordered medium which is advertised blatantly as «hot» — unfortunately it was not. They were still pretty good but did not meet expectations. I would say average. There is some benefit from the extra hot sauce on the side. My friend ordered medium hot and it was about the same as medium. For those interested in wings with more spice I would opt for hot… maybe medium hot on a different night.
It’s a cool place to hang for some good beer and a chill atmosphere. Wings were not bad overall… but can be deceiving.

Not up to par with my expectation. Making up for tacky bar set up and mediocre food quality/​selection, the staff was very friendly and great service. I ordered the hot wings but found it to be medium. To my taste at least. The with two stars are for the friendly staff. To earn the other three stars they need to make improvements to the place and the food quality/​selection. Probably won’t be back there unless they make drastic changes.

Came here tonight with my colleagues for a fun/​team dinner. I have to say, most of the reviews here have pretty much called it. It’s a good place for when one needs to satisfy a jones for wings… and if you’re a beer drinker, there’s a pretty solid selection from the looks of it.
Memorable…meh…it’s a wing joint. If your looking for quintessential «Upstate NY style» wings? Dig a little deeper into Unilocal — Rochester has a few other places worth exploring.

Went back a second time — service was MUCH better. Our server Hannah was perfect. She actually made eye contact with us and refilled our waters. Wings were amazing, just could have been cooked a little more. The fries are your basic fries. Nothing special.
I again got charged for an extra blue cheese with an order of 20. An order of 10 gets you 1 cup, you’d think an order of 20 = 2 cups, but you get the same sized 1 cup.
I have not ordered any other food besides wings & fries. From what I’ve seen and heard, it’s not good. The wings are definitely the highlight here, come for the wings, not for a burger.

Yes yes and yes!!! The first time I had wings from Duff’s was many years ago and ever since nothing has compared. Every trip to Buffalo has always meant a trip to Duff’s and I’m so happy they are in Rochester now. I’ve been to the Roc location twice now once for take out and once to dine in. Definitely dine in if you can the wings and fries are best enjoyed fresh. The wings are meaty, perfectly crispy and covered in the most delicious buffalo sauce ever, they are pretty close to the wings at the original Duff’s location. As with any new restaurant I’m sure they have some kinks to work as service was spotty but I’m sure with time everything will improve.

Our first trip to the new Duff’s here in Roch. Walking in the door it felt like Buffalo Wild Wings only smaller. Very, very bar like. It was noisy. We waited for a hostess. When she came over, she was cheerful and pleasant. Once seated, crammed in next to two other full tables even though there w ere empty tables, we waited a long time for a server to approach. We ordered quickly, an appetizer and wing combo. Our food came in good time. The appetizer was yummy;the wings were good. But our iced tea was warm. I had to ask for ice, and sugar and hand wipes.
She brought the bill quickly and cleaned the table while we were eating. Yuch.
The wings and appetizer were yummy but the fries sucked. The service was below par. Next time will be take out.

Before I even walked in I could tell it was very busy because every single parking spot was taken. I ended up having to park in the lot next door which was fine. Walking in, there was a huge crowd of people around the hostess stand (NYE around 1 PM). The seating hostess told us it was a 45 minute wait for a party of 2. I took a seat near the hostess and I could hear multiple parties complaining that their wait time kept being pushed back. Two parties who were written under the same name had been mixed up and the wrong one was seated first. I agree with Jerrod’s review that there should be a pager system instead of simply writing on a sheet of paper with 2 clueless workers. When I asked how much longer for my wait after 40 minutes they told me 20 more minutes so… now it ended up being an hour wait. I told the hostess she should start informing people the wait is at least an hour because people would rather have it be an over estimate than an under estimate.
Finally after an hour of waiting we were seated and from there everything went quickly considering how busy it was. The waitress was nice and didn’t appear to be stressed. I’m not sure what all the hype was over these wings, maybe the original Duff’s is better but the Rochester Duff’s wings tasted not much different than any local pizzeria. All in all, not the greatest experience, don’t get your hopes up and if the wait is an hour, you’re better off driving to Buffalo for the original.

Unbelievably bad, Duff’s should really vet whoever they are going to franchise to. I understand new restaurants have their issues but the service is awful. Not to mention that I ordered the fried pickles app and it was tiny, don’t waste your money! Drive to Buffalo if you want the real thing.

Once the «opening day jitters» have passed, this new Duff’s location will be a welcome addition to Rochester’s «wing scene!»
Visited on the second night of operation with a group of eight. Having visited the orginal location in Amherst/​Buffalo, I was very excited to see Duff’s open in Rochester, not far from RIT. With many good places in Rochester for wings, here comes a challenger from Buffalo to show us how it’s supposed to be done.
We only waited 20 minutes for our table to be ready in what was already a busy house around 9:00. Big screen televisions are found on nearly every wall, so you can’t miss your favorite game. Décor is muted, but clean, with Duff’s famous «warning» posted on a beam along the ceiling as you enter.
We ordered two #2 combos (20 «medium» wings and large fries and a large pitcher of Loganberry). In addition, one friend ordered 10 BBQ wings and I ordered a Beef on Weck sandwich to cover all the Buffalo bases.
Our first order of 20 wings came out, and they were good. Their famous «warning» of «MEDIUM is HOT» didn’t seem to apply, as the heat was subdued. Though the wings were flavorful and crispy, but a bit on the small side. Veggies were fresh and crunchy, blue cheese dressing was creamy and tangy. The BBQ wings were praised.
The beef on weck was a mushy disaster of uncooked, thin-​shaved meat. I understand that some restaurants serve their beef on the rare side, but this wasn’t it. The au jus and horseradish didn’t help, I couldn’t finish the sandwich. The weck roll was spot on from what I recalled in Amherst.
The second 20 wings came out and they were quickly devoured as the first. The shoestring fries were unimpressive.
Some of us ordered yet another 10 wings because we were still hungry. These «medium» wings definitely had a bit more heat than the first 40 we ordered.
Our waitress absolutely did her best, though we were left with dirty dishes (with napkin on top, the international signal for «I’m done.») and empty drink glasses for some time. She kept up with our orders and everyone got what they wanted.
The wings are solid, but I’d be hesitant to try anything else for now. I’m hoping to try again in a few weeks as they learn to prepare their dishes and get into the groove.

Given that there was no advisement other than Facebook not many people were present for their opening night. We stopped by at dinner time approx. 6:00p and called ahead our take-​out order. Very pleasant staff on the phone and easy to take order. New location is in old Friendly’s across the street from Cortés Mitsubishi and next to Yummy Garden. Its a small sports bar interior, many flat screens. It appears completely gutted from the old Friendly’s. Interior has a beautiful large bar with some local ROC and BUF beers on tap. You go to the bar to pick up the order.
I lived in Buffalo for 7 years while I went to college so am very familiar with Duffs in general and do enjoy their sauces. We got 20 wings — half Medium-​Hot and half Hot BBQ and requested extra crispy. The wings were crispy but about half were so small there was minimal meat on the wing. The BBQ didn’t taste spicy at all so I’m not sure that we actually were given the hot BBQ but I do enjoy their BBQ sauce (sweet and thick with a little tang). The medium-​hot is spicy but I wouldn’t say its that hot (I love spicy foods though). We got a large fries which came in a paper «doggie bag» were greasy, some even soggy, frozen and flavorless. The 20 wings came with a tub of Blue cheese and just 2 – 3 celery sticks and carrots. The blue cheese is flavorful and fresh. We ordered the buffalo wing soup but they noted that they «ran out.»
Now this review is based on opening night and will have to update review in a few months when they have had time to get some of the issues worked out, but so far the wings are not on par for some we already have in the area. Service was nice, friendly and location looks very nice. The fries though were terrible, wouldn’t give them another chance.