Quaker Steak & Lube

Quaker Steak & Lube was my go-​to place for wings in Madison. I’ll admit, I never had anything other than wings here, and that would continue to be the trend whenever I’m back in the area.
If you’re up for it, Tuesdays are the days to go here. $ 13 for all-​you-​can-​eat wings and I must praise the wings for their quality. I love how Quaker Steak & Lube has a lot of flavors and seasonings for their wings. I’d say between 20 – 25. I believe they implemented new dry rubs within the past year or so and they were pretty good.
Overall, superior wings and good atmosphere, bar, and lots of TVs.

Honestly, if it weren’t for their TVs and the fact that it’s closer to our place than Buffalo Wild Wings, I’d never come here.
It’s not that this place is bad, per se, but it’s basically an inferior version of the Buffalo Wild Wings on University, The food isn’t as good, the beer not as diverse, and the deals not as good. The atmosphere also isn’t as bro-​y as Buffalo Wild Wings, which is usually a good thing, except for Football Sundays.
I usually feel completely at home screaming «@(#@(YEEEAAH!» after my favorite team gets a touchdown at Buffalo Wild Wings, but at this place, I’m pretty sure people just think I’m wasted.

we came here for team trivia tonight. the service is terrible, and the food is even worse. we just ordered pretzels with beer cheese dip… the pretzels were fried (?) and greasy, and the «beer cheese» dip resembled canned gravy more than beer or cheese. gross. i’ve managed to avoid this place for four years, and will not be coming back.

good classic american food. good food good games!

Stopped into eat while attending the 2011 ironman. There was also a Badger football game going one so the place was packed. Even though we had over 10 people in our group they seated us as soon as they could. Staff was very friendly, service was prompt and food really good. Would go back and recommend!

I have been there twice for the All You Can Eat Wings Tuesday, I love their wings! My favorite flavors are the BBQ and Tequila Lime BBQ. The food always comes out in a timely matter and the staff is very friendly… the prices are reasonable too!

This review is for an after party hosted by my organization. The place is new and clean. The theme is nice as well as the decorations that come with it. On Saturday night we held an event for an after party to a dance competition. We had over 200+ people signed up for attendance for a place that holds 250 people at capacity. The event was a social/​dance event with a DJ and drinks.
The night of the event I got there at 11pm. There was a line at the door. I got to the front of this line and was informed that they were at capacity and they were adhering to «one-​in, one-​out» rule. Meaning I had to wait for someone to leave before I could enter. The total wait time ended up being 45mins! We had some guests that got only 40 mins of party time cause of the long wait. Disappointed, freezing cold guests plus very rude bouncers does not make for a good party.
On top of all this, I find out that they were not at capacity, they just low-​balled our attendance keeping only 2 bartenders on staff that night. That is the reason half the place was still empty and that is the reason only half our guests could not enter.
I have to admit this was a last choice venue for us. But in all honesty the review is fair on all accounts.

The atmosphere is kind of cool. It’s a good place to watch the game. There are tons of TVs, so you know you will have a good view no matter where you sit.
As far as the food goes, I don’t think I would eat here again. I had a combo basket with boneless wings and pretzels. The wings were very dry… they were coated in sauce, but the chicken itself was dry. The pretzels were bland. I tried my husband’s cheese fries and they were nothing special either. Our friend said his burger was «okay, but nothing special.»

Stopped by there last night with the kid for a meal. We both opted for all you can eat wings, which was not a bad value even though we didn’t try to ‘get our money’s worth’ by eating eight gazillion tons of wings. The two guys at the table across from us had built a mighty tower of discarded bones, though– it looked like a scene from Conan the Barbarian.
The wings were just OK, not very warm. The sauces are good, though. Service was not the greatest, and while I understand that AYCE wing night is a tough one, the automatic 18% gratuity doesn’t exempt them from being a little more prompt. What did grind my gears is that the gratuity was added after tax. Even though it doesn’t add a lot to the total tip, it is cheating just a little bit.

The burgers are a little above average, but hey, this place is clearly a wingplace. I had the all you can eat wings on tuesday for around 11 bucks, it was definitely worth it! The wings came with one side of fries and you can ask for carrots or celery everytime you order more wings. I would say there are about 20 different wing flavor choices, from mild to very spicy (so spicy that you have to sign a waiver before trying them). To try these extremely spicy wings, however, you must work your way up the ladder of spiciness (which lists the scoville units for each flavor). I would not recommend the premium garlic wings, very overpowering flavor, unless you eat entire cloves on a regular basis.

We enjoyed this place. It is not the fanciest place in the world. But if you are in the mood for good wings, ribs, and other good ‘ol Americana food then you are in a treat here. The place looks like an old fashioned gas station outside and comes complete with a race car. There are some arcade games inside and enough motorcycles, pieces of cars, license plates, etc. etc. to stock at least a Jay Leno hangar. If you enjoy any of the above stuff you should enjoy this place.

The reason for our visit was the wings. While ordering our lunch we were told we couldn’t order the «crazy» hot wings right away. We had to order up, meaning we had to start with the mild and work our way up. The boys (my husband and brother-​in-​law) did just that, but noot till after signing a waver. After all of this, they didn’t even think the wings were that hot.
Meanwhile I had to watch my family eat thier lunch because their was a mix-​up in the back causing my food to be ordered after everyone at the table got their food. The manager was nice enought to credit the bill for my lunch though.
I can see how this place would be good for the college crowd, with the bar, pool table and karoke, but for a family I think I’ll just stick to Buffalo Wild Wings.

I’m only giving this three stars in the sense of it is solid – it’s not phenomenal, but it’s a traditional wings place: you aren’t going there for a five star menu, you’re going there for comfort food and clogging your arteries.
When you walk in, it’s like you’ve stepped into a NASCAR fan’s dream. There’s car stuff plastered all over the place, including a working stop and go light. Though, when the place is called «Quaker Steak & Lube,» is that really all that surprising? No. Although NASCAR isn’t typically associated with class – this join was very clean and the staff members were extremely willing to help out.
I had a grilled boneless chicken in Chipotle BBQ sauce with bleu cheese. My roommate had honey mustard wings with a Green Light Rita (margarita).
My grilled boneless chicken was interesting: I prefer boneless because you get to eat the entire thing as opposed to picking it off a bone and potentially wasting meat. It wasn’t really what you typically expect of boneless wings: it was more like a boneless breast with the sauce on it. It wasn’t bad, but I’m not sure it was worth the ~$ 8 I paid for it when I could’ve made it at home. It tasted good, though there’s only four boneless wings in that set if you get the regular size. The Chipotle BBQ sauce has a really nice little kick on your tastebuds, but not overwhelming. It’s great if you prefer more milder tastes but with only a little bit of spice.
My roommate allowed me to try her honey mustard wings: they’re sweet with a very nice glaze. As opposed to Buffalo Wild Wings (which isn’t bad) – they cover the entire wing in the sauce as opposed to a dallop here and there in the center of the wing. The meat was succulent and juicy which pleasantly surprises me for a large-​scale chain restaurant – but that explains why it got as big as it did!
Her Green Light Rita was very good too; it was very sweet, though I suspect that was because of the melon liqueur within it. I would recommend getting it frozen, however.
Overall, I’ll most definitely be back – the service was great! They even give you a warm wipe and a Twizzlers when you leave. I much prefer this place to Buffalo Wild Wings as the sauces are heavier and the meat is more juicy. Next time I’ll probably get the wings or the breaded boneless instead, though.

Good chicken wings in downtown Madison? Really? …To be honest, I never actually thought about it. Prior to the arrival of this small-​time chain to downtown Madison, all we had by way of decent wings was Buffalo Wild Wings. And I wouldn’t even think of setting foot in that place ever again, because «decent» is a huge overstatement.
You’re getting a lot more than that at Quaker Steak & Lube. The boneless chicken wings, for example, set a standard for chicken wings that I’ve never tasted before. The outside is fried to a perfect crispy texture that manages to avoid falling into that trap of being chewy and fatty, while still transcending your traditional fried chicken coating.
There’s a variety of interesting sauces to try at this place, and since you can mix any number of them at no additional charge, there’s no way you could run out of things to try. I decided to venture 6 wings with a combination of their spicy Arizona Ranch sauce and their less-​spicy Pineapple Rum sauce. The combination resulted in something that smelled and tasted 10 times better than I could have ever possibly expected.
However, the spiciness was pitifully weak. With Arizona Ranch being ranked as having the highest Scoville rating of their medium-​range sauces, I can’t help but wonder just how spicy they can make a wing. In their defense, I didn’t care to try the Atomic Sauce lest it taste like melted pennies (I’m looking at you, Blazin’ Sauce), but I still want a burn if I’m getting the next-​highest thing.
I got some onion rings on the side as well, and while I wasn’t expecting much, these are the best onion rings I have had in a long long time. Normally I receive floppy onion rings that automatically sort and separate themselves into chewy onion and broken, brittle breading the second I take a bite. But these onion rings managed to retain their texture and taste damn good in the process. Onion and all, it gives a nice crunch. Quaker Steak & Lube’s onion rings are essentially the onion version of good steak-​cut french fries.
I do take issue with the prices here. All that and a cheap domestic beer cost me around 15 bucks after tax and tip. For a small batch of boneless wings, you’re paying over a dollar a wing. And you can’t just buy wings in bulk, since they won’t let you pick more than one sauce/​mix for a larger amount. In this respect, Quaker Steak & Lube is performing just as poorly as B-Dub’s. But at least at this place, I can at least feel slightly more justified in paying exorbitant amounts of money for delicious fried chicken.