Birmingham’s chicken wings are always a topic of conversation.

A recent debate erupted on X when comedian KevOnStage posted a picture of fried chicken with mumbo sauce and rice from a restaurant in Washington D.C. That post sparked a national conversation online about which corner of the country has the best chicken wings.

Throughout the years, some have laid claim to being the hot wing OG – including John Young, a Black man from Alabama who in the 1960s owned John Young’s Wings & Things, a successful Buffalo, New York, restaurant with clientele included Buffalo Bills football players.

In Birmingham, there are a plethora of ways to devour your wings. Whether you like your whole wings fried hard with lemon pepper sprinkles or 6-piece hot honey mustard, chicken wings are a popular combo favorite in the city. It’s unclear when flavored party wings (flats and drumettes) and Cajun ranch fries became a thing here, but word on the street is this combo grew to popularity in the 1990s and 2000s.

Today, a 10-piece lemon pepper hot with Cajun ranch fries and kiki pooh (a sugary drink with various flavors of Kool-Aid) are available at dozens of restaurants in the city.

Before we get into the top five, we have a couple of honorable mentions: Exotic Wings and Kings Wings. Both locations have been around for a couple of decades and have two stores each in different parts of the city that’s been holding down their respective communities with fresh flavorful chicken, soft fries, and kiki pooh. Unfortunately, they didn’t make the cut for the top five.

Here are our top five best places to get chicken wings in Birmingham.

5. FROZEN ROOSTER

6200 Grand River Blvd E Suite 354, Leeds, www.thefrozenrooster.com

Known for their food truck popping up at popular events and offering their best chicken wings at their store location in Leeds at the Outlet Mall.

They load their wings with plenty of sauce and have really crispy French fries. Outside of the usual chicken and fish offerings, the restaurant also offers a really saucy chicken sandwich combo and salads. (They even offer a rewards program and discounts for their VIP customers.)

The only thing missing from this restaurant is some kind of punch or kiki pooh. A Yelp review said, “Really good wings. They weren’t too large, so they crisped up nicely and the flavors I’ve tried have been good.”

They also have various locations outside of Alabama in Georgia.

4. WINGS PLUS #3

437 Green Springs Hwy Unit 111, Birmingham, www.wingsplus3.com

Conveniently located off of Green Springs Highway, they have the best wings in all of Homewood. Their menu is loaded with so many different options from a Philly cheesesteak, fried shrimp and catfish, okra, and onion rings. Plus, they’re one of the few chicken joints that’s open until midnight on the weekends.

Aside from their flavored wings, the restaurant has some of the best whole wings you can order, and their whole menu is reasonably priced.

The restaurant always displays a combo special on their front window — like a 10-piece combo, fries and a drink for $8.99. An online review read, “The wings is definitely worth the visit. They always have specials going on so I would say this is the best place for wings and fries at a very reasonable price.”

They also have a variety of juices like peach tea, lemonade, fruit punch, and kiki pooh. All of the drinks can be bought in a large cup, extra large cup, and half-gallon.

3. J. WINGS

1011 9th Ave. SW, Bessemer; 2451 Crossplex Blvd., Birmingham; jwingsorder.com

J. Wings has been around the Birmingham area for the last decade. They’re known for having the best-flavored wings in the city including hot lemon pepper, honey barbecue and garlic parmesan. If you’ve ever been to a concert after-party or VIP rooms at an entertainment event in the Birmingham area where wings are served, there’s a good chance they came from J. Wings.

One person online said, “I choose J Wings over other wing spots in the area because their wings are larger and the flavor choices are better.”

Of course they have Cajun ranch fries, but the restaurant also offers Philly cheesesteak fries, fried green tomatoes, and coleslaw. They even sell banana pudding as a dessert.

However, J Wings doesn’t offer kiki pooh. Instead, they have J Punch, which owner Jay Williams describes as “a mix of several Kool-Aid flavors with a red punch that reminds him to bee bops from his childhood”.

J. Wings must be doing something right since they have several locations across the metro area: Bessemer, Clay Chalkville, Fultondale, Crossplex in Ensley, and downtown Birmingham at the Pizitz.

2. GREEN ACRES

310 18th St N, Birmingham, www.greenacrescafe.org

Green Acres is the OG of chicken wings in Birmingham. They’ve been a staple in the city for decades. And dare I say, they’re the reason why Birmingham has a reputation for amazing chicken wings. If you have never encountered a steaming brown paper bag with grease leaking through, then what are you waiting for?

They don’t offer their wings with a dozen different flavor options, nor do they have Cajun ranch fries. But what they do have is a whole fried chicken wing, and your best bet is to order it “all the way,” meaning your basket of food doused with hot sauce, ketchup, salt, and pepper. They also offer the infamous “Manager’s Special,” a 3-piece whole wing with fries, four fried green tomatoes and a drink, made all the way.

Like I said, they’re the OG, so there’s no kiki pooh here either, but they do offer a really good fruit punch and peach tea. You can get a slice of pound cake, too.

One Yelp review read, “This place has been around maybe longer than I have and I think that’s probably because they keep it simple, cook it fresh, and are a no frills operations where you order at the counter, wait for your number to be called, pick up your bag and go.”

1. WINGS HEAVEN

5605 E J Oliver Blvd, Fairfield, facebook.com/wingsheavenfairfield

This new popular fave is located in Fairfield attached to a gas station near Miles College. They entered the chicken capitol scene about 10 years ago, and started growing in popularity a couple of years ago.

They’re known for frying their chicken just right, having the right size wings, and some unique flavorful sauces like sweet heat, golden heat, and garlic pepper. They have all the other well known flavors like honey mustard, teriyaki, and lemon pepper. Of course, you can’t only judge a wing by its flavored assorted party wings, you have to taste the whole wings too. Wings Heaven’s whole wings are large, fried hard, and come with any extra seasoning you desire.

The fries are crispy with the right amount of seasoning. If you’re tired of the traditional French fry or don’t even want the Cajun ranch fries, you can try something that I’ve only seen done at Wings Heaven — Cajun ranch okra. Yep, you read that right. Fried okra with cajun ranch seasoning.

Of course they have the kiki pooh on deck, but that’s not it. They offer several different types of mixes of juices like the VIP juice, GooGoo juice, and Jolly juice. If you want to know what’s in there, you have to check it out for yourself.

One online review said, “The name does not lie. I am driving through Alabama and the word serendipitous is what comes to mind when finding this gem of an establishment. By far the best wings and fries I have had in a very very very long time.”

Wings Heaven gets the number one spot because, out of all the chicken joints in Birmingham, you literally can have your chicken wing combo the way you want it. You can have a large variety of wing options, try something different with ordering cajun ranch okra, and there’s no shortage of sweet drinks to wash it down with.