It’s National Chicken Wing Day! 9 Wing Joints Georgians Line Up For on Game Day
Think you can name Georgia’s best game-day wings without starting a fight at the tailgate?
Good luck.
The state treats July 29, National Chicken Wing Day, like a warm-up for football season, from Atlanta lemon pepper counters to Athens bars packed for the Dawgs.
These are the wing joints Georgians line up for on game day.
1. J.R. Crickets
The wings Atlanta argues about most come out of J.R. Crickets.
The Midtown wing joint has been frying since 1982, and it’s the name most people credit with putting Atlanta on the wing map.
Its signature is the lemon pepper wet, hot buffalo sauce and lemon pepper seasoning piled onto the same wing.
Cooks there used to call it the Fester.
Then the TV show “Atlanta” name-dropped it in 2016, and the line hasn’t shortened since.
Order it wet.
Regulars still point newcomers to the original location, now on North Avenue in Midtown.
On a Falcons Sunday, the counter fills up long before kickoff.
2. Buffalo’s Cafe
North of Atlanta, Buffalo’s Cafe turns a game day into an all-you-can-eat project.
The sit-down spot opened in Roswell back in 1985 and grew into a Georgia name, with the Cartersville location sitting right off I-75 in Bartow County.
Their wing bash keeps the plates coming, tossed in buffalo, teriyaki, or lemon pepper.
The wings are fresh, never frozen.
Big screens line the walls, so nobody misses a snap.
3. Blind Pig Tavern
In Athens, game day means the Dawgs, and Blind Pig Tavern is where the crowd lands before Sanford Stadium.
The tavern keeps two locations, downtown on East Washington and the West Side on Broad.
Here’s the draw: The West Side sells 90-cent jumbo wings after 5 p.m.
The sauce board runs thirteen deep, from honey barbecue and teriyaki to a scorcher called the Ninja.
The Ninja earns its name.
By a Saturday kickoff, every stool downtown is taken.
4. American Deli
American Deli helped make lemon pepper wings an Atlanta default.
The family-run chain started in 1989 and now fills strip malls across the metro, small wings built for a takeout order on the way home.
Small wings hold more seasoning per bite.
It’s a wing order many in Atlanta grew up on.
It’s cheap, fast, and open late.
On a Hawks night, it’s a five-minute stop before tip-off.
5. 520 Wings
Down in Savannah, 520 Wings is the name locals drop first.
Gary Gordon opened it in 2011, and the Starland District spot on Bull Street has been packing them in ever since.
The wings come out crispy and heavy on sauce, on a menu that runs past wings into fried fish and more.
Late hours help.
On a Friday, the kitchen runs until 3 a.m., long after a Savannah Bananas game lets out.
That’s the closing-time wing run.
6. Locos Grill & Pub
Locos Grill & Pub started as an Athens general store and grew into a game-day sports bar.
Two friends opened it in 1988 to feed hungry UGA students, and there are now Locos across Georgia, with two in Athens on Barnett Shoals and Timothy Road.
The jumbo wings come all flats or all drums, your call, with ranch or blue cheese on the side.
TVs sit in every sight line.
Wherever you land, you can see the Georgia game.
Both fry up crisp.
7. Country Wings
Over in Columbus, Country Wings throws more sauces at a wing than most kitchens stock.
The spot has served the city for years and runs two locations, on Victory Drive and Macon Road.
Its 10-piece combo lets you spread more than twenty sauces across the box.
No two boxes match.
Burgers and sides round out the menu, but the wings are why a group orders in for kickoff.
Pick four sauces and settle the argument later.
8. The Local
Back in Atlanta, The Local proves a dive bar can turn out better wings than the chains.
The Ponce de Leon Avenue staple has poured drinks for about twenty-five years, and its lemon pepper wings pull in fans from across the city.
The seasoning is restrained, a tart kick instead of a dump.
No takeout, though.
You eat these on a bar stool with a game on overhead, or you wait for a stool to open up.
Worth the wait.
Psst! How much do you know about the hot wing’s backstory? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Wing History Pop Quiz
Answer these questions on the hot wing’s backstory and lore. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
Which New York bar is credited with inventing the modern hot wing in 1964?
9. Macon Wings
In Macon, the go-to is the wing joint that just calls itself Macon Wings.
The Columbus Road spot runs on a warm welcome and a fryer that stays busy from lunch on.
The move at the counter is the honey lemon pepper, sweet and citrus and salt on one wing.
Honey hot and honey mild round out the board, next to Philly cheesesteaks and fried fish.
Closed Mondays.
Every other day, a Mercer Bears crowd can grab a box on the way to the game.
Get there before a Saturday crowd hits because the honey lemon pepper sells fast once the game-day orders start.
Ask for the wings extra crispy, and add a side of the honey mild for the table.
Georgia's Wing Obsession
Lemon pepper wings carry weight in Georgia, enough that state lawmakers took up the cause.
In 2026, Rep. Eric Bell of Jonesboro filed a bill to name lemon pepper the official state chicken wing flavor.
He's serious.
It came from the same legislature that made cornbread the official state bread a year earlier.
The flavor got famous partly through Atlanta hip-hop, with Gucci Mane and Quavo working lemon pepper into their verses.
Bell's bill leans on that fame, calling the wings an international symbol of the state that also gave the world Coca-Cola.
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