Optimistic for Smiley’s Wings & Waffles

“FINALLY Chicken & Waffles in Manila!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” <3 <3 <3

My exact words as Brother and I saw a stand for Chicken & Waffles in Robinson’s Galleria. I really love these two things together (crunchy salty chicken and crisp but still soft sweet waffle) I only get them when I’m in the States. Recently, I had it at the famed Roscoe’s Chicken & Waffles in LA so it’s a tough act to follow for Smiley’s. Based on our visit, Smiley’s definitely has a looong way to go before it can live up to this soul food dish. Read on.. I’ll explain..

We were SUPER full from our merienda at Pancake House (coincidence) but brother loves chicken and I love waffles so we had to try. Here he is interviewing the saleslady about menu items.

We ordered a Smiley’s Meal. 1 Waffle, 2pcs chicken wings for P99.
Chicken and Waffles is traditionally served with just fried chicken and a plain waffle. So we didn’t opt for any flavors for the waffle. We just got BBQ for the chicken wing.

They have other Menu Items as well.. here is a photo of their available waffles and toppings, they get really creative. some of these seem really delicious. You can make your own too.

You can pretty much customize everything from your waffles (flavors, toppings and syrups) to your chicken (flavors – BBQ, teriyaki, etc). If you’re not sure, definitely don’t get a flavored waffle with toppings with your chicken. Go with the classic. Just in case you don’t like the topping/syrup combination.

Waffle creation!

Step 1: Scoop Batter.

Step2: Instant Waffle!

Here is the Meal (and the verdict below, read on…):

1) Chicken (BBQ Flavor): It’s okay. Tastewise the bbq sauce was okay. The wings had this weird spicy taste, maybe as a result of too much pepper? I don’t know.

They give you really small pieces of chicken. There’s barely any meat on there, I don’t know if that’s just the pieces we got. They give you 2 pieces of chicken but in reality it’s only 1 chicken wing. Because 1 wing = the wing part and the little drumstick.

Example below: (below are NOT Smiley’s products they are just examples of a chicken wing)

This is ONE WING.                                      This is still ONE WING split into two pieces.

Therefore, Smiley’s only gave us one chicken wing, but I understand that to some this is acceptable as two pieces of wings. However, they should’ve said 2 pieces of chicken. That’s more accurate, I would think.

2) Waffle (plain w/ maple syrup) : This needs a lot of improvement. The taste is good but the texture is off. It’s kinda pasty, mushy and very much like a thick pancake. I like my waffles a perfect combination of soft in the middle and a little crisp on the edges. Waffles almost need to be more solid otherwise they’ll turn to mush. This waffle was basically a pancake that looked like a waffle.

It’s a hearty waffle, we thought it was a good portion in size and thickness. However, it’s hard to eat too much of it anyway cuz of the density. So maybe that’s why it’s just the right size.

I can’t imagine what this waffle would be like with toppings. If you throw all the syrup or sauce on there, wouldn’t it get really soggy? It’s already soggy to begin with and I worry it’ll get lost under the toppings. I’ll test out my theory next time.

*On a positive note… I’m extremely optimistic for this Smiley’s. I like Chicken & Waffles so much that I’m likely to give it another shot. We will probably try more wing flavors and waffles with toppings (but separately as I don’t know how these would mix).  This place just opened and is the first in the Philippines(correct me if i’m wrong) to really pay homage to the Chicken & Waffles dish so I hope that over time they get the taste and texture right.

Smiley’s Wings & Waffles
2nd floor, 50th Avenue Area
Robinson’s Galleria, Ortigas