Duke’s West Union is a beautiful place. No, seriously. A college dining hall is the last place you would expect to be an architectural marvel, but in the world of billion dollar endowments, opulent buildings such as WU (as West Union is affectionately known) are our reality here at Duke.
Expectations are raised with such an over-the-top design. To make such a grand building and fill it with McDonald’s and Taco Bell would be akin to filling a Ferrari with only the lowest-quality gas. So, it should not come as a surprise that the food is crazy good. Even as a freshman trying to stretch out his food points to last the whole semester, I had tried the whole selection of locally-owned restaurants that fill West Union. Or so I thought.
After a friend came upstairs to WU’s main level with a burger, I was surprised—there are no burger places in WU! Well, per the usual, I was wrong. Downstairs, hidden behind some doors stood The Devil’s Krafthouse.
As the name suggests, Krafthouse’s claim to fame is its craft beers. Being only 19, I could not test them out (nobody under the age of 21 drinks anyways… right?) But for anyone in a pickle like me or just plain hungry, they also have a bevy of pub foods. Sandwiches, burgers, and—yes, it took me this long to get to it—wings. 
Starved coming out of a quick meeting, I rushed downstairs and placed my order for wings at the counter. Krafthouse offers an alright, but unspectacular stable of five sauces: Buffalo, sweet chili, BBQ, garlic parmesean, and lemon pepper. Intent on getting the most conventional wing experience, I chose buffalo. In the mean time, I soaked up the atmosphere of the restaurant. Though I was there alone, the restaurant buzzed with energy, with most patrons intently watching Duke take on Boston College in basketball. Seating was hard to come by, a testament to both the spot’s popularity and the empty stomachs of college students at seven in the evening. Nonetheless, I eventually found a small, two-person table near the counter.
The service was quick, having my wings ready in 10 minutes (I can’t tell whether that’s a good or bad thing. As hungry as I was, I wonder where the line is between quick service and making fresh, not quickly-heated wings). My plate came with 8 wings and blue cheese. For $8, that’s a really reasonable price, especially considering my food points are already a sunk cost. That said, carrots or celery would have complemented the blue cheese really well. Lacking them as vessels for the blue cheese threw me off initially, given their presence at most wing places. 
As for the wings themselves, they were coated with a hot sauce as well as flakes of pepper. The sauce was unevenly distributed, such that some wings suffered from too much sauce and others failed to pack even a morsel of heat. Although the pepper mildly compensated for the lack of sauce in some places, a few wings were still basically naked. Where hot sauce did coat the wing, its heat played with your mouth a bit. It wasn’t very hot, and that’s coming from someone with little heat tolerance. But the pepper and hot sauce combined to form a rich, if moderate heat that provided satisfaction with every bite. Moreover, each wing had a moderate amount of meat: No wing gave a ton of meat, nor did one cheat me.
Overall, the wings were pretty solid. Nothing was amazing about them, but nothing was too bad, either. The lack of celery/carrots for the blue cheese, as well as the uneven sauce distribution effectively rendering some wings naked, were turn-offs. But for a reasonable price at one of the most convenient spots on campus, I have a hunch that more wing stops at Krafthouse are in my future.
Ratings: Out of 5 Stars
Flavor:🌟🌟🌟
Size:🌟🌟🌟
Sauce Variety:🌟🌟
Service/Ambiance:🌟🌟🌟
Price:🌟🌟🌟🌟
Overall:🌟🌟🌟
Contemporary American Poultry 