Zato Grill 20609 State Route 410 East
Bonney Lake, WA
(Jason's Experience)
If you haven't been to Bonney Lake in a while you may be a surprised to see all the restaurants and bars that have sprouted up. Zatos Bar and Grill is the location where Jen and I decided to start a chicken wing blog. When I walked into Zatos I immediately got the feeling that this place is too cool for school. It's dark and there are strange murals on the wall. Also there is a room that looks like it could be a VIP room? I immediately looked back from the outside from whence I came to make sure that I remembered correctly walking through a door located in a strip mall next to a smoke shop and what used to be a Godfathers. I made a joke that Zatos is probably the fancy restaurant that the kids from Buckley take their prom dates to. On to the wings. We ordered the Chipotle wings. They were surprisingly delicious. I have been a big time nay sayer on anything Chipotle. I have never had anything, until these wings, that I liked that was labeled with Chipotle. I once moved out of an apartment because the put a Chipotle near my complex. These Chipotle Chicken Wings are really good. I have had them twice and they have been equally scrumptious each time. I was a little disturbed to see that these wings were not served with carrots and celery. Oh the celery was there, puke, but instead of delicious quartered carrots there were some strange white spears. I was puzzled to say the least, so I asked our server, "Pray tell, fair wench, what is this mysterious vegetable that has been served with my tiny fried chicken limbs? Now don't tarry, fetch me a flagon of mead so that I may slake my thirst!" Or something like that. Anyhow, she informed me that is was jicama spears. I was a little apprehensive to eat jicama. It wasn't too bad, it was like eating a giant peace of water-chestnut.
I will definitely be back to Zato's specifically for these wings. Also the waitress said that they are starting a new happy hour soon with specials from $2.00 to $5.00. So if you happen to be venturing up 410 and have a hankering for some delicious wings and an atmosphere that is diametrically opposed to what you would expect to be in a strip mall in Bonney Lake then hit up Zatos.
(Jen's Experience)
The atmosphere is a little weird, it appears that they are trying to make it look "upper class", but that doesnt last long. As soon as you see the 2 drunk trashy girls hitting on the bar tender, its easy to remember you are in Bonney Lake.
There are 2 different kinds of wings, the chipotle, and some other kind of wings that are not supposed to be spicy, so we didnt even try them. I, like Jason, am not a huge fan of chipotle, but I will give anything a shot. They are about 9 dollars, and I think if you go during happy hour they are half price, but since we didnt go during happy hour, I could be wrong. The wings have a good amount of sauce on them, and have pretty good flavor. I dont think these wings make it in my top 7, but they are good. I do like that it comes with celery and jicama, however, when I think of jicama I think of this horrible job that I used to have and it brings back bad memories, but I guess that is something I will have to get over. The ranch is weird. I am sort of indifferent about it. Its a bit chunky with some green onions and some other spices...decent, but not great. I will definitely eat the wings here again, but if I am craving some amazing wings, I am not sure this would be the first place to pop into my head.
