iWingz is planning a new restaurant in downtown Salem, and its website lists the location as coming soon. The business is owned by Paul and Brynne Xin who serve fresh chicken wings, burgers, wraps, sandwiches and other American comfort food. No opening date has been announced.
The new restaurant will replace the iWingz that operated for about six and a half years at 2445 25th St. SE, which closed on June 27. In the meantime, the business has kept serving customers from a food truck in downtown Salem, called iWingz Mobile.
They said they left 25th Street because it and the property owner couldn’t reach lease terms that worked for both sides. The business also thanked customers for supporting it through two years of road construction that made access difficult at times. It said it “isn’t going anywhere” and was negotiating for another permanent home.
The move into the city center gives the restaurant a different kind of neighborhood than the 25th Street spot. Downtown Salem is the city’s central district and its main dining and nightlife area, which should bring a steady lunch and evening crowd, along with state workers from nearby government offices.
They have built a following by pairing the wings with a lively, family-friendly atmosphere. The restaurant opened as a new spot in Salem in 2020, with build-your-own mac and cheese, sandwiches and more than 20 sauces, and today it offers about 30 sauce flavors. Flavors have included honey stinging garlic, Nashville hot, buffalo and sweet and sour, and the hottest sauce on the menu, Level 4 Fire, has drawn attention from reviewers. Wings have a crunchy exterior that stays crisp under sauce, and the restaurant has run a dollar wings deal on Wednesdays.
The restaurant’s menu has grown beyond wings. Its website now lists burgers, wraps and sandwiches along with the wings, and reviewers have recommended its Caesar wrap. Whether the downtown location will keep the arcade, the Wednesday deal and the full sauce lineup has not been announced.
