Famous Atlanta Wing Restaurant Opens on the Tuscaloosa Strip

An Atlanta-area wing restaurant has expanded into Alabama and opened a new location on the Tuscaloosa Strip, where its famous Lemon Pepper Wet wings are available now.

The Original J.R. Crickets first opened on Spring Street in Atlanta almost 45 years ago, in 1982.

It's been a beloved local favorite there for decades and has grown in recent years, surging in popularity after appearing on the FX show 'Atlanta,' which was repurposed into a popular Alexa ad singing the praises of Crickets' Lemon Pepper Wet wings.

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They are tossed in hot sauce, then generously seasoned with lemon pepper, offering the best of both worlds for wing lovers.

After expanding to an empire of more than a dozen locations, J.R. Crickets has opened its first restaurant outside Georgia, right here in Tuscaloosa. The new location is now serving fresh wings on the University of Alabama Strip, where We Dats used to be and where Little Italy pizzeria stood for years.

Like We Dat's, the J.R. Crickets restaurant is backed financially by JaMychal Green, the former Alabama Crimson Tide star who graduated in 2012 and spent the decade after playing professionally in the NBA.

Green and the team he's hired to run the restaurant celebrated its grand opening earlier this month on January 7th.

Now they're open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., except on Fridays and Saturdays, when they're open until midnight.

Offerings include their famous buffalo-style chicken wings, tenders, wraps and sandwiches, shrimp and fish, ribs, salads and more.

A sign near the register notes that every order is made fresh and could take 15-40 minutes to prepare, so don't expect to dip in and dip out, but the wait is well worth it.

Find J.R. Crickets in the University Town Center at 1130 University Boulevard, and for more exclusive coverage of restaurant and retail development in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.