Borgata Pizza Cafe – Spiciest Dish in Columbus Series

Boasting a Spicy Sausage Stuffed Pepper and six wing sauces, we visited Borgata this week to see where they stacked up.

One low-gravity jump skip away from The Blarney Stone, Borgata has been a nice addition to the plaza that sits at Linworth and 161. We’ve been several times and typically end up getting the Chicken Parmigiana in sandwich form or as a meal with Alfredo Cavatelli. All of the pasta at Borgata is housemade and we can vouch for the the gnocchi and cavatelli. Not sure about the spaghetti though, so someone let us know whether or not it’s any good. Also “Columbus by the Slice” put together a nice video about Borgata where you can see the homemade pasta being made. Pretty cool.

No spicy pizzas here, but as referenced above, they do have a few appetizers that stand out spicy-wise, the Spicy Sausage Stuffed Peppers and their Borgata Chicken Wings in Pineapple-Habanero BBQ Sauce.

Spicy? Pshawwww.

Real quick, it’s hard to make these look good. That’s not on Borgata, it’s on the nature of the food itself. The Spicy Sausage Stuffed Peppers are “Cubanelle Peppers Stuffed with Housemade Sausage and Topped with Marinara Sauce and Mozzarella Cheese, Served with Baked Italian Bread.” For those of you that know your peppers, you know that something is already wrong. The Cubanelle, while a purdy lookin’ pepper, is a measly 1,000 SHU, which is two to three times less hot than a jalapeño. Even with the sausage, this “spicy” dish gets the Spicy Razzie for least spicy dish claiming to be a spicy dish in Columbus. This could easily sell as Sausage Stuffed Peppers and I would have enjoyed them more. The sausage is tasty and anything slathered in cheese and tomato sauce is fine in our eyes. Definitely not spicy though.

Full pound of wingssss.

Skeptical at the level of heat, it was at least refreshing to see the wings when we opened them up. It’s always a mystery opening the box for the first time, but the bright colors, charred edges, and generous saucing was an excellent sight to behold. While ordering, we verified that the Pineapple-Habanero BBQ Sauce was, in fact, their spiciest sauce, outdoing the Thai Sweet Chili and Spicy Garlic Sauce. Also, including Buffalo, BBQ and Spicy-Sweet Mustard, you’ve got your choice of six sauces for the full pound of wings.

Taking a whiff, the BBQ really sticks out along with an additional sweetness from the pineapple.  Biting into the first one, the wings are juicy and tender with a nicely crisped outside. The char on some of the fattier portions adds to the tastiness and the sauce coverage is excellent. The sauce is flavorful and thick, heavy on the BBQ with some of the molasses and more savory flavors hitting you first. The sweetness comes afterward and then a slight hit of the habanero at the end. Habaneros tend to hit you in the back of the throat and then sit for a bit and this sauce was true to form.

Enhance. Enhance.

Three or four wings in, the thickness of the sauce continued to help carry the heat, letting it shine whenever you finished a wing. A few sniffles had started to creep in, but no sweat and no tears. Flavor-forward with heat on the back-end is an awesome approach for a sauce and honestly we were a bit sad when these were gone. Reflecting on the heat, which still lingered, it is an approachable heat without the likelihood of overwhelming even the more sensitive spice fiends. The thickness and BBQ nature of this sauce is what keeps it on the list as a moderately spicy dish, but a really tasty sauce regardless.

If we had leftover sauce from the wings it probably would have been a nice side piece to the “spicy” Stuffed Peppers, but none remained. We’re now 40+ dishes into the list and as mentioned, the Spicy Sausage Stuffed Peppers are headed straight to the bottom, to live there forever. As for the Pineapple-Habanero BBQ Wings, these move to a comfortable #33, just above the Roosters Nu-Killer wings and below The Rail Bonfire Burger. As a wing, this is one of the better wings in the city, but as a spicy sauce there are many more options out there.

You can find Borgata Pizza Cafe at one of two locations: 5701 Parkville St Columbus, Ohio 43229 or 2285 W Dublin-Granville Rd Suite 113 Worthington, Ohio 43085

Look below for more in our spiciest dish in Columbus series and hit us up if you have any suggestions that are not already on our list!

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