Last month, I went to upstate New York for a friend's wedding, and on one of my free days, I headed to Buffalo, NY and Niagara Falls.
Unfortunately, it was a very dreary and wet day, but I made sure to stop by the Anchor Bar (the "birthplace" of "buffalo wings").
I believe it was a Friday afternoon, but there was only a 15 minute wait to be seated.
I'm not going to do a review of the place or the food there, but what you see is what you get. I think a lot of negative reviews from others stem from those who go there with high expectations, but let's be honest -- it's bar food. If not for the "authenticity" factor, I probably would have gone somewhere else for lunch. I think that's a lesson that I try to teach myself often when going to restaurants or events: lower your expectations, and you'll have more fun instead of fixating on a perfect experience.
(I was actually staying in Syracuse for that weekend, and my companion and I went to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que the previous day. No pictures of the food there because it was way too dark in the restaurant and I hate my flash going off in dark places with other people around. I liked Dinosaur better, but I also felt way bloated afterward. I don't think I ate any meat or greasy products for the next couple days after returning from this trip.)
After lunch, we drove 20 minutes to Niagara Falls. Hey look, there's Canada! I didn't do any of the boat or walking tours since it was so wet and cold outside already. It's suggested that the Canada side of Niagara is much more lively and exciting than the US side. But based on what I did get to see on the US side (both of the actual falls and the "attractions" in the area), I'm going to assume it's true. The only thing that you can see real nice from the US side are the sweet rapids that lead to the waterfall.
Did you know if you're a US citizen and you don't have a passport that you can probably get into Canada, but you won't be able to return back to the US? Not that I know from experience* or anything.
*Really, I'm kidding. My passport expired several months ago and I didn't want to... test the waters. *ba-dum tsch*
The end.