Viral videos of ‘beyond local’ Coral Springs spots prompt nostalgia, local pride

Coral Springs doesn’t have the same buzzy reputation as Miami or Fort Lauderdale, so when a video showcasing some local spots went viral, residents took notice.

Coral Springs native Shelby Marchuck recalled how growing up, she would hang out at Wings Plus on Sample Road and play games in the back while her mom had business meetings.

Years later, she and her family decided to visit Wings Plus for one last hurrah after her parents sold their house, and in February she made a video about taking her boyfriend to “one of the best places in Coral Springs.” They ended the night with a trip to Cecilie’s Gourmet Italian Ices.

She posted the video on TikTok, where it accrued nearly 90,000 views.

“This was just places in our childhood that we would go to,” Marchuck told the Coral Springs News. “I had no idea that so many people were going to be like, ‘Oh my god, I love that place, too, growing up…’ So it was funny.”

People in the comments were excited — albeit surprised — to see a no-fuss mainstay spot like Wings Plus on their “for you page.”

“This is so Coral Springs late night niche,” wrote one person, among hundreds of comments. People shared their go-to wings orders and reminisced on the days when there was an arcade machine in the back that played a particular jingle.

“Oh this is beyond local,” another comment read. “Coral Springs staple.”

Another person said they visit Coral Springs once a year — to do their taxes and go to Wings Plus.

One of the people surprised to see Wings Plus in a viral video was Brian Walsh Jr., whose family has owned Wings Plus for decades. His sister is the general manager.

“We’re a mom and pop shop, but wow that was something else to see our name out there like that,” he told the Coral Springs News. “We got a lot of website hits, and our Facebook numbers went up.”

Walsh’s father, a former New York police officer, opened the first Wings Plus location on Oakland Park Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, before opening the Coral Springs location on Sample Road in 1988.

The walls are adorned with sports memorabilia, old photos of the Coral Springs Police Department and drawings of Irish pubs.

Carol Walsh said somewhere they still have all the old plaques from winning teams they’ve sponsored over the years. The family has kept the walls and original tile, preserving the memories people have made there.

“It really is nostalgic,” Brian Walsh Jr. said. “It’s a time capsule.”

In addition to local families, politicians including former President George W. Bush and Gov. Ron DeSantis have visited the long-standing eatery.

After a friend brought the video to the family’s attention, the restaurant sent Marchuck a gift card, although she said she wasn’t making the video with the intention of getting anything out of it.

But the community’s reaction did get her thinking.

“Then I was like, ‘Wait a minute. Now that I have people from Coral Springs on here, we need to talk about some other things there,’” she said.

Marchuck, who went to Coral Springs Middle School and graduated from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2017, made a follow-up video describing her experience growing up in Coral Springs in the early 2000s.

She talked about working at Cold Stone with her sister and then later at Pasquale & Sons’ Pizza Company, where she would hide in the back when her classmates came to the pizza shop after football games.

That video also blew up, getting about 46,000 views.

“But the best part about that was the views were everyone in Coral Springs, the algorithm just picked it up,” said Marchuck, who now lives in Boca Raton. “So people that I worked with at Pasquale’s 10 years ago were DMing me.”

The owners of Pasquale’s also found the video, prompting co-owner Andrea Marrone to start following Marchuck on TikTok. They began messaging to catch up.

Again, the comments were filled with people reminiscing on what it was like growing up in Coral Springs, hanging out at Magnolia Shoppes, Coral Square Mall and The Walk.

“Oh, there’s a Coral Springs side of TikTok?” one commenter wrote.

By virtue of being a family-owned, family-oriented business, Pasquale’s owner Mike Marrone said he’s gotten to witness how Coral Springs has changed in the decades the restaurant has been around.

“Having a business for that many years in the city, it means a lot to bring back the nostalgia, the memories you’ve made with your family and friends,” said Mike Marrone, whose father started the business. “People will come back with their kids and say, ‘This is the pizzeria Mom went to when she was your age.’”

The Pasquale’s on Coral Ridge Drive that opened in 2005 is the second location the Marrone family started, following the original one on Royal Palm Boulevard that opened in 1988.

“The biggest thing has been the growth,” Marrone told the Coral Springs News. “Coral Springs is very small, very tight. You can’t go any further north or any further west, and every piece of land has been developed. We really watched the city grow and grow around us.”

As part of its role in the community, the pizza place has also been there through hard times, Marrone said. They’ve held fundraisers for the Parkland 17 Memorial Foundation and to support several families who lost their kids in a car crash on Sample Road.

“That’s what’s great about a small community like Coral Springs. Everyone is so involved because everybody knows everybody,” Marrone said. “To have these family-owned restaurants like Pasquale’s, Wings Plus, Runyon’s, that have stood the test of time that have passed through all the generations, these are places where people can get together and feel like Coral Springs.”

Marrone echoed Marchuck that Pasquale’s has long been a gathering place for the youth of Coral Springs and Parkland.

“Pasquales has always been that place to go after school,” Marrone said. “When it’s early release at Douglas, it looks like the cafeteria. When it’s Friday night, everyone comes after the football game.”

The Marrones employ lots of young people, including Marchuck back in the day and the couple’s own kids, as well as their kids’ friends. Marrone has also coached youth sports in the city for years and has had former players come back to say hello.

“It’s pretty cool to have the ability to watch the youth of America grow up, and be a part of their life through the business,” he said.

If people leave Coral Springs and come back, they want to visit their favorite spots, whether it’s Pasquale’s or another local haunt, Marrone said, referring back to Marchuck’s videos.

And due to popular demand, she said she’s thinking of making a video about some other Coral Springs classic spots.

This story was originally published March 11, 2026 at 6:14 PM.