Elmer Sudds

Basic Information:

• Elmer Sudds First Visit - 08/18/20
  Overall Rating: 70

  Lynch Serniak

  Lynch's Rating: 35 out of 50

  Environment: 8
  

  Elmer Sudds is a place I’ve known about and passed in Wilkes Barre for quite a while, but it was never on my radar for wings. This visit was Serniak’s idea and I’m glad he made the choice because overall it was a great spot. It’s tough to gauge the true environment during a Covid 19 visit. I will say they were absolutely adherent to the current rules set in PA. The server always had a mask on and were strict with people wearing masks when getting up from the table and heading to the bathroom, which I appreciated. Elmer Sudds is mostly taken up by a large, rectangular-shaped bar. That’s unfortunate, because with Covid restrictions, that meant all the bar chairs were gone and seating was limited to only a small handful of tables throughout the place. Our waitress was very nice and accommodating. And the food didn’t take long at all, likely due to the limitation of people allowed in the place.

  
  Wing Size: 4
  

  Elmer Sudds doesn’t offer a wing night, so don’t plan on a specific night to get a deal. Their wings are $1 a piece, with an option to get wings in orders of 6 or 12. One thing that confused me is that 6 wings are $6, 12 wings are $12, but to split an order of 12 wings cost $13. I’m not sure if that means split it with two different flavors (this is what I’m leaning towards), or if it means split with someone else. Either way, if you want two different sauces, it makes the most sense just to get two orders of 6. In my opinion, I feel like $1 a wing is a little steep. Granted, the wings were a good size and very well cooked with a nice, meaty interior and crispy skin on the outside. Maybe I’ve been out of the wing game a little too long, but I did struggle to take down my usual amount of wings. That may be an indicator on just how big the wings were, or maybe its more a commentary on what happens when you have a long gap in wing consumption.

  
  Wing Flavors: 7
  

  Elmer Sudds covers all the basics with their wing sauce option with addition of some special flavors that may grab your attention. Not only do you get the usual variety of traditional wing sauce, but you get mixes with the hot such as garlic, bleu cheese, or honey. It seems their ACME sauce, which is a mix of garlic, mild, bleu, and ranch, is a big seller there. I recommend it. It’s interesting that they put Ranch in that sauce, but don’t have a hot ranch variety on its own.

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 8
  

  Since the lowest amount you can get of a variety is 6, I ordered 18 total to get three different sauces. The Garlic Parm wing had no hot sauce, which I was expecting, but in the end, I’m happy it didn’t have hot sauce because I think it was extremely tasty on its own. It was much like a traditional butter garlic sauce with lot of grated Parmesan on top. It was a runnier sauce with a slight thickness to it. I also got a hint of something acidic, maybe lemon, that I think really added o the flavor. The Stoopid Hot is meant to be their amped up Hot. It was a dark red hot sauce  with visible red pepper flakes throughout. It was definitely on the higher end of the spice scale with a strong pepper taste, but I thought it was still manageable. I wasn’t blown away by the flavor. It was tasty enough, but average in my opinion. Finally was the ACME sauce. I’m always a sucker for sauces with lots of flavors mixed within it. The ACME sauce was a creamy, orange hot sauce that was on the milder side. I thought they did a great job balancing all the flavors. I really enjoyed this wing.

  Serniak's Rating: 35 out of 50

  Environment: 7
  

  Wow. It’s been so long since Lynch and myself enjoyed some wings together on official business. We figured, in classic Owen Hart fashion, that enough was enough and it was time for a change. So, we set sail for wings in unknown waters. Elmer Sudds is where we made landfall(I promise that’s the last sailing reference).

  Located in Wilkes Barre, Elmer Sudds, which possibly has the best name of a place that we’ve been too, is an establishment that lets you dine indoors. It’s relevant to mention this because we now live in the COVID world and it’s important to know which places you can step inside. They, currently, don’t have outdoor seating.

  As soon as you inside, you’ll notice no less than eleventy-billion tap handles on the walls. The bar, which is an enormous piece, is non-usable at the moment, looks like a real good time to be sitting at. There are multiple tables that surround the perimeter of the inside wall. A cool feature Elmer Sudds has that you don’t see too often is that they have a Tornado foosball table. Tornado makes the best foosball tables on the planet, I think. Give it some run when you go there.

  Another cool thing is that on their menu, it says that the wings are already crispy. You don’t really see that anywhere.

  Goes without saying, though I’m saying it, the atmosphere of just about any place you go to is going to be a bit off due to the current circumstances. Deal with it, do what you’re told to do, and enjoy yourself.

   

  
  Wing Size: 7
  

  At Elmer Sudds, large wings are what you’re going to get. However, they don’t have a wing night. You’d expect a place that receives the amount of pub about their wings that I read on the web to have a wing night, But, they don’t. I’d like for them to have one, but they really don’t care about my wishes, sadly. I sort of respect it. They have confidence in their wings and don’t need to have a special night dedicated to them. They know their good enough to not that kind of boost.

   

  
  Wing Flavors: 7
  

  15 flavors are what you get to choose from at Elmer Sudds. Not showing off while also not falling behind. 15 wing flavors is a real Steven Koren of amounts of wing flavors. If anyone gets the Steven Koren reference I’d be amazed. Only a true anti-dentite would get it.

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 7
  

  A very solid showing from Elmer Sudds. If this were the NCAA tournament, Elmer Sudds would be NC State. Not a ton of talent, but they play well together and are always a team no one wants to play because they have the grit to upset anyone.

  I only got 18 because orders come in 6s. I didn’t think I can pull off 24. First, I got hot. They were interesting because they had a sweetness I wasn’t expecting. The heat was there, but the sweetness was prominent. Next, I had the Sweet Chili. I actually thought the heat was more notable sweetness compared to the hot. They were up to the task of being a sweet chili wing. Finally, I had the Cajun. Sometimes Cajun wings the sauce is more of a creamier style. This wasn’t the case. These looked like the hot but they were loaded with the Cajun flavor you’d expect. Cumin and pepper for days. They were really nice. In hindsight, I wish I got butter garlic, or hot blue cheese just to break up my flavors. All my flavors brought heat, sweetness, and spice. I could have used a yang.