Farr Street Tavern

Basic Information:

• The Farr Street Tavern – Redux - 01/20/25
  Overall Rating: 72

  Lynch Serniak

  Lynch's Rating: 35 out of 50

  Environment: 9
  

  It’s been quite a while since we’ve been to Farr Street Tavern. In fact, we are approaching 12 years since our last visit. In that time, they’ve completely remodeled the place, cleaning it up and modernizing it, which is apparent as you pull up to the place with a cool looking outside and flashy “Tavern” sign. Farr Street has a large outdoor patio that is completely enclosed in glass during the winter, which gives it a nice, cozy feeling for dining. Even though it is surrounded by glass, the inside stay very warm, which just adds to the coziness. Inside, you can dine at one of the many high-top tables, the bar, or one of the tables in the closed-in patio. We arrived early for dinner, but it was already pretty packed. Our waitress was always on top of things, taking our order quickly and getting our food out in no time at all.

  
  Wing Size: 7
  

  On wing night, you can get an order of 10 wings for $10, which is becoming the norm for the mid-2020s. The wings are a good size for the price – I struggled to take down my 20.

  
  Wing Flavors: 5
  

  With the remodel came a slight reduction of wing options. They still offer the Benny’s sauce, your classic hot or mild, as well as some interesting choices like Chili Lime, Honey Truffle, and a vegan Chipotle BBQ. They also offer a weekly feature sauce on their wing night, so be sure to check out their Facebook or ask your server when you go.

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 7
  

  I don’t believe they allow splitting of order, but I’ll be honest, I forget if we asked. Either way, Serniak and I coordinated our orders to maximize our options. In my half, I ordered the regular Hot and the Garlic Parm. The Hot were a tasty vinegary sauce that was a bit runnier. It was an orange-ish sauce with a decent cayenne spice kick and good flavor. The Garlic Parm was a creamy, white sauce with lots of flavor. It had a good balance of the garlic and Parmesan flavor. I do wish the wings were coated in more sauce so I could really take in the flavor. I’d also be curious to see how these wings would be with the Hot sauce mixed with it.

  Serniak's Rating: 37 out of 50

  Environment: 8
  

  What a difference 12 years makes. This isn’t the first time our wing journey made it to the Farr St. Tavern. We were here 12 years ago and the place was much different.

  Think of the hit rom-com She’s All That where the girl, who was always good-looking, was dolled all up and was transformed into one of Barker’s Beauties. This is what has happened to Farr St. Tavern except instead of a new hairdo, a large amount of makeup, and a terrific dress, the man with the plan for Scranton using his Midas Touch graced Farr. St and turned another overlooked past gem in the Scranton area into gold.

  But the absolute beauty is the fact the spirit of the old Farr St Tavern lives today in its new form. You go there today and everyone there is still enjoying themselves and having a good time.

  It’s not an enormous place but it does utilize everything it has including having some tables that are enclosed and heated with external heaters. The bar area is lovely and crisp. There are a few TVs if you’re looking to catch a game or even the Wheel if you’re there at 7.

  The cleanliness really sticks out. Everything is pristine and the staff are very nice and knowledgable about what’s going on in terms of drinks and specials. Our server informed us of everything including that they had a special wing flavor for their wing night.

  Farr St. Tavern is a great place to go if you’re looking for a relaxing evening. The place, to me, is even better in the Summer when the windows are raised and Summer air is flowing through the place. It’s a top Summer place for me.

   

  
  Wing Size: 8
  

  On their wing night, wings are 10 for $10. Is that market price? Does anyone have a handle on what market price even is anymore? I don’t know and I don’t care to know. A  dollar a wing seems like near the average anymore so as much as I pine for yesteryear when wings were 25 cents or even 50 cents a wing, I realize we don’t live in that time anymore.

  The size was very good. The MPB(meat per bite) was high so I think if you get your typical order, you’ll be sufficiently full.

  
  Wing Flavors: 7
  

  8 flavors is what Farr St. Tavern offers. Sure, I wish there were more but they know what they’re trying to be and Farr St Tavern International House of Wings isn’t it.

  In those 8 flavors are some unique ones such as hot/mild honey-truffle and chili lime. You don’t often see those out there.

   

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 7
  

  Very solid wings at Farr St. Tavern. They were plump wings but they still had a good crisp to them.

  Lynch and I each got 10 and 10 meaning we didn’t split them into 5s. We actually forgot to ask if that’s possible there. Feel free to let us and the community know if that’s something that can happen.

  First was the hot. They were classic hot wings. No surprises here. Real good hot sauce cut with butter with efficient heat.

  Next was the chipotle BBQ. They were very BBQy. If you like BBQ wings, this is a flavor built for you. I wish there was a stronger chipotle flavor coursing through the sauce.

  On to the garlic parm. I love a garlic parm sauce and this was a sauce not just butter and garlic with parm sprinkled on them. This sauce was exactly what I was hoping it would be. There was more than enough of both garlic and parm that made every bite excellent.

  Finally, I got the special flavor of the night and that was sweet and sour. This was a solid flavor. It was sticky like you would think it would be and was as advertised which is a combo of sweet with sour. Who doesn’t love that? Neither the sweet nor sour portion of the sauce was more powerful than it’s counterpart. Very well-balanced.

  
  
• Farr Street Tavern First Visit - 11/13/13
  Overall Rating: 73

  Lynch Serniak

  Lynch's Rating: 35 out of 50

  Environment: 6
  

  The Farr Street Tavern is located, as you can probably guess, on Farr Street. I will not use any of my brilliant jokes about how it’s not that Farr from downtown Scranton or anything, but it really isn’t. It could easily be missed though as it is on the side streets of Scranton and there are no real signs hanging above the door. They do have beer lights in the windows, but they weren’t on yet when we arrived at 6:55 because the place doesn’t open until 7:00. I think that’s an odd time to open for a bar that serves food. I think this place really bases it business on locals and regulars, and I guess a lot of the locals don’t come into the bar until later. A few people did trickle in, but it wasn’t like a rave or anything. The bar is super nice inside though, with a large, square bar and plenty of area for sitting. They have a pool table, dartboard, and lots of TVs all over the place. It is definitely more of a sports bar. The place is well kept and very clean. The service was very fast and accommodating. It may be because we were the first people in the door. Hey, I’m not complaining. I thought the staff was nice enough, but they weren’t going out of their way to be overly nice. Another thing I didn’t like was how they don’t accept cards. It’s not that surprising, but what really surprised me was that they didn’t have an ATM. I have never come across a place that takes cash only, but doesn’t provide an ATM. That left me in quite the pickle and I had to rely on a friend to pick up my bill. I felt like a lowlife.

  
  Wing Size: 7
  

  These $0.45 wings were a pretty large size. When I walked into the place, I thought I can take on a whole fleet of chickens, but the size of the wings filled me up quite fast. I couldn’t finish the twenty that I ordered.

  
  Wing Flavors: 8
  

  Farr Street Tavern isn’t going to blow you away with the number of different flavors, but the variety and uniqueness of the options can really get your motor going. I’m a sucker for Teriyaki and Thai flavors, so it was nice to see them on the menu. Plus the Old Bay comes with a side of cocktail sauce, which adds a nice touch to the options.

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 7
  

  I love when places allow you to do orders of 5 like here. That gives me an opportunity to order more varieties. I got the Benny, Hot Garlic Parm, Teriyaki, and Thai. The Benny were only alright in my book. I know Serniak loved them, but they just weren’t for me. The sauce was more like a spaghetti sauce with some spice to it. It wasn’t that it tasted bad, but I would have preferred my traditional hot (so I probably should have ordered the Frank’s). Some people will love it, so definitely try it out and judge for yourself. The Hot Garlic Parm were the best wings of the bunch. They had such a perfect mixture of hot sauce, garlic, and parmesan cheese. I couldn’t get enough of them. I was a bit let down by the Teriyaki. Usually, Teriyaki is my bag. These ones were a thick, sticky sauce, but it didn’t have that saltiness and strong flavor that I love in a Teriyaki wing. The Thai were quite awesome though. This was also a very thick sauce. It was a great combination of sweet and spicy with the Thai chili mixed in with the sauce. I also tried the Old Bay. I’ve said it many times before, dry rubs are hard to make super good. The Old Bay wings at Farr Street were probably some of the better ones I’ve tried. The addition of a side of cocktail sauce will make it more appealing to some people. I personally thought it was a nice touch and enjoyed the Old Bay wing with the cocktail sauce.

  Serniak's Rating: 38 out of 50

  Environment: 7
  

  Located in Scranton right in the middle of a residential area, the Farr Street Tavern can easily be missed if you are not looking for it. For one, it doesn’t open until 7, which you don’t see very often. Farr Street Tavern is the kind of local bar that I wish was in walking distance of where I live. It’s quite clean, has a kind bartender and it doesn’t insist upon itself. Meaning, it doesn’t promote itself, it just simply exists and it leaves it up to the patron to decide if it’s worth a damn. Let me tell you, it is worth a damn. This place caters to the sport watching kind of person because it is equipped with several flat screens. The bartender was also socialable and the banter from him to the other people was funny to listen and chime in on.

  
  Wing Size: 7
  

  Just about all the wings were large and at 45 cents, it’s a descent deal. I could have used them to be a bit crispier but that is just a small request for wings at that size.

  
  Wing Flavors: 8
  

  There are 12 different sauces to be had at the Farr Street Tavern. They are Benny’s(their house recipe for “hot”) Franks(Frank’s Red Hot), hot garlic, blazin bbq(Frank’s Red Hot mixed with bbq sauce), garlic parmesan, bourbon, Thai sauce, old bay, teriyaki, bbq(Sweet Baby Ray’s) and honey mustard. There is good variety with a ride flavor range.

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 8
  

  Solid wings all around at the Farr Street Tavern. I had the Benny’s, which is their version of a hot sauce, old bay, garlic parmesan and Thai sauce, which is a sweet and spicy sauce. The Benny’s sauce was a thicker hot sauce than usual. It was almost like a marinara sauce but it had spices to it that made it a hot sauce. It wasn’t overly hot, it actually was kind of sweet. It actually was pretty good. The old bay dry rub was one of the better old bay wings I have mainly because they actually added butter to it first before adding the old bay seasoning. A little bit more old bay and it would of knocked it out of the park. The garlic parmesan might have been my favorite. The garlic was superb and the parmesan cheese was smothering it but there was creaminess to it. It might have been Caesar dressing, I’m not really sure. It was all together grand. Lastly, the Thai sauce was enjoyable. A well put together sweet and sour sauce it didn’t wow me but it did its job. It represented sweet and spicy admirably and at the end of the evening I will easily take that.