Rep’s Place

Basic Information:

• Rep’s Place - 12/08/15
  Overall Rating: 61

  Lynch Serniak

  Lynch's Rating: 26 out of 50

  Environment: 5
  

  Rep’s Place in Scranton is a bar that appears to be tailored toward regular patrons. You enter into a large bar area with tall tables and a long bar for slinging drinks. There is also a back section past the bar that is dedicated to sit-down tables. We were unsure if this was a place that had a waitress taking orders, so we walked up to the bar to order our wings and sat at one of the high tables. The bartender was nice enough, focusing on getting his job done while conversing with people at the bar. Our order took a little bit of time to come out, which was surprising considering the place wasn’t overly packed. Just a warning: Be prepared to smell like old cigarette smoke immediately upon leaving Rep’s as this place most definitely allows smoking.

  
  Wing Size: 7
  

  The wings at Rep’s were sufficiently big and meaty. Normally $7.50 for 10 wings, Rep’s offers 50 cent wings on Tuesday for their wing night. They do allow orders of five, so you can get more variety with your order.

  
  Wing Flavors: 6
  

  For a small bar located in the back streets of Scranton, Rep’s provides a pretty decent selection of flavors. Of course, they offer your classic flavors of Mild, Medium, and Hot, but they do venture off the beaten path a little bit with interesting options such as Porketta, Sweet N Tangy BBQ, and Sesame Oriental.

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 4
  

  The regular Hot wings at Rep’s have been suggested to us multiple times in the past as a good traditional sauce. I’ll be honest though, it was not my style. The sauce had a harsh acidity that I didn’t like. This was especially apparent once I had some of the other wings and came back to the Hot. The sauce was almost unbearable to my taste buds once I came back to it. The Porketta wing was another that was underwhelming. I like that Rep’s includes butter with their porketta seasoning, but the seasoning was lacking and only covered half of the wing. The Hot Garlic Parmesan balanced Rep’s hot sauce with bits of garlic and Parmesan cheese. These wings were tasty. I preferred them much more over the Hot. Finally, the Oriental Sesame ended up being the best of the bunch. It was a sweeter, sticky sauce with a nice hint of salt, similar to a Teriyaki sauce.

  Serniak's Rating: 35 out of 50

  Environment: 7
  

  I live in Scranton, but I can honestly say I don’t find myself in West Scranton too often. But, I was there for wings at a place called Reps Place. This place was throwback, it was old school and I really dug it. I love places that look, feel and smell like you just walked into 1978. It’s like entering into the past and then you eat. I even like when places like this that still allow smoking. I don’t smoke, but I believe bars are places for sin and escaping societal norms. Reps is a place where a man can be a man and I like that. Our server/bartender was behind the bar so you’ll have to order your food from the bar. I don’t like when every place plays it that way but here and there it’s nice not to have to rely on anybody. Our server/bartender was a friendly fella. Another cool thing about Reps is that really pay homage to policemen and the force. There’s a lot of local policing history on the walls that will make you say “didn’t know that.” The crowd was a burly bunch. Seemed like real tough dudes that get out of work and head there before bed. Fine with me, but you may hear somethings that will make you say “did I just hear that?”

  
  Wing Size: 7
  

  They’re pretty big at Rep’s Place. You should go home full and at 45 cents a wing and given the current state of wing prices, it’s all good.

  
  Wing Flavors: 7
  

  Solid flavors will be found at Reps. There’s other places that have more but their selection was solid. Traditional flavors can be had, but you can also get other ones such as sweet n tangy, sesame oriental and porketta, which is really on the rise.

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 7
  

  Again, Reps is solid. They’re like Xavier in NCAA basketball. They’re feisty, play hard and are consistently a tough out. First, their hot really reminded me of the old style wing sauces that I grew up with; just hot sauce and butter. No surprises with it, just good heat and full of spice. Next was the sweet n tangy. They were interesting because I figured they would be a redder sauce, like I usually see. But that wasn’t the case. These were more light yellowish. And the reason for that I believe is because their sweet n tangy are honey mustard. A bit of a curve ball there and I thought it over and I’m fine with it. Honest mustard is literally sweet n tangy. I like the misdirection especially because they were very tasty. I went with the sesame oriental next and they didn’t disappoint. A classic sticky, Asian blend of spices and sweetness is what this sauce was all about. It was a good compliment to my other sauces. Finally, the porketta were all that. Not like Lori Beth Denberg but the all that way you just want to keep having. They were properly seasoned, not too much not too little and they had a butter coating as well that kept the seasoning in place.