Many people have suggested The R Bar to us in the past, which is located in Nanticoke. It is a bit of a drive for us Scrantonians (or is it Scrantonites), so I was always hesitant on making the trek. I will say right now it is definitely worth the trip. Whatever people say about this place, which is always positive, is most definitely true. The R Bar is a small Bar located on a side street in Nanticoke. It’s small on the inside and outside. It seems as though they are going for a sort of automotive-biker-street theme for the place. The bar is a decent size with plenty of high tables close to it for dining, if that’s what you’re into. Also, there are some sit-down tables in the back for full-on dining. The place is clean and well-kept. I’m not sure if they have problems with fights at this place, but there was a sign hanging behind the bar of people who have been kicked out and banned for life for fighting. At first, I was wondering what’s going on with this place, but then I realized it’s a great policy to have. It keeps the bad people out and lets people know it’s not tolerated. We sat at the bar, which made service great for us. I was surprised at how smooth of an operation it was. They really have their stuff together. Even though the place is small, it never got super backed up and there wasn’t much of a wait for people who showed up. In fact, it seems a lot of people know to make reservations and order take-out. This made the servers’ jobs easier too. With how busy they seem with the people in house and the take out, it didn’t take too long to get our wings. While we waited, I noticed how awesome the waitresses are. The owner and our bartender/waitress was outrageously friendly. She is good at her job and it shows. She was chatting it up with us while taking care of all her other customers as well. In fact, all the waitresses were friendly and talkative with their tables. It just makes the atmosphere that much better. Just a heads up, though the place is cash only, but they do provide an ATM in the back. Also, you can only get the wings in orders of 6 or 12. I was hoping for order of 5 so I could get more variety, but thus is the way at The R Bar.
For the most part, the wings were enormous. These babies were huge! The price is set at $0.45 a wing, which is definitely worth the price. I will say that even though the majority are huge, every once and a while you get a smaller wing in the mix. You won’t leave here hungry by any means, but it’s the only reason they didn’t get the full 10.
This place is phenomenal at flavors. It probably has the best and most unique selection around. They have about 60 different wing flavors on the menu. And I’m not talking where it’s like Hot added with something else. These are very different flavors. For example, who ever heard of a Cucumber Wasabi wing! Just to give you more of an idea, they have a Chocolate Covered Bacon flavored wing. Additionally, they have specials every week. This week’s special was Sriracha Basil. The owner told us the goal is to have over 100 flavors. It makes me want to go back just to try something different. Check out the wing flavors above. We have a picture of the menu from our 5/6/14 trip.
Every single wing I had here was a hit. Even though they have such a variety and interesting set of options, every wing was tasty as all heck and well represented by the name. The Queso is a mixture of salsa and cheese. The cheese is the same type of cheese that’s found on your nachos when you go to a ballgame. I fondly refer to it as condensed cheese. I love it and it made these wings my favorite of the bunch. The Raspberry spice had, as you can probably guess, a sweet raspberry flavor with a hit of spice at the end. It was more sweet than spicy, so this may be for those mild wing lovers out there. The Chipotle Ranch had a very strong Chipotle spice flavor with a slight hint of ranch. I loved the chipotle seasoning on these wings. The regular hot were also a pleasant surprise. It seemed to me to be a mix of a spaghetti sauce and a chili sauce. You could see the pepper flakes on this wing. It’s unlike any other hot you’ve had before, but it definitely worked. The Creamy Bacon Horseradish was a very balanced wing. The Horseradish was not overpowering in the least, and you got to taste the chunks of bacon on the wing. These were fantastic. I love when they include a cheese sauce on a wing, such as the Jalapeno Cheddar wing. I’ve come to realize I’m not a fan of Jalapeno in wings though. I always order it thinking it sounds neato. When I get it, I don’t like the chunks of Jalapeno in it. It will work for other people, but not for me. Finally, I had the Basil Sriracha wing. I was surprised at how sweet the Basil made the wing. I was expecting something super spicy because of the Sriracha, but I think the Hot were actually spicier. The Sriracha definitely came out, but it was balanced by that sweet basil taste. I can’t recommend this place enough. You’re bound to find a unique wing flavor that just jumps out at you. This is a place that takes their wings very seriously.
This week the Wingmen traveled than any wingman has traveled before. This time we traveled to Nanticoke to experience the R Bar. Now to be honest, when driving up to the R Bar and seeing it, I was surprised at how unassuming it was. For whatever reason, I had this idea that it was going to be a big ole brick building. But it wasn’t that. It was a building that looked like a regular house that had a sign that said R Bar on it. The inside of the bar definitely pays homage to racing fans from Nascar to motocross. Personally, I’m not into racing sports but it wasn’t overwhelming at all. What also was great about the R Bar was that I felt like a regular there. Our server who happened to be the owner made us feel right at home from the moment we stepped foot in the place. She was so interested in explaining all the wing flavors and you could easily tell that she gave a damn about her business. She was hustling in such a controlled way that she should teach classes on how to do just that. There was definitely a positive atmosphere surrounding us as we sat at the bar. The place has around 10 tables or so and based on what we heard, for their wing night it is not uncommon to make reservations. There are a few TVs at the bar to watch sports or even Wheel of Fortune.
I struggled with this decision. I was battling in mind between a 9 and a 10. I’m going with a notch right below perfect and the reason is this. You have to order in orders of 6. I know it’s just nitpicking but I rather it be orders of 5 or order as many as you want even if it’s 3. Like I said not a big deal at all, it’s mainly just personal preference. The size of the wings is very good. Some wings are average size but the majority I got were large. You will definitely leave full unless you’re a descendent of Andre the Giant.
If I could give this a score of a 100, I would but the powers to be would never allow it. There are literally around 60 flavors or so. And the uniqueness and daringness of the choices of flavors is unprecedented for the Wingmen. Ranging from creamy bacon horseradish to sour cream and onion to chocolate maple syrup, everything you want and more can found here. Check out the picture of the menu on nepawingmen.com to see all the flavors.
Again, if I could give a score of 100 I would do it. I was so overwhelmed trying to decide which 4 flavors to go with that I was shaking on bar stool. Ultimately, I ended up going with southwest ranch, jalapeno cheddar, creamy bacon horseradish and sirracha basil, which was their special wing of the night that was not on the menu. The southwest ranch had a great light orangish color to them. They had that initial kick of southwest flavor , which to me tasted very Cajun mixed with salsa. I say this because there were pieces of salsa in it but then they had the cooling taste of the ranch. A great idea for a wing flavor, that delivered. Next was the jalapeno cheddar. What was great with this flavor was the attention to detail to what it was supposed to be. Jalapeno and cheddar were both represented as much as they can be. They weren’t to overbearing with spice but it was certainly there. You could actually see pieces of jalapenos in the sauce. The cheddar added a nice tanginess to the spice. Then there were the sirracha basil. Sirracha, which is a spicy Asian sauce, is one of my new favorite condiments. Not many places have sirracha on the menu but I feel it starting to pop up more. The wing did have the heat but interestingly enough the basil acted like a sweetener. The balance of heat and sweetness was tremendous. They should add it to their regular menu. Finally, the creamy bacon horseradish was out of this universe. This flavor had it all. First, it had the creaminess that came from the horseradish sauce that was certainly could open your sinuses. Again, it had some heat but nothing overpowering. Then you get that saltiness from the actual pieces of bacon that were draped all over the wing. An amazing infusion of flavors, that I highly recommend ordering.
