Kuzzin’s Cafe

Basic Information:

Location: 733 E Warren St, Dunmore, PA, 18512
Phone Number: (570) 969-6229
Normal Wing Price: Varies by wing sauce, ranges from $7.00 to $8.00 for orders of 10
Wing Night: Tuesday
Wing Night Price: 50 cents
Wing Flavors:

Hot, Mild, Mild Parmesan, Hot Parmesan, BBQ, Honey Mustard, Hot Caesar Garlic, Sarkis Sauce

Links: Facebook
Notes:

Since our last visit, Kuzzin’s Cafe has lowered their wing price to 50 cents a wing, and it now includes all their sauces.

  • Kuzzin’s Cafe - 03/21/18

    Overall Rating: 72

    Lynch Serniak

    Lynch's Rating: 38 out of 50

    Environment: 7

    This wing night, we were on a quest to visit a new location outside of Lackawanna county with a Wednesday Wing night. We received a huge number of recommendations and made a couple calls, but unfortunately, most did not had a Wednesday wing night. The only place was Kuzzin’s located in Dunmore. So while we didn’t venture outside Lackawanna county, we did try a new place with some pretty delicious wings. Kuzzin’s Café is located on the corner of Drinker St and Warren St in Dunmore. We entered the bar section, which contains a big oval bar, a pool table, a music machine, and other games. We didn’t venture much farther than the bar, but I did notice a section separated with glass doors that appeared to be a moderately sized dining section. If you’re not into smoking, I suggest the dining room because plenty of people around the bar were enjoying their cigarettes. It wasn’t overwhelming by any means, but I do know some people are more sensitive to cigarette smoke. Our bartender was a friendly woman who was pretty quick to take our orders and was helpful if we had any questions about the wing night and flavors. I would say it is a real local’s place, as I noticed the bartender was grabbing drinks for regulars as they entered the bar. In fact, one of the wing sauces is named after one of the patrons, who happened to be there while we were there. Everyone at the place was actually very friendly, which is always a plus in my book. I believe it is a cash only establishment, so be sure to bring cash unless you want to use the on-site ATM. Also, be careful with the wing night price, as it only applies to Mild and Hot. On top of that, the wing prices vary depending on the sauce you choose.


    Wing Size: 7

    The wings at Kuzzin’s were a pretty hefty size, with a great combination meaty and crispy. It’s hard to find a place that balances a meaty wing with crispy skin, but Kuzzin’s pulled it off. In my opinion, the pricing is a bit weird and more complicated that it needs to be. On a non-wing night, the prices vary from $7.00 to $8.00 depending on the sauce you get with Hot and Mild being on the lower end. While these are not bad prices for an order of 10 wings, it did not make sense to me. Honestly, based on the Hot sauce I had, it seems like it would take more effort than a BBQ and Honey Mustard. Make all wings about $7.50 an order of 10, which is still a pretty good deal, and call it a day. I will say, I never saw this flavor-tiered pricing except for one other place, and that was pretty recent. I hope this is not a sign of things to come. As I stated before, only the Mild and Hot get the wing night price, which you can get in orders of five, but all other flavors need to be orders of 10.


    Wing Flavors: 4

    Kuzzin’s sticks to the classics when it comes to the different sauces they offer. For the most part, you’ve seen these sauces on many menus in the past. You’re not going to see anything outside the box, except for the Sarkis sauce, which is really just a variation of the Hot sauce made with butter instead of margarine.


    Wing Taste (x2): 10

    Now, taste is where Kuzzin’s really blew me away. I ordered the regular Hot and the Hot Caesar Garlic. The Hot were absolutely delicious. In fact, this is right up there as one of the best regular Hots I’ve ever had. The sauce is a perfect balance of peppers, vinegar, and butteriness. It also looked as though they add some sort of other seasoning to the mix, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Plus, I wouldn’t want to give their secret away. They say Sarkis is an amped up version of the Hot, made with butter instead of margarine. I tried both and I still prefer the Hot, although Sarkis is right up there too. The Hot Caesar Garlic were very tasty, too, which is most likely due to that amazing hot sauce as a base. It had loads of garlic and a nice hit of Caesar. Unfortunately, I can’t speak to the other flavors, but if you want a really good, classic Hot wing, definitely check out Kuzzin’s Café.

    Serniak's Rating: 34 out of 50

    Environment: 8

    We posted on Facebook looking for new places to go too and the response we got was fantastic. We went out in the fierce elements that hit NEPA on this day that resulted in some of the roads getting a bit wet and made our way to Kuzzin’s Cafe in Dunmore. Kuzzin’s is located near the top of Drinker St. where Warren St. I believe sort of merges with it. The place is equipped with a bar and a few tables with in. I got the sense that the place has a fair amount of regulars mainly because our server/bartender seemed like she was calling everyone by their names, which is something I hope to one day have with a bar/restaurant. It be nice to walk in a place and the barkeep already has what I want waiting for me before I even walk in the place. Some day. The bar was clean but it is a smoking bar. It wasn’t filled with smoke or anything like that. I’ll probably end up saying this a million times in my life, but smoke will never deter me from going into a place but if it’s not your thing I understand. The folks around the bar were real sweethearts. They were talking with us throughout our time there asking us how the wings were and explaining some of the nuances of the flavors. Everyone was in a good mood. Our server was nice to us and diligent with our drinks. She even alerted us to when happy hour was over so that we could get one more in before the dreaded 7 o’clock hour hit. That’s taking care of the customer like you read about. One aspect that I need to let everyone know about is Kuzzin’s has a particular piece of artwork on the wall that really tied the room together.

     


    Wing Size: 6

    Pretty good size wings here and for 60 cents, which is becoming the norm when it comes to wing prices on wing nights, it’s a pretty standard deal. Where it doesn’t become a standard deal is that on their wing night, which is on Wednesdays, is that on wing night you can only get hot or mild at 60 cents a wing. None of the other flavors are eligible at 60 cents on wing night. I just don’t understand that. Am I to understand that the flavor “hot” is reasonable at 60 cents but if it’s hot parm it isn’t? To me, that just a weird stipulation mainly because the vast majority of places that we go to don’t have restrictions on their wing sauces on wing nights. I know I know, what do I know about owning a bar/restaurant and what goes into figuring out the pricing for things? True, I’ve never done that before but based on how the majority does it, it seems like regulating what sauces are eligible for wing night is something that could be avoided. Maybe I’m way off.


    Wing Flavors: 6

    Kuzzin’s Cafe has 8 flavors to choose from. Most are your standard flavors such as hot, mild, mild and hot parm, BBQ, honey mustard but then they have hot Caesar garlic and an original sauce called Sarkis. It was real cool because when I asked about what the Sarkis were all about our server and one of the guys across the bar pointed and said that the guy who they were named after was right down the other end of the bar and I’m pretty sure they also said he was the owner. What the Sarkis flavor entails is it’s their hot sauce mixed with butter not margarine and sweet vermouth is added to it to give it a twang. I think it’s an honor to have a wing flavor named after you. That’s another thing I want a bar/restaurant to do for me. Not only do I want to get to the point in my life where when I walk into a place that they already know my order but I also want to go to a place so long that they think good enough of me to name a wing sauce me. Am I asking for a lot? Maybe, but it’s good to have goals. I think Kuzzin’s has some room to improve their wing flavor selection if they choose to do so. Anything with ranch, sriracha or blue cheese are always winners. You can add hot or mild to ranch and blue cheese and sriracha, the condiment of the future, goes great with honey. All flavors you typically have in the kitchen.

     


    Wing Taste (x2): 7

    On this journey I only got 15 wings. Let it be said, I am a 20 wing man for life and my average states that, but sometimes I don’t always have my A game. Sometimes Jordan didn’t always score 30 and sometimes I eat onion rings before wings. You gotta problem with that? Oh you do have a problem with that? Well alright then. The wings were large like I said but were also cooked well. They weren’t under cooked. They had a level of crispness to them. The flavors I got were 5 hot and 10 Sarkis. The hot were pretty darn good. Had heat and flavor but they won’t be to powerful. They had a nice buttery taste to them that I always enjoy. Of course I got the Sarkis. I mean the owner and the guy they named the wings after was sitting 15 feet from me. It be rude if I didn’t get them. They were as advertised from the fella from across the bar who said they were real good. They were real good. They had their hot sauce that was infused with the sweet vermouth that gave it an elegant and appreciated twang. I don’t know much about vermouth or if I’ve ever had but after these wings, I may research it. Or, if I do get involved with vermouth, I’ll make a rule that I can only consume it as a part of my wing sauce. I like that rule.