Larry’s Pizzeria

Basic Information:

• The Wing Men return by visiting Larry’s Pizzeria - 11/23/21
  Overall Rating: 71

  Lynch Serniak

  Lynch's Rating: 35 out of 50

  Environment: 8
  

  It’s been quite a while since the Wing Men have made an appearance in the wing scene, but Serniak made a convincing argument to check out Larry’s Pizzeria in Nanticoke. Or maybe it’s Larry’s Pizza and Pub. Or maybe it’s Larry’s & Pub (per Facebook). Depending on your source, the name can vary. Larry’s Pizzeria is the google result, so that is likely your best bet to find the location. There are two doors on the outside of the building: one leads to the pizzeria and the other that looks like it goes to the pub is locked. Your first time there may be a bit confusing, but we are here with the inside information. Simply head in the pizzeria, and turn right in the main room to find the door to the pub. The pub itself has a long bar with plenty of seating. There are also a number of bar-height tables around the bar for extra seating. I would be so bold to consider this a golf bar as there were a lot of golf memorabilia on the walls. I actually liked the golf flags from various courses they had hanging on the wall. I’ve never seen that before and I thought it was cool. If you sit at the bar-height tables, the bartender will stop over to give you the menu and take your order. The service was fairly fast and it didn’t take too long to get our wings.

  
  Wing Size: 7
  

  Wing size rating is getting tricky due to the pandemic and wing shortage. I understand many wing places had to do away with a wing night and sell all wings at regular price. As a result, wing night pricing may become a thing of the past, at least for the immediate future. On the menu, Larry’s lists an order of 6 wings for $5 (12 for $9.50), which I was very impressed with. The wings a fairly large with a great crispiness. When we got the check though, an order of 6 was actually $7.25. This is still pretty good given our current times, but they either need to update their menu or call out the price change somewhere in the pub.

  
  Wing Flavors: 6
  

  Larry’s offers a good selection of wings sauces. While there is nothing too outside the box, I do like the addition of Old Bay and Cajun into the mix. I only went with two flavors because that’s all that jumped out at me, but if there were sauces mixed with ranch, caesar, and/or garlic parm, I definitely would have been enticed to get an additional order.

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 7
  

  Because I’ve been out of the game for a while, I only opted for two flavors for this visit. Of course, since this was our first visit to Larry’s, I ordered the regular Hot. The Hot were a traditional red hot wing sauce with a healthy dose of spice and a strong vinegar twang. I liked the peppery flavor of these wings. They had good heat without being overwhelming. My second flavor, which I knew I was going to order as soon as I saw it, was the Creamy Cajun. I thought these wings were delicious. They had a mild cajun flavor mixed with some sort of creamy sauce. I couldn’t quite place my finger on what was used as the creamy base, but my initial thoughts were bleu cheese. Serniak did order the Cajun Bleu Cheese, which had a much stronger Bleu cheese flavor, but the Creamy Cajun had a much more subdued Bleu cheese taste. Either way, I personally would have liked a bit more of that cajun spice to shine through, but I still really enjoyed these wings.

  Serniak's Rating: 36 out of 50

  Environment: 8
  

  Finally, the Nepa Wingmen have come back to eating wings in northeast Pennsylvania. I don’t think The Rock or Dwyane Johnson if that helps could have said it better himself. After a ton of time away we returned doing what quite possibly God/Universe put Lynch and I on this planet to do. That is to eat chicken wings and tell you about them.

  It felt getting back out there but I won’t lie to you, the faithful audience, I was a bit rusty. I could tell I was holding them wrong and my ordering process was askew. But champions dig deep when the lights are the brightest and that’s exactly what I did. It was a successful trip to Larry’s Pizzeria.

  Though its flagship item is pizza, we naturally got the wings. I do want to get the pizza because it smelled terrific and they had those little pizza trey holders on each table. That’s a dead giveaway that a place has a terrific pie that they’re very confident in.

  To get to the bar area you have to walk past the kitchen, which is an area that is the takeout side of Larry’s. It’s worth that trip past the kitchen to breathe in those wonderful pizza aromas.

  The bar area has that great corner bar feel. If memory serves, Larry’s Pizzeria is located on a corner so that I’m sure has a lot to do with it. The bar was very clean with a long that’s backed up by a decent amount of tables along the wall. Our server was very pleasant and made did a fine job in assisting us with everything we needed.

  There were several TVs on with something for everybody. Some of the best entertainment was the locals just shooting it at the bar. Real salt of the Earth types folks just enjoying their evening and making me laugh with their banter.

  Interestingly enough, the decor that was placed throughout the bar was golf stuff. They had flags from some big-time golf courses. I wonder if they get a big turnout for any of the majors? I’d be interested in that.

  
  Wing Size: 8
  

  We live in a different world than we did when Lynch and were knee-deep in wings. This new world is one that has outrageous wing prices. I don’t really care why wings are so expensive. The point is they are and I don’t think there’s anything I can do about that.

  On the menu, wings are listed for 6 wings for $5. That’s a pretty incredible deal in this new high proceed wing world. However, that wasn’t what they cost when we got the bill. Wings ended up being 6 wings for $7.25. Sure, it’s more expensive and potentially the worst case of false advertising since Kellogg said Rice Krispies could boost your immune system, but it honestly wasn’t anything that mattered to me.

  I never owned a restaurant thus I’ve never owned and tried to operate a restaurant during a global pandemic. I can envision a world where I would do the same thing.

  The size of the wings was nice. They were large but not too large. They also had decent crispiness to them. Could they have been crispier? Yeah, but I also never said anything such as extra crispy or anything like that. That’s on me.

  
  Wing Flavors: 6
  

  11 flavors I believe(sorry but the picture I took of the menu is blurry due to the light that was above me so it’s possible there’s 12. As I said, I was rusty) is what you can get at Larry’s Pizzeria. The keyword there is Pizzeria. It’s not Larry’s emporium of wings. If it was, then I’m sure Larry would have a ton more flavors.

  You can get some different flavors such as old bay butter garlic and cajun blue cheese along with all the usual suspect of wing flavors that you can nearly anywhere.

   

  
  Wing Taste (x2): 7
  

  Very solid wings are what you will get at Larry’s Pizzeria. I only got three flavors, which is one less than I usually would get. You could say I’m Ricky Williams when he returned from his very real retirement and simply wasn’t his 1,800-yard self that was before he left the game to expand his mind. I have to work myself back into shape, kind of like Ricky Williams did in the 2nd act of his career.

  I got the hot, old bay butter garlic, and cajun blue cheese. The hot were very good. They really brought me back to when Lynch was full-time Wing Men. They had good spice but nothing that was uncomfortable. Very tasty they were. Next was the old bat butter garlic. They were good and all flavors were represented. I could have used more old bay on them. Something that I’ve seen with this flavor at other places is that a lot of the old bay falls off when they get slapped with butter and garlic. That old bay settles at the bottom of the basket but you can’t really soak it up easily. Could be a simple fix with putting the old bay on after they get buttered up. Last was the cajun blue cheese. These had a very good twang to them with good spices radiating throughout. Then the cooling factor of the blue cheese happens and you have a real Icy hot situation happening in your mouth.