Grande Pizza is an interesting little place located right off of Blakely Street in Dunmore. It has obviously been placed in a repurposed building, but I’m not sure what it used to be. The restaurant is mostly there for take-out orders and beer pick-ups. There is some seating, but it is cozy to say the least. There’s no real waitstaff, so it’s up to you to go to the counter to place any orders or drinks. Some people may not like this, but I thought it worked in this situation. You don’t have to depend on anyone else to come and order your food, take your orders, and give you the bill. As soon as you’re ready, you order and pay right then. You only have to wait for the food, which came out pretty fast. I’d say within 10-15 minutes. There’s not really much to do inside except for a Megatouch gaming console. The place was mostly clean and I likes the fact that there wasn’t much waiting to be done.
This is two weeks in a row we’ve been somewhere that has wings for $0.35. When I was younger, this was the norm, now it’s becoming increasingly difficult to find. As Bob Dylan said, the times are a-changin’. Thankfully, Grande Pizza either doesn’t subscribe to this though, or they just hate Bob Dylan. Either way, the wings were a great size, and I left feeling quite full.
Before checking out Grande Pizza, I decided to look up the menu to see the flavor options. I was very surprised. I used to drive by this place almost daily and I was never especially drawn to visit it. The wings flavors really sold me. Any place that has Teriyaki is OK in my book. With the addition of other interesting flavors, I think you’re bound to like something from this place.
I ordered myself some Teriyaki, Hot, Hot Ranch, and Spicy Thai Chile. The Teriyaki were great. It was exactly the right amount of salty that I love in a Teriyaki wing. It was not a runny sauce either, so it wasn’t all on my plate by the end of my meal. The Hot were good in that they lived up to their name. A lot of times when you order a hot at a restaurant, you end up with a milder sauce. This had great spice and really good taste. You had the option to choose Hot Ranch or Mild Ranch. I opted for the Hot and did not regret it when I saw my other friend’s Ranch. They had barely any sauce on theirs, but mine was drenched in it. The hot sauce and Ranch mixed were a pretty good combination here, where neither one overpowered the other. The Spicy Thai Chile reminded me a lot of the Sweet and Sour Sauce from Burger King, but with much more flavor. It might have been my favorite out of the bunch. Don’t let the name fool you either, these were more sweet than spicy, but sometimes a sweet wing just hits the spot. I also tried some honey Mustard, which was a bit subpar by Honey mustard standards. The Spicy BBQ were delicious – a great change of pace from your regular BBQ. It added a nice smokiness and tang to what I consider a bland wing flavor. The Hot garlic weren’t that impressive either. It was their regular hot sauce mixed with minced garlic. It didn’t add much to the Hot sauce.
It wasn’t really Grande Pizza’s fault that the environment wasn’t to lively. It’s just not that kind of place. There are only half dozen or so tables in the place so eating isn’t a usual thing. A lot of takeout orders were happening while were there. One thing that was different but pretty cool was that we had to order our wings at the register and pay when we ordered as well. Basically, we didn’t have a server. It was nice being able to leave as soon as we were done.
The wings were a good size. I walked out full, which is what counts. Also, for 35 cents it’s a pretty good deal. You don’t see a lot of places that have 35 cents wing nights anymore, so it’s nice to see.
Grande Pizza has quite a bit of flavors flavors in all. They have your hot, mild,bbq and honey mustard, which are your standard flavors you see at any wing joint. But they also had some interesting ones such as spicy thai chili, teriyaki, hot garlic, ranch, sweet and spicy and ranch. They were unique and distinct from each other. Some places have tons of flavors and that’s fine but this rating goes to show you that as long as you out some effort and get a bit creative you can do well.
This place really surprised me. I’ve driven past the place numerous times and kind of thought to myself that the place seemed like a pizza chain that you would see at Ocean City MD. But the wings held their own against my prediction. They were sauced well and all had a lot of flavor. I ordered hot, sweet and spicy, spicy thai chili and ranch. The hot were very vinegary that stung the nostrils. It worked well for them. The sweet and spicy wings were balanced real well with good zip. The spicy thai chili wings were most certainly spiced that included Asian spices that wouldn’t quit. Finally, the ranch wings were nice and cool but unfortunately there wasn’t a ton of sauce on them. It was odd because the other wings were covered in sauce. It tasted alright enough, they just needed more. Also, the wings were nice and crispy.
