Ale Mary’s has been a part of the downtown Scranton scene for a while now, establishing itself as a great place to meet up for food and drinks. Their food menu features some unique and usually tasty dishes and their drink menu is pretty extensive with a good draft selection and big bottle list. I’ve never had a bad time at Ale Mary’s, and this visit was no different. We got there about 6:00 PM on Monday for their wing night and sat right down since it wasn’t that filled up. I was a bit bummed that they didn’t have outdoor seating like they have had in the past as it was a glorious day. I’m hoping this is just a temporary change. Don’t get me wrong though, it is plenty nice inside. They have a long bar and plenty of sit down tables. Ale Mary’s even has an extra room off to the side for some additional seating and a decent gaming area with a pool table, darts, and some arcade games. I didn’t venture over there this visit, but I assume it still exists. Our waiter was a nice dude who was willing to answer any questions we had about the wings and was always prompt on getting our drinks and taking our orders. The food came out pretty fast too, so definitely no complaints there. I wish they let you split wing orders or let you place orders of five so you can try more variety of sauces, but Serniak and I coordinated our order to make sure we got a good selection.
On wing night, Ale Mary’s features half off wings, making an order of ten wings cost only five dollars. In case you don’t feel like doing the math, that means these babies run 50 cents a wing, which is pretty darn good in today’s standard. The wings are a slightly larger size. If you place an order of your normal amount, you should leave plenty satisfied. The wings are on the meatier side, so if you prefer crispy wings, be sure to ask for extra crispy. I can’t guarantee they will accommodate, but it’s worth a try.
Ale Mary’s doesn’t have the biggest selection of flavors, but they make up for it with twists on traditional flavors and some truly unique options. If you’re more of a traditionalist, I would recommend the House, Carolina BBQ, or the Somewhere in the Middle, which was described to us as your typical Buffalo style sauce. Otherwise, go crazy with some of the options that Ale Mary’s has to offer, such as the Wasabi Ranch or Bourbon & Bacon. On top of that, they offer interesting weekly wing sauce features, which I am all about. For example, on our visit, they features Porketta Dry Rub, Citrus Mojo, and Raspberry Teriyaki.
I was really impressed by what Ale Mary’s brought to the table this visit (pun absolutely intended). I’ve liked their wings in the past, but this visit I was really blown away. The Somewhere in the Middle was described by the waiter as a mix between their House and a traditional buffalo sauce. In my opinion, their House is OK, but this sauce was delicious. It is definitely closer aligned to a buffalo sauce than anything else. I think Serniak and I have a bit of a rift when it comes to Buffalo sauces, but I was all about this sauce. It had a classic buffalo flavor with a healthy level of spice. The Fiery Parm was also fantastic. It had a tasty hot sauce base mixed with Caesar (I think) and plenty of grated parmesan and parmesan flakes. The Wasabi Ranch was my favorite of the bunch. The wasabi, which was more likely horseradish, was perfectly balanced with the ranch so that both flavors came through without one or the other being overwhelming. I highly recommend trying these wings. Finally, the Raspberry Teriyaki were the wings I was most looking forward to. I am a sucker for a nice, salty Teriyaki sauce, not to mention I’m a huge fan of raspberries. Unfortunately, I was let down. It appeared to be a Teriyaki sauce mixed with raspberry preserves. I didn’t get much saltiness from the Teriyaki, and the raspberry preserves ended up making the sauce super sticky and thick. I think if they mixed the teriyaki with the stuff they drizzle over the PB&J wings (I believe it’s a Raspberry reduced sauce from Framboise), these wings could have been great. Even though the Raspberry Teriyaki was a letdown, I give them points for trying. Plus, the fact that all the other wings were out of this world, I’d say Ale Mary’s knocked it out of the park.
There once was a time where I would go to Whistles on a Thursday night. That was about 10 years ago and it was excellent. Now, as most of you are aware or at least I hope you’re aware, Whistles is no more. Today, Ale Mary’s occupies that space and they do a great job occupying it. I love coming to this place not just for wings but for anything. I’ve never had a bad meal there. The Dumpster fries are always on point and their original sandwiches are innovative and loaded with flavor. That’s what I love most about Ale Mary’s; there never satisfied with what they put out there. They’re always thinking of new creations. It’s called caring, look into it. The place is typically always busy and is always very clean. We didn’t hit up the game room, but they have a few pool tables and other games in there. Ale Mary’s has always been a place that’s solid to watch a game at due to many others thinking the same thing. That’s always a major plus. Also, they have a very good beer selection with many solid craft brews on draft. The service was very nice. Our server was cool dude who chimed in to our banter. He picked up on the subtleties of the Wing Men and had some solid suggestions. One of the biggest reasons Ale Mary’s gets a 9 for me is because the vibe of everyone in the joint is always a hustling positive one. People are moving and shaking, which makes the atmosphere one where you think to yourself that you’re in a place with people who know what they’re doing.
In 2014, we came here and I gave Ale Mary’s a 7 for wing size/price. We live in a new era and wing prices are at an all time high and their wing size and price hasn’t changed. For that, they get a boost. On their wing night, wings are half off making them 50 cents a wing. That’s really good in today’s wing climate. They also have a decent size to them. There’s bigger ones out there but these wings have a size that you won’t be pouty about as long as you have a soul. A very solid crispiness to these wings is something you will find. One thing I don’t love is that they don’t let you get orders of wings in denominations of 5 on wing night. I wish they did so that I can get my own 20 with 4 different sauces. I’d like that a whole heck of a lot.
So, Ale Mary’s does things a little bit different than most. They have 11 flavors on their menu that never really change but they also have a few different flavors every week that aren’t on the menu. This week they had raspberry teriyaki, porketta, and citrus moto(possibly spelling this wrong). There’s a chalkboard when you walk near the dinning area that tells you which new flavors they have. I love the idea of new flavors every week. Gives the wing sauce creators a chance to try new things that may lead to a sauce becoming a permanent fixture on the main roster.
Lynch and I split 40 wings since we couldn’t get them in orders of 5. I will say that I was battling a stomach ache, but I understand what my job is so I put my head down and went out there and performed. Some say my performance is up there with Jordan’s flu game. I think that’s a fair comparison. The first flavor we got was Some Where In The Middle. This sauce is almost like a traditional buffalo wing. It was tasty and was very similar to old school type buffalo sauces that you would always get back in the day. Nothing remarkable about it, but it did it’s job of representing old school buffalo. Next was one of the special sauces, which was the raspberry teriyaki. It was just alright. Not very raspberry nor was it very teriyaki. Kinda weak on overall flavor. I like the idea of the sweet and salty, but for me, it just didn’t happen. Moving on to the fiery ranch. These wings were fantastic. They had a beautiful orangish color to them and were loaded with flavor. This tag team had the coolness of the ranch backed up by the heat of fiery part. The fiery aspect of this sauce I think was there buffalo type sauce from the Some Where In The Middle sauce, but it easily could of been from their house sauce. Either way, it made for a great sauce. Lastly and the wing I believe both myself and Lynch thought was the best was the wasabi ranch. It’s no secret that we’re suckers for anything ranch. Ranch can’t be stopped and that’s just life. But the added sinus clearing powers of wasabi brought a whole different type of heat as compared to the fiery ranch. Wasabi ranch are slowly but surely on the rise. There’s a few places in the area where you can get it and every time I’ve had it was always a top contender for best wing of the night. These wasabi ranch wings at Ale Mary’s had the ranch and the wasabi but also had a a few streaks of their hot sauce drizzled on them. They were aesthetically pleasing while also wildly tasty. A must have when you’re looking for wings at Ale Mary’s.
