The Vault is a newer place located on Main Street within the West side of Scranton. The reason it is called The Vault, appropriately enough, is that the place used to be a bank. The place itself is rather large inside. There’s a long bar with a number of tables on the first floor. There is also a second floor that I did not get to see, but it does overlook the whole first floor. It seems like the kind of place that is aiming for a classier sort of crowd. The interior is well decorated and clean. It is known as a tap and kitchen, which is a bit odd since they don’t have that many draft beers on tap. The bartender seemed to indicate that the goal is to get more drafts and they do offer flights for bottles. The bottled beer selection is pretty decent, and the drafts vary from your domestics to some good craft beer. There are only about ten on tap though. It does seem like a great place to go for drinks with a group of friends after a hard day at the office. The kitchen is well within site with a nice brick oven for pizza. The bartender/waitress was very nice and the food didn’t take all that long to come out. Unfortunately, I can see this type of place not sticking around too long due to the type of crowd they are aiming for. Definitely check it out though as there aren’t many places like this in Scranton.
The wing size is slightly above average and you will leave the place feeling quite full. They aren’t massive by any means, though, so order your typical order and you should be just fine.
I thought that when I was told about this place, I was advised they have a vast wing selection. That is not the case. They offer Mild, Hot, and Garlic Parm. I was a bit let down, but I will say it made ordering that much easier. So there’s that silver lining.
We both ordered the Hot and Garlic Parm. The Hot has a strong spice to it with a more vinegary, salty base. Generally, I am not a fan of wings that are too vinegary, but these weren’t overpowering. I was actually a fan of the Hot here. They had a nice balance of spiciness to flavor. I was let down by the Garlic Parm though. You can see the garlic chunks on these wings, but I was hard-pressed to notice any Parmesan cheese sprinkled on the wings. The taste was a bit off too. It was almost like they mixed the garlic Parm with a different hot sauce because they did taste quite different than the regular Hot. It could have been the mild sauce even though the waitress specifically asked if we wanted it with the hot or mild. The flavor had a bit of tanginess to it that I didn’t find all that appealing. The wings were cooked well though with a slight crispiness on these bigger wings. If you get a wing here, stick with the traditional Hot.
The Vault, located on Main St. in Scranton used to be a bank not to long ago and you can certainly tell. I think I can still smell that bank smell. You know what I’m talking about, that mix of higher ups and greed. But I digress. It’s actually a really cool atmosphere in there. It had a Friday happy hour vibe but it was the middle of the week. The place was not surprisingly very clean. I would imagine there wasn’t too much cleaning when Eric Shrive and family decided to put a pub in there. Eric Shrive is a Scranton native that plays football at Penn State and is the anchor on their rough and tough offensive line. He’s a terrific player for the Nittany Lions and has done some fine work with the presentation of The Vault. Our waitress was helpful and kind to us.
The size of the wings at The Vault is a bit above average. They’re meaty and they were cooked to a nice crispy state. Of course there are bigger there but there is also certainly smaller in this wonderful area. And at 40 cents, you won’t find to many places in this area with cheaper. If you did, you probably checked some sort of wing reviewing sight, if there is such a thing. Hey someone should…
With only 3 flavors to choose from, The Vault, which is new to the scene, could benefit from at least a couple more flavors to choose from. What they have to offer are hot, mild and hot/mild garlic. But hey, it’s not my place, I just review wings.
The taste only gets a 4 for me based on the fact that my variety was so limited. I ordered 10 hot and 10 hot garlic. The hot were tasty. They had that classic vinegar taste in the background of their hot sauce. Something that I feel is definitely a valley thing but from time to time it leeches into the big city. The hot garlic had the nice chunks of garlic to give you something else with your hot sauce. They were enjoyable but it just got repetitive for me only going from two flavors that were similar. But like I said earlier, The Vault is a new establishment. I wouldn’t be surprised if you start seeing a more extensive wing selection. At least I hope for that.
