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Friday my friend and I go for lunch somewhere in the Valley. We have a list made up of about 30 potential restaurants. The list covers everything from your mom-and-pop establishments to even a national chain or two. This week we decided to go to the Windsor Inn. It has been sometime since I’ve written a review as we have not had any new ideas for food. I called the Windsor to see if they were open for lunch on Fridays and much to my surprise they are open for lunch Tuesday through Sunday opening at 11:30 AM. The drive from Scranton took about 16 or 17 min. to get there and it was easy enough. I’ve eaten at the Windsor in Dickson City before it closed. They had ample parking. I was very surprised at the interior of the restaurant. I did not have any real expectations as to what it would look like inside, all I knew was they had good chicken wings. We arrived a little after 12 on a Frida afternoon and each ordered 10 chicken wings. My friend got as hot as he could and I just got the traditional mild. I have never been able to understand why they don’t sell chicken wings by the dozen? I guess looking back 10 is the standard. I ordered mine extra crispy because that’s how I like them, and my friend ordered his hot wings. I also ordered a side order of chicken wing sauce and a side order of blue cheese and celery and french fries.
The food was brought to us at the bar in about 15 min. and was served hot. During our wait time we were able to watch television on any one of the numerous TVs located at the bar. One of the first things I noticed about the chicken wing sauce was it did not separate. Usually when you have a product like chicken wing sauce the oil will separate from the other liquids. I would love to know what they use as an emulsifier to keep this wing sauce mixed. The wing sauce was not necessarily oily and had a wonderful flavor. After a few minutes of allowing my wings to cool I was able to dig in and felt as though I was toddler eating. The wing sauce was all over my face and on my hands. My friend asked if I was a baby as I was eating like a child. It’s been so long since I’ve had good chicken wings I was really enjoying my food. I would’ve been happier if I could’ve ordered 15. The blue cheese was a premium brand, and had a wonderful taste as well. You can’t have good chicken wings without good blue cheese. We each had a beer from their large selection of beers. Including our tips the total came to about $18 each.
After I was finished eating I had to go wash myself in the bathroom. The bathrooms were exceptionally clean and had been newly remodeled. The bar does not match the exterior of the building. I expected it to be a older type of bar but to my surprise it was really a nice bar, clean and a good eatery. A lot of places have countertops made of various products and theirs was made out of corian, a high-end countertop material .
Feel free to call ahead for takeout orders. Their wing sauces are available for sale at the bar. The restaurant was smoke-free and exceptionally clean. so next time you’re in the mood for a little bit of a drive you can go to the Windsor Inn. they have a very large menu covering everything from soups and salads appetizers and snacks, hamburgers and cheeseburgers, wraps , platters pizza and more!
Windsor Inn
669 Washington Ave.
Jermyn, PA 18433
570-876-4600
Located just off exit 5 of the Casey highway
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Every once in a while you want to have a good hamburger. There are numerous places that sell hamburgers in the Scranton area. Unfortunately most of them are chains. You have your five guys, McDonald’s, Burger King and Red Robin. Each one has something that makes them stand out. Burger King it’s the whopper, McDonald’s it’s the Big Mac and five guys it’s the french fries and a freshly made hamburger. Each establishment sells oversized sodas.
Which one is the best value for your food money? If you’re in a hurry It could be a tossup between Burger King and McDonald’s. I would recommend neither. You could shoot over to Red Robin and be in and out pretty quickly, and spend just a few dollars more than any of your McBoxes. You’ll get a premium hamburger at Red Robin.
What is the difference between a quarter pounder and the classic red Robin original burger? First off your served your food at a table by a waitress. You’re greeted by a hostess when you come in the door. You get all the french fries you can eat which may or may not be a good thing. They have sweet potato french fries as well as regular french fries. It is $.99 to substitute sweet potato french fries for the regular french fries.
Our night at Red Robin there were four of us eating dinner. We had one burger with no bun, one burger on a gluten-free bun and two regular burgers. My personal favorite was their bleu cheeseburger, it has blue cheese crumbles as well as mushrooms. GlutenFree bun was excellent. You could not really tell that it was GlutenFree other than the fact after a while the bread starts to crumble if it gets wet. The bun is superior to most gluten-free buns I have had in the past.
This establishment makes their money from you ordering alcoholic beverages. As soon as you arrive you’re greeted by invitations to purchase alcoholic beverages. Although they are making more than enough money off their soda at $2.59 a glass. Throw in your tax and your at $2.75. For a family of four this adds $11 to your dinner. We could have bought 22 quarts of Coca-Cola for this price at the grocery store. Usually the appetizers are kind of overpriced but here they were not. We ordered some type of jalapeno rings, they looked actually like calamari but they were jalapeno slices. We all gave them the thumbs up. Usually we get the onion rings as they’re pretty good too. But that night we did not.
Our hamburgers ranged in price from $9-$12. My wife received hers free for celebrating her birthday with Red Robin. It’s easy to sign up online. You do not receive a bunch of spam emails from them either. I have many friends who go to our local seafood house for their free petite lobster dinner for their birthday. Personally I do not feel as though it is worth the free price tag. Sure it is good but it is not great. As they used to say at work if it’s free it’s for me. I do not feel that way. The food has to be good for me to take it.
Our dinner at Red Robin was good and the family of four were all happy with our meal. We did not leave feeling as though we were overcharged for our food. The only thing I think is a little high price is their soda. I always felt as though I would rather pay a few pennies more for my food then be overcharged for a beverage, which only cost pennies to serve.
Our waitress was very nice and more than attentive to our needs. They provided my wife with the unexpected singing of happy birthday and a free Sunday. That was a very nice surprise. The Restaurant manager came over to our table to verify that it was my wife who was in fact having her birthday. My wife was not required to remove her drivers license from her purse and give it to the manager. Unlike the local seafood house you have to give the waitress your drivers license and she returns with it in about 10 minutes. I don’t know what they actually do with your drivers license when they take it to the back. I don’t like it and I don’t think they should be able to do that as well. Red Robin was very hospitable to my wife on her birthday.
Our family will go back to Red Robin again and again. The variety of hamburgers they sell is wonderful. The food is all served freshly made, fresh and hot. Their large french fries are very tasty, and you can eat all you would like.
http://www.redrobin.com/
Red Robin
570-489-0060
1235 Commerce Boulevard
Dickson City Pennsylvania
Everybody goes out to see movies. Some more than others. Me? Less than others. Why? Rude people that litter, talk and eat Doritos in the theater.
RULES:
Your mom doesn’t work there so clean up after yourself.
Don’t carry on a conversation like your in your bedroom. Your not and yes I can hear you.
Don’t eat the chips and popcorn like my dog. Try to use table manners such as chewing with your mouth closed. Yes I can hear you chomping.
Please do not come in the theater smelling awful. Cologne, perfume and marijuana may be fine for you, but I don’t want to smell your stuff.
The theater has employees who do come and clean the theater after each movie. Yes some people do have accidents. But, stick around until the movie ends sometime and see how much garbage they have to pick up. They do have garbage cans on the way out.
Tell the clean up crew thanks.
Sorry to not be Mr. Happy today but after paying $8.50 to see a movie I can expect people to be considerate of others. Is it to much to ask?
In today’s world it is very hard to take a large group of people out to eat and somebody not have a food allergy. Just in my close circle of friends and family we have people who cannot eat dairy, and of course fish and seafood is always been a popular allergy, people who cannot eat nuts and of course the dreaded wheat intolerance and celiac disease. The funny thing about all of these items is how the older generation does not have these problems. Sure maybe they do but not nearly as bad as the young people of today including the small children with peanut allergies to the middle-aged typical food allergies, and of course I could not forget the person in our family who cannot eat meat because of the protein.. I cannot think of anything in the world that my grandparents could not eat. Sure I found out years later there was stuff my grandfather was told not to eat, but he ate it anyway. It or pay the price the next day or later that evening with an upset stomach or maybe a strange rash. Today I want to talk about. Many people try to do their best in accommodating these types of allergies. You see a tremendous amount of restaurants now that say they have an item that is gluten-free. For instance Domino’s pizza now sells a gluten-free crust. Now a person with wheat intolerance they could probably get away with eating this crust that was cooked on equipment that is cross contaminated with wheat but a person who is a true celiac cannot eat anything that is prepared with items that may possibly contain wheat. One of my own personal favorite stories was my allergy to tilapia. I ordered whitefish from a national chain and I was served tilapia. A lot of people enjoy tilapia but unfortunately it cause me a severe allergic reaction. When I inquired about what I was served I was told I was served whitefish. After some inquiries I discovered that Ruby Tuesday’s does not serve whitefish, and they only serve tilapia. So was it my fault for taking a chance on a product that I know I have some allergic tendencies to? Sometimes I think that I can eat that and it won’t bother me so I don’t entirely blame Ruby Tuesday’s for their inattention to food allergies. There is a national chain that does a very good job of helping people with food allergies, and that is Applebee’s. It may not be the most desirable food, but they do a pretty good job trying. I’ve never really had bad food or service from Applebee’s. As my wife says it was just food. Not great, not bad, just food.
Our son can get items that he needs for his allergy as well as other friends and family members. Where else can you go to have pizza and pasta? Ferri’s Pizza, Natale’s in North Scranton, Sabatini’s in Exeter, Café Classico in Scranton, my son likes the dairy free pizza from Pappa’s and Nichola’s Pizza. Both pizzerias are on Washington Avenue in Scranton. If you have just the wheat sensitivity you can give Domino’s gluten-free pizza a try.
So where can you eat at in the city of Scranton if you have gluten issues? One of the first places I would start out is Alternative Eating in West Scranton. It is a great little store near the United States Post Office in West side on Main Avenue. They have a tremendous amount of gluten-free food and they cater to the allergy people. If there something that you need or want they will find it for you. They also have freshly made baked goods from Erin’s Edibles, a personal favorite. The store is owned by a nutritionist. Whenever I mention the store to somebody more often than not they will say say “Oh don’t they sell that stuff at Wegmans?” They may or they may not I prefer to support the little business in West Scranton. For the people who can look back in time before there was Walmart and Target, and all the other national big-box grocery stores. We had mom-and-pop stores that sold just the items that you needed to survive. I would love to be a able to go back in time to the local corner store. Who remembers penny candy from Zoomo’s on Marion Street in Scranton? You could take 20 min. on your seven cents purchase and they were more than happy to help you. Not anymore, the big box have won. But you don’t have to let them. My family takes great pride in the fact that we do not shop at the world’s largest store. The cost to me is just a few dollars more a month? Maybe. Maybe not. Bigger isn’t always cheaper.
If you’re a person who suffers from food allergies or certain food problems there are suitable alternative eateries. I have found that most eateries are more than happy to help make your meal enjoyable. Whether it be a special menu item just for you or for your child most restaurants are more than happy to help you get a meal. Am I preaching to the choir? Probably so. If you have a question or you want something special don’t hesitate asked to talk to the manager and tell him or her your concerns. She finds food suitable and you enjoyed your meal make sure and tell him or her on your way out. A big thank you goes a long way to making a chef go home happy.
