Dining out in the Lake Harmony area - the good, the bad and the ugly

So, I've written a lot of individual food reviews but thought it might be helpful to summarize some of the local area take out/dine in restaurants. For all you vacationers out there, here is my list of restaurant tidbits in the Pocono-area. I would say this covers everything off of Route 940 from Lake Harmony to Mount Pocono.

Pizza!: Most visitors up this way (with the exception of NASCAR season) come from the tri-state region - New York and New Jersey where good pizza is abundant. Unfortunately, a decent slice is hard to come by up here.

• The good: (and sometimes bad) - Dominic's Pizza on Route 940 in Pocono Lake. Dominic's is hit or miss. Sometimes the crust is crunchy and thin; adequate for NY-style but not really comparable. What's annoying about Dominic's is not only is it inconsistent but it's cash-only. Though their sign says "FREE ATM" - we all know that while a business may not charge ATM fees, most banks do regardless. Also, the selection of sides/other dishes is quite weak. What kind of pizza place doesn't even offer a ceasar salad?
• Even better: Brother Bruno's pizza in Mount Pocono. I haven't seen that many great reviews for them but to be honest, I found their pizza (on every occasion I've had it) to be VERY good and by any standard. They have these tasty chicken rolls too! As you may or may not have found out by now, beer (aside from cases) is sold at pizza joints up here. The biggest drawback of Brother Bruno's is their lack of selection in beer. Good pizza and a good six pack go hand-in-hand; so they definitely need to upgrade their selection

Sushi: Ugh. There are too many flaws with the sushi around here - the biggest being that there is only one immediate choice in the area. Before I go into details, take my advice and drive out to Wilkes-Barre to Mirakuya (there is a review on here for you).

• The bad and ugly and everything in between: Tokyo Tea House on Route 940 in Pocono Summit. Where to begin? The sushi is average to below average depending on the day. We wrote an earlier review about our dining experience but more recently, we ordered take out from there. What a mistake. We were craving sushi and didn't feel like taking the drive. If this happens to you, spend the gas money and drive to Wilkes-Barre. We ordered three rolls of sushi and a small noodle dish. THIS WAS 50 DOLLARS. What we brought back with us looked like what you would get at a mall food court. One little thing of soy sauce to accompany small rolls. This take-out meal would cost 10 bucks at a mall and instead we spent 50. Things just can't be enjoyed when they are SEVERELY overpaid for.

Wings: Though there are limited options, it is hard to mess wings up so you are pretty safe ordering from Dominic's or the Jubilee.

• The good: Jubilee on Route 940 in Pocono Pines. While they only do wings on Thursdays and Sundays, they have a great selection and sampler options for their various flavors. Try the dill and honey garlic; both are delightful. They are priced well and have a good beer selection to accompany the hot wings.

Groceries: With limited options for grocery stores, be selective when purchasing meats and other perishable items.

• The bad: Ahart's market on Route 940 and 115 in Blakeslee. Ahart's is the only grocery store within a 9 mile stretch covering Pocono Lake, Lake Harmony and Pocono Pines. Ahart's has an adequate selection of foods but be very cautious when purchasing meats, like chicken or ground beef. There have been a number of occasions that meat bought from there has already expired or expires the next day. Don't be fooled by the 5 for 19.99 deal they do, typically all the meat covered by that falls in the above said problem.
• Solution (for meats): One of the best kept secrets in the Poconos, is The Butcher Shoppe on Route 940 in Pocono Lake. Though the butcher there (who has been there for many, many years) won't exactly hold your hand or make you feel warm and fuzzy, he's got the best stuff around. From high quality filet to exotic game; whatever your mood - he has it. The quality of his meats is extremely high and the selection is typically good. Though if you want Filet Mignon, get there early on the weekend, he often sells out of it fairly quickly.
• The good: Weis market on Route 940 in Mt. Pocono. Weis, when compared to Ahart's, is better all around for selection and quality foods. It is a clean, large grocery store with plenty of choices. You can get gourmet cheeses and meats and day-to-day groceries without sacrificing selection or quality. The biggest downfall of Weis is that they never seem to have enough cashiers on-hand to make the check-out process easy. Sometimes the time it takes to check out almost makes it worth it to go to Ahart's.

The low-down on liquor: If you are from PA, you already know the drill but if not - here it is: beer is not sold at liquor stores. If you want to purchase beer at, say, a distributor - you buy it by the case. If you want to buy beer in 6 or 12 packs, visit a local pizza store or restaurant.

• Beer: If you want to buy it by the case, visit Harmony Beverage on Route 940 in Lake Harmony. The selection is great but, buying beer by the case comes at a premium. If you need a 6 pack or 12 pack, you will find the best selection of craft or microbrews at the Jubilee or Dominics.
• Wine/Liquor: My personal favorite liquor store is PA Wine and Spirits on Route 940 and 115 in Blakeslee (right by the Ahart's). You can usually find high quality vodka specials on a weekly basis. They have a great selection of hard liquors and definitely a good variety of wine. They carry my favorite white wines: Kris Pinot Grigio and Kendall Jackson Avant.

Hopefully that helped provide some insight for you PA vacationers on where to pick up your favorite things. If you have suggestions for reviews or posts, feel free to give me a shout!

Pocono Brewing Company - Swiftwater, PA

Pocono Brewing Company
PA 611, Swiftwater, PA

☆ ☆ 2/5 stars

What a shame Pocono Brewing Company can't capitalize on the assets at their dispose. PBC, as they call themselves, offers a great environment for a night out with friends. With a big open floorspace, game room and weekend entertainment, PBC COULD be an awesome place.

I am partially reminded of the Ice House in the Pocono Pines (which is now closed down) when I think of PBC - great environment with lots of room for a great night out.

Okay, onto PBC. We went on a weekend night and it was appropriately crowded for such a night; not too busy, but busy enough. We ordered a beer sampler and enjoyed a few of their own microbrews - unfortunately, their website doesn't work (in a digital world, that's unfortunate) so I can't name the beers that were included (they weren't that memorable I suppose).

We had a few different servers; one male and one female - I suppose this means they pool tips. The female server was quite nice, though her low-cut v-neck shirt was inappropriate for a restaurant filled with families. We had their appetizer sampler - nothing special. It had jap. poppers, mozzerella sticks, southwest eggrolls and onion rings. It was good, but reminiscent of a Friday's-Applebee's-Chili's type of thing. Quality was mass produced and it was standard bar food.

My partner ordered the chicken fajitas for the main entree and I had a buffalo chicken wrap. Again, nothing to write home about; just bar food. My wrap did have fresh mozzerella which was a nice surprise and not something typically found in a buffalo wrap. The fajitas came in a very large portion and served their purpose.

For dinner, we ordered accompanying beers. It was not long after we finished eating and almost-full beers that the male server asked if he should drop the check off. We smiled and said no as we planned to go into the game room, enjoy some games and finish our beers. Before we were able to get to the game room, he returned and asked again.

He must have asked us about 4 times if he could drop the check. Our drinks were not drank and our table hadn't even been cleared. I used the nearby restroom and when I returned, the check was on the table. Apparently he dropped it anyway even though my partner said we weren't ready.

At this time, the restaurant was less busy - we were surrounded with open tables but the persistence of this server to rush us out of the restaurant ruined the entire experience. I don't believe I finished my beer and I certainly didn't even get to go into the gameroom.

If a restaurant, like PBC, offers an entertainment experience (with a game room and comedy show that evening), they shouldn't play the fast table turnover game. It defeats the purpose. If you want to turn your tables over quickly then don't have additional features. For sub-par bar food; a rushed experience and a server without bed-side manner, PBC gets 2 stars.

For the entertainment alone, should I had been able to enjoy it, it could have earned three stars. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet here. I would recommend you go to enjoy the cool atmosphere but at the same time you may not get a chance to do that if you do dine there - so instead you will be paying for bar food which could be more cheaply obtained at a chain restaurant.

Barley Creek Brewing Company

Barley Creek Brewing Company

Tannersville, PA
☆ ☆ ☆ 3 stars/5

Though it's not entirely fair of me to write a review for this place as a few friends and I merely stopped in for an appetizer and some brew prior to having dinner elsewhere, I thought it was an appropriate selection for Fall fun.

Barley Creek, by all appearances, epitomizes the Poconos. The lodgy, natural wood feel brings an expected pleasantry for tourists and visitors alike. It was the bright spot of a summer day that was almost entirely wasted at Camelbeach waterpark (I could go off on a tangent about the awfulness of that place, but I won't).

My friends and I sat at a high top table with views of the beer refinery behind us - rustic and inquistive. We ordered two beer samplers to try the in-house made brew. Of the six small samples we had (which also came with a free little glass), two were very good - the Antler Brown Ale has a delightful full-bodied taste to it; rivaling Guiness (I think I would prefer the brown ale to Guiness actually) and the Iron Arm Belgium Wheat Style Witbier - though I am a bit bias as I usually prefer Blue Moon-like beers. Their wheat beer was a little sweeter, not something that could be consumed as a six pack but was refreshing along side of the buffalo wings we had.

Food wise - they had the bruschetta appetizer and two variations of buffalo wings: traditional buffalo and the honey garlic. The Bruschetta could have been very good had it had less onions (and perhaps white rather than red) and the right kind of breadsticks (the bread selection clashed with the bruschetta). The wings on the other hand, particularly the honey garlic were very good. The traditional buffalo was adequate while the honey garlic was the show-stopper; the combination of sweet and garlic proved to be a harmonious marriage of flavors - I highly recommend them.

All in all, the rustic atmosphere and wings and beer made the experience worthwhile; resembling a true Poconos feel. And, on a side note, beer enthusiasts should prepare as it appears Barley Creek will be hosting an Ocktoberfest celebration on October 8, 2011.