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The Saloon Since 1914
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Music:
- Live, Juke Box
- Best Nights:
- Fri, Wed, Sat
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Smoking:
- Yes
- Coat Check:
- No
6 reviews for The Saloon Since 1914
6 reviews in English
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Review from Joe G.
Duryea, PA
11/23/2011
One of the best neighborhood bars around. Friendly bartenders, great jukebox and live music some nights
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Review from Eric M.
Scranton, PA
4/20/2007
There are multiple reasons to drink at what has become my regular thursday night haunt.
It really has been a saloon since 1914. There is a tiled spit drain at the base of the bar with a brass foot rail above it. the bar itself is an amazing all wood construction. According to Joe, one of the two owners, the bathrooms were once inverted. The men's room up in the front of the bar and the women's in the back. Apparently, back in the day, women had to enter by the side entrance towards the back and stay in that room. Even more fun is the knowledge that the stairs at the end of the bar lead to the basement where they used to hide liquor during prohibition when it was a speakeasy.
There is a whole separate room with seating and a seventy-five cent pool table. This is a great place to bring a whole crew of people and not feel like you can't interact. The back room is almost always quiet or occupied only one or two of the many truly rich characters (read: drunk local crazies) that regularly patronize the Saloon.
Like soul, blues and good '60s pop-rock? Then you'll love the juke box. I've even been warming Joe up to the idea of adding some of the new players in these genres. (Black Keys, Lucero, Hold Steady, etc) You can put in $5 and plug in a good hour and a half of tunes that you love that most bars wouldn't even consider putting in the juke.
The drinks. Happy hour gets you a Yeungling ('Lager' to locals) for $1.25. They have a great selection of top shelf bourbons, for those of you like that sort of thing and a decent selection of beers. A great thing in an area where some bars have 'Lager,' Bud and something 'lite' for the girls or on the other extreme some sort of trendy super-brew joint that has eighty beers, waitresses who look like failed attempts at cloning pop stars and guys hanging out extoling the newest single by some band that sounds like metalcore if it were made by halfwits raised on mysogyny and date rape drugs.
The people there are probably one the best reasons to go. Joe, owner and bartender is a fun, fun guy. He'll tell you stories about going to a catholic college and hanging out with the smoking, cursing, drinking 'Brothers.' About how he was held at gun point by a cop down the street because someone had just robbed the corner store. In addition there are the aforementioned truly rich characters. (Cough! Crazy drunken locals! Cough!) Just last night, I was forced to look at the moon because it was so beautiful. This same man told us how his ex-wife once shot him in the hip and how when he stayed out all night once, she became so mad that she burnt down their house. Apparently, we're all safe now that she went back to Alaska.
A single warning; the opening time runs from 7:30 to 8:00 pm. -
Review from James M.
Luzerne, PA
Updated - 6/4/2011
Unfortunately this outstanding bar is now closed.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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8/20/2009
Excellent neighborhood bar .. friendly staff and clientele. Great jukebox & live music on Wednesday… Read more »
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Review from Stephen M.
Cambridge, MA
9/18/2010
A diamond in the rough. Go here. You're welcome. Oh, how I wish Cambridge (my hometown) had bars like this.
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Review from JD S.
Brooklyn, NY
10/12/2010
Great great bar, a staple of Wilkes-barre city. A bit smokey some nights. Has foosball, darts, buck hunter, and pool table. I would take the bar to Brooklyn if I could
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Review from Matt S.
Arlington, MA
8/31/2010
You know, I'm from around here and I've only been here once--that was in 2000, after I'd moved away to my other hometown (Boston--and thus spoke with a godawful l"Boston" accent mixed with NEPA "hain'na"). But I gotta say that this is my favorite bar anywhere. my friend from home and I went to shoot pool and drink yuengling and guinness. love the old-school tin "wallpaper" and ceiling (there's a name for it, but I can't remember what it is), the whole dark but not dank sense that this could at one time have been a speakeasy yet has always been a neighborhood place. I don't think it ever closed one day during Prohibition. Someone should make a movie here. Especially during happy hour in 2000--two-buck Guinness drafts!
