Grotto Pizza

Ah... One of the pizza places of my youth.  In fact, in fourth grade, I at so much pizza there that I emptied my stomach the wrong way.  I couldn't eat pizza for two year.  Eventually, they burned down, but rebuilt and opened the current store.

To be honest, in  21 years since I moved out of this area, I've lost a taste for their pizza.  The sauce is good, but on the sweet side.  The cheese is fresh, but again doesn't have must taste.  The crust, on the hand, is quite good.

My people up here often tell me that this is no longer the best Grotto Pizza in NEPA.  And I know the ones by the Delaware Beaches are much better.  However, it is a perfectly good place to get some Friday Night Pizza.

Probably not a place I'd ever go if it weren't for the location right on the lake.  As it is, I end up here a few times every summer, when we're taking a motorcycle ride through the area and around Harvey's Lake.

The pizza has either changed over the years or my taste has.  Either way, I wouldn't make a special trip here just for the food.  The cheese tastes like cheddar to me, and the sauce reminds me of a sweet sauce with enough black pepper added in that you can smell it.

That atmosphere is pretty much your standard sports bar with TV's and beer signs.  It seems to be kept pretty clean.  The outside deck wraps around a good part of the building, and it's a good spot to hang on a summer day and look out toward the lake.    

This place gets packed on summer weekends when the lake is crowded.  Seems to be a mix of bikers, college kids and local peeps.

Overall, the vibe doesn't seem all that different from a chain restaurant, for better or worse.  

Not horrible, but not a destination spot, either.

I don't dig this location as much as Wilkes-Barre because the bar is disappointingly sans Buzztime Trivia (this was not always the case). Back in the day, the bar area had some great pin ball games as well, but those are also gone.

The pizza is pretty good, but come for the outside seating near the lake. Don't forget to feed the ducks your crust at the end of your meal!