College Bar Wednesday Wing Night: Ginger Hill Tavern [Regional Review]

The Ginger Hill Tavern is the primary “college bar” for Slippery Rock University.  It is a small town with a couple other bars but Ginger Hill is the one frequented most by the typical “college kid.”  They have daily beer/drink specials and DJs on the weekends.  Don’t bother trying to get near the place on a Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night while school is in session. But no matter what, wing nights always have a way of tickling my fancy. 

We went for Wing Nights Wednesday, which used to be Yuengs and Wings but has now been changed to wings and Bud Light specials.  The wings are 60 cents apiece and the 16oz drafts served in the ubiquitous plastic BL cup. Glancing over the rest of the menu, it is very impressive how many options they have being primarily a bar with options ranging from pasta dinners to a chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich. 

I ordered a small order of Rocket Fries to start with which are basically their seasoned fries smothered in a blend of Mozzarella Cheese, Nacho Cheese, bacon bits, and ranch dressing!  They are as delicious and unhealthy as they sound.  The seasoned fries are very crispy and held up very well to the gooey cheese that was covering them.

This being Wednesday I went straight for the wings for my main course.  The wing options include Bourbon (extremely spicy and peppery), hot, tangy, Cajun, garlic parm, and BBQ.  I went with my go-to garlic parm and tried the Bourbon for the first time.  The garlic parm were good as usual and the sauce is basically a delicious, albeit artery nightmare, blend of melted butter, garlic, and parmesan cheese.  I ordered three of these as they are the whole wings  which is considered 2 wings at places like Buffalo Wild Wings.  They were crispy and soaked up lots of the buttery goodness.  

The second flavor I tried was the Bourbon.  These were covered in a menacing looking red sauce with red pepper flakes aplenty!  It was very flavorful and you could taste all of the intricacies of the pepper coming through.  I am a huge fan of spicy food but these were extremely hot and required a second and third Bud Light to wash down.   

All in all, you cannot beat the cheap and delicious wings and the cheap beer.  You do have to deal with the college crowd which can be a positive or negative depending on your dining desires.  I have been there when it was fairly calm and other times when everything is sticky and you can barely hear your dining partner across the table.

~Jake