Chacko’s Delivers a Strike When it Comes to Pizza and Good Times
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| Chacko’s Family Bowling Center in Wilkes-Barre is well-known for their pizza, wings, stromboli, and more! |
In Northeast Pennsylavania, we are blessed with great food steeped in tradition and authenticity. We have a particularly great selection of great pizza and wings locally that is unrivaled nationally. With such great culinary selections everywhere, it should come as no surprise that our bowling alleys also tend to have great food! Many readers have told me over the years that the pizza, wings, stromboli and a number of other foods are excellent at Chacko’s Family Bowling Center Memory Lane Lounge in Wilkes-Barre. If you’ve read the review of Spare Time Pizza at Back Mountain Bowl, you’ll see I made similar points about the quality of food at these indoor entertainment complexes.
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| Warming up for a post-meal bowling session at Chacko’s! |
The purpose of this blog is to tell you about the pizza, but I think it’s important to let you know that Chacko’s is an awesome place for the whole family. It’s clean, bright, and a really happening joint with 40 bowling lanes and a state of the art arcade. Within the building is a separate bar and restaurant known as the Memory Lane Lounge. It’s got a cool bar vibe to it with the lights down low, but there are also plenty of tables to dine at as well as what appeared to be a large entertainment stage in the rear of the bar.
The First Family of NEPA Pizza headed down to Wilkes-Barre at around 6:00 or so to grab a meal and a lane to bowl a game and work off the pizza afterward. The bowling alleys they we have been to, don’t typically start getting crazy until 7:00 or 8:00 as glow bowling gets ready to begin. We were surprised to see that Chacko’s gigantic parking lot was nearly full and the place was packed. I checked inside and the friendly staff let us know it would be quite a wait for a lane, and we were also alerted on the front end that it could be up to an hour for food as well. They were very courteous and although the place was jammed, there was tons of space and the atmosphere was fun so we decided to stick around and try the pizza and bowl.
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| A look under the crust of the pizza at Chacko’s. |
We placed our order for a large pie and some mild garlic wings. We had a team of servers consistently coming out to check on us while we waited for our food, which did not take the full hour as we were advised it could. As we waited, the Pizza Princess and I took a lap or two around the facility and noticed how many people were crushing food and how many cardboard pizza boxes were on tables throughout the bowling alley. I was truly impressed at the volume that Chacko’s was doing and wish I got a look into the kitchen to see what the operation looked like.
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| Top view of the ridiculously round and equally sliced large pie at Chacko’s! |
The pizza arrived absolutely steaming hot out of the oven. I always try to describe my first impression of a pizza, and for some reason the fact that this pizza was perfectly round and cut so super symmetrically stuck out to me. It was as if the pizza was cut with lasers by some high tech robot! The First Lady is big on symmetry, but isn’t nearly the dork that I am so she didn’t mention the perfection of the cut, but I’m sure deep down she too appreciated the eight eerily perfect slices!
I took my first bite and the thing that stood out the most was the cheese. It was a stringy, a bit oily, and super flavorful with a hint of saltiness and the kind properties in mozzarella blend that you’d find on higher end NY style pizzas. The sauce was simple, smooth, and slightly acidic. The dough was soft and tender with the cornicione (edge crust) reminding me of a breadstick. The crust had some good flop to it, but was still easy to eat especially when deploying the Pizza Princess’ patented pizza fold.
The cheese was definitely my favorite part of this pizza and overall it was a very good pie. The wings were also great as they were large, cooked crispy while still maintaining a juicy center, and the mild garlic sauce had some nice flavor with just a tiny kick to it so everyone was able to try them. Many people told me to get the stromboli, but I’ve only got so much room in the stomach and dollars in the wallet so I regrettably didn’t get a chance to try one of their many bolis. I did see some strombolis being feasted upon and they appeared to be very generous in size and super delicious in nature. Next time I go down, I’m definitely trying a stromboli and their square pizza known as “The Juice.”
One final note is that the prices are more than fair and perhaps on the low side. That is not always the case at entertainment venues which can easily jack up the price and deliver run-of-the-mill food. These guys are delivering good food and exceptional value and don’t take advantage of the customer just because they are there to bowl and are likely to get hungry. In my opinion, Memory Lane Lounge could be a successful stand alone bar and restaurant even without the attached bowling alley.
I definitely recommend Chacko’s for a clean and fun environment to bowl and play as well as for great pizza and food. Have you been to Chacko’s to try their pizza? What are your favorite menu items? Please let me know in the comments!
