Obscure Bar Reviews - Little Frankie's

Pat Rafferty, gourmand, gastronome, and all around lover of epicurian delights.

Little Frankies?? Where the hell is Little Frankies, you ask? Well, its on the corner of Roxborough and Lauriston streets, a block off of Manayunk avenue. I stumbled upon this beauty a few months ago. Our football team just finished a game on a Monday night and we didn’t feel like dealing with the hassle of getting down to the Bayou. So Tim, my teammate, mentioned Little Frankies to us. He lives 5 houses away and he said they have a sign that boasts, “The best Wings in the Tri State Area.” Not a stranger to trying new bars, we decide to head over there on a Monday night. As we approached this joint, I was feeling a little tentative because, with some of the “side bars” in Manayunk, you never know what you are going to get. Anyway, upon entering, my nerves subsided as we were greeted by the friendly wait staff and a crew of locals.

This bar has 2 entrances, the front door leads to the main bar area. It is a good sized bar in the shape of a rectangle with 2 high tables to the left, to rest your tired feet. On the bar there are 2 Nudie Mega Touch Machines(bonus) and a few TV’s propped up around the outside of it. Underneath one of the TV’s is the Jukebox. I am a huge jukebox fan and in my eyes, a good jukebox can make or break a bar. Well, I lucked out with this place, cause this jukebox was fantastic…they have everything from Guns N’ Roses, to Frank Sinatra, to Motown’s Greatest, to Journey. Just a great selection that will keep the patrons guessing all night as to what song will be next.

The second entrance is on the side, by the parking lot(yes, they even have a small parking lot for us) and is typically used for their handicapped patrons as a small ramp leads to the entrance.

As you continue through the bar, the back of the bar has a few tables set up. A big round one, a medium sized square one and then 2 little tables in case you want to bring a date out for wings and cheap beers. Also back here is an electronic dart board and a Golden Tee machine…they also have an ATM in case you run out of cash.

So, the first time there, we grabbed a table and the waitress told us that Monday nights was $.20 wing and $5 pitchers. Since the wings were billed as the “best in the tri state area”, we ordered 100 of them, cheese fries and 6 pitchers to start. However, the only downfall with the beer is that their light beer [Ed. Note: Pat. you demean us all by focusing on light beer] selection is not very desirable. They have Coors Light and Bud Light, that’s it. So, I was forced to drink Coors light all night as Bud Light makes me poop. After a little bit of a wait and a few empty pitchers later our food arrives and GOOD LORD are the wings huge. They are the full sized wings with 2 parts to them…and boy are they tasty. Now, I don’t know if I would call them the bets in the Tri State Are, but they were different and good. A nice change of pace from the usual small wings served at other local bars.

Even better then the wings were the cheese fries. I don’t know if it was the cheese, or the crispyness of the fries, but they were good. Someone also ordered chicken fingers and they were pretty damn good too, so my unprofessional opinion on the food is that it is quality bar food, all in all.

As we were wrapping up our night, the owner comes over to us to check up on us…to make sure we were having a good time. He was a nice older gentleman and made us feel welcome. As he was walking away, he asks us if we saw what was “under the tarp in the corner.” We noticed that a tarp was covering something in the corner, but we weren’t sure what it was…I thought it was a stack of chairs or a lamp or something that they were covering. Anyway, we tell him, “No, we haven’t seen it, what is it?” He walks over, pulls off the tarp and to everyone’s surprise it was a 5 foot tall wooden carved penis…I’m not even kidding…it’s a good 5 feet tall and an exact replica of a schlong. On top of the phallic symbol was engraved, “Al’s Penis.” We didn’t want to ask who Al was, but we assumed that he was the friendly owner.

Well, after that spectacle, I was already to declare this place as my new favorite hangout….but, then came the bill. There were 11 of us there, and the total was only $90, that’s $10/person. Not only was I pretty buzzed, but I was stuffed…and for only $10!!!!! That’s ridiculous. So, like I said, I would have loved this place if they would have charged us $200, but since it was so cheap, I’m willing to say that it is one of the best hidden gems that the hills of Manayunk has to offer.

Little Frankie’s, the “Best Wings in the Tri-State Area”

Email the Author at patraff@sunsoutgunsout.com