I was over at Kelley’s apartment the other day (you remember her, right?) and we needed a quick fix for the bad week that we were having so we decided to walk down to Delaney’s for a little food and some drinks. I was always told it was the “Spectators for Southern students” but the atmosphere tells me quite the contrary. Maybe the people from Southern are classier than us or something because there are two bars, an outside patio for sit down dinners, and a fancy sit down area on the inside. Doesn’t sound like Spectators to me!
We went inside to get seated and asked for a patio seat even though it was cold outside. They turned on these cool space heaters and I was immediately comfortable sitting in temperatures in the 40’s. A very nice waiter came out fairly quickly and asked us what kind of drinks we wanted. Kelley wanted to try a seasonal beer so she asked for suggestions. I was surprised how well versed he was in German beer, but then I look at the menu and realized why. They have a selection of hundreds of different beers and liquors that you could choose from, no wonder why everyone goes there on a week night. After a few minutes he returned with our drinks and asked us what we wanted to eat.
Sweet potato fries ($2.95) are delicious so I ordered those and a bunch of wings ($4.50-$28.50 depending on size). Oh man, do I love wings! Just around this time I noticed what type of area we were in. Of course the saying goes, “There’s no good area in New Haven” but I noticed we were kind of in a more ghetto area than usual, and sitting on the patio was probably not a good idea. I took notice of who was outside and decided that since there were more tables of people around that we would be okay.
Our food arrived and we “chowed” down on it for a few minutes when I noticed out of the corner of my eye an older man stumbling towards the patio. I thought to myself, “Oh, great…” and pretended not to notice him. By this time it was just us and one other table of two and it kind of creeped me out. Before we knew it, the man stumbles to our tables asking us for boxes and cigarettes. We sort of ignored him and saw him stumble inside.
The other couple left and we were feeling uneasy being out there by ourselves so when the waiter came back we told him about the homeless drunk crack head guy. He told us we would be okay so we felt a little better. After that, the waiter came outside more often than before just to see if we were ok. That made me give this place another star above the rest of the average American-ish restaurants because their service was outstanding. He even made us laugh to try and get our minds off of the creep.
A few minutes later the hobo came outside and asked us for cigarettes again (what?) and I simply said, “Have a good night” and he walked away. Back to the food, Delaney’s wings make me think of Archie Moore’s wings. The average is not too hot and has a nice crunch to it. The sweet potato fries were O.K., what else can you say about french fries anyway? We got our check, I spoke with the manager, and we started to walk home.
You would think the review would end here, right? Since it was $1 Miller High Life night (it was a Monday), after we left there were a lot of college students that accumulated. Kelley and I went to Forest Hills for a little bit and on the way back, at about 1 o’clock a.m., we were going through the light that was right outside of Delaney’s. Some drunken idiot who was outside threw a full beer bottle into the street and almost hit the car we were driving in. I trust the restaurant took care of that, but it just goes to show that the area and the people living around it are not choice conditions for a business.
All in all, it was a good experience. It could have gone terribly wrong, but the staff took care of things appropriately and made me feel extremely comfortable to be there. Would I go there again? You bet. Only being two blocks from the Wintergreen Apartments, I see myself walking for some food and drink specials on a boring night.
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