AV

A must! Chef Patrick has created his own fabulous signature dishes. His creativity extends beyond daily specials in that he has, on several occasions, created a dish prepared based on our request. The specials are fabulous as are many of the menu items. Chef makes a wonderful homemade pasta and most nights pasta is on the special list. Beautiful venue, great service and Keith, front end manager, is so knowledgeable on many levels, most especially the wine. Have a cocktail with Tommy… best bartender in NEPA… he makes the best pear martini on the planet! You must try this hidden gem.

My favorite place in NEPA. AMAZING drinks & atmosphere, great upscale unique delicious food. Stainless steel bar, candlelight cool music. Tom the bartender is the best. Get the pear martini– ive never had a better drink anywhere in the world. Also the apple martini with fresh muddled apples. They have a nice meat and cheese platter app now, homemade butternut squash gnocchi, great fish. Happy hour is 5 – 630 wed thurs fri half price drinks. Go here! The new owner needs our support

The menu was very limited than it has been in the past, but worse than the menu was the service. The service was HORRIBLE. My family and I had to ask for the manager twice, waited over 20 minutes for our check and the manager. One reason we needed the manager was that our meal was undercooked and no one checked in with us after giving us our meals (which took 50+ minutes order-​receiving). When the manager did arrive he was very rude and unapologetic. We will not be going back.

In the movie «Contact,» the character Ellie Arroway utters, «They should have sent a poet.» a similar line could be said of AV’s menu: They should have used a poet. The descriptions written in the menu — and even what was said by our excellent waiter — barely skimmed the surface of the outstanding brilliance of the dishes.
Chef Patrick expertly rides the razor’s edge between being a culinary magician and artist. His dishes are refined and delicate while at the same time being utterly fulfilling and playful. The area where this is most apparent is his use of sauces and dressings: they never overpower or mask the ingredients, rather, they accentuate and lend themselves to bringing focus to the dish. To wit, Chef Patrick’s flying skate dish and his seafood salad: the former with a beautiful lemon-​esque sauce and the latter with a light yet dazzling vinaigrette, both used expertly to showcase the ingredients like a well-​conducted orchestra lifting and supporting the solo instrument.
We’re quite fortunate to have a restaurant such as the AV in our area. It’s one of the few — if not the only — I can see being Michelin starred. Go. Eat. Enjoy. From the wonderful atmosphere to the eclectic yet well-​curated music to the welcoming staff to, of course, the dazzling food … Yeah, get there before it gets a Michelin star so you can say, «I was there when…»

Awesome is the word tonight! Had the bruschetta of figs, ricotta and balsamic reduction on crostini. To die for! It’s now leaning towards Italian cuisine which is OK by me.

This place is a hidden gem. Food and presentation is second to none. Great wine list, chill scene small relaxed bar. You can literally order anything on the menu here and be happy. Luv AV

High end dining with a hefty price tag. The food is great! Bring your wallet.

I walked into this restaurant 4 years ago, because it was recommended by a chef friend of mine (who ended up on Hell’s Kitchen), so I knew it would be amazing. It was early in the week and Brooke, my waitress saw I was on my own and made it fun. She made a little conversation with me and made it a relaxing, fun experience. I went back several times over the weekends and the ambiance was beautiful. The music was relaxing and the décor was trendy. I felt like I was walking into a hot spot in NYC, which is pretty much the most amazing city in the world to me. The food is consistently magnificent! The menu changes and the chef is so incredibly creative. Each meal is homemade and the presentation is one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in food preparation. I have a food blog and I dine at many restaurants. They are one of my favorite restaurants! Many restaurants are know for certain items and when you order outside of that, you are taking a chance. Whether I ordered an appetizer, entrée, salad or dessert, every single item exceeded my expectations. The chef takes special care and pride in every meal and it shows. It looks deceiving from the outside… because it is attached to a motel, but do not miss this gem. The prices are affordable, the wine is fantastic and the staff is hard working and cordial. This is definitely worth the visit and you will leave after having a memorable culinary experience.

I had a terrible experience there. I was there with my wife on a night where they had a large party. Basically they ignored everyone in the restaurant and just took care of the party. We had to wait over an hour for our entrees. A couple next to us had to leave because they had to catch a movie after waiting for their food also for about an hour. They brought the food out as they were leaving and insisted that they pay for the food. When they refused, they followed them out of the restaurant. I don’t know what happened after but I know the restaurant manager threatened to call the police. It was a really bad experience, which is a shame because the general staff seem to try really hard.

Surprising nice inside, compared to the motel it’s attached to. My veal was very good, the side of fettucine a little overcooked. But the red sauce is outstanding. My wife’s filet was cooked perfectly. Only gripe was no hot water in the men’s bathroom. All fine dining restaurants should have the water heater on, regardless of the expense.

Great restaurant. Don’t let the hotel it’s attached to scare you away. Phenomenal service: the waiter outlined which specials were non-​dairy when he saw I had a Lactaid ready. Tried the Peanut curry soup and chicken breast stuffed with ground veal and sage. Phenomenal.

This place is amazing– so unexpected judging from the location. The food was so so good. Great wine list and save room for desert as it makes the expense worth it.

This restaurant is delicious and it has always been one of my favorites! The food is of excellent quality, delicious and is very reasonably priced. I especially enjoy the Bibb salad and the garbanzo pâté. They play trendy music that gives the place a west coast feel. Recently, they made some updates to the menu which I don’t favor, however I do appreciate the fact that Francis and Michaeline feel the need to shake things up every once in a while. Overall, this place is an excellent dining experience.

I love AV. Tom is the best mixologist in the area (try the pisco sour!) and the food is consistently wonderful.

AV is one of the best restaurants I’ve ever had the pleasure of dining at. Francis is always exceptionally helpful and kind, and the food is out of this world. Their crab cake and caesar salad are wonderful, the gnoochi is fantastic, and my personal favorite the pork chop is always delicious and perfect. Make a reservation, sometime’s they can be slammed, sometimes very quiet.

Super delicious and excellent service. My husband I shared the ceviche and calamari with anchovy aioli. I usually try not to fill up on appetizers but I couldn’t help it. The Bibb salad and Caesar salad are light and fresh tasting. The duck is superb-​perfectly cooked. The scallops were also delightful. I can’t wait to go back.

While visiting Scranton with my parents, I had been searching for a place with delicious food and a nice atmosphere. I found this place on Unilocal so I put it in the GPS and we were on our way. When we arrived, they were completely doubtful and I have to admit I was as well. The sign is drab and under the Roadway Inn sign. I was sent in to scope it out and was pleasantly surprised. Dinner was delicious! We shared a great Malbec and some yummy dishes. I had a salad and some amazing garlicky mussels. My parents had the pork chop and the veal chop and loved both. All in all– such a great find! If I am ever back here, this will be my first stop!

AV is perhaps the only restaurant in the area that could be in any major city in the US and still be considered at the forefront of New American cuisine. The place is quite cozy and you’ll definitely find regulars who return (possibly) every week. And they probably keep this place a secret as prices are reasonable, service is top notch and the food, well, you’ll be hard pressed to find a more creative chef in NEPA!

AV has made a tremendous contribution to the NEPA dining scene as it approaches its tenth anniversary. It has been a while since I’ve visited and a few things have changed. The important things have not.
The mussels I mentioned in my last update are now on the menu. They’re still the best mussels I’ve had to date and they were prepared exactly the same way I had them two years ago when they were a special. You’ll want to use the broth for your bread and skip the olive oil… or just ask for extra bread. The sweet potato gnocchi is still a life-​changing experience.
The menu has been pared down somewhat (the pizzas, crostini and perhaps ¹⁄₃ of the appetizers and salads have fallen by the wayside) and the prices have gone up somewhat. Entrées now start at $ 18, but to be fair the lower priced ones (such as chicken Parmesan) have been eliminated and the prices have not increased by more than a few dollars… unless you can or want to get here before 6pm.
Yes, AV offers the classic «early bird special» between 5 and 6pm in the form of a prix fixe menu. Yes, it’s early, but it also allows diners to obtain three courses for just $ 20 — less than the price of most entrées on the regular menu. There is also an item on the prix fixe menu that is still available after 6pm — the skate wing. Our server conveyed all of this information to us rapidly and coherently despite our 7:30pm arrival time — essentially, getting the word out.
I’d ignore the reviewer who insisted upon a substitution when opting for the prix fixe. It’s not BK, it’s AV.
Some new cocktails have appeared on the drink menu, which happily and thankfully now features an expanded selection of beer. I decided to give the Cleopatra a shot, which includes the unusual Luxardo maraschino liqueur paired with pineapple. While I did enjoy it, it would not be my first choice on this list (that honor still goes to the Twentieth Century).
The entrées my companions and I ordered (pork chop, duck and scallops) were a bit heavy handed with salt. The sides included with main dishes have become more varied — polenta fries or lentils would not have made an appearance more than a few years ago. The purple potatoes had a good run, but I suppose their charm would eventually wear off.

This is an outstanding restaurant, particularly for the location.
My wife and I needed to find a place for my mother-in-law’s birthday dinner; requirements were:
1. Something ‘different’ than is typical for the area.
but
2. Something that has a couple of standbys for the less adventurous palates in the family.
AV successfully fulfilled both. The menu ranged from a rosemary chicken and veal parm on the simple end, to duck breast with blueberry sausage and creminis and branzino with pancetta and purple potato purée on the more adventurous end.
The quality of all entrees and appetizers was equal to what you’d expect in a good restaurant in a much larger market. Duck, scallops, veal, branzino were all great as entrees, and the sweet potato gnocchi and stuffed shrooms were a good first impression.
Cost was about what you’d expect — entrees were between $ 18 and $ 28 — cheaper than you’d find for a comparable restaurant in a larger market. I noticed they also had a prix fixe menu for $ 20 if you showed up before 6pm.
The bar area is quite nice — stainless steal bar with an obviously knowledgeable bartender who wields a mean muddler and pours ‘em stiff.
And nary will you find a greater gap between quality of décor when you compare the outside to the inside. Pulling into the Rodeway Inn parking lot, I had my phone out, ready to make emergency reservations somewhere else, but two steps in the door, the suited up staff, dim lights, and sleek bar took me down from threat level red. This is not a place you would drive by and think, «Wow, I need to go there,» but you should go there. .. and if you bring an extra ten bucks, you can probably get an hour at the Rodeway, too.