Restaurants in Lackawanna

Perkins began as a single humble Ohio pancake house in 1958. More than 50 years––and 440 national locations––later, each Perkins restaurant stays true to its roots by keeping those signature buttermilk pancakes the focal point of a 90-plus-item menu. Cooks layer the popular flapjacks in stacks of two, three, or even five and make the fluffy towers all the more tempting with toppings such as glazed strawberries, whipped cream, or flavored syrups. Breakfast favorites—including hearty omelets and country benedicts—are served all day, meaning kids and adults can order short stacks to accompany their jumbo-shrimp or steak dinner, instead of smuggling them in under a stovepipe hat. Unlike most other chain restaurants, Perkins also features in-store bakeries that churn out the shop's real fruit and cream pies, muffins, and chocolate-chip cookies.

The Hearth Restaurant's rustic, rough-hewn confines swell with warmth and friendly chatter as cooks grill, roast, and simmer dinner entrees ranging from steak to lobster. Forks dive into slow-roasted, hand-carved prime rib of beef ($15.50+), and cold-water lobster tails ($20.99 for one tail; $37.50 for two tails) allow diners to enjoy gifts from the sea far superior to the soggy holiday sweaters sent by Poseidon. Char-grilled sesame-pork chops ($14.50) travel beneath a mantle of The Hearth’s Hawaiian sesame barbecue sauce. Epicurean alchemists forge homemade soups and stews each day ($2.99–7.25) and send the steaming bowls to guests dining on the restaurant’s outdoor deck seating. Rotating features such as a Western New York fish fry ($9.75) save taste buds from the boredom brought on by gnawing on the reels of foreign films.

The Scallywags Grub & Spirits dining room is a treasure-trove of nautical knickknacks, from the colorful fish that speckle the walls to the gnarled wooden buccaneer that waits by the door with a bowl of mints. Diners marvel at the festive pirate-themed decor before ordering rounds of martinis and turning their attention to the menu—a seafood-centric compilation of crispy-fried-fish dinners, juicy burgers, and tender steaks. One of the eatery’s signature dishes—the Drum of the Scoundrel—features a hearty 2-pound smoked turkey leg seasoned in specialty sauce and served grilled or fried.

Chanderson’s Steak & Seafood plates up fine American cuisine in a casual, charming atmosphere fit for family dinners and special nights out. Six days per week, the restaurant serves lunch and dinner, loading both spreads with succulent and artfully arranged options. The fish Harold, for instance, features broiled haddock festooned with Italian herbs, tomatoes, and provolone, while the pot roast entrée fills bellies with tender, slow-roasted beef and gravy.

At Hideaway’s, chefs prepare half-pound burgers, grilled chicken dinners, and fried seafood from ingredients that have never been frozen or preserved in a museum laboratory. Each Friday, the eatery hosts a fish fry that serves breaded, battered, or broiled fillets as well as the Fisherman’s platter teeming with fried fish, scallops, and shrimp. To enliven the ambiance, the restaurant features Thursday- and Friday-night karaoke and live music on Saturdays.

Buffalo Street Grill's gastronomic gurus assemble a menu of sandwiches and classic steak-house dishes. Conjure absent appetites with starters such as shrimp and crab dip ($8.50), whose namesake duo unites with a light dijon cheese sauce and slices of baguette. Stacks of Boar's Head turkey, provolone cheese, and banana peppers adorn the turkey ciabatta's ($7.50) roll, and The Roseann ($6) turns the homey ideals of a classic BLT on its head with basil aioli. Instead of brandishing a large and cumbersome spear, twirl the angel-hair pasta from shrimp with lobster sauce ($14) around conveniently provided fork tines. Table denizens can also sharpen teeth on a 10-ounce Black Angus steak as it muscles its way past pesky hunger pangs to silence noisy stomachs.