The Swamp — Restaurant in Jamestown

Before I get to the star of the show, the food, let’s just start by saying this place is aptly named… it’s a bit swampy. But it being mid January it was frozen over and there was no need to risk wet feet. This place is a local bar… no menus except the posted hand-written board just inside the front door. I’ve added a pic of it. It’s limited seating… maybe 12 seats at the bar that go almost the length of the establishment, and a mix of 2-3 tables tables and hi-tops. The vibe is Florida swamp bar where you’re either gonna love it or hate it, depending on what you’re used to. I used to enjoy REALLY dicey bars located just off Navy bases that I was stationed at, you can say the “bar” is set low. My wife and I ordered the two signature flavors “pan-fried swamp wings” and the “mmmmafia wings”. Also got onion rings and cheese curds for starters. The rings were hot, fresh out the fryer and very good. The cheese curds were breaded and deep fried works of delicious perfection. When the wings arrived piping hot enough that my wife couldn’t hold to eat until they cooled off a bit. Mmmmafia were tangy spicy like buffalo wing sauce and the pan-fried were dark, sticky and sweet with a subtle heat and hint of molasses and all-spice. No beers on tap were available, but plenty of cold canned IPA’s in the fridge. While enjoying the meal, another couple walked in, looked around then promptly left. The parking spots fill up quick too, so keep that in mind, I think there’s parking across the street on the road, but that’s a busy road with fast-moving traffic. Overall I enjoyed the food and the vibe. While it may not be to everyone’s taste both in terms of food and ambience, I like it and would go back (though the wife stated she may let me go by...

I felt like I was in the movie Sweet Home Alabama! My buddy insisted I try this place and didn’t give me any inkling on what to expect. Imagine my shock when I pulled up and saw mismatched patio furniture a broken canopy tent with the canopy missing, and a dock to cross over the mud and water filled parking lot. If you get past that and walk inside you’re kindly greeted and offered a drink. Behind the bar is a free pool table and in the one corner there is a patio couch with table to enjoy cocktails with friends and some table to eat their award winning wings. Yes that’s right… this place doesn’t look like much but they have won awards back to back to back. There is no menu, just a chalkboard on the bar with their offerings. Wing flavors on one side and appetizers on the other. My friends and I went with corn fritter bites, Philly cheesesteak logs, and Mac and cheese bites. All were delicious and brought out quickly. For wings we went with garlic parm, MMMafia sauce, Benny, and Swamp Wings. MMMafi is a bison chip dip base with buffalo sauce and blue cheese crumbles. Sounds wild but they are my new favorite wing flavor. Benny is a honey mustard base with buffalo sauce and lemon garlic seasoning. These were my next favorite and definitely had a kick to them. My buddy ordered swamp wings which is a fried wing then tossed in a cast iron pan with teriyaki base and Worcestershire sauce and seasonings. It comes out as a tarry black looking wing. My buddy loved it, but I didn’t care for it. You’ll just have to come see for yourself. This is a true hole in the wall place for wings. Highly recommend...

So, The Swamp is something of a legend here in our area. It's a long time bar that is located in a wetlands area near Chautauqua Lake. It's an area that experiences flooding on a fairly regular basis, and as a result, this restaurant / bar has had to install pallets leading up to its entrance to ensure that it's patrons can get in without getting their feed excessively wet!

The Swamp is rumored to be some of the best wings in the Jamestown area so we decide to head on down and take a chance on them. They weren't very busy on the Sunday that we were there but the person behind the bar was very attentive and we got our drinks pretty quickly. After that our orders for wings were put in and there were a number of flavors to choose from. The majority of us got medium wings or hot wings, and one got the pan-fried wings.

When the wings came out the sauces were all very good. The pan-fried wings are somewhat different; as they are blackened and then covered in a very black almost molasses sauce. That sauce had some heat to it and an interesting taste.

All in all, I don't know that they are the best wings I've ever had but I have to say they certainly were not the worst and they could be an option in case I ever wanted to order wings on my way to the house.

A good experience to a local "legend". I would encourage you to check it out sometime for either the wings, the...