It’s been a while since we ventured out this way. I was looking at a few other options but wasn’t sure if they were just a little too sketch.

I realize how weird that sounds, given some of the other places we’ve been over the years. To any of you newbies, search our site for places like County Line Bar, New Milford Cafe and the Springfield Tavern for reference.

We’ll wait.

So yeah, here we are at tonight’s safe pick, Finny’s. Definitely not sketchy. Although the building has most certainly lived another life – as it turns out, as a car dealership. We immediately noticed the strange carport and tall ceilings, and that was our first guess – soon to be confirmed by our server. Buick, for anyone wondering.

We asked how long they had been open and she said Dec 2019. Amazed we haven’t been here yet, but there was that whole few years we lost to COVID.

Speaking of our server, about 10 minutes into our visit Ted specifically told me to make a note of special mention about how good she was. She knew the beer list as soon as we asked (without having to even look behind her at the taps), and was able to answer questions about some of the ones we weren’t familiar with.

Like the mango beer. I’m not sure is that’s the real name of the beverage or not … but if it isn’t then that was a marketing loss because mango beer is exactly what this beer was.

I asked about it and our server explained it a little but then offered to bring me a sample. Which sealed the deal, and I ordered a tall. Another win for marketing tactics.

But back to the server, she was also able to tell us what the Finney sauce was, and tolerated Shane when he pointed out that the menu says “ask for details” on the dry wings sauces … so that’s what he was doing.

Which – side note – was an exercise in futility because, like, the second sauce on the list she mentioned was a dry rub garlic parm, and Ted and I both could’ve told you there was no need to continue in any further given Shane’s penchant for that particular seasoning.

She also gave us details on when the place opened and what kinds of crowds they get.

Points, for sure.

Shane and I got the mac and cheese bites to start. Because we don’t like to share appetizers with Ted, apparently.

While they could’ve been a little hotter temperature wise, they were still very good. And Hungry Shane appreciated that ther was no time water just staring at them on the table waiting for them to cool off.

The guys both got wings. Ted got the spicy garlic.

And Shane got the dry rub garlic parm, as already mentioned.

Ted started to eat his wings and quickly stopped because he decided no amount of hunger was worth the loss of his fingertips. So maybe he should’ve had the cheese app then. See, there are reasons to love cheese.

Wednesdays are also burger nights, which means half off all burgers. OK, twist our sr arms on that one.

* Insert obligatory joke about our constant need for ordering only burgers and wings here*

All three of us ordered the Finney burger,so if you had hopes of seeing any other burgers on the menu, we’ll, sorry about your luck. Sometimes we all can’t resist the allure of pepper jack cheese, bacon and the mysterious Finny sauce.

Well Ted resisted the pepper jack cheese, of course. But the rest of the ingredients caught his attention. He and Shane both got theirs with a side of onion rings.

I got mine with a side salad.

We all thought the burger was average. Like 5 out of 10. Despite the delicious sounding toppings, it turned out to be nothing really special. They don’t ask you how you want them cooked, so all burgers come out kind of , we’ll, well-done. And we all know how this group feels about that option.

The Finny sauce was good. It was definitely as the server described – spicy and sweet. But it didn’t add a ton of extra pizazz to the meal.

But we can say that everything else was good. Ted’s wings were more garlic then spice but he said that was OK. The onion rings were good.

The real winner of the night, though, was our server. She paid attention to our drinks and always stopped over to check on us. And she understood quickly that we liked to try new things, and brought us over a couple of draft samples between our rounds so that we could try something different and decide if we wanted to switch before our next drinks. One was a watermelon beer by Rheingeist, and the other a strawberry cider from Cider Boys that she said was her favorite.

Both turned out to be delicious. Shane was definitely regretting his Bud Light. I mean, not enough to switch, but definitely enough to think he might try one of these options another evening. But kudos to the server for recognizing that we 1) like to try new things and 2) enjoy free alcohol. We would return just for those factors alone.