Marley's Gotham Grill: A Standout Destination for Wings

Chicken wings are one of the most popular foods in America. There are hundreds if not thousands of wing places nationwide – including around the Hackettstown area – and some are significantly better than others. From chain restaurants like Wingstop and Buffalo Wild Wings, to Korean Fried Chicken chains that sell wings like Bonchon and BB.Q Chicken. 

Then there are the under the radar wing restaurants like Blue 42 in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, which is near where I live, or Marley’s Gotham Grill right here in town and it is walking distance from Centenary University. 

Marley’s is up there with the best wing places I have ever experienced. They offer over 400 different wing flavors. (yes, you read that correctly, over 400!) When I visited Marley’s for the first time, they had 300 flavors; over the years they have added over 100 more. They offer traditional flavors like BBQ and lemon pepper and garlic parmesan just to name a few. 

However, they also have flavors that you would never think could work on a wing. These include flavors like pepperoni pizza, caramel banana, and peanut butter with maple syrup and chocolate sauce! It is truly the most unique wing place you’ll ever try. 

Here is what makes it the best: it’s affordable for college students on certain days. On Mondays, they feature a “Beat the Clock” wing special where the earlier you go, the cheaper the wings. At 5:00 p.m., bone-in wings start at 50 cents per wing. 50 cent bone-in wings are almost impossible to come by! The price goes up 5 cents every 30 minutes so you want to come in as soon as possible on Mondays. On Wednesdays, they offer 70 cent boneless wings, and that price stays the same from 4:00 p.m. to closing. 

Wednesdays are the best days to go to Marley’s with your friends. A bunch of my teammates on the Centenary Baseball team go to Marleys on Wednesdays and take full advantage of the 70 cent boneless wing special. Sometimes we pull up with half the team and all have a great time. At one point, we went every Wednesday for a two-month stretch and the waiters all recognized us as soon as we would walk in. 

The restaurant is not big at all. There are two entrances, one from Main Street, and a back entrance where there is more parking. That is where you want to park whenever you decide to go. You walk in and past the bar to get to the main dining room where you check in for a table, order pickup, and the kitchen with a few tables. If your plan is to go with a large group, I would recommend calling ahead of time to make a reservation. With a smaller group, it’s easier to just walk in but anything higher than that I’d recommend calling. 

Patrons are given two menus, one regular menu and one wing menu, and some chips. The wing menu may look intimidating at first because there are so many flavors to choose from, but trust me it’s not that bad. 

Depending on whether we go on Monday or Wednesday, we all tell our waiter either bone in or boneless just to make the order easier. My favorite flavors are the Apple Butter BBQ and the Tennessee Smoke. Apple Butter BBQ is like a sweet BBQ with a hint of Apple Butter and compliments the wings nicely. Tennessee Smoke is a dry rub that has that smoky and a hint of sweet. My friend gets Tennessee Smoke every time he goes and he suggested I try it and when I did, it immediately jumped into my top flavors list. 

I try to get as many new flavors as I can whenever I go, but sometimes there are flavors that I don’t like, so I would just go for my usual order. The presentation of the food is incredible and has definitely improved over the years. The wings come in boat bowls and there is so much sauce at the bottom of them, it’s amazing. The wet sauces don’t make the wings soggy like most chain restaurants, and the dry rubs aren’t too overpowering. It’s just the right amount of seasoning. 

You have a choice of blue cheese or ranch, I am usually a blue cheese guy but sometimes depending on the flavors I won’t get any dipping sauce. Once the first bite is taken, you will enter a flow state and just like that, you’ll be done with your food. 

I would give Marley’s a 9.5/10. If only the place was bigger, but I know there is nothing they can do about it given the limited amount of space they were given.