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WILKES-BARRE TWP. — Lucky’s Sporthouse has seen its share of Super Bowls over its 10-year run, which makes all the more fitting for Sunday’s big game to be its last night open.
For one final time, the bar in Wilkes-Barre Township was open to guests, and the bar filled with fans of both football and the restaurant itself.
Franchise owner the Metz Group, recently announced that the sports bar would be closing, with its final dinner service to occur during the Super Bowl.
Lucky’s meant something special to one local couple: Joan Murphy and Bob Heslin, of Mountain Top and Swoyersville, respectively, went on their first date at the bar seven years ago.
“Our first kiss was in the parking lot,” Murphy said, grinning.
Ever since then, they would often come to the sports bar, and they’re sad to see it go. While they were decked out in Philadelphia Eagles gear, they said they’d be rooting for the New England Patriots in solidarity with a friend they brought along with them.
But not everyone there was rooting for the Patriots — in fact, the Patriots fans seemed to be in the minority.
Carol Czarnecki, of Wilkes-Barre, said she normally roots for the Pittsburgh Steelers. But Sunday, she considered herself a Los Angeles Rams fan.
Czarnecki said she would occasionally come to Lucky’s, and figured she would drop in for a while on its final night.
“But now I think I’ll stay for the game,” she said.
Some folks, though, were only there for one last bite to eat at Lucky’s.
Jean Marie Bertram, of Wilkes-Barre, said she used to come to Lucky’s often a few years ago when her son used to work there. Now, she was coming for one last meal for old times’ sake.
Bertram didn’t even plan on staying for the game, leaving before kick off.
“We got here early just to have a bite to eat,” she said.
But this isn’t the end of the story for the property or the business.
The site is slated to be converted into the area’s first stand-alone Chick-fil-A, making it the third in Luzerne County after on-campus offerings at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre and Misericordia University in Dallas Township.
Similarly, Metz Group said that it was seeking out a new location for Lucky’s, but there have been no announcements regarding where that will be.