BUCKHANNON – Following a short hiatus, the Social Bar & Grill, located at 6 N. Kanawha St., officially reopened its doors Sept. 3 with fan favorites and some new changes.
The new owner of The Social, Bryson Clevenger, said the previous owners, Katie De La Vega and Eric Roark, handed him the reins of the bar and restaurant because he loved it as much as they did.
“They didn’t want to get rid of it,” Clevenger said. “They absolutely loved it, and they literally looked at me and said, ‘We don’t want to get rid of it but if we did get rid of it, we want to give it to someone that loves it as much as us,’ and I was a person that bought it and I do love it that much.”
He said he has been bartending in Buckhannon for seven years and decided he wanted to try working for himself and build something new.
“I want to build something for the town,” Clevenger said. “I want to attract a mix of the college and the townspeople – nobody’s ever really done it.”
He said he intends to keep all the grilled cheese sandwiches, the jalapeño poppers, cheese sticks, fries, grilled pickles, onion petals and he is going to add Mac ‘n’ cheese bites. He will also keep the traditional chicken wings; however, he’s decided to add boneless wings to the menu with a variety of sauces, including buffalo, mild, medium, hot and sweet, bold and hot barbecue and garlic parmesan.
Additionally, he intends to expand the selection of wings with a new fryer and dry rubs like lemon pepper and chipotle barbecue.
“I have 12 taps, I have two TVs, and I plan on adding two more within six months and right now I have the DirecTV sports package, so the wings are really for game days,” Clevenger said. “I bought the fryer just for West Virginia Mountaineer Game Day.”
On top of sports events, Clevenger said he intends to bring back a popular event called the Monster’s Ball.
“Halloween is huge at The Social,” Clevenger said. “It’s been huge for the last two years. Eric and Katie started the Monster Ball, and they’ve had the first and second one, and I’m planning on doing the third annual and that’s where we go all out in decorations, I lock my door at probably four o’clock and at 8 p.m., it’ll open up and then that’s your party.”
Another special he is going to start is called Thirsty Thursday margaritas.
“I’m doing Thirsty Thursday margaritas where you can do $4 margarita all day,” Clevenger said. “I have a coconut, black cherry, mango, passion fruit, strawberry, and I even got a pumpkin and peach. There are just some different flavors of margaritas that you can get – maybe some you have never tried before.”
He said karaoke will continue to take place at 7 p.m. Wednesdays, and Clevenger said the kitchen is currently being rewired, so he does not have the full menu available yet. However, right now, he’s able to cook up appetizers and wings.
Don’t worry fans of the famous grilled cheeses – they’ll return soon. Once the kitchen is up and running, hours for the Social will be 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. He is also looking to hire bartenders and kitchen staff.
For updates on The Social’s progress, follow its page on Facebook or call 304-439-2609.