La Bocca Woodfire Pizzeria and Restaurant — Restaurant in Budgewoi

As I approached walking from a distance wafts of pleasantly pungent smoke and delicious aromas filled me with anticipation of what was to come, as I stepped inside A young shy girl just stared at me in silence then asked very quietly “ takeaway?” To which I replied “no I have a reservation,” And that was initially the lack lustre way I was greeted but a few step into being shown to my table by another staff member a man that was behind the pizza counter loudly and joyfully gave me a great big hearty welcome which well and truly made up for the initial non existent welcome.

The restaurant decor of miss matched cutlery, bare tables, paved floors, faded green and red plastic chairs, and roof covered fairly lights was completely dated but weirdly tacky and warmly charming enough to create a semi romantic ambiance on cold dark night, so don’t let the aesthetics deter you from dining here, this is not fine dining but it’s traditional, hearty and rustic simplicity with a strong family overtone.

The glass in the wood fire oven area was an entertaining theatrical delight to watch pizza being made and tossed by hand. My table was in the outside section with river views and it was fairly chilly that night but still pleasant enough without heaters on ( which I noticed they do have for colder months )

An extensive menu including some seafood with emphasis on pizza and pasta with plenty of traditional and non traditional toppings to choose from.

A waitress came and took my order fairly promptly and at this point there was only 2 or 3 tables of people but the food did take almost an hour to come. No background music, which was sort of nice for change but the deafening silence soon overtook and became boring very quickly especially with a long wait time. I was starting to get a little annoyed but Was it worth the wait?? It was… although some small flaws noted the pizzas and pastas were all hot fresh and delicious. The pasta ( fresh ) was very well executed, the flavours all perfect and sufficiently sauced, it was satisfying and lusciously creamy. My only complaint here is that the pasta was just very slightly undercooked and could have used another 30 seconds or so. ( A tiny bit too hard to be al dente ) And I would’ve appreciated the waitress coming back as I would have loved some cracked black pepper and some parmigiana but unfortunately I didn’t see any wait staff come back for the entire duration of my meal, nor afterwards.

The pizza was greatly anticipated it being traditional wood fire, and although they were well made and had extremely delicious toppings the thin base failed to meet my expectations. I was expecting the base to be traditional style, thin yet light and fluffy almost airy bubbly toasty bread but these bases were dry thin firm compacted and really hard to bite through and extremely difficult to chew. I personally have never had a base anything like that before and this being my first visit here I’m unsure if this is the way it’s always made here or I just had a bad batch of dough on the night.

Overall though it was a pleasant dining experience with great flavoured food, plentiful portions, and very good value for money, despite the few mishaps I encountered. As I mentioned previously, wait staff never returned at all so not sure if they sell coffee or dessert etc. but I would have liked the options to have been offered them if they did.

I would return here, they have some great options, and I’d definitely like to try a few more of them.

I recommend this restaurant, it’s suitable for a cosy dinner for 2, a family night out, or a large gathering, seating for approximately 80 or so ( inside and outside) Great option for parties and functions.

The medium pasta serving sizes are plenty enough for 1, ( or for 2 if sharing multiple items) Or A large serving for sharing 2+

Pizza sizes Medium 11” ( 28cm ) Large...

Absolutely rude & shocking treatment! We went with our 4 yr old. On arrival 3 tables were empty in the open area. We walked to the empty table and waited for 15 mins to be attended & offer menu. Upon reminding, this lady manager? asked us to vacate the table & move inside area which was in dark in a very rude way, stating you are not suppose to enter the restaurant as per the policy..! If that's the case,  management should make sure they have someone to attend customers at the entry! Without accepting this slip-up she continued to talk rudely. Never came across with this sort of treatment & Such a waste of time for us!! All in all, this issue could have handled in a better way without having customer leave the restaurant !!

Got a reply from owner, not convincing at all! Totally misinterpreted"we are from sydney" comment! It just meant ;we always walk to the table, tables have clear instructions,"reserved" If there is other system in ur place, we were expecting at least to be known as tourist( "we r from sydney comment"). Anyways, we found it as a poor customer service and that's why we wrote a review. If u are are convinced the behaviour was appropriate(even after 2 secs of delay from ur side n customers waiting for 15 mins and went hungry n disheartened ) so be it! We can't really help. We will choose another place to...

Worst possible pizza place in the whole of Central Coast ring up to order a pizza last night asked if they deliver to late Munmorah she said yes and when I ordered a $19 pizza and a garlic bread because she didn't want deliver this far out the delivery cost pizza went to $33 most disgusting behaviour I have ever seen from any shop zero customer service and I will be reporting must do the Department of fair trading are trying to profiteering would you have to do was say she didn't want to deliver here instead of trying to steal from the customers

In reply to your response I would advise you very strongly to remove your statement you deliver to late Munmorah you obviously don't have my address actually late Munmorah I think $36 is extremely expensive for a pizza maximum of $19 a garlic bread five dollars I and a desert if you don't like bad reviews don't give bad...