Wood Craft Pizza & Bar Essex — Restaurant in Town of Essex

I visited this place last night after hearing good things about it. I will never go back. Arrived an hour and 15+ mins before closing on a Sunday night. We were the only 2 people at a table and there were 3 other solo people drinking at the bar. Our drinks were served quickly and we were ready to order, so I asked about the soup of the day, she explained they sold out earlier as she walked away and it took over 30+ mins before we were able to catch her attention again to take our order because she was busy cleaning. We ordered a few apps to share. The macaroni balls and pickle spears were okay. The breading on 3 of the pickle spears were extra dark and split open and burnt around the cracks but were still mostly edible. We also had ordered arancini balls... but only 1 of the 3 balls were edible as 2 were almost black they were so overcooked and the rice was like trying to chew stones and 1 was missing 1/2 of the ball. The sauce on top was cold when it was brought out and the parmesan on top looked like it had been sitting out all day and was hard little discolored sticks. I immediately showed the waitress after we each tried a bite and she offered to get the one that was missing 1/2 the ball remade... Explaining they are battered and deep-fried so the outer layer will be crunchy. I showed her that the 1 ball was perfect... Compared the color and texture to the other 2 as it was like those 2 were maybe re-fried because they were twice as dark and rock hard. Kinda suggesting that 2 should be remade as they were so burnt they were not edible. But nothing came of it. No replacement was brought out and the cook had starting to take out the garbage... Clearly wasn't cooking anymore. So my mom and I split the 1 properly cooked ball as the other 2 had maybe 1 & 2 mouthful of edible centers (even the peas inside seemed burnt/blackened). I also quickly noticed that the same 2 songs were playing on repeat the entire time we were there. A 2nd Shania Twain song was added to the mix just before we left after the one song played 3x back to back. Was by far the worst service, atmosphere and quality food I've probably ever experienced. Had she even discounted the arancini balls ($15 for 3 balls) since there were 3/4 of the 2 burnt balls left on the plates when she took them away, I wouldn't have been posting this bad review. I wish I hadn't left my phone in the car or i would have had...

My wife and I were in Essex for an event and decided to try this restaurant since we heard many great things about it.

The place was not busy maybe 40 % capacity.

We can not complain about the drinks or food but we felt that the service was terrible because we were not a regular customer as we watched other customers get great service and their drinks refilled promptly.

We got served quickly at first and we ordered a craft beer , glass of wine and nacho’s Waited about 30 minutes for our nacho’s and during our wait and wondering if our order was missed we never had our waitress check in to see if all was ok. We had to ask the girl behind the bar about our meal.

Shortly after the girl behind the bar delivered our meal. We then ask our original waitress for 2 glasses of water (being from out of town we were cautious on alcohol intake with driving) and she said yes no problem and forgot them and my wife had to bother the girl behind the bar once again for our water request.

Sadly our first experience coming here was not good and we always tip accordingly and usually give extra for outstanding service. This time we felt a tip was not earned.

Would we go gave again ? Probably not because Essex has lots of other great places to...

I wish I could give more than 5 stars. Found Woodcraft Pizza & Bar using a random search. Called ahead for pizza pickup during our lazy day road trip …. To begin with, the owners are amazing and engaging people. I was a bit early and was able to discover through small talk about their fresh local and (homegrown) use of ingredients 👍, their support of local breweries and wineries, their inclusive hiring practices and then as if that was not impressive enough , the food was outstanding. Linda’s Famous Wontons did not make it to our picnic location and OmG, the dips !! Our Mighty Meat Pie & Prime Rib Pizza just added to the perfect stop. Hint: go ahead and order 2 or 3 pizzas, worth the splurge and We will...