Chianti Wood Fired Pizza Italian Cuisine — Restaurant in Bernardsville

I ordered 2 wood fired pizzas online and showed up at the end of my pickup window. I arrived and the place was mayhem. Chaos. Super busy. Awesome, I thought. Everything will be tasty ... wisdom of the crowds, right? Sure. Pizzas were ok. Not awesome. But I appreciate the ingredients.

The management was off the charts awful. I get it. I ran a small biz. But this was insane. The poor staff was under trained. Gals on phone. Scrolling thru orders. Not a single guest knew what to do. Meanwhile, because we live in a nice town, everyone was neighborly and kind. Gracious to each other and the staff as it is a new biz and we all want them to succeed. But here’s the catch.

1- Train your team-greet everyone. Let them know where to go and where to stand and how long they may have to wait. If you’re too busy to be nice and welcome your guests, just wait a few weeks. They’ll get annoyed and get a pizza elsewhere. There are 8 pizza joints to get pizza at. No ones pizzas are they awesome to be made to feel unwelcome. And by the way, any of those places can quickly copy your menu

2- train your team to know how to use and prioritize orders. Online orders. Phone orders. In person. Pickup. Delivery. Yes it’s a lot to manage. But if you don’t figure it out you won’t have to manage it in the future. I ordered online. Arrived on time and still had to wait 30 min. Unacceptable. Not so much as an apology-just a “we are busy” - ok... you don’t want my order. Someone else will. And they may say, “thanks for waiting, we appreciate your business”. But as I stood there for 30+ min It made me sad to see such waste and missed opportunities for stellar service. ..Poor Tim or Jim... he ordered delivery.... and I saw his boxes get cold before the staff realized his order wasn’t a pick up...They should have called that guy. Apologized. And made him fresh pies. Maybe he’ll be more forgiving.

I’d like to give it another try. But for the price, the clueless staff and feeling like my order was just a hassle for them, I’ll...

I really wanted to love this place, and the raving reviews made me want to love it even more! I am NOT the type to leave a poor review, but unfortunately this just wasn’t a great experience.

Atmosphere/Service: When my boyfriend and I first arrived, we weren’t met with a greeting, instead stared at before finally being given a table. It just didn’t create a warm feeling. Also there was no music! I feel like some nice music would’ve helped the ambiance. Also while our server was kind, he wasn’t very attentive. And it took him awhile to notice that we had finished and were ready to pay. As someone who has worked as a waitress, I understand that things get busy, but this was a Monday, and there were very few tables.

Food/Pricing: I order the Chicken Marsala, and my boyfriend order the Gourmet Cheesesteak. While our orders were taken promptly, when our food arrived I was disappointed. My Chicken Marsala was very watery, no cream, and tasted of cinnamon. I didn’t even finish it. It was also more “warm” than hot. My boyfriend’s cheesesteak was delicious, but no fries or chips came with it. The Chicken was around $21, and the cheesesteak was around $14. For the prices we paid, I expected a little something more. The bread with tomato soup was delicious, but I doubt either was made in house. Including the two bottled waters we received, we paid about $48 not including tip.

I would love to come back and try their pizza, as I heard that was really good. But if that’s the only solid thing on the menu, then it should just be a pizzeria. Not a full on Italian...

Absolutely amazing experience there, went with my friends and overall everything was amazing. We ordered the garlic knots and there was 6 of us and only 6 garlic knots in the portion, our server who was the kindest ever gave us extra 🥺. Literally had the BEST service there I am not sure what the workers name is but whoever served us today I love you your the best!! He even took photos of us and the music there was so good. I really liked this one song that played and I said it out loud, im not sure if someone heard me but it played again and i was so happy!! Infact i am listening to it right now so thank you for playing that music. Okay so on top of the amazing service the food was astonishing. My friends and I got three pizzas including the pesto white sauce, caprese salad, and vodka sauce and they were all soooo good. Emphasis on the vodka sauce one that was amazing. So the environent was also really nice , I went to the bathroom and it was so clean, smelt good, and even cutely decorated. One another amazing thing is it was SO cheap! $68 for 6 people, thats actually insane. If you are in town please go here they willl NOT dissapoint! Its also a 10 minute walk from the center town of Bernardsville so amazing...