Afton Pub & Pizza — Restaurant in Concord

My husband and I stumbled across Afton one evening after shopping at Concord Mills. We were looking for great pizza and we found it! The food here is absolutely amazing. The atmosphere is even more to rave about!!! We discovered their Wednesday night bingo and it became a fairly regular spot for us. We are lucky enough that every other Wednesday we are off work and kid free. We travel from Shelby to Afton to sit, eat, drink and play music bingo! We LOVE it!!

But NOTHING compares to the care this place gives its patrons!!! Holidays are tricky for our family. Thanksgiving especially. Our kids are shared between two households and go to several Thanksgiving dinners. It became a reoccurring problem that I would cook a meal and always felt like it went to waste. Either the kids were over turkey by the time we had our meal or we threw away a ton of leftovers. We started looking for other options and went to Cracker Barrel a couple of times but that was always a nightmare. Either way too crowded or out of things if we waited later in the evening. This year I got an email that Afton was offering a Thanksgiving meal and it was by RSVP only. So we knew we wouldn’t deal with a restaurant unknowingly trying to provide a Thanksgiving feast for an unknown amount of guests. I knew it would be a great option for us and my in laws live very close so it was the perfect location for our small family to come together. No hassle of shopping, preparing, cooking, hosting, cleaning, etc. Only ONE problem remained… My oldest son is special needs and food is a big part of his comfort. He cannot be forced to eat something he does not want nor will he just “go without.” Mentally he is much younger but in an almost fully grown persons body. I called Afton to RSVP and inquire if they would be offering any other food items. I spoke with the manager Jordan. She informed me that while her kitchen would be fully stocked and able to prepare other food items that it would only be herself and her husband cooking on Thanksgiving but after I explained why I asked she GRACIOUSLY told me that if my son did not want turkey they would be MORE THAN HAPPY to throw a pizza in the oven for him (a favorite of his)!

While this may not seem like a big deal to some because it is “just a pizza,” I fully understand how cooking on Thanksgiving is a big task and can only imagine it is daunting to do it for customers!! So when a person faced with a task like cooking a huge feast, something I do not even want to do on this holiday is willing to go above and beyond to provide an amazing experience for not only a child but avoid the parents dealing with a potentially embarrassing catastrophic scene, allowing us to enjoy the holiday made me overwhelmed with gratitude!!

When we arrived the hostess had a table reserved for us and let me know the owner had made her aware of our special request. We felt very cared for! Everything was perfect. It was so nice to relax and enjoy our Holiday. The food was great and we had so much of it! The kids opted for pizza and truly enjoyed it.

Thank you Afton Pizza and Pub!!!

Happy...

So disappointed. Arrived a little after 6pm, 2 adults, 2 kids in our party. Was sooo hungry. This was my first time sitting down for a real meal after a busy work day. We asked to sit outside because it was SUPER cold inside. It was moderately busy. We were seated promptly and our order was taken. Lillie, our server was pleasant. We ordered kids spaghetti, kids pepperoni pizza, 10” pepperoni pizza and salad for my husband (same exact pizza as kids size), and I ordered soup with grilled chicken on the side. It took forever. We were still waiting for our food an hour later. It was literally starting to get dark and get cold outside. The patron beside us even commented about how long it was taking for any food to arrive at our table. She asked what we ordered. Lillie apologized for the wait several times as it got later and later. FINALLY, at 7:17pm, we started to get food, thankfully the kids’ arrived first. We asked for my husband’s pizza to be boxed to go. My husband asked for my soup and chicken to be boxed as well. My patience was out the window by this point. I had a headache because I really needed to eat. No way soup and 5 strips of chicken (overcooked and not grilled) should be the last thing coming to the table. We paid, tipped, and left to finish eating at home. Worst experience, minus Lillie. She did what she could but the service took way too long for what we ordered. Had I known it was going to be that long of a wait on food, we would have gone somewhere else. Husband and son liked the pizza. Soup was fine, very simple which is what I wanted. It will be a while before I return to dine in. I’d say that if/when kitchen staffing is insufficient and food takes that much longer to come out, let the customer know up front so that they can make an informed decision to stay or go...

Let me start this by saying that my husband and I both have years of front and back of house restaurant experience. Its really easy to spot problems. Besides the lack of cleanliness, there was a major problem that we picked up on immediately. Our server was sweet and attentive, but seemed very timid. It didnt take long to realize that the manager that was there is a bully. The food was fine....however, we ordered creme brule and it was a soupy consistency. Really weird. Our server, whom I will not name to protect her employment, said she was going to get it taken off our bill. We didnt request it, but it was nice of her to offer. A few minutes later, she came back and said she "wasn't allowed" to take it off the bill. Paying for it was not our problem with this. Our problem was that she seemed very scared to say this and also that the manager required her to tell us instead of being a professional, coming to our table and saying it herself. We asked our server a few questions and could tell she was uncomfortable when the manager decided to walk right behind her. We stopped talking because we didnt want to get her in trouble. After we paid and started walking out, the manager said very snarky and condescendingly, "have a good evening." I would come back to support our server ONLY. She was a gem. I will not come back, however, because of the extremely uncomfortable atmosphere brought by the manager. Also, clean your restaurant and paint some walls. Have some respect for...