Smokin' Oak Wood-Fired Pizza and Taproom — Restaurant in Fayetteville

Me and the lady went to Smokin Oak on a whim, best random decision we have made in years. If you like drinking beer and not being a drunken slob, this place is for you. We ordered a salad, bleu cheese which was perfect and very fresh, great romaine lettuce vs cheap iceburg stuff you get elsewhere.

The pizza...perfect size for two people, comes out fast and hot but not burn the roof of your mouth hot. We got (2) pies, the Smokey Dokey and the Porkie Pie, both absolutely fantastic.

Then it comes to the beer buffet as I call it. The RFID bracelet scanner letting you self serve whatever beer you want to drink or try, in any oz increment you choose, say 2 oz for a sample taste or 8oz for a full glass, its your call. The prices and ABV are all right in front of you, so easy a 5th grader could do it if they could legally drink. I probably tried 8 different flavors or so, about 32 total oz of drinks and they were all delicious with some good recommendations from the GM Tim.

He let us try an off menu cocktail he was working on, luscious lavender I think it was and dear lord....bottle that up and sell it my guy, it was delicious.

We talked some golf, some cigars, had some beer (me only Tim was on duty) and it was just the best evening we have had in weeks. The staff were all clean, smiles, helpful and fun to banter with, the place was spotless like a museum, in a good way.

Anyway Tim and the rest of the Smokin Oak staff, thank you. We...

Went on a Friday for happy hour and was surprised to find this is in an apartment complex and was surrounded by people working on laptops or families. I've been to similar concepts and I guess I was picturing more of a bar vibe but it gives fast casual office space.

The pizzas are so small and expensive. I was confused when ordering as we were recommended to get drinks first then order... then I understood why... we paid, sat down and our pizzas came out right behind us! Never had such fast wood fired pizzas, but the cheese was barely melted and the crust was kinda warm and didn't seem fresh. It was confusing as dough was being made right there... Crust was dry and super chewy. Sauce was good but toppings were 1 tiny little piece on each slice and cheese was bland.

The self serve drink concept is one I've used before but this one is small and several on the beer side (as only half are beer) were empty.... and it's really overpriced even at happy hour. It's confusing as you order food at counter and pay or start tab tracked by your bracelet to scan at the tap. Other similar places I've been to show you running tab as you scan but here it's a surprise for the end. There's a couple unique beers but mostly stuff you can find anywhere.

People here were nice - hope they...

The promise of this place is great- wood fired pizza made with great ingredients and self-serve taps. What’s not to love? I’ll tell you- the execution.

Let’s start with the good. The service is great. Really friendly and knowledgeable folks. Things didn’t take too long and the place was nice and clean. The ingredients were clearly very high quality, I think. Good beer selection too.

However, both of our pizzas were made wrong. One was a custom and the other was straight off the menu. But they were both missing at least one topping. The line was so long that there was no point in trying to get this corrected. Additionally, the pizzas were pretty wet and floppy on the bottom. “Wood fired” makes me think of a really crisp crust, but not here. My last gripe is that the “self serve taps” are not actually self serve. You just walk to a different area and tell them what you want and they pour it for you. Perhaps this is temporary? Either way, it was disappointing.

I understand this place is new and might still be working out the issues, so maybe I’ll give it a try another time. But I’ll give them a good while...