Wood Stack Pizza + Kitchen PB — Restaurant in Montville Township

Wow! Wow! Wow!! A group of us came to the Wood Stack for dinner Saturday and it was amazing! My friend Mike has been telling me how great this Resturant is and he was right!! The minute we walked into the door we entered into a bustling restaurant full of old pictures of loggers and trees cut and stacked! There is a very nice bar and what was really cool is the open kitchen right in the middle where you can see the chefs and staff hustling to make the food and get it to the hungry masses! They even have loaves of bread for sale! So we sat and started with a loaf of that wonderful bread! Crunchy on the outside and soft inside with a portion of spiced olives. My buddy did all the ordering since he had been there many times. For starters we got meatballs on top of polenta with tomato sauce and bit of pesto on top. These were as close to being as good as my mother in laws I have ever had at a restaurant and that says a lot! We had a type of Thai spiced Brussel spouts that has the right balance of sweet with a little kick, rice balls that were the perfect size so the outside is crispy and the center is not mushy and there was a hint of some meat inside that I couldn't make out. I really could have ate 10!! Lastly, was the mozzarella Strataccella which is made a bit stringy with toasted bread. Next we had their Mushroom gnocchi which was fantastic! They weren't belly sinkers like other paces make and the sauce was not too heavy and seasoned perfectly! Next was the papardelli pasta with bologese sauce that was silky and delicious! For the stars of the show we had 3 pizzas. 1) Shaved Brussel spouts & cheese which was good, 2) Spicy sopradada which as even better and 3) the Marmalatta with bacon Marmalade, mozz, toasted tomatoes and arugula and that was OUTSTANDING, and definitely my favorite! The crust was not too thick and cooked perfectly! For desert we had the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies w/milk and I had a custard with butterscotch and fresh cream. Some reviewers have complained the pizza is a bit expensive, well these aren't bar pies!! Eating at the Wood Stack is an experience to be savored and not a quick bite after the game or the bar!! Also the chef, wait staff and the rest of the crew were all VERY friendly and courteous! Will be...

Wood Stack has great food and a nice atmosphere but if you are hosting more than a few people you should avoid if possible as they are not up to the task of hosting a party adequately.

I hosted a 30th birthday party in early May 2018, for my wife at woodstack. I selected their top tier food package, added sangria, and the soft drink package. However after having the event it was clear I did not receive my money's worth. Simply put woodstack under delivered on service and food quantity. I was charged for and agreed to per-person "family style" pricing, however the service I received was clearly a la carte (but at a much greater price.)

Some of the notable failures: » Excessively hot » 1 server for 29 people » No ice in the water glasses / no one refilled the water glasses » Soft Drink Package (up-charge) was an unorganized mess » 12 entrees were served to 28 guests, that was simply unacceptable » Ice Cream was offered by yelling from the front of the room “who wants ice cream”. That was unacceptable, this was a birthday party for an adult, not a kiddie party.

I was truly embarrassed that I hosted 29 guests here.

I gave the owner every opportunity to make this right - refunding the 20% service charge for poor service would have been a minimum good faith gesture.

However, the owner (Charlie Badalamenti) basically argued each one of my points, and told me how I was incorrect. He even went so far to tell me there was 8 servers assisting our party, when there was clearly 1 - very overwhelmed server assisting our group of 29 people. The owner did however tell me the service concerns were addressed with the server but upon being asked to make it right he became non-responsive.

It's a shame because until this experience we always enjoyed woodstack.

Just as a reference, I paid over $2k but upon doing a cost analysis using their actual menu pricing as a basis I it was clear I overpaid by nearly $800.

Again, great for a night out - bad for hosting a party. I waited 2 months to post this review but the time has come to warn others of this experince.

Note to the...

You can tell this place is owned by a person who likes to cook from the ingredient list on the menu and the decor. Business is not a strong suit here. The only visible driveway traps diners behind other vehicles at an unavoidable valet station at the entrance, which is annoyingly pretentious for a pizza place, especially for those of us who don't want to touch cash and don't keep any. I called ahead because we were a large party made up of half adults, half kids.

The kids menu starts around $10 per kid and they 'generously' do not include a drink.

The menu listed a range of "high-brow" options modified with common grocery items that found themselves shoe-horned into what might have otherwise been a common dish--or on the other extreme, including the names of ordinary condiments to menu items to artificially puff up their ingredient lists. The most comical of these was the listing of chili flake on one of the pizzas!

If you come for just the pizza, I promise you'll leave hungry. But don't worry, bread is on the menu and starts at only $6.00.

My assumption is that any positive reviews for this place were given by friends and family of the restaurant's management or the ignorant guests of diners who are not paying the bill.

Our server was a ghost and the restaurant was nearly empty at peak time and only a few other tables were occupied. We had to ask twice for a glass of ice for the person whose salad they didn't bring until the rest of us were nearly finished with our pizza. The owner came by to thank us for waiting when he should have apologized and comped the missing entree. A 20% gratuity was automatically added to the bill.

When it all comes down to the bottom line, this is "okay pizza" that really under-delivers at a ridiculously high cost for the sub-optimal service and value given. I consider myself a pizza connoisseur and my conscience won't allow me back.

I recommend...