Buona Pizza & Restaurant — Restaurant in Westfield

Since moving to the area in 2020, Buona has been my go-to pizza takeout (I have a different favorite when it comes to dine-in pizza). There has not been a single month in these five years that I have not gone for a slice or two. It's really the best non-woodfire pizza around!

I was on my way to Ikea in Elizabeth and planned on eating there before shopping, but GPS made me pass South Ave so I figured, might as well get my pizza fix!

I called ahead to ask if they had Hawaiian slices (they did, yay!) and asked them to heat two slices for me. The man on the other line said "It takes two minutes." I wasn't sure if he meant it will be ready in two minutes so hurry if I want it still warm OR if he meant it only takes two minutes so just order when I get there. Honestly, I understood it to be the latter but I called ahead for a reason - so it would be ready when I got there. Also, no, it does NOT take only two minutes to heat pizza.

There were three men behind the counter when I got there. I said "I called ahead for two slices of Hawaiian" to the guy closest to the cash register. The second guy, the one with a thick gold necklace, chuckled (an "oh, yeah, she called earlier but I forgot" kind of chuckle) and put two slices of Hawaiian in the oven. This pissed me off a little, but I said nothing. I usually ask for one slice to be put on a plate (the one I intend to eat right away) and one slice to be bagged (to be eaten later). When he handed me the slice on the plate, it was barely warm so I told him I wanted it heated more. I said "that's why I called ahead, because it doesn't only take two minutes" to which he replied "you're not the only customer." That really irked me. I know I'm not the only customer but guess what? It was 3pm (not rush hour at all), the dining area had only maybe two tables of people dining in, apart from the slices of pizza they were heating for me there was only one pie being baked in the oven which the third guy behind the counter was responsible for, and there was no one else waiting for takeout.

It was a total of nine minutes from the time I got out of my car till I returned to it. Nine, not two. Again, I called ahead for a reason. And I really did not appreciate that kind...

The BEST pizza in NJ hands down, maybe even the country. I've been going here for over 2 decades, and will continue to get my pizza and all things Italian for as long as they stay open. What's weird is that the negative reviews I'm seeing on here, suspiciously look like their "competitors". I say it that way because there is no competition. The other night I changed my usual order up, and got a pie with a million toppings on it. When the delivery driver rolled up he looked like he was about to cry, and told me he got cut off and practically run off the road so my pizza essentially did a front-wars flip. He told me there was no way he would want me to take this pizza, and insisted that he will go back and bring another one to me. Low and behold, when he brought the replacement pizza to me, it was PERFECT. The owner also wrote a personal apology note on the box, and gave me a 2019 Buona Pizza magnet calendar. You know what? I'm going to order from them tonight. Happy New Year, and eat...

Really unfortunate but I probably won't be returning to Buona pizza. I have been going here for over 15 years because I've found that it "was" by far the best pizza in Westfield, Garwood and Cranford area. We ordered two pizzas and a couple appetizers on a busy Friday night and spent about $70, one of the pizzas was a customized one and the other was just a plain one. Sadly when I got there I witnessed the gentlemen take a plain pie from a huge stack of plain pizzas that have been sitting there for god knows how long. When we got home the customized pie was fresh and hot while the plain pie was so obviously old and not hot whatsoever. I understand it was Friday and things can get hectic but you shouldn't sacrifice quality because of it. Most people probably wouldn't even realize it but I did. Since then we have been touring pizzerias in the tri-town are in search of...