Wood + Fire

great salad
terrible pizza
crest too doughy
taste like pita bread
no taste to the gravy
desert looked very good but i i went to a pizza place not a bakery

Mediocre food at rip off prices! Went today at noon time and were seated immediately. My friend and I each got a glass of sangria, which was delicious. We ordered an appetizer of aranchini to share. We waited at least a half hour for that. We found out that another waitress gave our order to another customer who came in after us. We had to ask three times for water. We each ordered a 12″ pizza that took forever to come out. I asked for mine to be cooked well done but it did not. The pizza and aranchini were both mediocre. The only really good thing was the sangria. For two glasses of sangria, 1 app. Of aranchini and two 12″ pizzas the bill without tip was $ 65.00. We were there for a little over two hours! Needless to say I will not go back! Angela’s wood fired pizza on rt 1 is far superior!

I wish…
— our waitress was more attentive. She was friendly but didn’t check in with us often.
— the calamari was more tender. Too breaded? Over fried? It was something.
— the Wood Fire salad and the pizza had that one added ingredient that would bring all the flavors together. Otherwise, they were neutral\bland

It was ok but cant compare to Santarpios pizza and a tad pricey

Such a discrepancy between the service and the food. 3 stars is a bit of a stretch, as my wife and I were disappointed with some of the service, but the food was a delight.
We arrived, the restaurant was pretty busy (and is compact). There was one table for two available, that was right on top of another table for 4, that had a child in a high-​chair essentially on top of the table the waitress wanted to sit us at. There was another table for 4 available, but she refused to sit us there, in case a larger party arrived. A couple was finishing up at the food-​bar, we said we’d wait. A gentleman that came in after us swooped in and grabbed the seats the couple vacated at the bar before the plates were cleared. There was theoretically enough room to squeeze in next to him, but we felt like being able to reach our silverware to eat, and opted to wait for a table. 10 minutes goes by, no one else comes in to claim the vacant table for 4… and throughout the rest of our meal, no one else came in to sit there.
Thankfully another waitress is covering our table. We order immediately, as we’d been standing around for a while (there is no sitting area or lobby, so no matter where you stand, you’re in the way of the waitstaff or patrons). $ 2.50 for the smallest glass bottle of coke (identical to the ones you’d find in the Caribbean or EU), with no refills (shrug).
We ordered the mushroom ravioli appetizer, harvest salad, and margherita pizza. The ravioli was fabulous, and we gobbled that right up. There was a bit of a wait for the salad, but not unreasonable… except they brought out the salad, and 1 minute later brought out our pizza. The tables are super tiny, as in, we were struggling to fit two side plates in addition to the plate the salad was on; the (not our waitress) didn’t seem to get that there was no room on the table for the pizza, as the salad had just been dropped off. We asked her to bring the pizza back in a few minutes, when we had time to enjoy the salad. They placed the pizza on top of the hood over the stove, so I felt like I needed to inhale the salad to get my pizza. When our actual waitress came back to clear the plates, I mentioned the pizza had been brought by the other waitress and was sitting on top of the hood; she said they were making us a fresh pizza, that would be out in a couple of minutes. And sure enough they did and it was (out a few minutes later). Pausing… the salad was very tasty, everything was very fresh. Pizza was also delicious. While they had a delectable dessert menu (tiramisù!), we were both a bit full (and frustrated) from our meal, and opted for the check.
Again, food was terrific, I’ll try this place in the future, perhaps during a slightly quieter time. Our actual waitress was pretty good, but the other woman was pretty consistently a disappointment, and set a bad tone for our meal from the get-​go.

Called at 8:15 on a Saturday night to order a pizza. «I’m sorry we’re not doing take out at this time». After reading the reviews, it makes it easy to blow this place off with out ever trying it. A pizza place with no take out. Brilliant!

I will probably not go back. I have been wanting to check out this place since I saw it open, despite hearing not so great feedback about it. Firstly, I was really unimpressed with the bread — it wasn’t warm and definitely not homemade. Secondly, it took over 40 minutes for them to get us our pizza, and I just didn’t think that was acceptable. When we finally got the pizza, it was just alright — a little too greasy for me, and just not flavorful enough.

Amazing! Better than Italy! Excellent service and cool décor. Apps were great, nice selection and salads fresh and edgy! Loved the whole experience and will be back! Worth the trip to Melrose!

Haven’t even gotten a chance to try the pizza because it took forever to get an answer on the phone for takeout, when I finally got an answer they were incredibly rude! Hopefully IF I end up trying their pizza I will have a better experience inside of the restaurant.

Great new addition to Melrose restaurants. Melrose is loaded with pizza places but this is quite a different style
Octopus and zucchini appetizer was very nice. Presented well and flavorful with maybe a touch too much dressing. The spinach arancini were even better.
We waited a bit for the pizza but it was clear they were still adjusting since they are new and mobbed so we were patient.
The mushroom pizza was cooked perfectly and a welcome new style in town. The margarita pizza my wife had was flavorful but a bit light for my tastes. The prosciutto and arugula we almost ordered and then saw at the next table is top of my list for next time. A nice variety of interesting choices that we were all talking about what to try next time (that is a good sign)
Since it was our first tome there we went for desserts as well. (Usually we head right to damicis for dessert) I don’t recommend sharing the cream puffs. Get them… but get your own. My son and I split the Nutella pizza. Tasty but a bit on the heavy side. Nice selection that fits well with the menu
The seating is tight and a bit casual compared to the menu (yes i know it is pizza but when having wine and apps the norm is a bit different) if you have to wait you will need to wait outside. Having said that they took our cell number and called so it wasn’t that bad. Staff was attentive and all seemed excited about how well things were going there (we were near the back wait station so had some opportunity to chat with them)
The food gets 5 stars. I dropped one for the seating but it wouldn’t stop me from regular visits.

Went here tonight quite literally one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had. My pregnant girlfriend & I walked in at roughly 6pm ordered about 10 – 15 mins later (all we ordered was ravioli & pizza) was quickly given 4 tiny pieces of store bought bread & olives. After talking about the baby & plans etc we realized it had been 45 mins at which point the waitress told us «your pizza & ravioli will be right out, the kitchen just got slammed with take out orders.» Then she ran off. Apparently take out takes precedence.
After another 15 minutes we finally got our pizza & ravs. The raviolis, were warm, not hot the edges were stiff like they had been sitting in the air, & worse of all they were completely bland in dire need of seasoning.
The pizza, a margherita was also lukewarm. The pizza was super bland, & was under cooked by about 10 mins as it was mushy, & soggy. Pizza from a brick oven wood fired stove should be crisp & full of flavor. I’ve honestly had better pizza at a corner store.
They took the pizza off the bill, so that’s good, but when the waitress was telling the chef he had a look of condemnation on his face, as if his barely mediocre food was beyond reproach. For the price of the food & the size of the portions customers should demand much higher quality product. Hell the chef should produce a much higher quality product.
I take no glee in writing this rebuke of this restaurant, but hopefully this will get the chef on his game. This review will probably be deleted, so I will also add it to Unilocal,but I think constructive criticism can help small businesses grow.

This new little pizza place has a lot of potential. As any reasonable patron would expect from a brand-​new place, the restaurant was packed on its first (or second?) Thursday night, since half the town wants to try it. Accordingly, the service was a little disorganized and slow, but again, you cannot reasonably expect clockwork from a whole staff new to the job figuring out a tiny venue. That said, service was very friendly and perhaps more genuine than usual — this is either a family business or a staff trying their best to make a good first impression.
Their menu is a nice mid size for an artisanal pizza place, but unlike many such eateries, I actually like the looks of most pizza concoctions. Unfortunately, we picked one of the hardest ones to pull off, the shrimp garlic pie — it’s hard to make these sauce-​free options have enough flavor. So it was good wood-​fired pizza, but perhaps a but pricey ($ 17) for the flavor and size. However, many of the other pizzas — complete with red sauce and meat like fresh-​cut, lean prosciutto and favorite toppings like clumpy mozzarella and pesto — looked awesome, were cheaper, and would probably deliver the upscale flavor explosion we all want.
We paired our pie with a bottle of Italian Merlot, which was very reasonably priced at $ 22, and eventually the tiramisu, which was pretty good in its own right, but great for just $ 5. Beer menu was all bottled and limited, but there were a few craft options. I don’t think they serve cocktails, but I could be wrong.
We chose to sit at the narrow, open kitchen-​side bar instead of waiting 10 minutes or so for a table. Plenty of action at the very far end, and if you aren’t careful, you might get poked in the face with an oven shovel or have your drink knocked over. But the wood-​fire view and warmth (it’s January) made our necessary vigilance and the element of danger worth the trouble. Best of all, and perhaps only because it’s a brand-​new place, our bar seat let us talk a bit to the chefs, one of whom was nice enough to give us a free side of sauce and two slices of sausage/​spinach pizza for free — the sausage was fresh and juicy with a hint of spice, but the spinach was bitter (then again, I don’t usually like spinach and it was free). In reality, 4 stars might be just a tad generous for upscale pizza, but the menu and friendliness make me think my second visit will be a lot smoother and tastier.

Opening weekend we decided to give it a try. We went on the early side for Saturday dinner — 5:15. Everyone must have had a similar idea because they went from moderately busy to slammed. Nice to see a new place getting business.
I have been to a few restaurants when they first open and always expect some kinks. It goes with the territory and I won’t knock a place for it. Combine that with getting slammed all at once and I take a deep breath. Overall took longer than what I would expect, but my attitude is order another drink and relax.
Our app of calamari came out fast and was very good. Never had peppers quite like those mixed in — hot and quite sharp with vinegar — really enjoyed. Nice arugula salad on the side of it.
For main course we had pesto pizza, hot peppers and spicy sausage pizza as well as a calzone. The spicy pizza was a little wet in the middle, making the delishly crunchy crust mushy. Still really good. Our only real knock and I am sure had something to do with getting slammed.
Great service under pressure.
Nice wines at a reasonable price.
Atmosphere when we were there was loud and fun.
I can see this being a regular stop.
PS: While it has a nice menu, it’s an upscale pizza place, not an Italian restaurant.