Wood Fired Oven (VA) - General/Restaurant Review/Recommendation

If you're looking for an authentic wood fire oven cooked Italian pizza recipe and on the East coast, "Wood Fired Oven" in Grottoes, Virginia is the place to be!

The drive through the valleys and mountain roads is immaculate and no one road there gets you the same view twice and driving to Grottoes in the evening is just spell binding. Speaking of spell binding, the food at Wood Fired Oven will have you going back again and again and again! All their recipes are homemade and you can appreciate them in any dish you order. 

Believe me when I say that there isn't a dish on their menu that disappoints and having gone back so many times kudos to their consistency in the kitchen because that's always concerning when it comes to either a restaurant with a large menu or a restaurant that tends to have a lot of recipes with various sauces. Well this place is delicious to the core!

If you're just wanting a big ass pizza that has the dough perfectly made to only be perfectly cooked no matter the toppings, then you are going to be in for a huge treat eating your pizza here. There is honestly so many ways I can provide kudos to this place and they aren't some fancy location or place, its environment is comfortable yet cozy in the cold and refreshing in the heat. Then their hole in the wall location allows for a family friendly atmosphere which is always appreciated. OH and one of the best parts is that they provide you deliciously homemade and fluffy garlic rolls-to die for! Moving on though...

My personal favorites there are the Lemon Chicken Piccata (that's the image of my plate above), their Chicken Alfredo, the kids spaghetti and meatballs (by far NOT a kids portion but awesome nonetheless), and their create your own pizza of thin crust with mushroom, chicken, pineapple, with marinara sauce. Yup always arrive with a much grown appetite and always leave deliciously satisfied! My kids would sometimes have the leftovers but otherwise I always finished my food. 

https://www.woodfiredovenitalian.com/

Sincerely,

A Distinct Woman 

Taverna - Restaurant Review

So I've been to this restaurant now twice and as deliciously as it may be, I have to say I'm not really impressed with it. The first time I went it was with a group from work and though the menu items shared between the crew was delicious, I found myself more excited for the drinks and desserts than the entrees themselves. Don't get me wrong they are delicious but I supposed I was expecting more than what I got considering the place wasn't some hole in the wall mom pop Italian spot...So the highlights of this meal were the drink I ordered which was the Lavender Refresher and their dessert of Tortino Al Cioccolato. Actually I lie, I think what was both appreciated and delicious was a pasta dish that was ordered and while the dish was hot, it got rolled into the full cheese truckle. So many flavors in that one bite of the pasta I had after taking a taste...

When a family member suggested it for dinner well of course who am I to say no when I was invited and wasn't going to be paying the tab-however the fact that I grimaced when I heard where we were eating says it all for someone like me. For those of you who know me I'm not some serious food but I do LOVE my food and take appreciation for delicious flavors, textures, and food items no matter what they are. SO for me to have grimaced when this restaurant was suggested, yea was NOT one of my places to frequent nor suggest to someone. Knowing what I knew from the previous visit to the establishment, I went with another food item and played it safe with my kids order with ordering them one of their pizzas. Unfortunately though you can't even really order a simple pizza at their location because they don't have the family friendly ingredients some families might need. Thankfully, my kids are super well rounded and their palettes are eccentric enough that they made due with the pizzas that we had ordered. On this specific visit, I ended up playing it safe and ordered there I ended up ordering their Salmone Ella Capricciosa. Both disappointed in their presentation and their flavors weren't all that great...My salmon was nowhere near the ounces anticipated from what their menu description and image depicts and to make it worse I ordered it medium, only to have received it more charred and crusty than I would have liked. The service that day was already horrible because we literally had to always flag our waitress down for every little thing and since I was hungry figured it was easier and faster to just eat it and then wash it down with my drink as opposed to complaining, waiting for it to come out, and then be able to eat. We didn't know what was up with our waitress but every plate that came out that day (September 3rd, 2022 to be exact) was cold or luke warm. We had better progress when we would waved down one of the buss boys-shoot even for refills for simple water!

What to take away from this are listed: 1)not family friendly or oriented so if you have no control of your kids or their actions this isn't the restaurant for you (you know which of you I'm talking about so don't be shocked that I even said it!) 2)the ambience and colors are commendable and enjoyable 3)with #2 having been said, I would say this is more a good location for single individuals in an event group or just to catch up, perhaps some girlfriends hanging out with wine, couples who like Italian and are looking not to get rushed, or perhaps you're just wanting to try something out solo 3) drinks are pretty good but I wouldn't say a must to go to this restaurant 4) their pasta dishes are impressionable so if you do make it out to their location order a pasta entree to make it worth your while

Otherwise there are better and more delicious joints to frequent in Legacy West and more delicious Italian cuisine spots in the DFW area when you're in Texas. Again it's just me and my opinion though...

This restaurant does have a website with the option of menu items to go. So if you don't want to stroll in for their pretty chill ambiance then try a bite at the comfort of your own home ;) https://www.tavernabylombardi.com/

Sincerely,

A Distinct Woman