This is a wayyyy overdue post. We actually checked out this restaurant like way back in March but I just never got around to blogging about it. I was contemplating to myself earlier if I should even blog about this now (since it was so long ago) but decided to do so because this place is just simply awesome! For those of you who don't know, Kevin is a huge BBQ fan. Of course, with us living in NJ, there aren't many Southern style BBQ joints, let alone good Southern style BBQ joints! I went online to try and find a decent BBQ place near us and found The Wood Pit in Montclair. There were so many positive reviews about this place, we just had to go check it out for ourselves!
When we first arrived, the exterior of the restaurant didn't really impress us at all. It was just a small hole in the wall kinda place, nothing really fancy. Since it's located along the super busy Bloomfield Ave and only street parking was available, you can imagine the headache we had, when we were trying to get a parking spot. We actually had to drive around for quite a while before finding a spot, a few blocks away.
The moment we walked into The Wood Pit, all the parking headaches that we had earlier immediately disappeared! The lovely smell of smoked wood chips just hits you the moment you open the main door. It was intoxicating! It felt like walking into a real BBQ joint, somewhere in the south. The place wasn't really all that big but boy, were the people there friendly! The owner was making his rounds, talking to everybody, with a big smile plastered on his face. That was definitely southern hospitality, at its best. Another awesome thing about The Wood Pit is that it's a BYOB! Just bring along your favorite beer to wash down all that yummy food. We didn't bring along any booze, so we ordered some iced tea (there was a huge selection of Joe's iced tea in their refrigerator!).
Now, the yummy part. What did we eat? Everything on the menu looked so good (smelled good too!), so we each ordered a BBQ sampler ($13.95 each). This way, we can sample a little bit of everything. Each sampler comes with two huge ribs, two smoked wings, sliced brisket and a choice of two sides. The meat might look a tad bit burnt in the picture, but trust me, they tasted sooooooooo good! Not only were they perfectly marinated, tender and juicy but it was smoked/BBQed just right. The meat was literally dropping off from the bone! Boy, it cannot get any better than this :D
For our sides, we tried the macaroni & cheese, collard greens and a piece of corn bread each. Kevin loved his mac & cheese and said that it was very good. I have never tried collard greens before, so I figured, why not, let's give this a try. I do not know if it's really good or if it was just alrite (since it's my first time trying it) but I can say that I truly enjoyed it! It was really flavorful and it had small pieces of smoked meats in it. Very very yummy.
The cornbread that our server initially brought out for us looked kinda dry and bad. It had a weird color to it too. You can see it in the picture behind the collard greens. When it owner saw our cornbread, he was shocked and immediately took it away! He said it looked bad and he returned with two pieces of freshly made cornbread, just out of the oven! Boy, those two pieces looked so yummy! Guess what? They tasted yummy too! Really moist, with a whole lot of corn inside. So, would we return to The Wood Pit? Of course, without a doubt! We have been living in NJ for about 4 years now and I must say, this is definitely the best Southern style BBQ we had, to date. Two thumbs up!
When we first arrived, the exterior of the restaurant didn't really impress us at all. It was just a small hole in the wall kinda place, nothing really fancy. Since it's located along the super busy Bloomfield Ave and only street parking was available, you can imagine the headache we had, when we were trying to get a parking spot. We actually had to drive around for quite a while before finding a spot, a few blocks away.
The moment we walked into The Wood Pit, all the parking headaches that we had earlier immediately disappeared! The lovely smell of smoked wood chips just hits you the moment you open the main door. It was intoxicating! It felt like walking into a real BBQ joint, somewhere in the south. The place wasn't really all that big but boy, were the people there friendly! The owner was making his rounds, talking to everybody, with a big smile plastered on his face. That was definitely southern hospitality, at its best. Another awesome thing about The Wood Pit is that it's a BYOB! Just bring along your favorite beer to wash down all that yummy food. We didn't bring along any booze, so we ordered some iced tea (there was a huge selection of Joe's iced tea in their refrigerator!).
Now, the yummy part. What did we eat? Everything on the menu looked so good (smelled good too!), so we each ordered a BBQ sampler ($13.95 each). This way, we can sample a little bit of everything. Each sampler comes with two huge ribs, two smoked wings, sliced brisket and a choice of two sides. The meat might look a tad bit burnt in the picture, but trust me, they tasted sooooooooo good! Not only were they perfectly marinated, tender and juicy but it was smoked/BBQed just right. The meat was literally dropping off from the bone! Boy, it cannot get any better than this :D
For our sides, we tried the macaroni & cheese, collard greens and a piece of corn bread each. Kevin loved his mac & cheese and said that it was very good. I have never tried collard greens before, so I figured, why not, let's give this a try. I do not know if it's really good or if it was just alrite (since it's my first time trying it) but I can say that I truly enjoyed it! It was really flavorful and it had small pieces of smoked meats in it. Very very yummy.
The cornbread that our server initially brought out for us looked kinda dry and bad. It had a weird color to it too. You can see it in the picture behind the collard greens. When it owner saw our cornbread, he was shocked and immediately took it away! He said it looked bad and he returned with two pieces of freshly made cornbread, just out of the oven! Boy, those two pieces looked so yummy! Guess what? They tasted yummy too! Really moist, with a whole lot of corn inside. So, would we return to The Wood Pit? Of course, without a doubt! We have been living in NJ for about 4 years now and I must say, this is definitely the best Southern style BBQ we had, to date. Two thumbs up!The Wood Pit BBQ - Montclair, NJ
108 Bloomfield Ave
Montclair, NJ 07042
Tel: (973) 954 4679
Web: http://www.thewoodpit.com
This is a very backdated restaurant review. I initially didn't want to write about this anymore but I enjoyed the food there so much that I just had to write this review. We were on our way to Pittsburgh for Nick's confirmation when we decided to stop at Cracker Barrel in Fogelsville, Pennsylvania (somewhere off the Interstate, near Allentown) for dinner. We have always seen many Cracker Barrels along the way whenever we drive to home to Pittsburgh but this is the first time we are actually stopping at one.
Our server handed us the menu and boy! it was a hugeee menu. There were so many yummy country style dishes to choose from. It took us quite a while to decide what to order :P
We finally placed our order and our server brought out some country biscuits as well as some home made corn muffin. It was served with real butter and a whole bowl filled with all kinds of jam and honey. The muffin wasn't really the best, it was just alright. The biscuit however was the bomb! Really buttery and nice, very very good! We tried the biscuits with all the different types of jam..mmm mmm mmm.
They even have games on each table for the customers to keep themselves busy while waiting for the food. We of course were keeping ourselves busy by stuffing our faces with the biscuits and muffin, so we didn't really have time to check out the games.
It didn't take too long for our dinner to arrive. Kevin ordered the Meatloaf Dinner, which comes with a thick cut of Meatloaf made with tomatoes, green peppers and onions. He had a choice of three country sides and he chose the Whole Kernel Corn, Country Green Beans and Fried Apples. He said that they were all really good and he enjoyed the whole dinner lots.
Since everything looked so good on the menu, I ordered the Cracker Barrel Sampler. A small selection of their three most famous dishes. Half a slice of Meatloaf, half a slice of Sugar Cured Ham and some of their famous Chicken n Dumplins. I just love their Chicken n Dumplins. Pieces of chicken tenderloin and dumplins that were hand made from scratch, slowly simmered in country chicken stock. Reallllly hearty and good. I also had a choice of three sides and I chose the Fried Apples (bad choice, I didn't really like it), Country Green Beans and Breaded Fried Okra. The fried apples tasted like commercial apple pie filling, so I didn't really like it that much. However, the green beans and okra rocked my world! It's really good, especially the okra.
After dinner, we took a walk in their gift shop. The whole place oozes of country charm. They had all kinds of apparel, boots and cowboy hats, Paula Deans cookbooks, old fashioned baked goods as well as old time candy! I felt like buying everything! At last we bought some chocolate covered walnuts and Dad's Root Beer hard candy to eat along the way to Pittsburgh.
As we left the restaurant, we noticed that they even had hand made rocking chairs on sale at their verandah. Man, if we had a southern style ranch house with a big verandah, we would definitely get a few rocking chairs. It would be so cool to just sit outside on the rocking chair, sipping ice tea and watching the sunset :P Overall, I'm glad we stopped at Cracker Barrel for dinner. It was a pleasant break from the long journey and it's always good to eat some hearty 'home cooked' country style food. If only there was a Cracker Barrel somewhere nearer to our apartment. I should bring this franchise to Malaysia, anybody want to invest and be my partner? :P