coalhouse pizza

went last night with friends. food was just ok at best. service was not. we had about 4 different waiters throughout the night. this is my secondtimeto coal house, the firsttimei was much more impressed!

great pizza, cool atmosphere. stopped in for lunch because the mediterranean a few doors down was full and i'm glad we did. the shared salad and large pizza were excellent and the decor of the place is blues and jazz. the tops of each table are dedicated to a singer with pictures, photos, album covers on the table top. ours were count bassie and son house. the service was a tad slow, but it was the lunch rush. the pizza was great. looked huge when it came with large slices, figured we'd need a box. by thetimewe were done, it was all gone.

gettin' better all the time!. eachtimewe head back to coalhouse, we feel like it gets better. gerard spends his mornings mixing up the dough and getting it ready. the love and care really shows through. plus, in a few months, you'll be able to check out more of coalhouse pizza. they bought the spot next door and are expanding. yeah baby.

the worst meal in fairfield county. when the restaurant was new my friend and i were excited to try it. thin crust, brick oven pizza is something that i crave. we went for an early lunch and were very, very pleased with the clam pizza and the pepperoni pizza that we ate. both pies were made with fresh, quality ingredients, were well seasoned and had the right amount of char from the oven. so i thought there was finally a local place, closer than frank pepe's in fairfield and colony in stamford for a great pizza. i ordered take out of two pizzas a week later for dinner. unfortunately, i was all the way back home when we realized that we were given two completely scorched "pizzas". the crust was burnt, the pancetta was burnt, the pepperoni was burnt, the peppers were burnt... i didn't want to bother return them so we just pitched them in the garbage. we didn't bother approaching the restaurant again for a long time, just assuming they needed to figure out how to handle food quality. we went back and dined in thistimeas we were at today's kitchen up the block. the food that was served that evening was disgusting. the wings were without salt and *sigh* burnt. (from being in the oven? the exterior crust still had a "gummy" moisture content and so i dont think that they were fried.) the pizza was burnt. not charred, burnt from bottom to top. my son's meatballs were made with mostly breadcrumbs, no salt and had entire clumps of just breadcrumbs within. additionally the service staff could not handle the volume of customers, but that's not our concern. this is the worst restaurant we have encountered since...well it has been over a decade. we aren't going back.

uneven food quality - what gives?. firsttimewe went to coalhouse pizza, we were amazed -- fresh, nicely prepared salad not drowned in dressing, really great tasting pepperoni on the excellent thin crust pizza, friendly service and a fun atmosphere. it' hasn't been as good since -- but the weird thing is that how the dishes are prepared seems to vary. great onetimeand lackluster the next.

eachtimewe've been back, it's been a little different. sometimes the pizza crust is too thick. the flavored mac n cheese has been amazingly delicious several times (more like a slippery, high quality melted cheese sauce on al dente macaroni) when we have ordered the flavored kinds (with mushrooms or broc raab, for example) - but we got the plan mac n cheese once and it was a whole different ball game - more like cheese with flour added to it and really awful.

the salads have fancy descriptions but they arent necessarily prepared as they are written up - don't believe it if you see "roasted grapes " --it's a tasty salad but i have yet to see roasted grapes in that salad.

sometimes they are nicely dressed with restraint and sometimes there is too much dressing on them.

they have a chicken scarpariello dish that onetimewas amazing -- the nexttimeit didn't look like the same dish and wasn't even close.

the most recent disappointment was a pasta with "marinara" sauce and basil. the pasta was called spaghetti but it looked like chef boyardee - the pasta so thick and unevenly textured -- i even got an egg shell in it.. the "marinara" sauce (they just call it a tomato sauce but the waiter said it was a marinara) looked like it was really vodka sauce or had vodka sauce mixed in -- it was not a clear marinara. but had milk or cream added to it.

unusual can be great, but none of this added up to a great tasting dish, unfortunately. i would not recommend this dish at all -- unless on a different night somebody else is cooking and it's completely different.

this is a fun place and the people are very nice, so i'm hoping somebody can tell me what gives. is there a trick to getting the best food or should i just enjoy the atmosphere and forget the food?timeof day, day of week - are they the key?

definitely like the people, the place, and think the food is worth trying -- but i am going to revise what i've told foodie friends about this restaurant or they will think i am nuts if they go and have the downside of the uneven experience we have had there.

long live coalhouse pizza -- please pay attention to what's going on in your kitchen!

i'll never go back agian. it felt like being in the twighlight zone. this was my secondtimethere at coalhouse pizza. and i cant believe that both times was a nightmare. the pizza( if thats what you call it) was very thin and burnt all around the crust. i dont think the owner of that establishment knows what he or she is doing. to top it all off, the service was as sloppy and unorganized. i ordered a beer 3 times, and when i asked my waitress the 4thtimeshe told me she was busy. i will never go back agian. it should be called slophouse pizza