Wooden Paddle

Wonderful afternoon! The craft cocktails are incredible. The food was so decadent, I almost shed a tear! Service was so personable, and we felt right at home. You must try the mushroom pasta - the mushrooms are sourced right in Lemont!!! You can also get pizza dough to go and make your own!!! I will return!

I not sure what I was expecting eating here but whatever it was, it was surpassed. The toppings were very plentiful and tasty. I loved the crumbled sausage. The outer crust was perfect. A little crisp and sooo soft inside. The only thing I would get done differently is maybe a few more minutes in the oven to crisp up the bottom a bit.

Had a gooey butter cake for dessert. Wow it was good. I’ll eat here again.

The interesting thing about doing these reviews is that is that I’ll get way more review views on my Google Maps vs Yelp. My Yelp reviews just get pushed down more whereas my Google will stay towards the top. With that said, I’m sure my loyal followers/readers will find this particular information useful.

Before going to Wooden Paddle, make sure you sign up for their Pie Society. They only ask you a few questions. No biggie. Once you get to the end, they’ll send you some offers to use while you’re in store. These offers are for free pizza, pasta, snack, or dessert. Yes you read that right. You can only use one per visit, one per table, and it’s dine-in only. Just a quick FYI, the executive chef Patrick Cassata was on Hell’s Kitchen. I believe it was season 10.

Parking is tricky. However, if you go on a weeknight then you should be able to find some street parking as well as the free parking lot that’s like a block away. It’s like a 2-3 min walk. We didn’t need a reservation since we went on a Wed night close to 8 pm. The interior was trendy and stylish, even the bathrooms were colorful. Service was great. We ordered squash ricotta toast, duck around and find out pizza, smoke + ‘shrooms pizza, and ooey gooey butter cake. I would come back. I didn’t have any burnt pizzas, cold food items, etc. Overall my experience was 4.5 but I’ll round it to 5 on the scale.

-squash ricotta toast 4 - the size was bigger than I thought, that’s a good thing. Toast was soft and crispy. The butternut squash I wanted it to have a more prominent taste than subtle. I definitely tasted the herbed ricotta.
-duck around and find out pizza 5 - I love duck. I was surprised to see this on a pizza. It worked well. Duck was very tender and not dry. Along with the sauce, cheese, and caramelized onions, it was a fantastic combo.
-smoke + ‘shrooms pizza 5 - you can’t miss the truffle smell. The cheese, thyme, mushrooms, and black truffle purée made the pizza super flavorsome and mouth watering. I would easily order this again.
-ooey gooey butter cake 5 - very good dessert. It was my first time eating something like this. It wasn’t too sweet or too sour. It was a good harmony.

Wooden Paddle is a very quaint and pleasant atmospheric place... Like home! The Chef is well if you watched a certain food show, you have seen him he is also I nice guy! The food is absolutely amazing!! If you ever need a caterer please go here and see Nicole, she is the best!!!

This place genuinely exceeded my expectations. Please give this place a try if you haven't yet! Support local business... encourage our few, courageous and local creative friends to continue building new concepts.

The pizza crust is excellent with the perfect amount of chewiness with a crispy exterior. The toppings are creative but I did find some of the offerings to lean a bit too far towards the sweet side. The squash and ricotta toast was also nice. The squash was excellently prepared and very creamy. A minor note- I would have preferred the toast to be a little thinner and toasted a bit more to enhance the textural experience. Recognizing that the menu has recently been updated I am sure things are still getting dialed in.

Service was also good, although it was obvious to me that the team was still getting used to the menu edits mentioned above.

I'm happy to say that I'll keep this place on my short-list for date nights and small groups.

Went for a quick dinner! Was thrilled to see such a selection. Everything was delectable! The shrimp pops where too good. I will have to be back for more! The drinks were really good as well!

My family and I enjoyed lunch here yesterday. The food was amazing, we had pizzas. The drinks were so fun and yummy. The service was perfect and not to mention it is such a cute / welcoming environment. Can’t wait to come back

The environment was very warm and elegant. As an over the road trucker, we don't get the opportunity to eat at many places. We were able to bobtail and park down the street to pick up our order. It was delicious, but I do wish the crust was not soggy. We will definitely be back when we are in the area.

Delicious pizza ! We enjoyed the place and the advice of eat family style and just shared the different orders. We couldn't stay too long and they were great accommodating us and getting our food ready super fast!

Highly recommended!

The menu is very unique and their use of real all natural ingredients with no seed oils or bulls#!t is noble. Atmosphere is very cozy, service was hands down the best I’ve had all year! Thank you!

If you love good food that your guests will rave about, book Wooden Paddle for your wedding or event. Everyone was so friendly and amazing to work with, from beginning to end. I highly recommend doing a tasting, you’ll be blown away by all the amazing food and the restaurant is adorable! At the wedding, everyone from Wooden Paddle was incredible. All of our guests with dietary restrictions received the correct food and everyone was treated with such kindness. I was even able to eat and I’m so glad I made that a priority. Also our guests were able to take home boxes of pizza at the end of the night which was a highlight. I can’t say enough amazing things about Wooden Paddle, and I can’t wait to visit the restaurant again soon!

I haven't eaten in here but I've order out with them a few times and it's always amazing. Picking up my order is a breeze and the staff is always so incredibly nice and friendly. The pizza is incredible! The smoke & shrooms is my favorite by far, if you're a mushroom lover you'll be in for a treat. Wooden Paddle is an amazing and refreshing addition to the downtown Lemont restaurant scene.

We used the Wooden Paddle for our wedding and they were the best!!

When touring venues, Wooden Paddle popped up as a caterer and we immediately were interested. The pizza is SO good. It's fresh, the combos are incredible and we immediately booked them that evening.

Working with the team was a breeze. Joelle and Miriam were easy and fun to work with. They accommodated all dietary preferences and made us feel at ease leading up to our wedding.

The day of the wedding, people were RAVING about the food. We had a charcuterie platter, bite size toasts, Caprese pops and steak bites. The pizza was incredible and possibly the highlight of my wedding. The staff was fast and quick. Truly did not need to worry about a single thing with the Wooden Paddle on our team.

Delicious! Had the fried meatballs, short rib, Bolognese, couple of cocktails. It was delicious.
Good services, almost a little too good. Our food came out very fast to the courses, which was fine.

Best way to enjoy is to think of all the dishes like tapas and grab a couple of things to eat, though each of the meals is portioned well enough for one.

☝

Came here to have brunch with a friend and we had the best food and coffee. The place is very quaint and cozy.

Can’t say enough about this place:
• Food - we ordered the skirt steak and pretty fly pizza which were both prepared perfectly!
• Staff - the staff was attentive and friendly! They were even hosting a party for foster youth which was admirable.
Highly recommend!

Oh yeah…the drinks were excellent as well.

Always one of our favorite places to go. This visit was the first time we tried the brunch menu and everything was delicious. The monkey bread appetizer was absolutely our favorite dish. We also had the green eggs and ham breakfast pizza and BLT Sammie which were also amazing. The atmosphere and service is always fantastic and this visit was made even better by our server Jen.

Wooden Paddle was one of my favorite choices we made for our wedding! They were amazing from start to finish. Celina was responsive and easy to work with - no matter how many questions we had. They even made a custom drink to put on our cocktail menu after we told the bartender at our tasting about our favorite drink that was meaningful to us. Guests were raving about how delicious the food was, and I couldn’t have been happier. If you are looking for a unique, reasonable catering experience, Wooden Paddle is the one!

Finally made it here! Wooden Paddle is a popular place in downtown Lemont with good reason! Pizza is creative and consistently delicious (Buzzkill was perfection!) along with a classy yet casual environment. Being able to grab a coffee on the way out was icing on the cake! We’ve also heard many compliments regarding their cocktail program. If you haven’t been, you should!

Where do I begin with wooden paddle!! As a bride that is allergic to wheat, I just assumed my wedding dinner would be some prepackaged udi's meal- and boy was I wrong. Not only does wooden paddle have the best pizza, but they also have an amazing gluten free crust, AND dairy free cheese. There were options for all of our guests, diet restrictions or not. Every single guest came up to us during the reception to say that our wedding had the best food out of any other wedding they had been to, and pretty much all of them went home with a box of pizza as well! The wooden paddle staff was personable, professional, and always there to answer questions. Highly recommend if you want delicious food and amazing service.