Since we are ever in search of a new place to chow out, my husband suggested we try the new “pizza” place in Waban Square. Waban has had two previous restaurants in the same location in recent years and both had closed: Kouzina and Waban Kitchen. Tonight as we walked in and were instructed to order at the small counter at the rear of the restaurant and then were seated at a table to await our order, we discovered that every table had “first-timers” eating there. Then a strange thing happened. Even after living in Newton since 1972 and eating out frequently, we have previously noticed that we rarely see people in Newton restaurants whom we know. Last night was clearly different. First of all, a multigenerational table of ten was filled with people we have known for 37 years who still live in Waban; then, a close friend from Chestnut Hill walked in to join his son and SO and stood reminiscing with us for a few minutes; and then another couple, dear friends who moved from Waban to Newton Centre 12 years ago, walked in and joined us to share the victuals. It was the first visit for all of us and the unanimous decision was that the food was excellent. The salads would feed a small army and looked just-picked-from-the-garden fresh. The lemon-pepper-parmesan wings were delicious and the Special pizza was definitely a winner. The bar patrons, where four or five couples were leaning on the bar from their high-top chairs, looked comfortable and happy. This is a local place to eat with kids or to meet some friends for drinks. All I can say is “Welcome to Waban!” This is a true neighborhood gem.
Waban’s Stone L’Oven Open for Four Weeks with No Visible Kinks
by Sallee Lipshutz | Mar 1, 2017 | Newton | 5 comments
Very nice post, but I don’t get the “with No Visible Kinks” part. Is that some sort of double-entrendre?
It is really nice for a place to go as a family that is affordable and good. Looking forward to when the kids can go there and eat lunch with their friends!
@Michael: New restaurants often need time to iron out the “kinks” that arise from unforeseen problems at the site, inadequate training of wait staff, poor kitchen execution of orders, etc. No “double entendre” intended. Dinner went smoothly and was a welcome surprise!
@NewtonMom: We badly over-ordered: we got lemon-pepper-parm wings (10 half wings that were delicious) and a large Special pizza. We both had sparkling water (I don’t know whether we were charged for that) and our bill came to ~$40, including tax and tip. I believe that a family of two adults and two little kids could have been filled up on that! By the way, their salads are enormous, but I don’t remember the pricing.
It’s too bad that whoever designed their menu thought it would be cute to label the section on finding them on social media as “Stalk Us”. Stalking is seriously nasty and dangerous and shouldn’t be used as a joking way to say “Follow us” – it’s not cuter than saying “Rape Us” would be, IMNSHO. I hope that customers will take the time to contact them and let them know this.
UPDATE: I contacted Stone L’Oven on FB and got this reply almost immediately:
Couldn’t ask for a better or quicker response. Kudos to Stone L’Oven