Woodshed Changes
 

I have heard that the GM, Greg, of the Woodshed is no longer affiliated with the restaurant. I know many here and other places have had less than stellar experiences with him in the past! We have not been back in a few years after being very regular customers- perhaps we will revisit soon.

It sounds like Steve Bradley will be more involved.

That's why I haven't been back also.

Greg kind of reminds me of the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld. (For those not familiar with this reference, no, I am not calling Greg a Nazi, please Google and watch a video or two, then thank me, haha) Whatever one might think of his demeanor, there is no doubt that the overall food, service, and atmosphere of the Woodshed have been excellent. So this is sad news for me. I hope his replacement is able to maintain the same standards

I totally got your Soup Nazi comparison and agree with his skills in running the operations, but his customer service skills were lacking.

You can’t do this in real life. That’s what makes the show a comedy.
I wonder how much business the Woodshed lost because of this man?

I can tell you that we easily spent over $5K a year there until my brother was mistreated 3 years ago.

Do you remember back when Lynn and Rex Seely were the owners? The food was great as well as the service. You can do both.

Yes and agreed!!

Wow! (If only he hadn't asked for extra bread...;))

But that was a totaly different restaurant. Just had the same name

We can walk there- it was our go to! the final straw was my brother and wife showing up at 740PM. Kitchen closes at 8, we cant start cooking now. Salad? Nope sorry. Beat it

Lemongrass became our go to!

The Woodshed maître d' always threw off a John Alan Hill vibe to me. (He was the guy who ran Melville's above Cheers.)

:liplick:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/...3MjE@._V1_.jpg

Saaaaaaaaaaam!

We never went back because of the way we were treating by this man. We will give it another try this summer.

Food still great
 

Hung in there over the last few years as I had a long-term affiliation with the place. The bar room staff is first rate. The food is usually top line. Greg was part of the challenge, just like the front door men at Studio 54 in the day. Once you figured out the system, everything worked well. Give it another chance.

Same here, 3 times was enough for us. Each time was worse than the last, not better!

I have not been to the woodshed in a while - what exactly did this guy do to people?

Have you ever seen the Seinfeld Episode, "the soup nazi"? :laugh:

Went to the Woodshed Saturday…

*no Greg

* ladies ran the front desk with skill, enthusiasm, and grace (served us drinks in the foyer as we sat in lobby waiting for pub table)

*new menu is a combined and SAME menu for pub and barn but now as ONE menu…you can order pub menu as before (entrees $18-$26) on one page and on other page is barn menu (at $26-$58?). Don’t quote me on prices. Again, one menu for entire restaurant.

*I forgot how some of the clientele need to be leashed…2 parties were entitled snots…tried to bum rush us without reservations. Maybe I preach to the choir. “rules are for thee and not for me”, etc.

*Toni in the pub is a gem.

Changes are great IMO.

you can do just as good if not better at Guisseppis unless you want to be part of the "fake news" .

I love Guisseppis, I'm there at the bar at least once a week but as an Italian, their food is just OK, not great.

Giuseppe's is not the Woodshed. Old or new, many of us have fond memories of good experiences there.

Don't get me wrong, I like Giuseppe's.

I have never been to the Woodshed, let’s get that out there first.
For how many years (1-2 times each?) there was a thread about the Woodshed’s alleged "the soup nazi".
My two questions, why did the owners allow this culture to fester in the age of social media? No way did they not know what was going on. He may be gone but will be the talk for decades…do you remember the….
For those who still went there with the alleged "the soup nazi” at the helm… why?

He had his wealthy regular customers that he bent over backwards to please, the rest, not so much.

I posted the Soup Nazi reference as a laugh at myself and others who enjoyed The Woodshed under Greg, so don't take it too seriously. But maybe in addition to never eating at the Woodshed you never saw the Seinfeld episode?

For those who have not seen the episode--the funny thing about the Soup Nazi is not that the chef is a rude, miserable bully; it is that the soup is so delicious that hordes of people line up for soup everyday anyway, all of them doing whatever they can to stay in his good graces.

Greg was always gracious with me, though I could see he was touchy; I could easily imagine him saying something that would have caused me to stop going there. But he never did...and the "soup" was great! The Woodshed under Greg was excellent, with combined food, service, and atmosphere that was better than anything else on this side of the lake

The difference is that the soup Nazi had the recipes and he made the soup. Greg did not do any of the cooking. That’s why it’s hard to understand why so many customers would put up with his rudeness. That’s just my opinion.

I went there 3 times. The first was with another couple when they first reopened and he was gracious and friendly because the couple we were with gushed about the decor.
The 2nd and third time it was just me and my wife, and he was very rude and condescending, not just to us but others that were waiting. We have never been back!

Who goes into the hospitality business with an attitude like that??? My last experience at the Woodshed was not great either...so I haven't been back in years. The ones before that were very good - going all the way back to before it burned.

that totally happened to my wife and i when we went to the woodshed for our anniversary. because we weren't part of the "wanna be people" he came over maybe once to refill our glass of wine. the other wanna be table he visited many times. never again will we go there.

Well, he is gone now. So why won’t you go back?

Where did he go?

It would be interesting if he chimed in here and responded to the attacks.

Wait...you don't like him because he, as manager, not a waiter, filled regulars' wine glasses more than your own? That seems kind of sensitive. In restaurants where you are a regular, don't you expect a warmer than average greeting?

I would have been happy with just an average greeting from him.
Actually, if he ignored me and my wife all together it might have been a more acceptable experience.

Now that Greg is gone who has now taken over as full or part time Manager of the New Woodshed ?

It sounds like Greg was a brown noser with an additional twist of being dismissive and disrespectful to those he wasn't trying to impress. That seems to be inexcusable for a restaurant that caters to a wide variety of people.

When I bought a house at the lake in 1993, I LOVED the Woodshed. It was my go-to places to bring guests for dinner.

Then I had a couple of bad experiences with food service, the second one ruined an Anniversary dinner, and I was turned off to going there. I dropped in every year or two to see how it was doing but never resumed going there regularly.

After the fire and rebuild, I have been there for after dinner drinks and dessert but have never dined there. It just didn't appeal as much as the old "barn" did. Once when I was there, I observed a group wanting to be seated who got huffy about having to wait so long because there were empty tables. They refused to understand that the gating issue was the number of available servers, a common problem in the area. The bad show was a turn off, even though the problem was with the patrons, not so much the restaurant. However, maybe the Woodshed should have removed or hidden extra tables if this is going to be a common problem.

The issue for me is, for the prices the Woodshed and some other restaurants charge, I expect the BEST from them in all aspects. EVERY issue should be anticipated and managed. I realize that's hard to accomplish but that's why you can charge the big bucks.

It's been quite a few years but maybe I will drop in again to check them out.

I just read the replies to my question, and if I was the owner the following facts would scare the hell out of me.
I moderate a Face Book page for a group I volunteer with… around 4K subs.
BUT we have 6 to 7 times that number who follow us regularly, but are not subs. As I’m writing this 17K views on this thread alone…crunch those numbers!
You start putting numbers like that to the amount (in total over time) just in this forum you have a lot of people in a small geographical location that either bad mouth you or gave up on you.
Having never been there it sounds like the Woodshed could be a good semester class in college on how not to run a business…the widget factory example at the back of the chapters!

I also use to go every year going back to the 80’s . I went with another couple a few years back and all of us found the food mediocre and expensive . So had nothing to do with any person and haven't been back and unlikely to go again

not for me. in my opinion its way over priced. "just my opinion"

Other reviews
 

Haven't been to the Woodshed since the fire. Long boat ride and a long walk from the docks at Lee's Mills. (I've heard now they'll send a car, which was nice of Canoe in Center Harbor.) Checked out the sometimes lengthy reviews on Trip Advisor. Some real horror stories. If you don't know the soup Nazi, imagine Al Bundy as the Maître D. Mostly good reviews but overall service/food seemed erratic. Either very good or very bad. And one who was upset because without prior arrangement, she brought her own birthday cake for desert and didn't think they should have charged a cutting fee. I understand tourists being unfamiliar, but locals should have some advance idea of what to expect. Sounds like things will be better in 2025.

I understand all the reasonable complaints above, even if I do not agree with the tenor. But we should stick to fair complaints...

It's almost always inappropriate to bring your own food to a restaurant, especially without prior discussion. It imposes a very real opportunity cost for the restaurant and the servers--their overhead and time are eaten up with no compensation. How would anyone anyone need to be told that? She should have thanked them and paid the fee with a smile

Exactly. The point was that there are complaints from people who should know better.

Marc Mover- GM
 

Marc Mover is the new GM! Marc was the bar manager from Day 1. We did eat there last week and had a great meal at the bar.
https://www.newwoodshed.com/meet-our-team/

Yes- bring a bottle of wine, expect a corking fee!

I hope the new guy can get former patrons to come back!
Lost in all of this is that there are people who rely on the place for food on the table & a roof over their heads.
If this puts more money in their pockets they are then the real winners here, not those who gave up on the place and may go back.

I saw quite a few people that have gone back to the shed to work while we were there! Fortunately there is no shortage of opportunities for great professional bartenders and servers in our area

A great guy, and one who appreciates all that's good about the Woodshed. I'm happy--for him and for us :)