See inside GA’s 1st Smokin’ Oak Wood-Fired Pizza and Taproom in Warner Robins

At the new Smokin’ Oak Wood-Fired Pizza and Taproom in Warner Robins, guests can watch their pizzas made fresh and pour their own drinks from a tap wall.

The new spot at 1012 Ga. 96, Suite 700, is the first in Georgia for this Florida headquartered restaurant brand with the franchise owners planning to open a second location in Macon.

The restaurant bills itself to be the first in Middle Georgia to offer a self-pour tap wall.

Five cool things about the new gathering space

Wood-fired oven - Fueled by oak wood, the oven reaches temperatures of about 900 degrees to cook a pizza in 90 seconds to two minutes. Meats are also cooked in the oven, which is the only cooking method in the restaurant.

Fresh ingredients - The pizza dough and most sauces and salad dressings are made in-house. Meats and veggies are sliced fresh daily. No freezer is on site.

Variety - Guests may build their own pizza from more than 30 cheese, vegetable and meat toppings, or choose from the brand’s 12 signature pizzas. Starters, salads and desserts complete the menu.

The tap wall - RFID-enabled bracelets allow guests to explore the tap wall with 30 taps featuring craft and domestic beer, wine, cider and mixed cocktails. Choices rotate. Craft beers from Macon’s Fall Line and Piedmont Brewery are currently among the choices. Guests establish a tap and are charged by the ounce.

Tap-wall attendant - Not sure what to try? The restaurant will staff a tap-wall attendant for the next few weeks to answer questions and offer recommendations.

The new restaurant can seat up to 85 guests. It offers a roll-up glass garage door that can be opened to create a patio-style space. The space also can be used for private events.

Try these menu items

Darshil Patel, co-owner and general manager of the Warner Robins franchise restaurant, offered up a few food and drink items to try:

• The Urban Legend - This starter is the restaurant’s signature dough stuffed with mozzarella, parmesan, pepperoni and jalapenos, then topped with more cheese plus garlic and oregano. Ranch and crushed tomato sauce served on the side.
• Chopped Bleu Cheese Salad - This salad is made with romaine lettuce, applewood bacon, roma tomato, red onion, egg, blue cheese crumbles, and an Amish bleu cheese dressing.
• The Bee Keeper - Patel’s favorite pizza made with crushed tomato sauce, pepperoni, jalapenos and mozzarella that’s baked and then topped with basil and cracked black pepper.
• Wood-Fired Apple Pie - The restaurant’s signature dough stuffed with cinnamon glazed apples and topped with the restaurant’s cinnamon glaze. Another dessert is wood-fired dough knots generously drizzled with the cinnamon glaze.
• Smokin’ Oak Old Fashioned - Hand-mixed Four Roses Bourbon, simple syrup, Angostura bitters, orange bitters and a splash of water currently on tap No. 23.

The diverse beer selection with 20 taps includes stouts, lagers, pilsners, IPAs, double IPAs and ciders with a mix of craft, domestic and even German-style beers, Patel noted.

Who’s behind the new restaurant?

Patel, with close friends Jigar Patel and Divyansh Prajapati, are behind the new restaurant. The men are currently focused on the Warner Robins location, but expect to start searching for a site for their Macon location in the next three to four months.

“It feels great,” Darshil Patel said of opening the Warner Robins restaurant. “It’s been a long process. It’s been a journey.

“But it’s awesome that we finally got to here, and we’re looking forward to this.”

Smokin’ Oak was developed by lifelong friends Matt Mongoven and Linda Black off of Pi Wood-Fired Pizza that Black opened in 2009 in Rochester, Minnesota, according to the company’s franchise website. They started franchising as Smokin’ Oak Wood-Fired Pizza in 2016. The taproom concept was added in 2020.

Mongoven and Black were on hand with the franchise owners to launch the restaurant at its soft opening.

Free pizza day!

A grand opening is expected within four weeks, at which the restaurant will have a free pizza day. Guests may pick up a personal pizza from among four to five signature pizzas expected to be offered. The grand opening date will be posted on the restaurant’s social media accounts as it draws close.

With the new Warner Robins location, Smokin’ Oak Wood-Fired Pizza and Taproom now has eight locations with two in the process of customizing commercial space to prepare to open: one in Olathe, Kansas, and the other in Lithia, Florida. An Atlanta location also is in the works, Mongoven said.

Hours for the Warner Robins location are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Dine-in, takeout, online ordering, and online delivery scheduling is available. Third-party delivery is coming. The number is 478-336-1625.

This story was originally published October 16, 2025 at 6:00 AM.