Got mine assembled 3 days ago and did 2 pies.
For the first pie - the stone temp was too high - 850. I also tried to load the pie while the stone was turning. That experience was somewhat like learning about pissing in the wind
. So... pie #1 didn't do too well & was cooked in about a minute & 1/2. Had a very burnt crust. Toppings were nice. It looked like someone put the back wheel of a very small motorcycle on it & did a spinout.
I couldn't get the temp down for pie #2 - even though I turned the heat down to the lowest setting & let the oven run for 10 minutes or so. I did stop the table from rotating while loading the pie, though. It cooked in 2 minutes. The bottom of the crust was burnt. The crust itself wasn't cooked, the toppings were cooked beautifully.
Will play with adjusting the regulator today & see how that works. Also clean the stone & interior.
Cleaned it up. I cracked the lower stone on the first cook.
Called customer service. They are sending a new stone under warranty.
The rep was a real nice person to deal with. Asked her about the high heat & not being able to control it. She kinda admitted the control on the front of the grill didn't work that well. Told me to adjust the heat with the regulator. Once set to my liking, leave it alone. Don't need to turn it off after a cook.
So... I can't really answer the question about the wood fired taste. I'm one of those people that never got along with my "early edition" KettlePizza & got rid of it. Cooked pizza in the oven for years.
Will do several more pizzas later this week & see how it goes. I'm sure there is a bit of a learning curve involved. I'm happy enough with my purchase & think it will work out positively. It's a $192 gamble... if it doesn't work out, I'm sure I can sell it & not get hurt too bad. It's also possible I could return it to Walmart for a full refund.