Wedding DJ at Webb Custom Kitchen in Gastonia, NC

The Space

Webb Custom Kitchen operates inside the old Webb Theatre, a building that opened as a cinema in the Roaring Twenties, built as what its era considered architecture worthy of an evening out, not just a plain screening room. Owner Jim Morasso and his partners Tom Cox and Bruce Shrake converted the 6,500-square-foot building into a restaurant and event space as part of a broader effort to bring life back to downtown Gastonia.

Because the building was designed as a theater, the original architecture carries through into the dining rooms: vaulted ceilings, multiple levels, and balcony seating that once looked down on a screen now look down on the dining floor instead. The conversion was notable enough to be featured in Architectural Digest, in an article grouping Gastonia with Boston, Chicago, Knoxville, and New Orleans as cities that turned former cinemas into restaurants.

Capacity & Layout

The restaurant is arranged across multiple levels, with a main dining area, balcony seating above it, and a separate private dining room set apart from the main floor, along with a bar area built into the original theater layout. For a couple hosting a rehearsal dinner or a smaller private event, that private dining room offers a defined space of its own rather than a curtained-off section of the main restaurant.

No fixed guest-count ceiling is published for the space, and Webb Custom Kitchen positions itself first as a working restaurant that also hosts private events, so a couple planning a gathering here should treat it as an intimate, dinner-scale booking rather than a full-capacity wedding reception venue built for a large standing crowd. The multiple dining levels do give a host the option of separating a larger group across floors if needed.

Amenities

The kitchen is run by Executive Chef Jon Spencer, a certified executive chef with experience from Miami to Charlotte in both country club and restaurant kitchens, and the menu covers contemporary American cuisine along with steaks and seafood, backed by a full bar on site. Private events are offered directly through the restaurant, so food, drink, and space are booked as one package rather than coordinated separately.

Getting guests parked is handled with complimentary valet service right out front, with four additional parking lots within walking distance for any overflow, and the venue is wheelchair accessible, so guests using mobility devices are not left navigating stairs between the theater’s original levels to reach their seats. That combination of valet and nearby overflow parking makes arrival simple even for a dressed-up evening crowd.

Location & Getting There

Webb Custom Kitchen sits in downtown Gastonia, inside a building whose theater bones, the vaulted ceilings and multiple levels, are original to its Roaring Twenties construction rather than added later for effect. Valet parking out front makes arrival simple for guests dressed for an evening event, and the downtown setting puts the restaurant within easy reach of other Gastonia venues for a rehearsal dinner or an after-party.

The theater’s original vaulted ceilings and hard, multi-level architecture mean sound carries well through the main dining floor and up into the balcony, so a DJ working a private event in the main room should expect the space to project rather than absorb, with the separate private dining room offering a smaller, more contained option if the couple wants music kept to one level only.