Urban Brick — Restaurant in DeLand

I came here for the first time at about 19:30 on Wednesday night with a total of five people. The restaurant is small, and the seating a bit cramped. However, the service part of the experience was on point. Upon entering, Rosemarie, the owner/manager, very graciously accepted us and was more than willing to rearrange some tables and add an extra chair to accommodate our party. She definitely made us feel welcome. Tessa was our server, and she was great. Friendly, prompt and thorough. No complaints at all about the quality/consistency of the service that she provided us with. I commend and appreciate the hospitality that we were shown by both Rosemarie and Tessa.

Unfortunately, the food left much to be desired. Price-portion, and more importantly, price-quality ratio is skewed. We were all disappointed with our respective offerings.

The complimentary focaccia that is provided at the beginning of the meal is unremarkable. It’s not horrible, but wouldn’t be worth actually ordering from the menu. The pizza. Firstly, the actual name of the restaurant could be misleading for some people. It alludes to the accented brick design of the establishment itself, but the pizza is actually cooked in a typical, commercial-style pizza oven and not a wood-fired brick oven. Which is totally fine. But the pizza varieties on offer aren’t exceptional in any particular way, and in my opinion don’t meet the qualifications to be deemed “artisanal” in the way the menu implies. And they are definitely on the smaller side of the “personal” size category. The chopped salad- basic and flat. Tessa explained to us that the soup of the day– a “tomato bisque”–was reminiscent of a marinara sauce. And she was right. Except even more than reminiscent. Maybe the red sauce for the pizza is used as the base? Bisque certainly isn’t a fitting term to describe either the taste or the texture of this soup. $12 for the bowl of soup (more akin to a cup) and the half-salad? Come on... The meatball sandwich was likewise unspectacular, and the chips that came along with it could have been fresher. Although fried in-house, they’d certainly been hanging around for a bit. I personally took a chance with the shrimp arrabbiata, which proved to be a mistake. Again, overpriced. And although a simple dish of only a few main components, nearly all missed the mark. Pasta & shrimp both overcooked. The tomato-based sauce was alright, but there was too much of it. Nothing to set this dish apart from anything else, and just poorly executed. Perhaps the worst offering of the lot was the chicken club, which probably doesn’t belong on the menu to begin with. At $12.5, this was simply a pathetic offering. Mostly consisting of two massive pieces of the same aforementioned focaccia bread, some overdressed arugula, chunks of tomato, a couple pieces of bacon, a bit of cheese, and a barely-existent, severely overcooked and nearly unpalatable slice of chicken breast. This one I actually had a hard time not sending back, and only refrained in doing so because it wasn’t my meal, and the person in my party insisted on not doing so.

To sum it all up- the owner Rosemarie seems very genuine and quite obviously has something to offer her guests. But even when service and hospitality are stellar, at the heart of ANY good eatery worth its salt is, and always will be, the food. Most of the items we ordered were not atrocious or inedible by any means. They just didn’t measure up to their inflated menu definitions, nor their price. Reduce the prices by $2-$4, and the experience would at least be more digestible (and this review probably would have been a few sentences, at most). But even better and more preferable: Rise, and bring the quality of food to match the quality of service by humbling menu details, refocusing recipes, and employing a solid kitchen staff that can execute technique and produce quality product consistently. Cooks- TASTE your food. It’ll...

I will start by saying the waitress I had, Lauren, was delightful and this rating is in no way a reflection of her hard work and hustle. My husband and I ate at this restaurant on 12/8, I was excited about a small restaurant in town that seemed to have great reviews and had a twist on Italian dishes. Maybe the kitchen does not perform well on busy times? Seemed awhile for simple orders. We ordered the following;

Pretzel Baguettes: the pretzels themselves were decent and fluffy but lacked any additional flavor. The cheese sauce that came with it was mainly grease. I should have known better than to dip into it seeing the grease sitting on top. Overall not the worst app I’ve ever had but nothing special worth 11$. 3/5

Margarita Pizza: maybe we are blessed being up north and having amazing pizza but the only thing that was good about this pizza was the char. The undercarriage was sturdy and had an amazing crisp. But there was 0 flavor. The sauce tasted like just petite tomatoes thrown on the dough and small limited mozzarella pearls. Lacked flavor all that was left was the taste of bad tomatoes. 1/5 for baking style alone

Penne alla vodka: from pictures of reviews they must have changed this dish. As the dish I received did not look like those at all. Sauce was watery and just chunks of garlic floating. Seems like they didn’t take the time to build the sauce instead tasted like garlic and water with a hint of tomatoes. Pasta did not coat well, and just tasted and felt like sitting in a tomato bath with grease. 1.5/5

Sangria red: the only decent thing we had. Light refreshing and sweet but not overly sweet or empowering. Wish it had maybe a garnish or something to make it worth the 9$ price tag. 4/5

Blood orange wheat: don’t want to review this as it wasn’t on the restaurant for the mediocre of this beer. Not worth the price better to just pick the sangria.

Overall would not eat here again. Way too greasy and no flavor. Grease is not flavor. Caused some stomach issues from the level of grease. If you are between places I would choose another restaurant unless you are just getting...

I really like Pizza, who doesn't. There are only a couple places that I say yeah this is a go-to spot for amazing pizza. The rest of the pizza places just fall into good but typical or don't bother. Urban Brick is not typical and it stands out for me as one of the top spots on my list. Not only is the Pizza incredible but the owner is super friendly and very passionate. You can tell she wants to make sure everything is perfect and that the customers are happy. That flows to the staff as well ,who were all extremely friendly and fun. The decor is very clean and modern and the chairs are stylish and comfortable - I could have sat there for longer but I was just too full on deliciousness! I wish the Urban Brick was in my area of the woods so I could stop in all the time. Whenever I feel like a little drive or am in DeLand I look forward to stopping in, eating great food and saying hi!

I wanted to review the Pizza in my own words but I don't think I could say it any better than Marshall Eriksen in the "Poker Game" episode from "How I met Your Mother". In the episode he was on a Road Trip and wanted to stop for his favorite Pizza on the road. As I was eating the Pizza from Urban Brick that scene I started to recite those words - poorly and all wrong :)

"Just Pizza? Let me tell you About the thing you say is just pizza. We begin with the first bite. Oh, the crunch! And then the marinara. That roiling lava Of tomato and oregano-- it overtakes you! I'm falling! And that's... When she catches you. That chewy, Voluptuous mistress, mozzarella. Her oven-kissed cheeks crackle with warmth in your mouth, Cradling the sauce and the bread, Letting you know that from now on This Is home. This...