Pitfire Pizza Echo Park — Restaurant in Los Angeles

I fell for this restaurant because it has a similar name to a local pizzeria, PITFIRE ARTISAN PIZZA, which has one more word than this one. The latter is one of my favorites.

This pizzeria has a half-open kitchen where you can watch them make the pizzas. The oven is typically pitfire-shaped but gas-driven, which makes for less flavor than a wood-burning pitfire.

We went there around 4 p.m. after a trip from La Brea and happened to catch the happy hour: $10 for one of most of their pizzas and $6 for a draft beer. The price was cheap, and the beer was very good. We had THREE PHILOSOPHERS and Figueroa Mountain Light Lager; both beers were good.

Regarding the food:

Boneless Wings I had never had boneless wings before—interesting? The boneless wings were really tender and juicy, with a mild garlic ginger dipping sauce that balanced very well. I was curious about the texture of the boneless wings and guessed they weren’t real wings, but my friend Danny didn’t agree. We asked the waiter, and he told us they were chicken wings with the bones removed. Later on, I did some research and found that the culinary term "boneless wings" actually refers to chicken breasts. Anyway, the boneless wings were hot, crispy, and tender. I give them 9/10.

Margherita Pizza Sadly, the most anticipated item was the worst. It was plain and boring—you couldn’t taste the tomato or the wheat, and it didn’t even have a sour flavor. We were all surprised that they could make a Margherita pizza so tasteless. A Margherita pizza is so easy to make with good cheese, good tomatoes, and good flour, but it seemed this pizza had none of those. Sorry, 0/10.

Honey Bear Pizza This pizza was better than the Margherita one, but still not a good pizza. I'd rate it 5/10.

Little Gem Caesar Salad Acceptable, but nothing special. The lettuce was fresh, but the cheese cubes were rubbery. I'd...

I was there yesterday and service was very bad. Maybe the food would have felt a little better but the service was at least okay. The guy with the braids didn't even crack a smile or check on our table, not even one word. Considering I had paid my bill tipped before I got my food and I was dining in, I never even got offered another round of drinks, water, or anything. I found a fly inside the parmasean cheese Shaker, and I discretely told him the guy with braids he didn't make any eye contact with me or apologize he just said ok. This was very unprofessional, and it's such a shame. Considering the beautiful space and the other locations have better service. This is my neighborhood, and it's a shame to see this kind of service and place i won't support. Guy, with the braids, do better if you hate your job i get it buddy but its not my fault. . I know you remember me. I was sitting at the patio and maybe management can check the cameras and if you care reach out or...

Went on a whim Saturday night. It’s an order at the bar and sit anywhere type of place which i usually love but the place seemed a bit chaotic and unorganized and a little unkept…lots of dirty tables not cleaned and etc. It was hard getting water to our table or finding clean glassware anywhere when we went looking for it. We were charged a side of steak without ordering it. But everything we did actually order was good. We ordered the Honey bear pizza —crust was fluffy and chewy. The little gem caesar was punchy and crunchy, the rigatoni was cooked well. We ordered a kids mac and cheese and asked for bacon which was ok. My nephew reported “the bacon wasn’t crispy enough and bits of pepperoni were also used—Could’ve left that out”. Tough critic, lol. I’d come back and pick up a pie to go, but probably would...