BrickFire Wood Oven — Restaurant in Richmond

BrickFire has potential but missed the mark during our visit. Service was slow — we finished our first drinks and almost our entire meal before being offered another round, and no one cleared our empty dishes even when they were clearly set at the edge of the table for pickup.

We tried the roasted dates, wood oven cauliflower, and grilled hanger steak (excellently cooked, needed seasoning), but found a piece of plastic in one dish. The kitchen and manager dismissed it as "hardened ricotta." When I reiterated that ricotta was not in any of the dishes we ordered, he brushed it off with, "Well, it's a kitchen and things can get mixed up" - concerning for people with food allergies. I emphasized that my primary concern was guest safety, yet the manager continued to minimize the issue, assuring us that "we were safe" and "the kitchen staff was safe," which felt dismissive and frankly gaslighting. The manager's casual attitude toward a food safety concern was disappointing and unprofessional.

Additionally, a friend of ours had called ahead 15–20 minutes before our reservation to purchase a bottle of prosecco in celebration. Despite the advance notice, the prosecco was not delivered to our table until we were nearly finished with our meal and about to order another round of...

This place is very new to Richmond and I think it's bitten off more than it can chew. Being across from the theater it has yet to keep up with the demand of both theater goers and people wanting to grab dinner. We came in for dinner on a theater night and the service was deathly slow from the kitchen and bar. I had almost finished my cocktail before our appetizer came out. And the food just isn't it. With places like zorch and pizza bones this place has a lot to compete against and tbh they had a thought but didn't complete it. The mushroom pizza was not well balanced. Too much arugula that overpowered any flavor of mushrooms. Little to no sauce. And the lack of salt was appalling. And the eggplant pizza- underdone. For a neopolitan pizza you may as well have been serving undercooked dough. I think this place has a chance to grow up and get better in a year from now once it's settled but right now I definitely would not recommend. It's just got growing pains that I'm not a fan of. When they focus on the food and getting it out on time then...

Secret Sandwich Society was packed, so we decided on trying out Brickfire Pizza. It certainly makes a great first impression with its cozy, millennial ambiance. However, the food experience fell short of expectations. The calamari appetizer, creatively paired with fried peppers, was a delicious surprise.

The pizza was the main letdown. While the arugula and prosciutto combo aimed for sophistication, it ultimately felt incomplete. A stingy hand on both the sauce and cheese left the flavors flat, and the sauce itself was severely under-seasoned (or not seasoned at all), rendering the dish bland.

Brickfire Pizza has potential but needs to refine its approach. If it can deliver on flavor as much as it does on atmosphere, it might have a shot at becoming a Richmond favorite. For now, it’s a promising concept that needs to find its footing before it risks fading into the background of the city's...