Fire & Hops Pizza Co. — Restaurant in Richmond

A double date for two couples relatively new to RVA presented a nice opportunity to experience Fire & Hops with a fresh set of eyes. Upon arriving, the space is inviting with a cleanly executed remodel in building with early 20th Century bones. It is bright with an industrial feel but warm with wood and stone accents.

The weather was pleasant, so we sat on the nice-sized patio to enjoy the breeze. All four of us appreciate Richmond's thriving craft beer scene, and we were pleased to see that the tap selections highlight local selections. Although the beer menu is relatively modest for a place with "Hops" in the name at, I think, sixteen offerings, the selections are thoughtful and well-curated with enough variety to please most palates. The wine and spirit lists are equally concise and impactful.

The food menu focuses on (almost) Neapolitan-style brick oven pizzas, pastas, and classic Italian-American mains. Starters like mozzarella sticks and fried calamari and sandwiches like meatball sliders and a Sicilian hoagie fit right in, while items like "Chips & Guac", a Nashville hot chicken sandwich, and five different taco options stuck out like sore thumbs. We didn't try any of these items, so I'm not knocking 'em, but they certainly felt out of place.

As for the food we did order - three different signature combination pizzas and a couple of Caesar salads to share - everything was super tasty. The apparantly home-made dressing was creamy and rich with a nice balance of tangy lemon juice and savory anchovy. The salads themselves were generous for the $6 price tag, piled up with fresh, crisp romaine; pleasantly crunchy home-made croutons; and hearty slivers of decent "parmesan" cheese. The pizzas are very fairly priced (read SUPER cheap) for their quality at $11-$14 each, and they all had nicely crisped and leopard-spotted edges with just the right amount of sauce and toppings on each - with one exception.

We ordered the Pizza Diavola which we expected to be, as advertised, spicy. Being a table full of chile-lovers we were ready to dig in, but after the first bite, it was obvious that the Calabrian chiles that give this pie its punch were badly misused. Anyone who has worked with these peppers before knows that a little goes a long way. Often times the oil in which they are marinated is, on its own, enough to bring some serious heat to the party. If the peppers themselves are served, they are best used very thinly sliced or finely chopped and sparingly incorporated into or scattered over a dish. In this case, the peppers were barely rough-chopped with nearly whole peppers studding the pie and, to add insult to injury, the spicy oil was drizzled over as a finishing touch. The result was a mouth numbing and wholly unpleasant experience.

The only other point of our experience that was a bit off was our server. While she was perfectly friendly and adequately attentive - although empty water glasses sat on the table more than once during a relatively quiet service - we spent a good part of the evening debating whether she was stoned, hungover, or just "out to lunch". When she first took our order, we asked for more detail about how the chicken wing starter is prepared. She responded, "Well... you know... they're wings..." When food and drinks came to the table, she couldn't seem to remember who had ordered what, and there was even a mix-up of one beer being ordered and another delivered. While none of these points ruined our experience by any means, our server's lack of engagement tempered the potential of food and beverage offerings that are so thoughtfully prepared and selected. Plus, she surely missed an opportunity to sell us a starter to share or another round of drinks.

In all, we had a nice experience and felt the bill was fair for the quality of the products they serve. We enjoyed the beautiful spring evening on the patio, and we'll certainly be back to try a couple more pies. And, who knows, maybe I'll even roll the dice and order a round of tacos the next time we're in - I'm just...

This is definitely the best pizza place in all of Virginia I'm from South Florida and I now live in Richmond Virginia. I have spent a lot of time at the Beach in Virginia Beach and in the outer Banks all over Virginia really . I am a refrigeration specialist so I travel a lot for work. I have tried many cheese pies from Florida all the way up to Pennsylvania and this is by far the best cheese pie I've ever had in my life if I was to give it a scale of 1 to 10 I would give it a 9.5. only because there's always room for improvement in life but not much for this perfect example of pizza how it should be period also the vibe in the restaurant is so awesome the music is right. very clean environment. The decorations are so original and the staff was very professional and was all wearing masks the pizza is made they're almost right in front of you but not so close to where you would be concerned they also have outside seating seems to be a young crowd but not only young people I would highly recommend this place if you are passing through or are I local it will meet the high expectations. They also have a full bar and TVs with a few sports games on but don't worry they're not blasting loud actually you don't even notice they're on unless you're sitting at the bar. Wow this is a long post I couldn't help it it was that good I can't believe I just found out about this place. I can only imagine how good their other pies are cuz like I said I only got the cheese and I always do that to test out a place if you have a good cheese by chances are everything else is...

Richmond is in dire need of more good pizza, but unfortunately, the newly opened Fire and Hops doesn’t get the job done.

The beer list is extensive, but literally every beer but one on the menu was either $7 or $7.50 (the single cheap option being $6.50), and most of them, including every one of the 5 or so IPAs on the menu, came in a 13 oz pour (which is a size that no person I’ve ever met has desired).

We split the meatball pizza and a Cobb salad. The salad was fine, mostly forgettable although avocado was a nice touch. The pizza had great flavor but it was on the smaller side (too big to be a personal pizza but too small to share without adding something else). The crust had a decent chew and some potential but it needed another 30 seconds or so in the oven to get a good char. The table next to us got a pizza that got a far better and longer bake, which doesn’t speak highly of the quality control for a self-described pizza company.

The rest of the menu is all over the place. A banh mi? Lamb sliders? Muffuletta? Mussels? Tacos?

Was over $50 after tip for two beers, a salad, and a pizza. Not worth it. I was excited about somewhere new in my neighborhood, but likely...