We went to Fire Works last weekend for a relatively low-key dinner...Pat had heard good reviews of the one out in the 'burbs, and we thought the new one in Courthouse was a good chance for us to try it out for ourselves!
It was crowded and noisy when we got there at 8:30 on a Friday...kind of like the new Rustico in Ballston, but a bit less pricey. Overall it wasn't bad...I'd give it 3.5 stars for food, 4 for service.
Pat started with the fire roasted olives, which came with very strong reviews from a foodie friend of his, and honestly were the reason we went here in the first place. He like them (he ate the whole dish worth of olives), so they couldn't have been bad, but they failed to live up to the hype. I chose not to partake because olives are one of, if not the top ranked, item in my trinity of hated foods, so I can't personally confirm. We ordered a Mediterranean pizza to split, with red onion, spinach, feta, and lamb sausage (red sauce and mozz as well). I'm not a huge fan of meat on my pizza in general, but I have to say that this was pretty good! Pat got his half without feta, and was underwhelmed until he tried a bite with it. It was definitely one of those things where, when you got a bite that had a little bit of all the components, it worked. The pizza was overall solid, but did not blow me away (like, say, Pupatella, or the now extinct duck-brie-and-cracklin' at the aforementioned Rustico). The crust had a nice flavor and thickness, although it was the tiniest bit undercooked.
Wine selection was decent for a restaurant that prides itself on its beers. And our waitress was a doll, I don't think either of us ever had an empty glass, or felt either rushed or impatient. I'd definitely still chose Rustico over Fire Works, but if you live closer to the latter, this is not a bad option (and you'll walk away with a smaller tab, for sure)! (portions x-posted to yelp)
Fire Works is one of our favorites! It's the only place for which Dan, someone who claims to "not really like pizza," gets excited about the pizza. My favorites are the "Black Sheep" and the "French Connection." Of course, it helps to be a beer fanatic to really be crazy about the whole Fire Works experience. If you go again, an appetizer that was off. the. charts. for us was the goat cheese-stuffed lamb meatballs. Oh man.
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