Fire Works American Pizzeria & Bar

Chaney

District of Columbia

4.34/5  rDev +3.6%
vibe: 4.25 | quality: 4.25 | service: 4.75 | selection: 4 | food: 4.5 | $$

My wife and I were dead set on shopping in the Clarendon area and we were going to make an afternoon of it.

I did my beer research (unknown to her) and recommended a great "pizza" place. Wink, wink, nod, nod.

Atmosphere: We parked in the Clarendon shopping center over near a very nice "Container Store." We used our address book and nose for fresh hops to get here.

On the outside, this place is nothing to write home about, however, the interior was absolutely awesome! Since we came in during St. Paddy's weekend, the place was decked out accordingly. Modern architecture, huge pizza oven, the whole nine yards!

Service and Quality: Awesome service all around from a great waitress who knew lots about the beer and pizza menu.

Selection: Nice. I particularly like the option of ordering sample glasses for a reduced price vs. full glasses.

Food: This place KILLS Paradiso in this area. You can actually order a half/half two pizzas of your choosing. Really nice!

Value: Very reasonably, especially considering the fact that you can get small tasters of the beer (ala Churchkey) and the food is pretty cheap considering the area. Highly recommended!

03-18-2013 06:08:09 | More by Chaney

Thorpe429

Illinois

4.13/5  rDev -1.4%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

First stopped in this place over the weekend after failing to make a visit since the place opened.

The ambiance is really fantastic. I love the brewery flags hanging by the bar, and the viewable keg room was nice. The steel pipes coming from the keg room and creating the tap backdrop are a really nice touch.

Service was good. Bartender was friendly and pretty knowledge. Great selection of drafts with a good mixture of import and craft. I hadn't seen Duvel Green on tap in awhile, so was happy to grab a tulip of that.

Pricing was really nice, with happy hour drafts sitting at $3.

Overall, a really nice experience and I will most certainly be coming back.

05-08-2012 12:36:01 | More by Thorpe429

DapperGrowler

District of Columbia

4.55/5  rDev +8.6%
vibe: 5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I have been to Fireworks in Alexandria a few times. They have great beer release events such as for Williams Brothers Brewery or Sierra Nevada. Fireworks is a fun place with a great atmosphere. In addition to a great regular craft brew selection the place has a nice selection of casked beers on a given day. The staff is very knowledgeable. I loved the pizza. The wood fired oven makes a great pizza and is nice to sit next to on a really cold day. Additionally, who could forget that there is no better food to eat while drinking then pizza.

02-13-2012 16:54:39 | More by DapperGrowler

younggunz

Virginia

4.28/5  rDev +2.1%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

A nice location slightly off the beaten path in Clarendon/Courthouse. Good/great selection of beers depending on your styles choice. They have a pretty expansive list of Belgians, and their draft IPA list is quite nice. Sculpin, Hopslam, Stone 14th IIPA, and Racer 5 and Dugana on tap when I was there. I can drink Sculpin and Hop Slam all day, so I was satisfied. My wife liked the food, prices are reasonable for the area, draft/bottle list is stellar for Arlington. I usually split time between Lost Dog, Fireworks and Galaxy Hut depending on the tap rotations. Pleased with all three.

08-13-2011 00:20:24 | More by younggunz

allforbetterbeer

Colorado

4.18/5  rDev -0.2%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4.5 | $$$

Myself and a group of three people ate a large lunch of three pizzas at Fire Works between lunch dinner hour. The atmosphere seemed classy and urban (exposed concrete pillars, stainless steel, and faux plants artistically arranged). Different breweries were represented by flags hung around the bar. We sat at a dining table inside, but there was a patio area as well. We ordered three pizzas which were all tasty, creative, and came to the table hot. The beer selection was very good, with a large bottle list (25% discount for beer-to-go!), two beers on cask, and a substantial tap list including a cider. The service was minimal but fine, and the value was typical for the area and the quality. We all enjoyed the beer and I got some beer to go.

Conclusion: Myself and the group (one of which was a local) loved this place and walked out stuffed with tasty pizza and cheesecake. This is a classy place to get some upscale pizza and a great selection of tasty beer, but it isn't a full fledged tap house and does not have a vintage beer list.

07-06-2011 00:47:37 | More by allforbetterbeer

smakawhat

Maryland

3.58/5  rDev -14.6%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 3 | selection: 3.5 | food: 3.5 | $$

Listed in the Arlington Courthouse area which doesn't really have much charm, sits actually a nice simple little place in a glass first floor building.

Fireworks inside offers a fairly decent tap selection, and a slightly better than average selection on bottles. Luckily there is a lot to choose from.

Service is fine and prompt, but asking our waitress something specific it was obvious that she wasn't knowledgable very much about what was being served. Nevertheless, service was friendly and fine.

The place is a little family oriented, but it also looks like it has a very nice large bar that looks quite inviting. It's not the best pizza but it's quite good.

Many of the beers though offered you can get at many other places, but the one thing that seemed to stick out the most for me here was you could get on tap or bottles of Terrapin here to consume. Otherewise, you can enjoy many of the local and obvious craft favorites from the area.

04-04-2011 18:50:15 | More by smakawhat

CuriousMonk

Virginia

3.9/5  rDev -6.9%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | food: 3 | $$$

This pizza is what you go for and the pizza lacks flavor. The sauce has no taste and the crust is not up to par with other pizza joints that serve this style of pizza. Though, I give this place props for serving up non-traditional pizzas. The service was very good however, and our waiter in particular was on the ball the entire night. The host(ess) seemed a bit disorganized and stretched thin. They were quite friendly, but the manager might want to get another host(ess) up front during peak times. Overall, the service staff really hustled and was upbeat on a busy Friday night. Got to give them props for that!

The restaurant itself is very beautiful and comfortable. AND I wish so much that the food was better. Be prepared to wait long over the weekends.

Onto the best part, the beer selection. There were lots of good craft beer on tap as well as bottles. The prices are pretty high though.

02-17-2011 15:38:56 | More by CuriousMonk

dirtylou

Washington

4/5  rDev -4.5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4 | service: 4 | selection: 4 | $$

stopped in for 1 beer after dinner at Dr. Granville Moore's and on the way to Galaxy Hut.

odd "corporatey" location - lots of new development in the area.

pretty bright interior and very crowded - a long bar faces the burning wood oven where a gentleman rotates and nourishes delicious looking pies in a 700+ degree oven burning firewood. some unique christmas decorations remained, along with beer flags and a window into the keg room with decorative bottles.

lots of good taps - sculpin, stone stuff, some locals and a couple firins. for some reason i settled on the heavy seas barleywine on the firkin. It's a crappy beer, but that was my fault.

hard to really peg the crowd, but seemed mostly young professionals. service was bland.

01-05-2011 02:09:25 | More by dirtylou

kevinv

Virginia

4.4/5  rDev +5%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 4 | $$

I've been here a few times and finally decided to write a review. I was excited to see this place open up as I work literally right next door, so it's a great place to grab a beer and pizza before heading home.

Like other's described, mainly a younger professional type crowd. The attire for most seems to be business casual, but you can get away with regular street clothes if you choose.

As soon as you walk in, you'll see a wine cooler in front of you and a large glass room to your left with some beer kegs and bottles. Long bar that spans the length of the restaurant with a current chalkboard tap list hanging above. I recommend sitting close to the front of the bar if you can, so you can see the pizza's being made. Some friends and I sat at the far end of the bar on a busy Friday night and we felt like we were constantly in the way because that's where the servers come out of the kitchen and grab drinks from the bartender.

The selection is pretty good. They've got selections from most of the well-known craft brewers (Stone, Allagash, Bells, etc.) available on tap and in bottles. The prices are on par with what you'd expect. They have 30 rotating taps and ~100 or so in bottles. They also seem to get new releases pretty quickly. I was drinking a Stone 10.10.10 from the tap only days after the release. The only time they've been out of something was when I had tried to order an Arrogant Bastard bomber to split with a friend who's new to craft beer. Not a big deal, though...plenty more to choose from. The food is pretty good, but not amazing. I prefer the pizza at Pizzeria Paradiso in Georgetown.

The service has been exceptional every time I've been, both at the bar and at the tables. I don't think they offer reservations, but they might offer call-ahead seating. A group of 6 of us made the mistake of going on a Saturday night around 7pm and had a two hour wait for a table. It gets pretty full at lunch time too, but not that bad.

Overall, it's a great place and was glad to see this location open up. I do feel like they are still working through their opening kinks, so I'm excited to see what becomes of the place.

12-05-2010 03:54:35 | More by kevinv

JOTAS

Virginia

4.38/5  rDev +4.5%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 3.5 | selection: 5 | food: 4.5 | $$

I was excited to hear that Fireworks was opening up this past late Summer. The main reason, it was going to have plenty of good quality craft beers on tap, not to mention a decent bottled beer selection as well.

I stepped in for a happy hour a month or so ago and I was impressed with the beer selection. I was not impressed with the happy hour beer selection. The price for HH specials was on point. For $5 you had your choice of some OK beers that you would probably skip. That $5 also covered one of their house pizzas that was pretty tasty and cheap for the price.

The atmosphere really kicked in after 5:30 PM when everyone started pouring in. I was at a training so I was able to get there at 4:30 and enjoy the decor and the overall layout was nice.

There is a decent sized patio that can be used during the warmer months and the big plus is that it's metro accessible on the orange line, just take the train to Court House. Overall, you won't be disappointed!

12-01-2010 20:04:47 | More by JOTAS