Fire Works American Pizzeria & Bar

mdfb79

New York

4.44/5  rDev +5.7%
vibe: 4 | quality: 4.5 | service: 5 | selection: 4 | $$

The Fire Works in Arlington, VA opened at 5PM today so I decided to check it out.

Atmosphere - The place was a lot bigger than I expected. You walk in and are meeted by a hostess who will seat you, or you can just go to the bar, which is what I did. Lots of seating, including a decent amount of outdoor tables. The bar was pretty full with knowledgable beer drinkers and friendly bartenders.

Quality - I thought the quality was very good. I counted at least 32 beers on tap and at least 85 beers on the bottle list, with a lot of range and quality. I had a Terrapin Hop Karma, NC Red Seal, Founder Porter, and ST Creme Brulee. Off the top of my head they also had on tap Founders Breakfast Stout, 2 Hearted Ale, Allagash White, Duck Rabbit, Stone Old Guardian, and more. Offer full beers of 4 oz. samples.

Service - The service was amazing. Granted today was opening day, so I'm sure they had more people working than they usually will, but the baretenders were very friendly and knowledgable. There were so many bartenders, servers, and busboys working that even when it got busy, there were people standing around waiting for you to finish your beer and ready to get you another.

Selection - I thought the selection was pretty good overall. They have somewhere between 115-140 different beers and a lot of very very good ones. Right now based off of the bottle/draft list I would say Paradiso and Church Key in DC, and even Galaxy Hut, have different, possibley rarer, beers, but the quality is still great. Heres to hoping as they get established they continue to gte great beers.

Food - N/A

Value- Most beers were between $5-6.50, with Founders Breakfast Stout being the most expensive beer on tap at $8. They also offer 4 oz. samples for less than half the price. Some of the bottles were a little pricey but not more expensive than they would be at other beer bars.

Overall I was pretty impressed with the place. I'm hoping they can pull some more obscure kegs eventually like CK, Paradiso, and Galaxy Hut do, but it's opening day, so I don't hold it against them. If the worst they are is a bar with 100+ solid craft beers I'll still be a very happy guy. They also will be selling growlers in the next week or 2 but not yet, so I can't comment on growler prices.

08-23-2010 23:04:51 | More by mdfb79

Sludgeman

District of Columbia

4.4/5  rDev +4.8%
vibe: 4.5 | quality: 4.5 | service: 4.5 | selection: 4.5 | food: 3.5 | $$$

Visited on a Tuesday evening starting about 8pm. The place was not busy the night we visited.

A - Open, clean, new, not too bright. A nice bar area, booths and tables. The booth we sat in seemed a bit tight - if there had been four of us instead of two, especiallly four men, the booth would have been too small and tight.

A - Beer served in the appropriate glass. No concerns over the quality of the beer.

S - Polite and knowledgeable waitstaff. Always close and available but not intrusive. Georgia and Wayne could have been a bit more energetic.

S - I have the Green Flash Red Rye, the Victory Hop Wallop and the Cuvée Van De Keizer Blauw (Blue). My friend drank bud light. A wide selection of craft beer on tap and in the bottle. Bombers and other large format bottles available.

F - We had chicken wings and a pizza with pepperoni and lamb sausage. I thought it was a fine pizza, but did not come away overly impressed either. Wings were average to above average. Willing to visit again and further explore the menu.

05-30-2013 02:57:58 | More by Sludgeman

Chaney

District of Columbia

4.34/5  rDev +3.3%
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 -1.7%
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 +8.3%
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 +1.9%
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 -0.5%
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 -14.8%
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 -7.1%
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 -4.8%
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