8 1/2

10 stars for food. My favorite is the penne with sausage and broccolini. Also the carbonara. Also the eggplant. Also the pizza. OK, it’s all freaking great.
0 stars for service. Pretty much everyone that works there is rude and miserable. But who cares, the food is fantastic. Highly recommended if you don’t get offended by rude employees.
Carry-​out only! (Unless you want to sit at the only table in the same room as the rude cashier that just gave you your food)

Good pizza with meh service. I ordered a red pizza with arugula. It was good, but I wish I had gotten some spice on it because their sauce is bland. Parking is tough. It’s street parking and you most likely won’t find a spot. If you are within walking distance, just do it. I don’t think friendly service is their thing and that’s fine, but listening to a customer when they say their name for a pick up would be just basic respect and dope.

THE BEST PIZZAS:
best pizza in rhode island: nice slice (recommended pie: the margharetia)
best pizza in chicago: boiler room (recommended pie: the purist)
best pizza in charlottesville: belmont pizza (recommended pie: the rougemont, add balsamic reduction)
AND…best pizza in richmond: 8 ½ (recommended pie: red w/​sausage and green pepper)
1) Order ahead, they back up but can fit you in.
2) Slices are small but nothing goes to waste (you will want to eat the crust). This means two slices (with side) can be sufficient per person, but if you are planning to indulge, order more.
3) If you eat meat and like a little spice try the red pizza with green peppers and sausage. They serve their peppers into fat wedges rather than thin slices, which is a surprisingly good thing (see pictures below).
4) If the weather is nice you can take the pizza through the alley across the street into Scuffletown Park. There are benches/​chairs, gardens, and green areas for picnics. And, a variety of additional sides/​beverages are available at Strawberry Street Market (next door).

This place is a great pizza joint (take out only) with the best white pizza in town. Crisp, chewy thin crust. Perfect mix of cheeses with a garlic/​red pepper zing. One pizza per person; not big enough to share.
Also has the best cannoli, filled to order so they don’t get soggy. This is our go-​to place for take out on a Friday. When we are not in the mood for pizza, the potato leek soup and the mozzarella arugula sandwich are a perfect change of pace. Expect a wait (sometimes an hour). Do not expect friendly service. Do not expect them to have all of the items on the menu. Do not expect a place to sit down. Do not talk on your cell phone when at the register. (It makes them cranky.) Reminds me of NYC. Simultaneously frustrating and glorious.

Hands down the best pizza I’ve had in Richmond/​ever. Cheese with arugula every time. Perfection. Sensational.

Best pizza/​rudest staff lol. I’ve been getting pizza from 8 ½ for over a decade and it’s always delicious. It’s greasy (in a good way) and the toppings are top notch… but someone really needs to tell the ever revolving staff of college douches to SMILE say THANK YOU and YOU’RE WELCOME and just generally act like they don’t hate their lives. Order it go unless you want to sit at one of the 3 tiny tables.

Great food but the service continues to be terrible. It’s a shame that I shy away from going back here solely because the people that work here are rude. I understand they are busy but they could be nicer on the phone and when you go to pick up your order. When you call Sidewalk Café your pick up order takes 15 minutes. Doesn’t matter how much your order, what day or what time. However 8 ½ is always at least 30 min and more recently 45min — 1 hr. Your food is great don’t get me wrong but it’s not good enough for a take out order to take an hour. As I read through the reviews it seems there are a lot of people with my similar opinion. Maybe management will take a look at the staff and make some changes in regards to customer service. Then I’ll gladly be a return customer.

Best pizza in Richmond. EVERYTHING is fresh and made from scratch. I have lived down the street for 4 years and have to hold myself back from ordering from here too much. I haven’t tried everything on the menu but I have never been disappointed in something new that I tried.
Anyone who says the staff is rude is wrong. I’m in there all the time. They are awesome. I have also see them deal with the rudest customers and stayed level-​headed. There are a lot of rude Fox parents in the neighborhood that think they can talk to service industry people however they want.
Another common complaint on here seems to be that they stop selling before their 10:00 PM closing time. That is because by that time of day they usually run out of their fresh ingredients of the day so just order early if you want the best pizza in Richmond!!!

Try to go by the pictures and not the actual perception the place gives when you find it. At first look it seems to be a convenience store, it was enough for us to decide not to try it…

Definitely a mediocre pizza! I don’t want to be mean, but to be honest, this pizza tasted like someone was trying to invent pizza from photos & descriptions and had never had a really good slice before.
— The sauce was too saucy.
— The dough was crisp and brittle; it should be chewy on the inside with a good crunch on the exterior, like a good loaf of bread. This was more like a flatbread.
— It cooks too long; the ovens are too cold, I suspect, because the pizza comes out tasting over-​cooked & burnt. I love a thin blackened/​charred crust, but this isn’t it, because I suspect they aren’t making a good pizza dough.
— There is an off flavor in the sauce/​cheese. I can’t put my finger on it.

It wasn’t necessarily bad, but the quality didn’t match the price. I got the carbonara, it had nice chunks of pancetta but was otherwise fairly tasteless. It also didn’t have peas, just the pancetta, which was disappointing. My boyfriend got the white pizza, which was thin crust with garlic and cheese. It was pretty bland and didn’t stand out in anyway. They did give us huge sides of pretty tasty marinara, which was nice.
We’ve heard a lot of good things and maybe had a bad experience, we’ll probably try other things off the menu if we order from here again.

Delicious freshly hand made pizza. Wonderful vegan option using a white bean base. Will build a custom pie for you… excellent service and friendly staff.

One word «awesome» good vibe, good food and most important good Pizza!!! Thank you for being original and just plan good:)

The staff was super friendly on phone and even suggested leaving off garlic for kids pizza. They were also nice when we picked up.
Bad part was that the pizza was burnt and didn’t really have any flavor. Fear it’s just another one of those hipster joints that is trendy but not really good. Sort of like PBR. Will give it one more try someday just to see if we were wrong.

(Based on a quick stop-​in for a drink)
Passing by while strolling in the fan, I came across 8 ½. I had heard from fellow fan friends that they had good pizza, but since I had just eaten, I figured I would save that for a later date. But, I still wanted to check it out. Stopped in and found they had my favorite italian sodas by the bulk so i had to get one (even some flavors my favorite grocery stores do not carry). Luckily, I was in there while they were making a delicious pizza and boy did that smell good. The boyfriend snagged a small and said he would def be back (I cannot partake since they do not offer gluten free options) but the boyfriend said it was one of the best slices in Richmond. So, I guess that counts for something!
To the owners/​chef at 8 ½, please make gluten free menu options so I can have a bite!

I just don’t get it…
Pretty much the cheapest tasting pizza I’ve ever had. In my opinion it’s over cooked as well. Crust is thin, crispy and flavorless with no chew or tenderness to it at all. The sauce is actually quite tasty, and I don’t mind the sprinkle of herbs and peppers on the crust. Oh, but the cheese… the poor cheese. Burnt to dark brown and bubbly. It would seem this wasn’t an accident, but standard procedure here.
There is nothing inherently wrong with how they make their pizza I guess, it’s just not for me. It is slow, but we were warned. Quoted 45min and I think it took 50 – 55.
I just don’t understand the hype. It’s pretty mediocre at best, and I certainly won’t go back for pizza. If this was $ 7, 3am, drunk food it miiiight be acceptable. Just a little over priced for what you get.
I’m curious about the heroes though.

Let me preface this by saying that the food here is ALWAYS on point. And honestly, 8 ½ has been my go-​to restaurant for take-​out for the last 7 and a half (no pun intended) years. Frankly, having grown up in Italy and coming from a large Italian family though, the way these folks treat their customers is the absolute antithesis of what [Italian] cooking and hospitality are all about. At least from my experience…
Bottom Line:
The service has become exponentially worse over the years and after this weekend, I am sad to say that I am fed up: The gentlemen behind the line was completely out of line and downright rude. My girlfriend and I came in to pick up a large order and I was utterly embarrassed by the way we were spoken to: both over the fone and in person. I think the most memorable moment, spoken in a very rude tone was, «Did you order something?» Again, it was is not this singular experience that caused me to write this review, but rather the culmination of several years of repeatedly bad service.
In Closing:
Look, I understand that the «8 ½ — Edo’s — Mamma Zu’s — Dinamo» family enjoy a particular style of service: Curt, to-​the-​point and no frills. However, over my last seven and a half years in Richmond, it has become apparent that these folks pride themselves on being able to act rude and discourteous with impunity. I honestly don’t get it but I am really fed up with the way these folks treat the same customers that keep their establishment’s in business.
So Long.

I know, I know — pizza pizza pizza.
No pizza on my first try. They were out of side salads. We waited 30 minutes for half of a 4 inch rock hard loofah covered in olive oil and herbs, a from-​the-​fridge container of cold broccoletti/​ini/​whatever, and an eggplant parm that tasted like the eggplant was partially fried earlier in the week, everything assembled and warmed up — a little.
The cheese and sauce was tasty and the service was fast and courteous. I have no beefs with grungy hole in the wall places that serve excellent food, so this didn’t cut it.

Nice little place with unique and high quality pizza offerings if you’re willing to pay the price.
I went with a lady friend when it wasn’t terribly busy and we ordered at the counter (the gentleman was very polite). They quoted 25 minutes, though it came out much faster than that (which was great, since the awesome smells were driving me crazy). While asking if they could give us cups if I bought a spring water to drink (every purchasable drink is bottled, no fountain here), a young lady working there was so kind as to simply give us cups of regular water at no charge.
The pizza was amazing, definitely unlike any of the other offerings I’ve had in Richmond (though I still have a few left to try). I liked the cozy atmosphere of the place, though I didn’t realize when going that this place is just for take out food, almost no space for dining in. If I were looking to impress an out-​of-​town friend with a great authentic pizza, I’d be inclined to order it from here.
Overall: 4.0 stars
— — —
Pros:
–The white pizza was great! Very unique flavor to it.
–The staff members were extremely kind/​friendly.
–Service was speedy at a non-​peak hour.
Cons:
–Pizza was pretty pricey considering its small size. If you are looking to get full, a pizza for two won’t cut it.
–Since there are only two two-​seater tables, it’s pretty much just for take out. I wasn’t made aware of this prior to going.

the smell of Italian deliciousness instantly hits you when you walk in! I could live in here!
I’ve been here three times now and haven’t been disappointed yet! I’ve only had the cheese pizza but I’d love to try the pastas.
in my opinion one of the best pizza options in richmond!