Brigantessa

Start with the positive. PIZZA And cocktails awesome. Ok so I wanted to love it here. And I guess I give it a 3.4 but it just doesn’t stay consistent. Have been three times and only really enjoyed everything once. Tapas are hit or miss. Some great creativity that doesn’t always hit the mark taste wise. Go for the pizza and cocktails.

Been here twice and excited to go back. Pizza? Amazing. Pasta? Amazing. Everything was amazing… even the bread and olive oil. Stella Pizza is a must try. House cured meat and cheese board with assorted antipasto is over the top delicious

i can’t really give Brigantessa the review it deserves, since i have only had the pizza and cocktails. Both were good. Décor and Vibe enjoyable. Not overwhelmed, but not disappointed either. a little pricey for the size of the pizza, but it was well executed. Perhaps i’ll have more insightful views after a dinner there… friendly staff.

Review is of the bar only: Happy hour is 5 – 7. $ 6 tap wines were delicious. $ 10 pastas and margarita pizza. Bartender was friendly and offered a sample of wine before I decided. Overall a very pleasent experience.

Food was very good, but overpriced for the portion size. Service was inattentive. Overall, I’ve tried it and can move on.
Two tiny sweet pea purée on toast was $ 12. This special was completely forgettable me not worth it.
The marinara pizza was very flavorful. I’m also a sucker for a thin pizza.
The blood orange spaghetti (named after the color I assume because it wasn’t the taste) tasted good, but small portion with maybe 4 little pieces of lobster and two tiny pieces of sea urchin.
The octopus was very delicious. Cooked perfectly and super flavorful. Loved the chickpeas.
The drinks, specifically la brigantessa was fabulous.
If you want bread, don’t forget to ask for. I saw many tables around us got bread and had to proactively ask for it. It came with some delicious oil. It would have been nice if the waiter added pepper (but again, inattentive).
Service was very slow. Our waiter barely made an effort or checked on us much. A lot of waiting.
The overall restaurant nice and isn’t too noisy.
The meal was good, but forgettable. I’m glad I tried it out, but nothing wowed me and no dish begs for a return visit.

Had two margherita pizzas and a speciality drink there. The pizzas are awesome. I was hesitant at first by how watery the pizza looked when it arrived to my table, but the tomato gravy on the pizza was so delicious and the right amount of acidity; definitely a pizza to eat with a knife and fork, but still amazing after each bite. Very quaint place and a good spot on a rainy afternoon. I would recommend sitting at the chef section so you can watch the pizza being made! They were kid friendly which was cool. The bartender also threw some knowledge about the name of the bar, and that was fun.

I have to say I’m surprised by the low-​ish ratings because we had an absolutely wonderful experience here. We took a group of 8 to celebrate my sister’s birthday and it was wonderful from start to finish.
We did things family style, rather than getting mains for everyone. We started with the broccoli rabe, the special pizza (I can’t remember for the life of me what it was) and our pastas — the lamb ragu, the «hats», and another special I can’t recall. They were all absolutely delicious.
For mains, we got (I think) branzino, a lamb dish, and a beef dish. Everything was cooked perfectly.
For dessert we had the cannoli and ice cream, both great.
The only downside was that we had to ask the waiter to bring us bread, it wasn’t proactively offered (which seemed very strange). But the food was phenomenal and our waitress was very attentive. I’d come here again for sure.

First time here and had the BEST meal! We all enjoyed the on-​tap wines, which were well priced. We tried several things within our group as well, including the panecotto with broccoli rabe (signature appetizer they recommended), the pizza special of the day, briganti pasta «hats» and a truffle ravioli. The pastas were prepared perfectly and the thin crust on the pizza was delicious and not overly crispy.
We also had the mini cannoli for dessert — I have to say I don’t usually choose a cannoli but these were so light and special. Great meal and awesome service, I’ll be back for sure!

My father wanted to celebrate his 75^th birthday at Brigantessa so i made a reservation a few weeks ago for Saturday evening. The gentleman on the phone asked if we were celebrating anything special and i mentioned we were celebrating a 75^th birthday. He noted this down and thanked us for choosing their restaurant for this wonderful occasion.
I have been to Brigantessa a few times before and have enjoyed it thoroughly; the food is always tasty and the service is as expected. Tonight was a bit disappointing and will give me pause about whether to return. Most people whom are 75^th are not necessarily going out to dinner on a busy Saturday night, so i thought this would be a fun event for our party and my father.
The food was good as always, but two things bothered me. First, at dessert time, no watiers brought over a cake or a small pastry to say Happy Birthday. This irritated me because a few minutes into ordering dessert for ourselves, i saw another table being presented with a birthday treat and a candle from the staff. Secondly, when I ordered dessert for my dad the waiter put the check down on the table after bringing out our dessert. This is super rude and dismissive and basically implied that our dinner was done for the evening. I am not upset with the waiter about the candle or perhaps not being informed about the birthday, but putting the check down at the beginning (not the end) of the dessert portion is shocking.
The manager for the night should’ve informed the waiter that we were celebrating a special occasion and if not, please don’t ask me on the phone when i make the reservation. This gives me the impression that the restaurant would surprise my father with a small birthday pastry which is routine for almost any restaurant in the United States.
Most likely i will return to this restaurant as i do find the food to be flavorful, but i have shared this unfortunate story with friends multiple times since last night and am disappointed with the service last night.

Don’t get me wrong… I love this restaurant… but two ribs of lamb is not a rack of lamb no matter how good they are.

Maybe I should try coming here again before 9:30pm, on a day other than Tuesday. I had the black spaghetti and baked ziti w eggplant. Meh. Maybe it would have been different if the ambiance was more active. I definitely will go back because I hear they hAve awesome pizza, but I wasn’t impressed on my first visit.
Follow up review forthcoming…

More like 2.5 stars…
I wanted to like Brigantessa. Their rustic Italian menu is mouth watering however what’s actually served tastes like disappointment.
I dined here on a random Wednesday evening with a friend. We sat upstairs. There was only one other table dining so the service was decent. We started with the burrata and octopus appetizers. The burrata which tasted fairly good itself was paired with carrots and a pistachio purée of sorts. I was curious to see how this was executed… It was very strange especially with nearly raw carrot. The flavors just did not flow. Avoid this dish or at least the carrots in it. In the octopus appetizer, there was arugula, tree nut and you’d expect some sort of fruit but no. I found sliced potato. It again made for the most awkward combination of flavors.
For main we shared a margherita pizza and the truffle ravioli special. The ravioli was over cooked on the edges however the cream sauce and filling were good. The margherita pizza was just okay. I’ve had better and I’ve had worse. I also tried their housemade limoncello. Very strong and a bit pricy…
Overall I can’t say I’ll be coming back. There are far too many restaurants in the area that do it better.
Sorry Brigantessa.

We were in the mood for some rustic Italian food, and were looking forward to this meal based on what we had read on the Internet. Their menu looked really good.
I would say that the concept makes sense, because the items on the menu sounded great, and there were many things on it that we wanted to try. Unfortunately the execution of our dishes did not live up to our expectations, hence the low rating.
I never intentionally write negative things about restaurants in my reviews, but I do choose to be honest, more-​so for the kitchen’s sake, than for other potential customers’.
We started with the meat and cheese platter, which was good. Some of the meats are made in house. There were a few different meats which were tasty, but there was only one slice, of one type of cheese, included on the dish. Next, we had calamari with a Beet Hummus, served with flatbread. The flavor was okay, but we didn’t really «get» the dish. Both the calamari and the hummus were served at room temperature, so it was a little bit off-​putting, and we didn’t finish it. I’m not sure why they thought that Hummus served at room temperature would be a good idea.
The next dish was a Ceci Pappardelle with fennel pollen etc. We did not realize that the pasta was actually made out of chickpeas (which may have been our own fault). Unfortunately this dish was just not appetizing. The texture of the pasta was not pleasing, and the only flavor that stood out in the sauce was the fennel. We were honest with our server about it, and she was more than willing to take it back and remove it from the bill, which we appreciated. Service was very good by the way, I think our server’s name was Jackie.
We then had Porchetta over charred Broccoli Rabe. This dish was tastier than the others, but again missed the mark with the execution, as the broccoli Rabe was a little over-​charred.
For dessert we were served a few pieces of biscotti with a dessert liquor in a martini glass. The idea was for us to dip the cookies into the liquor before eating them. Not great.
It seems like they are serious about food and want to be creative here. Maybe other selections on the menu are more pleasing, but unfortunately most of the meal that we had here was unsatisfactory on this particular evening. Again, I am not trying to be harsh on purpose but the comments are an account of our actual experience.

Brigantessa, you’re killing me! I still love this place so much, and I’ll always go out of my way for the Sorrentina pie, but since my last visit, the pie is basically half the size of what it used to be! I can’t pay $ 17 for a personal-​sized pizza. It breaks my heart and my wallet.
The quality is still there thankfully, but the reduction in size is borderline robbery :(

I am a little late providing this review in light of the holiday season but I really wanted to provide some information on this little gem from E Passyunk.
Brigantessa continues to provide beautifully prepared, creative dishes based on solid old-​world recipes. The pizzas here are some of the best, tastiest pies I’ve had and I would rank them as one of the best in Philadelphia. The wild boar tagliatelle on the list of specials was excellent and the pasta was perfectly al dente. The service is gracious and attentive.
The wines are all reasonably priced, which we appreciate. The bartender was excellent and very knowledgable. The list of after-​dinner drinks was extensive and we got to try different amari on our visit.
I recommend sitting at the bar and dining. It makes for a fantastic date night and for great people-​watching!

We were here as a stop in a bar crawl and was not treated very nicely. The two women behind the bar were gossiping and saying negative things about others from the bar crawl. Just because they had a few bad apples doesnt give you a right to treat us all that way. They were not friendly, at all. Then they poured me the shitty beer that can be seen in the photo. It was literally half foam. The special that we bought tix for was $ 3 beers. They were serving IPAS and Ales in a goblet high % beer glass. So i got maybe ⁵⁄₆ ounces of beer. The only reason I didn’t complain was because it was only $ 3. But instead of ordering food and more drinks, we spent our money somewhere else.

My fiancé was a little apprehensive about trying this place out because we didnt have the best of experiences when we tried to book our rehearsal dinner with the private events coordinator at Le Virtu, but I was extremely excited to try it because I had seen a lot of what was coming out of the kitchen via Instagram and it was both unique and delicious looking. Brigantessa is the only certified neoplolitan style pizzeria in Philadelphia. Everyone else can try to be, and do it in the style of, but they are not certified. Joe Cicala traveled to Naples to receive his certification, and all the pies coming out are cooked according to Neapolitan pizza law, cooked for only 90 seconds in the at least 905 degree oven so that the middle isnt quite cooked through all the way and the outside is charred and puffy, and there are only three different types of Neapolitan styles of pizza:, pizza marinara, which is made with tomato, garlic, oregano and extra virgin olive oil, pizza Margherita, made with tomato, sliced mozzarella, basil and extra-​virgin olive oil, and pizza Margherita extra made with tomato, mozzarella from Campania in fillets, basil and extra virgin olive oil. Brigantessa is doing all these and many many more. You will see things here you have never seen before, I promise you.
My fiancé and I met here for a drink before the other couple that we were meeting arrived, and we were impressed by the look of the menu, the bar and the execution of the drinks. I ordered a Stunad, a barrel aged concoction consisting of rittenhouse rye, hennesy, campari and amaro nonino, and my wife ordered a Philadelphia Brewing Fleur de Lehigh. My cocktail was had a fantastic flavor profile. I really enjoyed the boozy nature of the drink and the bitter flavors from the Campari and the Amaro.
When our friends arrived, we were taken upstairs to our table. Its rather loud inside which I assume is because of all of the woodwork, but it wasnt unbearable. The waiter came over and took our drink orders and also told us about the specials of the day. One of the specials for the evening was two of my favorite things combined in one dish, so we ordered one for the table to split. That special was a burratta with summer truffles. Enough said. Burratta is a delicious item in an of itself, and when you kick up its richness to another level with the addition of fresh grated summer truffle, it takes it to the highest level. There was plenty of truffled shaved over top, and the semi liquid center was as good as it sounds. The firmer exterior of the cheese is great, and a perfect textural change to the semi firm center that is almost a bit runny. Adding in the truffle just rounded out a perfect dish.
In addition to all of the different pizzas they have on the menu, there are also certain ones which you can only order if you know about them. I had a tough time deciding whether to order one of those or the one that I eventually did order, the Calabrese pizza. Wow, what a perfect balance of flavor. THe pizza was the perfect amount of spicy from the handmade n’duja and calabrese chili oil, and a depth of richness from the sheeps milk ricotta and roasted red peppers. The crust was perfectly blistered on its exterior, had a fantastic amount of chew, and was just slightly underdone in the middle, exactly as it should be. They dont cut their pizza in Naples, nor do they do it here. You are meant to rip it with your hands, but you can ask for a knife and fork if you dont want to do it that way too. I inhaled my whole pizza because it was fantastic. I also had the pleasure of trying my wife’s pasta, something very orignial which I had never seen before. It was a papardelle made out of black chickpea flour that had a ragu of lamb and fennel and was dusted with fennel pollen. There was amazing fennel flavor in the entire dish. The pasta was magnificently tender, and the ragu was a perfect accompaniment to the tasty pasta.
Unfortunately, this time around, our counterparts arent as into dessert as we are, so we didnt get to try anything, but knowing how good the desserts are at Le Virtu and how talented Angela Ranalli is, I am sure they are amazing because she handles the desserts here too. Ill definitely be back, if not only for the amazing Amaro selection. My fiancé and I went back after this visit just for after dinner drinks one night after dinner somewhere nearby, and it was a great time. The bartenders were friendly and knowledgeable and the amaro selection was second to none. Tasty amaros I had never seen before, offered in flights, and things like Chamomile liqueur and blood orange liqueur that were super tasty and refreshing. The food is fantastic and drastically different than most other Philly Italian restaurants. It is definitely worth a visit.

Really lovely establishment, in my opinion. Richard was a great server who satisfied my curiosity and actually let me see the oven in which they baked. Very cool.
Cocktails: though my rye and gin drinks looked the same (I think that’s a slight problem), and came in slightly smaller glasses than I would have wished, they were both delicious. As you might expect, the rye drink felt more fitting for fall, the gin helped me relive summer a bit longer.
I was disappointed the tempura battered squash and sausage starter over pepper jam. The jam was great, but sweet, and when the fritters were dipped in it it was reminiscent of a Chinese buffet. It was good, inventive, but not too compelling.
The goat stew I got was great, especially with the restaurant’s bread. First time I had goat, and the way this way prepared (appeared to be a slow braise), it was had a great meaty flavor. Melded with the other ingredients, though, it tasted something like a combination of lamb and beef. If it weren’t labeled, I wouldn’t have known I was eating a more unusual meat. Still quite satisfying on a rainy night.
I sampled the pizzas of my comrades and realized that the Neapolitan style pies are why you would come. Great crust, chewy crumb.
The cannolis I closed the meal with were flaky and satisfying, too.
Recommended, just barely missed four stars for me.

The food was delicious, but the experince was lacking in a few areas. The menue is extensive, and could benefit from being smaller (It’s much longer than online). Each item has a mile long ingredient list, so it takes a long time to figure out what you want. It is very interesting and full of unusual combinations and ingredients that are otherwise hard to find such as sea urchin, and pollen.
The pizza was good, on par with Nomad, but with more unusual ingredients. The service was spot on. They were very fast, made great suggestions, and were experts at filling water glasses in the tight space. I loved my beer, and there was a long list of others that I would like to try.
There are a few things to be warned about. The first is that the seating was very tight. The upstairs looks spacious at first, but then my party of two was seated next to another party of two who’s table was under 6 inches away. If you have 4 people this place will probably work out fine, but in my case we felt awkward, especially when we found out that we had become part of their birthday dinner. It also become’s very loud upstairs, so if your dinidn companion is hard of hearing this isn’t the place for you. I like smaller portions, but when we ordered a half order of one of the pasta dishes it came out laughable size on a bread plate.

Another day, another group outing to explore a new to us restaurant. We came to Brigantessa for dinner with plans of sharing apps and pizza. The four of us ordered 4 apps and 3 pizzas and were satisfied with quantity. The price came to about $ 25 a head, not including drinks, which is more than fair. The service was top notch, less once or twice reaching the bottom of my water glass while enjoying the spicy pizza.
So what did we get? We started with the long hots, oven roasted olives, shrimp, and tuna. The long hots, 4 per order, came stuffed with sausage and were quickly devoured. The olives were good to pick between other bites. The shrimp was solid, but probably not something I’d get again. However, the Tuna belly conserva is perfect. Our waiter warned us, as apparently they can be hit or miss based on your likes, but it was a clear hit with our group. It was light but filling, which provided an excellent balance.
For pizzas, we did a Margherita, Stella, and Calabrese. I mentioned the Calabrese had a bit of a kick, not to complain, just to inform. We enjoyed it. The Margherita was basic, but exactly what we were looking for. Finally, the Stella, shaped like a star, had crust stuffed full of cheese. Other than being more difficult to split, it was awesome.
So the test, could I see myself going back? Absolutely! You should too…