Bottoms Up Pizza

My experience at Bottom’s Up was somewhat unique. I was chaperoning a middle school field trip with dozens of excitable teenagers. We all swarmed the restaurant and honestly, I was somewhat concerned how the kids would behave while all waiting to be served. I was pleasantly surprised at how organized the service was. Our pizza orders were hot and ready! There was a convenient beverage station set up. The entire event was «smooth as silk», couldn’t believe it! Taking care of all of those hungry students at one time is no easy task; I was truly impressed!

Okay, so Bottom’s Up has redeemed itself. We had an issue with adding pepperoni to our order of mozzerella track the other day. We just wanted pepperoni cooked on top of the mozzerella tracks. After being told that they wouldn’t be able to do that, we left with our plain tracks and a cup of cold pepperoni. HOWEVER, a very nice lady from BU called us personally two days later to apologize about the incident. She said that someone was misinformed and that it was in fact not a problem to add toppings to our mozzerella tracks. She even offered us a gift card for future visits. I can’t wait to get some mozzerella tracks with pepperoni minus the go around. Thanks Bottoms Up!

Pretty tasty pizza. A slice is huge!!! Also the salsa is exceptionally yummy and has a unique taste.

Service has been outstanding every time I’ve been here. The pizza is really delicious and the blue cheese is the business. Always look forward to eating here.

Their pizza’s are huge and there are so many tables (I’ve never waited to be seated). The seating area in the «garage» is pretty cool. The only bad thing about this place is parking.

I love love LOVE the thinner crust!
For me, Bottoms Up is hit or miss — it’s in their favor, which keeps me coming back. They started with a thinner crust a few years ago (vs their VERY thick pizzas they established themselves with). The sauce is usually really tangy and the cheese is perfect, all combining to make a pretty wonderful experience.
This place is good for groups, but gets very crowded very fast.

Ordered pizzas for last day of class: four thin crust (cheese, Karen combo, vegetarian, and vegan) pizzas were highly praised and plenty to feed 15. Delivery online via Bottoms Up’s website was efficient and conscientious. The vegan cheese one was shunned (face it: vegan cheese looks sad and doesn’t age well, so bless all vegans for your sacrifice). As someone very familiar with Chicago-​style pies, I duly heeded the warnings about the thick-​crust offerings, and the thin-​crust were definitely a hit.

Bottoms Up has great pizza and definitely tasty appetizers! The slices of pizza are fairly large. One slice is pretty satisfying if you cut it to make two slices. Pretty spacious restaurant loved the outdoor patio seating area. I recommend trying the bread tracks as an appetizer (plus the marinara was delicious).

Best place to go for big groups! We called ahead for a group of 18, we had our own little section of the restaurant and the food came out in a timely manner. I would recommend the Bottoms Up Loaded and the Chesapeake pizza (crab meat, old bay and sweet onions) super good.

Steven favorite pizza was very good. Onions were amazing. Thin crust left me wanting more. Thinking I should of ordered thick crust. FYI– cheesecake was great too!

Came here to meet local friends. Unique setting near the underpass and could hear and see the trains go by. Too bad the weather wasn’t good so we could sit outside. Local popular place — was very crowded but we had a reservation and were seated on time. Really fun menu and every thing we tried was delicious — the Chesapeake bay pizza (had a slice to share for appetizer)…we ordered medium size Maggie Malay, Greek, and bbq chicken pizzas. They were wonderful! For dessert the kids had the ice cream sundae (nice small size) and the smores pie. The latter was disappointing because it was on pizza bread not graham crackers. Else the rest of the meal was terrific and enjoyable. Service was wonderful. Highly recommend!

Pretty good pizza, if you like a thicker crust this is the place for you! Pretty good selection of beer on tap, staff is nice. However, One of the employees parked in a no parking zone in front of the dumpster (posted)in the back and blocked me in my spot and proceeded to tell me that it is their lot and was acting like I was wrong for parking there. No employee parking only sign? Fire this rude guy! Never met a self entitled pizza guy before. Fire him!
Cheers!

Fantastic pizza! I’ve dined in and ordered takeout from here, and my experiences were always positive. If you’re not a fan of huge, thick crusts on your pizza, this may not be the place for you. On the upside, one slice is about the size of your forearm and packed with toppings. You can buy single slices for around $ 8 and it can last 2 meals, since the crust is super filling.
I ventured outside the box and tried the thin crust yesterday, and it did not disappoint. It had great bite to it without being super crispy. It was also very sturdy, you can hold up one slice and it held all the toppings on it, without limping or falling over.
Overall quality is great! The wait staff has always been pleasant and friendly, and the pizza comes out in decent time. Do note the quality of the thick crust can vary from visit to visit; one day it can be crunchy, other days it’s soft and moist. The plentiful, fresh toppings and tons of melty cheese make up for it though.
My recommendations: Vegetarian Pizza (huge abundance of veggies, and artichokes on pizza?!! Yes, please. 100x better if you add a protein, like grilled chicken). Irish Nachos/​Fries (if they’re not listed as a blackboard special, ask your waiter about them. Spiral crispy fries loaded with sour cream, cheese, bacon, and scallions. Super delicious)

The Crust:
The one trick of this one trick pony is the hilariously thick crust. This place is the undisputed king of the super thick crust pizza here in Richmond. SO when and if that particular mood strikes Bottoms up is the place for you.
However, the softness of the crust is variable. Often the crust can be harder, dryer, and more brittle than would be ideal for a thick crust of this type.
The Toppings:
The toppings are noticeably mediocre. The various meat and vegetable components each individually taste like their Kroger brand equivalent. Not that I am too snobby to eat them but they do not distinguish themselves from topping found on a Domino’s pizza.
However the toppings they offer and their synergy especially in some of the specialty pizzas really are quite and rise above the sum of their parts.
The Sauce:
The sauce is pasty, overly sweet, and generally lacking in either vegetably or herby flavor. The sauce is the weakest link on the Bottoms Up pizza chain.
The Price:
The bottom line here is that the Pizza is pricey for what it is. If you want a cheap pizza you can do much better price wise at any major chain. If you the hands down best pizza in town, you can get pizza mind blowing pizza from 8 ½. And if you want solidly decent middle of the road Pizza you can get better pizza than this from Belmont for cheaper.
BUT, All that said, if you are a connoisseur of pizza with an itch to try all of the local landmarks, or you just have a hankering for slightly overpriced mega thick crust pie, then this is your place.

Not what I’d call a pizza? Basically a giant piece of bread with tons of toppings & 3 lbs of cheese on top.
It didn’t taste good (obviously with 3 lbs of cheese on top and a 2 inch thick crust it’s cooking unevenly), and it left me wondering, if all you want is 3 lbs of stuff, why spend 12 bucks (with tax & tip) for a slice? Why not just buy the ingredients & eat whatever you want when you want it? This is the type of ‘pizza dough’ you can buy ready to cook at a store.
If this was a real deep dish/​Chicago style place, it wouldn’t be ‘my thing’, but I’d appreciate it & give them a better review. If it was a thick ‘Sicilian style’ pizza, it still wouldn’t be my thing, but again… they’d get more points. I’m not sure *what* this is, but I know I don’t like it.

Went for lunch on a Holiday but the room was still packed because there was a girls high school volleyball tournament in town. This made the atmosphere uncomfortable with the noise level and wait on the food.
The table service was great and we had several different members of the staff provide drink refills.
The Cheasapeake and Southwest pizza were great. I wish I had tried the thinner crust.
Beside a good pizza, the staff gets a good grade for accommodating the chaos.

Tried this neighborhood pizza place today. Ordered my all time favorite pizza, BBQ chicken. I have to say Bottoms Up did not disappoint! Plenty of cheese and thr chicken was cooked very well… the sauce was nice and sweet but not too sweet that it was overwhelming. Only thing I will say is the place isn’t cheap but I’m willing to pay more for excellent pizza.

Though it wasn’t my first experience with pizza, I can vividly remember my first visit to Bottoms Up. It was in 1998 during the X-​Trials (kind of a warm up for what is now the X-​Games) and the pizza was as big as my head! That being said, little has changed since the 90s and Bottoms Up still serves up huge slices of some of the best pizza in Richmond.
The traditional pizza is thick crust pan pizza, but recently discovering my girlfriend has a gluten allergy, pizza has been sort of a sore subject in our house for a while. Problem solved. In addition to their fantastic original pizza, they also serve a great gluten free thin crust. The flavor is similar to a kind of Italian cracker, with all the sauce and toppings of a traditional pizza.
Living in Manchester, this is one place close to home I can’t wait to visit more often. Great service, great food, great prices. A

What’s left to say? Like William H said, Bottom’s Up pizza is a Richmond landmark. They survived hurricane Gaston on August 30^th, 2004 and can equally survive the Unilocal critics. Like the mighty oak tree Bottoms Up pizza will probably be around for a long time. I don’t think negative Unilocal reviews have much of an impact. Like Siné and Sticky Rice, when it comes to Unilocal criticism… zero f___’s are given. LOL!
Rightly so I guess. It’s not like we are going to stop coming here. Where the hell else are we going to go when we want a brontosaurus size slice of pie? Bottom’s Up Pizza is like everything else in the slip and the bottom. They are quintessential Richmond.
Quintessential Richmond being: basic food with a hip vibe and pretty cool people. Quintessential Richmond is winning 2^nd prize in a beauty contest. Quintessential Richmond is having the lousiest ride in the amusement park but there’s no line.
I love this town. RVA is unabashed. Bottoms Up Pizza — keep rockin’ with your bad self!

My love affair with bottoms up started when I was a kid. my family has loved coming here ever since it opened!
my boyfriend and I came here this past Saturday for an early dinner (around 4pm) and were surprised to see how busy it was! we opted to sit inside, but it was so freaking hot it didn’t make a difference! it was really unpleasant.
we were seated in the verrrrrrry back of the restaurant, which I wasn’t too happy about because we were right in between a couple large (and loud!) parties. it was so loud that we could hardly hear our server when he came to our table.
the service was excellent. our server’s name was Felipe, and he was awesome! he was super attentive and anticipated all our needs.
we ordered the mozzarella tracks to start. they’re so cheesy and delicious, just as they always are. of course they’re a HUGE portion, and we took a lot home.
for dinner we split a medium Chesapeake pizza. it’s cheese, lump crab, onions, and an olive oil based sauce. our FAVORITE! we couldn’t decide if we should just get two slices or a whole pizza so we’d have some to take home, but Felipe recommended we get a medium as it was the best deal.
they had decent beer prices, and I really appreciated that their beer/​alcohol list indicated some gluten-​free options! I’m always happy to see Bold Rock offered in restaurants (they’re a VA based brewery!)
all in all a good trip, just wish it wasn’t so hot and noisy. next time, I’ll wait for a table in the more interior dining area. it makes all the difference!