Cherry Hill hosts a slew of restaurants, and it is always special to see a new one opening in town. This time, Bricco joins our community.

Bricco, or Bricco Coal Fired Pizza, originated in Westmont, founded by Vincenzo Barone, who held a dream of changing people’s perception of pizza as said on their website. They claim to be committed to the “Old World New York-style pizza” that are hand tossed and done at a perfect temperature. They opened their Cherry Hill location very recently which also included exclusive expansions to the menu featuring various pastas.

The interior of the restaurant is, for lack of a better word, comfy. It is a mesh of modern, diner, and rustic aesthetics that blend together to form one comfortable ambience. The dining space is well-lit, colors pop, and most notably, there is an open kitchen where you can see all of the workers and pizza-makers.

That being said, the interior has no apparent waiting area, with no sort of proper division for orders that are to-go. There is only a small lounge-like area for that. The absence of the waiting area is especially problematic because of the common crowding of people waiting to get a seat, and of people trying to get their take-out orders. When my family and I got there, at 6:44 PM, many people were waiting for a chance to get seated and after 45 minutes, we were finally seated.

Once we got to our table, service was impeccably quick. Nine minutes after seating, we were able to order, and not even 10 minutes later our appetizers (antipasti) came in, which were followed by the entrees shortly after. The antipasti consisted of the Arancini Cacio e Pepe, and Ricotta Zucchini Fritters. The fritters are filled to the brim with sweet ricotta, but are equally crunchy. The arancini, rice balls, are also crispy, but have the added faint bitterness of the cacio e pepe.

Before getting to the pizzas I tried Rigatone Pork Sausage Ragu, which was extremely enjoyable. The pork ragu was flavorful, marked by that classic ragu taste, and complemented the al-dente rigatoni perfectly in the dish. Its homemade taste only further incentivized me to scarf it all down.

However, issues arise with the pizzas’ quality. Our waiter said that the past couple of weeks have been very busy for the establishment, but it does bring the possibility that the busyness has been affecting the quality of cooking. To begin, the Margherita Pizza is a simple classic that you can never go wrong with. Bricco’s take on it, though, was leaving me with more to be desired. The crust of the pizza was oddly not right, being more of a hard biscotto than a true pizza texture, and surprisingly dry as well. The mozzarella topping was also distinctly chewy. Our Bricconcello Pizza was better, but its texture was again done poorly, with it being more like a focaccia bread than anything else.
The Spicy Chicken Pizza on the other hand was delightful. As soon as you take a bite of this pizza, you are greeted with an explosion of flavor that even someone with poor spice tolerance (like me) can appreciate. Unfortunately, the texture problem was still there, but this pizza was assuredly the best one that we ordered that night.

For what it is, Bricco is fun for the entire family. The price was good and manageable for most families within our area. The pizzas may not have been to my taste, but the experience was certainly unique. Perhaps it is best to avoid coming at crowded times, and instead come earlier for their brunch offerings or later for dinner.