Bellytimber Tavern: Great pizza, great prices, good atmosphere
A friend and I headed to Sprout last weekend to see a friend’s band (Calvero) play. When we arrived, the band was not yet ready, so we walked down the street to check out Bellytimber Tavern. Everyone and their brother has been so far it seems, and I was glad for the chance.
One of things I love about living in the city is being able to walk places. A friend and I headed to Sprout last weekend to see a friend’s band (Calvero) play. When we arrived, the band wasn’t yet ready, so we walked down the street to check out Bellytimber Tavern. Everyone and their brother has been so far it seems, and I was glad for the chance.
The smell of wood blasts you as you walk in the front door. Your eyes back it up, because everywhere you look, there’s natural wood. The bar is quite long and all blond wood, as are the tables, chairs and floor. I didn’t care for the peeling paint look they used on the walls, though all those new windows are lovely and certainly brighten up the room. With brick behind the bar, your eyes tire of the monotone. I wish they’d used a little more color.
The place was pretty empty at around 7:30pm when we arrived on a Saturday, but by the time we left a little before 9, was filling with people and had a good crowd buzz. We sat at the end of the L-shaped bar, where bartender Bill graciously let us sample white wines by the glass.
Neither my friend nor I were very hungry, but we couldn’t resist the allure of the wood-fired pizza. We decided on the Basil and Capers, and for $8, splitting it was a steal. The 10” pizza was perfectly balanced: flavorful crispy/chewy thin crust, just the right amounts of cheese and sauce, and the hit of saltiness from the capers. Bill pointed out the changes on the already small menu. I hope they add more offerings soon because I never like a menu that modest. Both drink and food prices are very reasonable. My Legend Golden Ale was $4 and my companion’s wine was only $6.
As the place picks up business, I’m concerned for the bathrooms. There’s only one individual room for each sex. For a space that large with what will surely be a hefty bar crowd, that’s not enough.
Their website claims brunch is coming soon (I do love brunch) and they offer free Wi-Fi and a 10% discount with valid VCU ID.
1501 West Main Street
804-592-5592
Monday through Sunday, 11am to 2am
(Photos by Terra Gatti)
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
And yet another restaurant we don’t need. It’ll close in less than a year and another overrated restaurant will take its place and people will freak out over it.
@ Dave. And yet another hater this town doesn’t need. I’m sure you’ll be complaining about something else next week that another person can glibly respond to. Go jump in the James.
@Chip – justice served!
@Dave – buzz off, Barry Buzzkill!
Ah throwing insults. Typical RVA acting like middle schoolers.
Anything Murande has an active part in holds my attention…
That pizza looks pretty amazing.
I’ve had the duck pizza twice. Awesome…
Worth noting is that Bellytimber has really great happy hour deals, too. It is hard to find a place that has decent happy hour specials in this town, so add this one to the list. I’m using my foggy memory but there were pizza, crab legs & peel-n-eat shrimp specials as well as rail highball & beer pint specials. The pizza was great and so was the final bill! I give it two thumbs up for the after-work snack-and-beer crowd.
I went here last week and had the worst time. The service was so slow and there were only about 8 people in there. The waitress was completely rude and the pizza was nothing to get excited over. I won’t be going back.
@blech, Well that’s unfortunate. Perhaps an off day/night?
Doubt it. Some of my friends have experienced similar experiences there. If the staff were apologetic or if the food was spectacular, it’d be a different story. Unfortunately, making a bad impression goes a long way.
I went with three friends last Monday. For starters we all ordered the scotch eggs and we all agreed that they were very dry and not very good. Next up was the duck confit pizza, it was so salty it was inedible. I rarely send food back but I had to in this case. Also the service was off that evening too. Usually when a glass is empty a server will either remove it or offer another refill or round. This never happened the entire evening.
On a positive note the redesigned interior is very impressive.
I’m wondering what the new menu is like and what motivated the change from the original (it’s not updated on the website). It seems like they’re going through a trial and error period, but if you get there with the right person working the woodburning oven, the pizza is pretty darned good (hopefully, everybody gets up to speed). Also, a good IPA on tap would fit in nicely in the woodgrain tavern setting. Lastly, I hear Marunde is out. Just a rumor.
Yeah, the waitress was really slow, and that was a bummer, because the place was empty. Oh well, I’ll still go back, that’s not a deal breaker for me.
Give the Belly some time to work out the kinks.