FireWorks Restaurant & Catering

Meh.

Through all its iterations, it's still not that great.  It is getting better, but I no longer have much optimism.  I'll go back with lowered expectations, and maybe it will be better than meh.  But for now -- meh.

This place started out as a vegan restaurant.  Sort of.  They had wood fired pizza, and you actually could get cheese.  Um, not vegan, but whatever.  There was an extra charge, though.  Odd.  Then they became a vegan restaurant that also served northwest Salmon.  Um, I know bacon isn't a vegetable, but neither is fish.  Then they became a vegan restaurant that served northwest salmon and New York steak.  I am quite sure that beef isn't vegan, but maybe I missed something.

Service has always been slow.  It still is.  The remodel has made the place more comfortable and less drafty, but the service is still so-so at best.  Meh.

Try the lavender martini if you go.  It's a nice cocktail.  That's about the main good thing I can say.  Meh.

The owner can be patronizing.  I find that annoying, but whatever.  The pizza is OK.  Not outstanding, but OK.  They cook most everything in their wood oven.  Sometimes they get the timing right, but probably more frequently they don't.  One dish comes to the table hot, but the others are cold by the time they are served.  Meh.

South Corvallis needs more restaurants.  I'm sure I will go try out Fireworks again; I'm always open to changes.  I just have lowered expectations now.   Meh.

I never give a one-star review.  Maybe I would if I got food poisoning from a place, but otherwise, I just can't do it.  That's why I rate this one with two stars.  Meh.

Eh.

I'll start off with, Firework's has awful service. We ordered pizza around 8:30pm and never received it. We waited for and hour until finally "I" decided to inquire about it. They lost my order and an hour after that we finally received a mediocre pizza. What makes it worse it that the place was littered, literally littered with groupies. I guess the same bands or groups tend to play at this establishment and the entire night you'll see clicks walking about as if they own the place. It is very distracting seeing it all go down. Almost like an exclusive click of youngsters whom leech onto Ocean, the owner, that don't have the talent or erg to break out and perform elsewhere.

On another note, the sound system was not great. I came to the acoustic showdown and if you are planning on putting on a show, make sure the guy in charge of sound knows what he's doing.

The food is a whole different story. I'd love to have an opportunity to walk around in the kitchen to see just how much of the food comes out of cans and packages. I'd like to see more care being put into the food.

OH oh oh! AND! Those tables sitting listening to the music had to bus themselves. Order at the bar and wait to hear their name shouted to know their food was ready. THIS IS HORRIBLE! You call yourself a restaurant but don't serve the customers? All other customers get this service, but those sitting near the outside oven do not. All customers should be treated equal. Really kills the atmosphere. Doesn't work. Get more waiting staff if that's the case.

I spoke with my partner and we have decided to never go back. I've given the place 3 tries and the 3rd was the deciding factor.

Well, we tried.

After long delays on our part and kind email exchanges, we made it back to Fireworks to try Ocean's kind offer of a free meal. I wrote him later to tell him how things went, but never heard back. Here is the upshot of our dining experience:

Almost no customers when we dined. (There was one other table filled. One!)
The waiter was baffled by the gift certificate Ocean sent us, studying it at length. "Well... I guess it's legit?"
Appalling neglect by manager and waiter.
Very long wait for food. What the hell were they doing in the kitchen? There were NO OTHER MEALS being prepared at the time!
Okay food, once it finally arrived.
Did I mention being ignored by the staff? They walked around, chatted together, and leaned on the bar right in front of us, avoiding eye contact. Even getting a water refill took forever.

I wanted to be fair, but the longer I think about it, the more irritated I get. I've had better service by really ANGRY truck stop waitresses.