Bravo Wood Fired Pizza To Open Restaurant On Post Road

When Gregg O'Neill told his wife four years ago that he wanted to buy a pizza oven on wheels, she was skeptical.

"I’d been making pizza at home for 10 years. Every Friday night was pizza night at the house, making my own dough and sauce, just doing it in the oven on a pizza stone," O'Neill said. "The next step for me was to get a wood-fired oven for the backyard. In investigating wood-fired ovens, I found out about people out West with ovens on custom-built trailers doing catering."

Convincing his wife took some time. O'Neill had been in banking up to that point. 

"She thought I was having a midlife crisis or something. Instead of a sports car, it was a pizza oven on wheels."

Once he got the oven, though, she changed her tune. "She tasted the pizza and she said, 'You know what? I thought you’d lost it. I didn’t know what we were going to do. Now, I think you’ve got something.'"

That something became Bravo Wood Fired Pizza, a regular at local farmers markets and catering jobs. Business grew enough to buy a second pizza oven on wheels and now O'Neill has taken the next step – he's opening up a restaurant at 6689 Post Road, the former Tim Horton's donut shop.

It was time, O'Neill said. O'Neill and his wife live in North Kingstown.

“Everywhere we go, people who know us say, ‘Gee, when are you going to open a restaurant?’ and people who don’t say, ‘Wow, your pizza’s awesome. Where’s your restaurant?’” said O'Neill.

The restaurant menu will include Neapolitan style wood-fired pizzas, pasta dishes and salads. Beer and wine will be available with meals. The restaurant has a drive-thru, which O'Neill said could be handy for people ordering takeout. He said he hopes to open by late August.

In the meantime, you can find Bravo pizzas at the EG Farmers Market on Mondays from 3 to 6 p.m. on Rector Street; Coastal Growers Market (Casey Farm, 2325 Boston Neck Road) on Tuesdays from 3 to 6:30 p.m.; Aquidneck Growers Market (Memorial Blvd. & Chapel Street) on Wednesdays from 2 to 6 p.m.; and Coastal Growers Market (Casey Farm, 2325 Boston Neck Road) on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon.