In the near-south metro where I live, it’s genuinely something to celebrate when a new, non-chain restaurant opens.

So when my neighborhood friends heard that Bricksworth Beer Co. had just opened in Mendota Heights, they were itching to try it out. It’s the third location for the company, which serves house-brewed beer, Detroit-style pizzas, wings and more.

I was a little leery, given that there were going to be more than 10 of us, and it was a brand new place. But, I figured, let’s see how they handle it. If it’s a train wreck, I won’t write about it. I’ll give them some grace and come back when they’ve gotten their sea legs.

I’m here to tell you that it went great! The new space is enormous — there are 250 seats inside and another 50 on the patio — so it can easily accommodate large groups. And though service was a little (understandably) slow, we got our food, it was delicious, and we all left very happy and very full.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure the new Bricksworth was going to open at all after owner/operator Cooper Johnson died unexpectedly in June at the age of 32. It was a shock to all of us who knew him, and especially the team that runs his other two restaurants (the original in Burnsville and a second in Minneapolis’ North Loop) and was prepping to open a third.

“Everything went through Cooper,” general manager Seif El-Fatairy said. “He was super involved, and he was very thoughtful, too, so sometimes decisions would take a long time. But it was always worth it.”

And now, the team has had to figure out how to manage without their visionary leader.

“We are taking his place as a collective, essentially,” El-Fatairy said.

Members of Johnson’s family, who also own BlackStack Brewing, the place I first met Cooper, are helping. The Johnsons were still reeling from the loss of BlackStack owner and patriarch Scott Johnson in 2024, so I can’t imagine how they’re doing it besides putting one foot in front of the other, knowing that Cooper would want his business to continue.

“It has not been fun at all to try and keep things moving, honestly, even though it was what he’d want,” El-Fatairy said.

The menu at the new outpost, located in a strip mall off of Minnesota 62, is the same as the one in the North Loop — mostly pizza and wings, but also a pretty killer smashburger.

Beer is brewed in house by head brewer Solveig Lundberg, a Minnesota Vixen player, and assistant Ellie Draper. And because Bricksworth doesn’t distribute its beer (don’t get me started on Minnesota’s stupid liquor laws), the restaurant can also serve wine and cocktails.

The pizzas were big hits with the friend group — our vegetarian friend particularly appreciated the Beyond Pepperoni, and we all enjoyed the Elote, The Happiest Meal (a cheeseburger-flavored pie topped with fresh pickles) and the Aloha Friday (a pepperoni and pineapple concoction that shouldn’t work but so totally does).

And those of us who like wings were very happy with the Cool Ranch flavor — yes, they taste like those Doritos, and yes, they are delicious.

The spicy margarita and bootlegger cocktails were lady-friend approved, and the guys all loved their beers. Basically, it’s a great place to meet friends, with one exception: It’s really, really loud in there. One of my friends posted a photo on social media of her bootlegger saying as much, and someone from the team responded right away, saying they’re planning to install acoustic tiles to absorb some of the sound soon. Impressive. El-Fatairy said they are still waiting for the panels, and for a sign, which had to be approved by a litany of parties but is in the process of being painted. It didn’t seem to deter the community from finding Bricksworth, though, and if our first visit is any indication of what to expect, it’ll continue to be busy for a long time to come.