A Blunt and Honest Review of The Ricochet in Derry, New Hampshire

SPOILER: My first-hand experience from ordering to eating at this place was wild.

Facebook Food Reviews

Even though about 90% of social media is basically a cesspool made up of politics, cancel culture, and personal drama, the other 10% of it can actually be really helpful between reconnecting old friends, and highlighting new businesses.

And one of the most talked about spots on various New England social media pages dedicated to regional food joints is a brand new spot that opened in February 2023, and hasn't even come close to tapping the brakes.

The Ricochet Derry NH

After officially opening its doors, according to the Union Leader, toward the end of February 2023 in the former Romano's Pizza location at the Derry Meadows Shoppes on Manchester Rd in Derry, New Hampshire, The Ricochet specializes in pizza as well, but a whole lot more, too.

In fact, according to their official website:

The Ricochet is a feeling.

And, truly, you experience that feeling when you first walk in...

...and basically see the entire town of Derry and other surrounding towns occupying every single seat in what feels like a very updated and very upscale location.

The Ricochet Menu

Since, according to their official website, The Ricochet believes "pizza is love," obviously there is pizza on the menu, along with subs, salads, sides -- what you'd usually find on a menu at a pizza joint. But that's not what's going to be focused on in this review, because not-so-spoiler, no matter what item you order off the menu, it's spectacular. Plain and simple.

No, this review is focusing strictly on the staff, because my first-hand experience from ordering to eating was wild, mainly just the picking up my order portion.

The Ricochet Staff

Ordering online on their website was simple, and possibly the only downside is that they don't deliver -- and the reason they don't was loud and clear when I walked through the doors to pick up my order after the 60 minute prep indicated at the completion of my ordering.

I walked up to the counter and was immediately waited on by one of the multi-tasking employees behind the counter, who told me my order was being wrapped after I gave my name.

I stood off to the side and just observed everything while waiting -- how upscale The Ricochet felt. How every single seat both inside the restaurant and outside was taken, with a lounge-type area was also loaded with people waiting to be seated (with drinks in hand, since the crew serve drinks to waiting customers).

How the staff seemed overwhelmed with how busy it was (to the point that they ran out of clean plates to serve for a couple of minutes while the dirty ones finished being cleaned and turned right around), but that same overwhelmed staff did not even miss a beat -- and I'm talking both quality of their food and quality of service.

The outside of the kitchen area reminded me a lot of that popular Hulu show The Bear, with one woman seemingly giving one final quality control check of the food before it was given the go ahead to be served to seated customers, or bagged and distributed to customers picking up an order.

All while other staff members off to the side of her were working at a high pace to fulfill orders and the team in the kitchen behind her kept bouncing around, bringing out freshly cleaned plates, freshly cooked meals to be checked -- regardless of how overwhelmed the staff seemed, the well-oiled machine never broke down.

And this was while the waitresses and servers on the floor were both helping every single customer -- seated, waiting to be seated, or awaiting their pickup order -- to the best of their ability with constant communication.

The Ricochet in Derry, New Hampshire, is hands down worth the hype, it truly is "a feeling" you take in as soon as you walk up to the door, and they get bonus points for playing the Bob Ross channel in the background on one of their TVs.

BOB FREAKIN' ROSS!