Has it really been a year? We wouldn’t have guessed. Pizza Ottawa’s 1st Birthday has been and gone without any fanfare. Truth be told, we aren’t really into that sort of thing. What we ARE into, though, is pizza.

    The time has come for you, dear reader, to help us in our search. We’re looking for pizza places in the Ottawa area to review. Have a personal favourite we haven’t critiqued? Don’t mind that a few more people learn about your secret spot for a good slice? Send us your suggestions! Just email us at pizzaottawa @ gmail.com. We’ve decided to increase our output to at least one review a month, and we can’t do it without your help.

    We’re also looking for some suggestions of good places in the Montreal area. We’re not starting Pizza Montreal; we’re just in the area a lot and haven’t found a decent place yet. Preferably something close to a metro station. Have a favourite 99 cent place? Send it on down!

And, most of all, thanks for taking the time to read Pizza Ottawa!

2430 Bank St. at Hunt Club – 310-6666
Date of visit: May 7th, 2005
Cost: $20.30 + tip (for an extra-large)

    Sometimes Pizza Ottawa gets its pizza during exciting circumstances. Other times, we just want pizza. In our efforts to review more pizzerias, we decided that we should just get some pizza. After a long session of messing about with our large collection of odd musical instruments (70s synths, Farfisa organs that sound like accordions, etc.), we were very hungry. We decided to order an extra large plain pizza from Milano Pizzeria to sate that hunger.

    Using their website, we verified the number to call and placed the order at 7:15 pm. A mere 30 minutes later, the whopping pizza (plus a free litre of Pepsi) was at our door. We turned off the movie ‘DIG!’, which we had been watching while waiting, and found the Canada-Sweden hockey game on TV, which was perfect viewing for eating pizza.

    The pizza was very cheesy and not too greasy. The cheese didn’t have a very distinct flavour, but it was plentiful and tasted fine. The sauce was very well-distributed over the entire pizza, which was both good and bad. On the bad side, the large helpings of sauce tended to overpower the pizza in some spots and occasionally get a bit messy. On the good side, because it was evenly distributed, every bite contained some sauce. In the flavour department, the sauce was so-so. It had some interesting spicy flavour, but it certainly wasn’t great, and as mentioned, it tended to be overpowering in larger doses. (Note: the slice-folding technique was used to eat much of the pizza, since some of the slices were so wide. This resulted in the sauce pooling in the centre of the slices, causing areas of higher concentration. This was not an issue closer to the crust.) The crust itself was quite good. It was a good thickness and it was flavourful, especially the outer crust. Our only complaint was that the crust seemed to buckle under the weight of the sauce and cheese, which resulted in some limp slices. This issue was most likely a result of the extra-large slice size, but it might have been good to have the crusts a little more well-done.

    When all was said and done, we finished the entire pizza, so we were happy that we ordered the extra large. That said, we weren’t terribly impressed with Milano Pizzeria. The price was quite steep so we were expecting something great, and we didn’t feel that the pizza was outstanding in any area. It was good, to be sure, but not great.

Crust: 7.5 out of 10
Sauce: 6 out of 10
Cheese: 7 out of 10
Grease: 8 out of 10
Presentation: 8 out of 10

Overall Rating: 7.125 out of 10

683 Bronson Ave. – 234-1377
Date of visit: April 26th, 2005
Cost: ~$68.00 + tip (for five)

    The end of the school year is always a happy time. With the final exams of the year behind us, we had set our minds on celebration. And what better way to celebrate than to eat pizza at a restaurant at which you’d never eaten before? Forno Antico first came to our attention in the summer of 2004, when we saw a boarded up building with a sign saying that a new pizza place was coming soon. By the time the establishment opened for business, we were no longer in the area all the time, and our thoughts and efforts had become more concentrated on school. After eight months of relative inactivity, though not eight months without pizza, we were finally free to set our sights on reviewing more pizza in Ottawa. First stop: Forno Antico, a restaurant that presents a more traditional wood-burned, Neapolitan pizza.

    We walked down Bronson Ave. on a mild but grey late-April evening. We walked in and were greeted with a simple decor; plain tables and chairs surrounded on three sides with murals depicting the old country. The restaurant itself was not large, though it could comfortably seat at least twenty or twenty-five people at any one time. The eating area is directly beside the cooking area, so the sights and smells do wonders for your appetite as you await your meal. The menu contains several gourmet pizzas with toppings such as olives, artichokes, and bruschetta tomatoes, as well as sausage, pepperoni, peppers and mushrooms. The prices are higher than a typical fast food pizza place, but that’s to be expected. Our party decided to order two and a half pizzas, with the Pizza Ottawa reviewers sharing one, a Margherita pizza, which had bocconcini cheese, sauce and red peppers. Our friends had the ‘Grand Texan’, topped with pepperoni, ground beef, bacon and Italian sausage, and the ‘Frankies’ with artichokes, sun dried tomatoes, and basil with mozzarella and feta cheese. The food was prepared quickly and was hot when it arrived at our table.

    Forno Antico’s pizza is not the kind of stuff that we usually review here at Pizza Ottawa. Following a more traditional Neapolitan style, there were quite a few things that were different than the pizza we usually have. There was much less cheese than we are used to. The crust was rectangular and a perfect thickness; not too thin that it’s hard to eat and not too thick that the crust overpowers the pie.

    That said, the most important factor for pizza is flavour, which this delivered in spades. The thin crust was absolutely delicious, especially the slightly burned outer crust. The corner pieces were the best because they had two sides of crust as opposed to just one for the middle slices. The crust was also soft and chewy in the centre, though a little crunchy on the bottom. The sauce was pleasant and tasted fine. Because it was thin and soaked into the crust, it did not drip anywhere, which was also good. The cheese was fresh and delicious, and though it wasn’t in the copious quantities that we’re usually used to a little does go a long way.

    Forno Antico is all about delivering a delicious traditional pizza that isn’t what most pizza places offer these days. They definitely have their place in the pizza market in Ottawa and it’s nice to see some variety in the city.

3679 Riverside Dr. – 260-8555
Date of order: September 12th, 2004 at 6:40 PM
Arrived: 7:39 PM
Cost: $25.29 + tip

    Pizza Ottawa is fairly certain that the NFL season is a lucrative time for pizza places, so it’s fitting that we chose opening weekend to try out some slices. We convened in the official Pizza Ottawa testing chambers, opened some beers and turned on the TV. Though your faithful armchair critic doesn’t know much about football, and frankly doesn’t really care, all of us here at Pizza Ottawa do appreciate the savage beauty of the battles won and lost on the gridiron. In this contest the Denver Broncos took on the Kansas City Chiefs. While neither team made it to the Super Bowl this year I’m sure they tried their best.

    We had decided on Mr. Mozzarella for our next review after picking a flyer up off the ground during one of our strolls though the ByWard market. From what we can gather Mr. Mozzarella is a local chain that operates several pizzerias in Eastern Ontario. Two large pies were ordered, one plain and one with onions and mushrooms. We were told that it would take about an hour to arrive, and they were telling the truth; the pizza arrived just shy of 60 minutes. The boxes had odd looking caricatures of what we assumed was the pizzeria’s namesake, with his name written in a very 70s style font above him. The pizza themselves looked quite appetizing, the cheese golden and nicely browned crust. The sauce, though, was a darker shade of red than we’re used to seeing.

    We dug into the plain pizza while a friend of ours started on the onion and mushroom. The cheese was usual pizzeria issue, with some nice flavour coming from the perfectly browned crust. The sauce was tangy and a little spicy, but it seemed as though most of it was in circle around the crust. Proper sauce spreading technique is crucial to good pizza making. Overall it was pretty good pizza. We also tried some of our friend’s onion and mushroom and its qualities were consistent to those of our plain pie. The toppings were fresh and well cooked.

    Mr. Mozzarella makes perfectly acceptable pizza. It isn’t special in any way, but if you’re close by or want something different than your usual it’s a good bet.
Ratings:

Crust: 8 out of 10
Sauce: 7 out of 10
Cheese: 8 out of 10
Grease: 8 out of 10
Presentation: 5 out of 10 (The guy on the box was creepy.)

Overall Rating: 7.75 out of 10

From The Charlatan (Carleton University), February 10th 2005:

A for sale sign has been posted on the lawn of local restaurant Fida’s Pizza.
Owner and operator Tony Fida says “after 28 years of serving students and the neighbourhood, it is time for retirement.”

After seeing the for sale sign a few weeks ago we were curious as to the future of Fida’s. Knowing now the fate of this beloved pizza place it is sad to see the possible demise of an Ottawa landmark. While Mr. Fida is hopeful that the business will continue after the sale, we can’t help but think that it will not be the same after his departure.

The report continues:

Carleton student Alice Ervin, who lives near Fida’s, has been a customer for years. Each time her family orders pizza, she says they always call Fida’s. Along with supporting a local business, the Ervin family say they enjoy the low prices.
“It’s too bad. Without Fida’s we will have to get our pizza from farther places like Colonnade or Boston Pizza,” says Ervin.

While we fully support the decision to order pizza from Colonnade Pizza, we sincerely hope that Ms. Ervin has been misquoted and actually meant Bronson Pizza, not Boston. Boston Pizza isn’t something that should be mentioned in connection with either Colonnade or Fida’s.

   Does anyone know anything about the for sale sign in front of Fida’s Pizza? It was there when I drove past a few days ago. I might go in and ask next time I’m in the neighbourhood, but for now if anyone has any info please email us at pizzaottawa [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks!

You may have noticed that this site hasn’t seen any new reviews for a while. We’ve gotten a little busy at school, work, etc., but there’s two more reviews on the way as soon as we get to writing them.

While you’re waiting for those, why don’t you vote for us in the ‘best local web page’ category of the Ottawa Xpress Best of Ottawa reader’s poll!

280 Metcalfe St. – 237-3179
Date of order: August 21st, 2004 at 6:15 PM
Ready: 6:30 PM
Cost: $15.80

It was late afternoon on a sunny, cool Saturday in August. Most of our friends were busy with other things, so on a whim we, your Pizza Ottawa reviewers, decided to go for a walk downtown. Our initial destination was Sugar Mountain in search interesting microbrew root beers. On the way downtown, it was suggested that we also go to Cat Parliament, which is a shelter for cats/raccoons/other things that is just behind the centre block on Parliament Hill (south-west of the gazebo), and is run by an older man who took over the job from the founder when she died. Oddly enough, when we visited the raccoons outnumbered the cats 4-to-1. All of this takes place amongst the statues, monuments and gothic revival architecture of the hill. Walking around there on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, we noted how nice our city was. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a camera, so we can’t share the scenery with the world. Take our word for it.

After Cat Parliament, we proceeded to Sugar Mountain. Sugar Mountain is a store that specializes in import candy and chocolate bars, as well as having bulk bins of various loose candies. They also sell soft drinks, and we were hoping to find some good root beer, having kindled an interest in root beer the previous day with Stewart’s root beer. Sugar Mountain had Stewart’s but not much else. We picked up some Swedish Fish, having a hankering for jellied candies, then left the store still in pursuit of root beer. We had passed a convenience store on the way to Sugar Mountain and when we left Sugar Mountain, we were at a loss for ideas. One of us wanted to keep wandering down the street, while the other wanted a more concrete plan. It was about this time that the wandering reviewer suggested that we walk over to the Colonnade to pick up some pizza. The other reviewer heartily agreed to this arrangement. First we walked back to the convenience store and got a birch beer and Stewart’s Cream Soda each. One of us went to order the pizza while the other walked back to the car.

Colonnade Pizza was just a block or two away from the convenience store, so it didn’t take long to get there. We ordered a large plain pizza at 6:15, which came to $15.80. The other reviewer arrived shortly after the pizza was ordered, and fifteen minutes later, our pizza was ready. We hustled out of there to get home as soon as possible and soon we were at our reviewers’ house eating pizza. We popped open the nicely decorated and solid cardboard box to find eight slices of pizza goodness. The perfectly sized crust (not too think or too thin) was crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and tasted spectacular. The bits of cheese that melted on the crust ended getting a little burned, which added a great dimension to the flavour. The cheese itself was delicious. It was a very strong-tasting, authentic cheese flavour, and Colonnade generously coated the entire pizza with it. Where most pizzas we had reviewed thus far had tended to fail in the sauce department, there were no complaints over the sauce this time. The sauce was flavourful, well distributed and added to the overall taste of the pizza without being too intrusive. On top of all that, the pizza was greasy without being messy, which is always a plus.

Colonnade pizza may very well be the best pizza in the city. Of the ones we have reviewed thus far, the Colonnade has been the best. The only knock against it is the fact that in order to get it, you have to go pick it up. On the other hand, if you have some time to spare and quality is your main concern, you can do no better than Colonnade.

Ratings:

Crust: 9.5 out of 10
Sauce: 9 out of 10
Cheese: 9.5 out of 10
Grease: 9.5 out of 10
Presentation: 9 out of 10

Overall Rating: 9.375 out of 10

Does anyone have any info on the not-yet-open wood-fired pizza place on Bronson at Powell St. in the Glebe? They’ve had the sign up for at least year, but not much has changed inside. It’s right near my office, so it would be wonderful if it did eventually open!

1729 Bank St. – 737-0011
Date of order: July 9th, 2004 at 7:40 PM
Arrived: 8:00 PM
Cost: $16.75 + tip

   In what is now becoming commonplace for Pizza Ottawa, we ordered our pizza on a lazy Friday night. This time, it was from 1-for-1 Pizza, a local chain that offers two pizzas instead of one, for one low-low price. We ordered two larges, both plain cheese, at 7:40 PM. Very pleased with the low price of $16.75, we were not expecting greatness. Indeed, previous encounters with 1-for-1 Pizza had led us to expect a perfectly passable pizza with absolutely no outstanding qualities whatsoever. We were not disappointed. When the two pizzas arrived, we popped in another South Park DVD (also becoming commonplace) and dug in. The pizzas came in individual boxes (Pizza Pizza is the only place we’ve encountered ‘twins’ boxes), so we opened the top one and set the other aside. The pizza looked just like any other normal pizza. We picked up our slices to find that the crust was fairly thin and the weight of the cheese caused limping, which necessitated the folded slice method of consumption. The crust was also soft and chewy, but fairly bland. The sauce was a similar story, bland and without any real distinguishable characteristics. The cheese was in a good amount and tasted good. Again, it was nothing special, but it hit the spot. One thing we have noticed with 1-for-1 Pizza is that it is very easy to eat a lot of it. In fact, we ate the first pizza, aided by the presence of another person eating with us. So without delay, we started on the second pizza. This pizza was noticeably more cooked than the one we had just consumed. The crust wasn’t as limp, and the cheese was a little crispier on the top. For simplicity’s sake and to maintain a consistency with the other reviews, we based our ratings on the first pizza, as it was the first one we ate.

   The bottom line for 1-for-1 Pizza is that they provide a lot of pizza for a small price. The pizza itself is nothing to write home about, but there is nothing particularly bad about it. While we wouldn’t order pizza from 1-for-1 most of the time, when you need to feed the hoards or are looking for some cheap eats, there is nothing better.

Ratings:

Crust: 7 out of 10
Sauce: 6 out of 10
Cheese: 6 out of 10
Grease: 5 out of 10
Presentation: 8 out of 10

In addition, we award 1-for-1 Pizza an extra 0.5 points for its good value.

Overall Rating: 6.5 out of 10