Let our resident restaurant critic, Peter Hum, be your guide to finding Ottawa’s best slice of pizza.
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The Citizen’s restaurant critic, Peter Hum, has put years of work into this list of Ottawa-area pizza purveyors, taste-testing and reviewing each spot along the way. We’ve compiled every pizza-themed review we’ve published over the last four years in one spot, to help you decide where to go when it’s time for some pizza.
This roundup post is based on the past few years of reporting and reviews. Information here may not be up to date. We’ve listed the publication date, so we are all on the same page, plus the original links so you can read the full article.
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Roberto Pizza Romana
241 Chem. Old Chelsea, 819-827-2882, robertopizzaromana.lightspeedordering.com
Roberto Pizza Romana in Old Chelsea makes exceptional pizzas in the Roman style, rectangular, with a thin, crispy crust. At our visits, roughly 10 pieces were available by the slice, all with gourmet toppings. Confit tomato and house-made ricotta was very, very good. But so was the mortadella and pistachio slice. Equally simple yet top-notch was the pizza topped with ham and a soft, brie-like cheese. The truffled potato pizza was so good that another slice of it was in order. Speck and hazelnut pizza impressed me a little less, which is not to say that I would disapprove of having it again.
Read the full Roberto Pizza Romana review originally published Oct. 6, 2023.
Retro Gusto
122 Preston St., 613-234-5747, retrogustoeats.com
At Retro Gusto, pizzas shared thin and crisped but pliant crusts, with toppings spread almost to their edges, which have no elevated rims. The crusts here hit the sweet spot between usually saggy and sometimes soupy Neapolitan pizzas and more chewier North American thin crusts.
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Read the full Retro Gusto review, originally published Oct. 1, 2022.
Toppings Unlimited
306 Preston St., 613-565-0971, toppingsunlimited.ca
Toppings Unlimited, a pizzeria that opened in May 2022 on Preston Street just north of the Queensway, practically invites you to spin the globe before picking your pizza. Pies at this fast-food eatery range from the usual “New York” pepperoni pizza to more unique pies described as Caribbean barbecue to Manila adobo to Spanish paella to Delhi butter chicken to Australian-and Irish-style to Da Lat Vietnamese pizza. Even if we experienced more novelty than deliciousness, I give full marks to this business’s owner for committing to his concept.
Read the full Toppings Unlimited review, published Aug. 25, 2022.
Lil Z’s Pizza
45 Clarence St., 613-860-3333, lilzpizza.com
Lil Z’s vegetarian “Lil Z” pizza, with ricotta, garlic, chili flakes and more on an everything-bagel crust.
This ByWard Market pizza place consistently made pizzas with distinctive and enjoyable crusts that were thin but both sturdy and chewy, less Neapolitan and more North American. Of the more creative pizzas, we really liked the eponymous Lil Z ($20), a vegetarian pizza that delivered a cavalcade of flavours thanks to ricotta, garlic, red onion, chili flakes, basil, and lemon zest, plus zucchini, on an “everything bagel” crust that also had hits of hot honey, the pizza garnish of the moment.
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Read the full Lil Z’s Pizza review, published June 30, 2022.
Giulia
350 Elgin St. and 61 York St., 613-422-7492, eatgiuliapizza.com
Pepperoni pizza at Giulia on Elgin Street
This sibling brand of the Ottawa restaurants Riviera, El Camino and Datsun opened its first pizzeria in the summer of 2021 on Elgin Street. More recently, a second location in the ByWard Market opened. At one visit, the pepperoni pizza was a showstopper — zestily sauced, notably, but not excessively salty and blessed with a fine, thin crust that combined crunchy blistered spots and stretches of pleasant chewiness.
Read the full Giulia review, published Aug. 7, 2021.
Heartbreakers Pizza
465 Parkdale Ave., 613-724-1144, heartbreakerspizza.com
Owners Juliana Graf and siblings Andrew and Lizzie Chatham opened Heartbreakers Pizza just before the pandemic began, and subsequently made their stellar reputation with upscale takeout thin-crust pies. The dining room eventually opened, and a curated menu of nine pizzas is in force. Pizzas that I’ve had over the years have always had pleasingly chewy crusts and admirable toppings.
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Read the full Heartbreakers Pizza review, published Apr. 23, 2020.
Stay Gold Detroit-Style Pizza
360 Elgin St., 613-421-4653, pizzastaygold.com
Bee Sting pizza from Stay Gold Detroit Style Pizza.
In 2019, if some U.S. food writers were correct, Detroit-style pizza was having its moment, spreading in popularity far beyond Motown. There, culinary legend has it that rectangular, pillowy pizzas with crisp, cheesy edges and uniformly browned bottoms were first baked decades ago in blue steel pans used by automotive workers. In Ottawa, Stay Gold was a pioneer of this pizza style. To love Stay Gold’s pizza, you really have to love bread, because these loaves, if I can call them that, brought to mind focaccia with pizza-like garnishes. Among them, the Bee Sting pizza, made with pepperoni, soppressata and chili honey, tasted meaty, sweet and spicy.
Read the full Stay Gold Detroit Style Pizza review, published March 13, 2021.
Del Piacere
416 Preston St., 613-422-4416, delpiacere.ca
Pietro Amariello, chef-owner of Del Piacere on Preston Street, cooked in Lucca, Italy for 30 years before he came to Ottawa in 2018. He worked at La Favorita, the veteran pizza and calzone eatery 100 metres up the street, but left to open Del Piacere in early October 2020. While Del Piacere is not exclusively about pizzas, its open kitchen includes a wood-burning oven, and we tried one of Amariello’s 10 pizzas. The tasty prosciutto and mushroom pizza that we took home was massive and thin of crust, true to the Neapolitan style Amariello promises. Gluten-free pizzas are also available.
Read the full Del Piacere review, published Dec 17. 2020.
Pi Co. Pizza Bar
236 Richmond Rd. and 170 Metcalfe St., pi-co.ca
The Toronto-based fast-food franchise came to Ottawa just before the pandemic began. At Pi Co. locations, they make Neapolitan pizzas to order, sliding pies with customer-chosen toppings selected from a bountiful mise en place station into a sleek ceramic pizza oven for a 90-second spin in 715 F heat.
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Read a feature on Pi Co and other franchises, published Feb. 20, 2020.
Editor’s note: This roundup post is based on the past four years of reporting and reviews. Information here here may not always be current. Click through to each article to see the date of publication.
Where else should Peter Hum go for pizza? Leave a suggestion in a comment or send a suggestion to: [email protected]
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