• Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
• 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
• 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
• 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
• 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
• 10 - absolute perfection!

• Amano Pasta
• Trattoria Nervosa

When having meatballs as a starter, I want them nice and large. The size of tennis balls, the menu describes polpette di manzo ($16) as being made from ground beef, but it’s surprisingly delicate for beef. Sitting in a lovely tomato sauce, it pairs so nicely with the complimentary salty oily focaccia.

I had doubts when I first laid eyes on the thick crust on the parmigiana ($22) pizza – did I make the wrong choice? The crust is deceiving as once I bit into it, it is surprisingly light and airy, and nicely toasted on the bottom. This main combines my love for eggplant parmigiana and pizza and Paese doesn’t skimp on eggplant or cheese. While they augment flavours with basil, chili, and oregano; I would have liked more salt to seep into the neutral eggplant and dough as the tomato sauce isn’t applied as liberally, rightfully so, on the pizza versus the traditional dish.

Overall, Paese makes some good sauce – not too acidic and fresh tasting. Interestingly, their bolognese di tacchino ($25) incorporates turkey instead of the traditional beef, pork, and/or pancetta mixture, which makes it taste lighter. So even though it arrives as a huge plate, the men at our table were able to get through the entire dish. This would have been even better if there was some chili sauce thrown into the mix.

What a good dinner. Pizza, patio, and prosecco… who needs anything other than these three Ps during the summer?  

There is pent up demand within households – that’s what’s frequently being said about the torrent of money that’s about to flow through the Canadian economy once the flood gate opens. I can see why they’re predicting this: once my friend scored a reservation at the new Stock Bar, the roof top and street-side patios at Stock T.C, we wouldn’t bail even though Toronto was hit with a day of rain. Under normal conditions, we would have rain checked the patio and gone for an indoor dining experience. But since that wasn’t possible in June, and we had already been relegated to takeout and delivery for months on end, we were going anyways.

We saw umbrellas over the tables in photos and thought we’d take a chance. It’s a bet that paid off as we scored one of the last tables where everyone would be properly shielded from the elements. I bet Stock T.C wished they invested in more umbrellas to ensure more tables could get the full coverage – despite the plethora of umbrellas, when they’re placed only to protect from sun, it means few tables are usable.

So, was the risk worth it? Under normal conditions, the food would be a disappointment. The tagliatelle all’astice ($45) was so over seasoned. It’s perplexing why the chef felt a dish with lobster and marinara – two fairly flavourful ingredients – would need so much salt and pepper. The crustacean became lost, they could have thrown in any protein, a neutral chicken would have worked better. And for a high price point, the pasta had a lot of cherry tomatoes and probably a claw-worth of lobster. I’d pass on the pasta.

The Stock steak frites ($26) was decent – the beef was a little chewy, but that’s also expected from a lean sirloin that’s cooked perfectly to medium rare. If I were Stock T.C, I’d leave the steak uncut. Sure, the presentation will not look as nice, but it will help the protein retain it’s heat more as a common complaint is the steak arrives cold and dry. I wouldn’t say it was dry, but the temperature was a problem.

Perhaps the best dish of the night was the funghi e burrata ($26) pizza, but even this wasn’t something I’d rave about. I enjoyed the ingenuity of pairing burrata with mushrooms (typically it arrives with basil or prosciutto), as the earthy fungi gives an interesting twist with the creamy cheese. Yet, since I had this last, the pizza had two things going against it: 1) it tasted bland… after the salty pasta anything would seem tasteless; and 2) the crust, while nice and thin, had become hard from the cold.

If people are sharing dishes amongst a table, the restaurant should recommend having the pizza come between the appetizers and the main, or even act as the starter if the table isn’t getting anything. That would help ensure people are eating the pie at its peak.

The pizza would have made for a nice interlude between the prosciutto con gnocco fritto ($17) and the steak and pasta. Even the fritto, fried pieces of puffed dough, had cooled by the time they reached the table. Nonetheless, they had a lovely aroma, and the prosciutto was shaved thin enough that even the heat of your hand starts to warm the fat enough to stick to the pastry. Since it was my first bite of freshly prepared food since 2020, that fritto was freaking fabulous.

Eating outside always presents the chefs with challenges and deteriorates the taste of a dish. And with restaurants trying to recoup lost revenue, survive with limited occupancy, and deal with rising ingredient costs, menu prices will be higher than the historical norms. In the end, expect to pay more for dishes that aren’t at their best.

During a cold evening, my husband and I love dining at Piazzetta Trattoria. The heat from their wood-burning pizza oven is like a welcoming hug as you enter the door, as the smells of bread, melting cheese, and marinara mingles in the air. It’s such a comforting environment … the staff’s friendly greeting and you’re seated with a basket of warm bread in front of you in no time.

Piazzetta’s pizza boxes are emblazoned with a picture of that front door, but as I lift the cover, I’m waiting for the blast of intoxicating heat like entering the front door, sadly it isn’t there. It’s an experience that’s difficult to replicate with delivery.

We are delighted by the containers of jalapeno and habanero hot sauces that arrive with the pizzas. These tarte and slightly spicy sauces, the consistency of chutney, is the reason we order pizza from Piazzetta. So much so, that we even added jar of the jalapeno sauce ($8.99) for home use – these are great on tacos/quesadillas as well.  

The pizza’s crust seems even thinner than what you’d find dining in, to the point it becomes too crispy, losing that slight chewiness, and morphs into a flatbread. Yet, they still load on the toppings: the pizza Bolognese ($19) covered with plenty of ground beef and mozzarella, both not overly salty so that it doesn’t overwhelm the thin crust.

An interesting dilemma arises with whether there’s enough tomato sauce on a pizza that’s considered Bolognese. I felt there wasn’t enough, the pizza tasting more like a burger than a lovely ragu. Yet, I appreciated that the crust wasn’t soggy… perhaps a few dollops of sauce over the beef, after the pizza is cooked, could create something that’s the best of both worlds?

The cheese that was strongest in the quattro formaggi ($19) was the gorgonzola, although you could tell there was plenty of mozzarella and fior di latte included as well, given the cheese formed a layer that was equally as thick as the crust. Consider pre-heating the oven when the delivery is on its way, as this pizza really benefits from a quick broil to melt the cheese and toast the parmigiano so you’ll get a lovely cheesy aroma.

The burrata ($18 for one person) is always a great add-on. Despite the menu noting the smaller serving is for one, the tennis ball sized sphere of cheese easily feeds two as an appetizer and arrives simply on thick tomato slices topped with plenty of basil and olive oil.

Really any of their appetizers can easily satisfy 2-3 people or work as a main for one person. The fritto misto ($18 for one person) is an array of deep-fried calamari rings, chunks of white fish, headless sardines, and shrimp. Being lightly coated in flour the starter isn’t overly heavy, but given the coating is light it could use a sprinkling of salt after being fried to allow it to be eaten solo without the marinara dipping sauce.  

While Piazzetta’s insalata di Cesare ($12) looks like it’s hardly dressed, you can certainly taste the savoury Caesar dressing that has a nice balance of acidity. Incidentally, that freshness was a perfect complement for the fritto misto, toning down the fried affair.

Two popular mains that I see ordered all the time at Piazzetta is their lasagna al forno ($20) and the pollo alla limone ($25). At the restaurant, the lasagna is baked in the pizza oven and brought bubbling to the table in the cooking dish. Of course, this isn’t possible with delivery and could be why the dish tastes less creamy as the tomato sauce doesn’t continue to cook down and combine with the cheese. It doesn’t mean the lasagna’s not delicious – the pasta is nice and silky; the tomato sauce laced with fine ground beef is uber fresh and the dish incorporates enough cheese to satisfy – it just doesn’t seem as decadent.

I was a little worried the lemon chicken (or pollo alla limone) would be too citrusy, but my fears were abated. The combination of white wine, olive oil, and lemon was well composed, and the chicken breast incorporated a bit of flour to allow the runny sauce to stick on without saturating the meat. After the heavier starters, this gentler main with sauteed vegetables and creamy roasted potatoes was the perfect progression.

Having had dinner delivered on two occasions, the heartier mains like pasta and chicken definitely travelled better than the thinner pizzas. The tin foil containers really help retain the heat and are also great for storing leftovers and reheating in the oven. And trust me, with Piazzetta’s portions you’ll have something available the next day, the perfect excuse to not cook again, because I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of cooking. 

During the pandemic, pizza has been a permanent addition to our COVID bubble. We frequently order from Maker Pizza and when their delivery times are too long, moved onto chains like Dominos and Pizza Nova. As much as I love Maker Pizza, being a flexitarian meant I had limited options from their abbreviated COVID menu - there’s only so much Margarita or So Mushroom I can enjoy. As luck would have it, we discovered Moto Via while walking around the neighbourhood and they were soon added to the bubble.

Moto Via offers a dizzying number of items, but if you’re looking for something to have right away, order carefully as anything that’s not pizza or part of their “snack table” arrives frozen. Even the Nutella tiramisu ($8.99) arrived as a block of ice and required some thawing before having as a late-night dessert. The creamy part of the tiramisu was nice, a great thick combination of Nutella and mascarpone. But it was a shame the espresso element was missing from the lady fingers, so the sweet ends up more like mousse cake than tiramisu.

Even the Parmigiano nodini ($0.50 each) need a bit of prep. While they are a cheap add-on, they also arrive hard by the evening meal. So, they needed a quick nuke in the microwave to soften enough to enjoy.

What Moto Via does well is their pizza. The calabrese ($20) is a great combination of mild soppressata topped with roasted red peppers and green olives, all bound together with Crotonese cheese. While the olives can sometimes overpower other ingredients on a pizza, these were fresh Calabrese green olives so despite being scattered in large chunks, they weren’t overly salty. Just carefully pick up the first slice - when it first arrives, the hot melted cheese tends to slide off with all the other ingredients.

The deliveries are quick, the pizzas arrived nice and hot., which allowed to the edges of the crust to remain blistered and chewy. Although, the middle does get a little soft with the tomato-based pies. A slightly soggy centre is a trade-off I don’t mind as their San Marzano tomato sauce is deliciously fresh and not too acidic.

It also gives the pizza flavour as I found the Zucca ($18), a white pizza, a tad bland. There isn’t a lot of oil on the crust, which means it’s probably healthier, but with white pizza you need that drizzle of oil and salt on top to make the pie pop. The dish has good bones: lovely fresh mozzarella, ribbons of zucchini, and thinly sliced rosemary potatoes that all blend together nicely. With a bit more oil and seasoning, the Zucca would be amazing.

When in doubt, you can always make your own pizza, there’s tons of toppings to choose from. Moto Via also allows you to customize the crust type between a thin wood burning, Southern style (a thicker crust cooked on a pizza stone), or having it folded into a calzone. One thing’s for sure, the pizza consumption in this household is going to continue throughout the winter, now that we’re blessed with choices abound.  

• Anything under 5 - I really disliked and will never go back
• 6 - decent restaurant but I likely won't return
• 7 - decent restaurant and I will likely return
• 8 - great restaurant that I'd be happy to recommend
• 9 - fantastic restaurant that I would love to visit regularly and highly recommend
• 10 - absolute perfection!

• Fabbrica
• Pizzeria Libretto