When starting this blog I had the greatest intentions of doing all sorts of restaurant reviews but that never really panned out. Mostly because I haven’t been eating anywhere THAT thrilling and also because when I do go out I tend to visit the same spots over and over again.
But not tonight! Tonight I checked out the new pizza place in town, Pizzeria Libretto. What sets PL apart from other pizza joints is that it’s the only place in Toronto that makes “real” Neapolitan pizza meaning that it uses the guidelines set by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association and as set by the Italian Government and European Union. They also use San Marzano tomatoes exclusively and get their Fiore di Latte Mozzarella brought in daily. AND they had their pizza oven imported from Naples. This is some pretty serious stuff.
We arrived on a Saturday at around 5:10pm (opens at 5pm) and the place was about half full. About 15 minutes later a line started forming. By the time we left, just after 6pm there was a solid 15 people in line. I couldn’t even imagine showing up for dinner at 8pm!
My party of three shared three pizzas: Quattro Stagione, Home-made Sausage and the Wild Mushroom. All were delicious! The Quattro Stagione was my favourite as it feature cacciatore sausage, mushrooms, green olives and artichokes. I’ve never been a huge fan of green olives but these olives were INCREDIBLE. I want to call them and find out more about these mystery delicious olives. The artichokes were also great. They were marinated and very flavourful which was a great surprise as I expected them to just be plain. The sausage on the home-made sausage pizza was totally flavourful and wonderful as well. The wild mushroom was good too but it wasn’t the symphony of wild mushroomy flavour that I was expecting.
The atmosphere was really laid-back and accommodating for a new “hot spot”. Kid friendly, lingering service and every single employee in the restaurant seemed REALLY friendly. The decor is very clean, light and comfy. I loved the granite bar.
I will definitely be checking this place out again as I didn’t get to try any of the delicious sounding appetizers on the menu.
Check out their website: Pizzeria Libretto
221 Ossington Avenue
Toronto, ON
Also see what’s been written about them:
Chowhound
The Toronto Star
The Globe & Mail
The National Post
Taste T.O.
