Review time! If you missed it, I’ve already reviewed what type of apple you should be buying. I’m a bit of an apple expert to say the least. I have a wide range, though, in the world of food. Today, I’m moving on to pizza!
Specifically, I’m looking into the best pizza places in Ottawa. What makes me the right man for the review? Well, I live in Ottawa. I’m also a pizza guy, through and through. It’s my all-time favourite food, even over apples. I’ll also say this- Ottawa has fantastic pizza. It doesn’t get the publicity of other cities, but I’ve had a few New York slices in my day, and Ottawa holds up just fine, thank you very much. Anyway, let’s get into it, starting with the fifth best pizza in Canada’ capital city.
5. Farinella
This pizza uniquely comes in metre long boxes. I appreciate stuff like that. It’s thin, square shaped pizza that hits every time. The ends have a nice crunch. Their dipping sauce, a basil garlic dip, is delicious. I’ve tried four or five types and they’ve all been great. My personal favourite? Frank Pinello: it has caramelized onions and a whole bunch of ricotta. One strike against it? Maybe this is just a me thing, but the name just doesn’t stick in my brain. I usually just call it the pizza place with the long boxes. Another plus, they have a pizza card. Buy enough and you’ll get a metre for free!
4. Giulia Pizza
This might be number one as far as a date night spot. In fact, I’ve never tried it as takeout. The vibe of this place is just what you’d want from a pizza place. It feels Italian, speaking as someone who’s never been to Italy of course. I have two favourites from here: Sweet Tony (key ingredients: hot honey & soppressata) and Benjamin Button (mushroom based, of course). They have a nice gar-par dipping sauce. This one might be number five for me, but my wife has it as her number one. How nice am I to move it up a slot, because I enjoy her happiness so much?
3. Heartbreakers
This is visually, the most beautiful pizza in Ottawa. Every time I open the box I gasp. There have definitely been a few times where I’ve had Heartbreakers and thought, “this is now the number one pizza place in Ottawa.” I used to have a problem with them because they seemingly didn’t have enough stock. You’d phone them and they’d say they’re all out for the night. That’s no longer a problem. Side note- I quite enjoy their wings, a nice mix of spicy and sweet. As for the pizza, you can’t make a wrong choice. My personal favourite is the fennel and sausage. Their garlic dip is good, although not the most memorable.
2. Stay Gold
Stylistically, this is the most different pizza on this list. The other pizzas are thin, while this is Detroit style. Essentially, it’s thick, but not sloppy. In fact, it’s somewhat fluffy. Although after two pieces you’ll be full. It has also been moved to number one in my rankings at times. My wife buys me a birthday dinner every year, and this has been my choice over the last few years. The crust is what keeps me coming back. It’s perfectly crisp, with hard melted cheese in every bite. My favourite is a weird one, but don’t knock it till you try it: Up in Smoke: bbq base, smoked brisket, house pickles, pickled red onion, fresh jalapeños, mozzarella, smoked aioli drizzle. To find a negative, the dipping sauce, while good, comes in a small container, and it’s hard to dip these massive slices. I understand why some people wouldn’t have this as high, but I’ll pound the table for it.
1. Art-Is-In
Let’s start with the bad- At the start of Covid, my wife and I ordered this pizza for our anniversary. We did so online. We even received an estimate for when it would be delivered. Right when that time arrived, we came to find out that they had just canceled our order. I guess what happened was they had closed because of Covid, but never shut down their system. Then someone went into their system that night and cancelled the orders. We settled for Milanos, in sadness. When we messaged them about this, they never responded. A sorry would’ve been nice.
Of course, their pizza was too good to resist. We returned to them post-Covid, hoping they’d be as good as we remember. On The Office, Andy once said, “I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days, before you’ve actually left them.” While eating that pizza, I was so acutely aware that I was indeed in the good old days. I smiled the whole time. So what if they ruined our anniversary? This pizza was incredible!
If you take any suggestion from this list, make it this one: add the crispy kale to your pizza. You can thank me later.
There’s something about the sour dough crust that keeps it at the top of my list, even as Heartbreakers and Stay Gold fight for that top spot. I will say, it didn’t hold up as well when I did takeout. Maybe ensure that you eat in the restaurant, when that crispy kale is nice and fresh and has you transported to heaven on earth. I suppose I’d recommend the Sincerely Kevin (chorizo, caramelized onions, mushrooms), but feel free to try any of them. Just add the kale! They also have a few good dipping sauces worth your time.
Honourable mentions
So there you have it, the official top 5 pizza spots in Ottawa. As for pizza places that just missed the cut, here are two:
- Pizza Nerds
- School House
Let me try those a few more times to see if they can knock Farinella out of the top 5.
Before I go, let me just say that there is absolutely a time and a place for cheaper takeout. Toppers has an unreal dipping sauce, and their jalapeno cheezy sticks are phenomenal. Speaking of great dipping sauces, Pizza Pizza might have the best one in the game. Too bad their pizza stinks. For the record, I do like Milano’s, it’s just tough when you’re expecting Art-Is-In. I’m also a Gabriel’s fan. I order it when my wife is away (not a Gabe’s fan). My go-to is The Dip (artichokes, garlic, spinach, onion).Their dipping sauce kind of sucks, though. Lastly, I grew up on my mom’s pizza. If she had turned it into a restaurant, she’d blow all these joints out of the water.
