Pizzeria Libretto - Awesome pizza!!!

[setofdueces]

Just tried this pizza joint on Ossington and Dundas with a friend from work

http://ossington.pizzerialibretto.com...

and ordered the home made sausage pizza.

OMG was it good.. probably the best pizza I have ever eaten. Fresh and flavorful and worth every single penny!!.

I bought the beet caprese salad as a starter but i didn't really like it.. very ordinary.. but the pizza blew me away.

The gellato was pretty good too for desert.

salad 5/10
pizza 10/10
dessert 7/10 - nothing special

overall

I'd return just for the pizza!!

repeat? HELL YES!!

[elvisahmed]

I got to try Libretto on Saturday here is my take:
Right as I walked in I was taken aback by the noise level in this place. To be fair it was Saturday evening so most places are bound to be packed.
After putting out name down we were told that there would be a 30 minute wait and our phone number was taken down in case we wanted to walk around. Kudos for that as we wanted to explore the area.
Almost 30 min later we got a call that our table is ready. The table was towards the kitchen and I thought the noise level would be less but alas it was reaching ear splitting level there.
After going through the menu we settled on the Margherita and grilled egg plant and thought we would decide on the dessert later depending on how the main's go. I ordered a pint of steam whistle form the very few offerings they have for beer.
The service was quite good and we were checked on consistently. The Pizzas arrive in about 15 min and looked very nice.
Margherita was top notch. Nice thin crust, strong aroma of basil and right amount of sauce. One of the better Margherita I have had in TO.
Grilled egg plant didn't fare well. The crust was soggy and the sauce was watery. Perhaps it needed 100 second to finish rather than the usual 90 ;) Chilli flakes left a more black pepper like finish which is puzzling.
On to dessert we ordered a Lemon Panna Cotta and Chocolate Affogato. I didn't try the Panna Cotta but did enjoy my Affogato.
All said and done a decent 3.5 star.

[TeacherFoodie]

I had Libretto for my birthday a few weeks ago. It was good, but I am not in a hurry to go back. We went to the original location on the Danforth. Last week I tried Queen Margherita Pizza and cannot wait to return. I had the prosciutto and arugula pizza at both places.

At Libretto we did enjoy the calamari appetizer quite a lot!

[MissBingBing]

afaik The original PL location is Ossington.

[afong56]

qmp is good, libretto is good, but the original location of pizza e pazzi tops them both. inexplicably, they opened two shops on the same stretch of st. clair, and we prefer the older one that is not across from the stockyards.

[justsayn]

100% agree that PeP is tops between the three although QMP is such a close second for me so I would take either one without hesitation. QMP has the better crust and pep has a great crust and a better everything else. Libretto - I try and I try and I try but my taste buds just don't find the joy in that pizza.

[kwass]

I haven't tried QMP yet, but I've had the exact opposite experience with PeP and Libretto. I just love Libretto, but have had horrible experiences with PeP, so much so, that I've given up on PeP.

[justsayn]

service experiences or pizza experiences?

[kwass]

Pizza

[justsayn]

Who knows...could be a "to each their own" situation. I only get the very plain choices there because the crust, sauce and cheese are so excellent to me. So maybe it was the toppings that failed? I think Libretto probably excels at toppings more than PeP does, based on what I have read here.

[kwass]

Actually, like you I only get the plain pizza as well (Margherita). It just wasn't cooked well @ PeP. Raw in the centre 2x, and really really burnt crust the other time. It's weird, because everyone I know who's been there, loves it. Maybe I've just been unlucky :(

[justsayn]

Well PeP generally isn't a CH favourite so we know something is going on somehow... ; )

[prima]

I think it's a "to each their own" situation. I like PLD the best, and have dined there the most frequently as a result. I've dined at the QMP a couple times, and didn't like their sauce or the texture of their crust as much as PLD's. I've dined at PL Ossington a couple times, and both times the pizzas have had more char than I like.
I haven't tried PeP, but some Italian friends who live near the St Clair W location were underwhelmed by the pizza and I think I remember there was a service issue. I'll probably still give it a try, one of these days.

[pakmode]

If we're going to get into who makes the best margherita in the city, I hate to say it, and do so with clenched teeth: but Fabbrica makes the best, most authentic I've had outside of Napoli. I've found Fabbrica's sauce to be better then the others.

I went during Winterlicious when it was a prix fixe lunch, normally it's $16/pizza, which is atrocious. In Napoli it would cost you 4 euros tops.

[afong56]

ironically, when i was in napoli, i never ate margherita pizzas. i typically went for fruiti di mari for the vpn style, or else bought the roman (lazio) style by the gram. have not tried fabbrica yet, but will put it on the list. . .cheers

[pakmode]

Oh man really? That sucks. It's literally the birthplace of pizza. Da Michele was legendary. Di Matteo and a couple other places I tried were also good. Ah well- you can try them next time you go lol.

[Apprentice]

To each his own, I found QMP the closest to Napoli. I've tried Fabbrica and Libretto

[bubster24]

I totally agree!
The arugala salad is amazing too.

[millygirl]

Their quinoa salad is fantastic too!!

[peppermint pate]

I've yet to try anything at Libretto that isn't fantastic. Rocco's salad, the ricotta gnocchi, their hearty soup and, of course, their perfectly charred and chewy pizza (most especially the sausage with caramelized onion and chili oil)...all so, so good.

[mariecollins]

Finally got to try the Danforth location for lunch. Great room, great service, great meal. Pizza crust was nice and crispy. I much preferred it over QMP.

[Gary]

We'd never tried Libretto because it's far from us and the no-reservations policy sounded tiresome. But we were happy to finally try the pizza at their new location on the Danforth. They are open for lunch and have a great Pre Fixe deal: $15 for an app, a basic pizza (margarita or marinara), and a dessert. You can switch it to any other fancier pizza type for another $5. It was delicious pizza with a thin but chewy crust, in beautiful space, with friendly and efficient service. If you're looking for a lower stress way to try Libretto I recommend this method: they take reservations there, or you can just arrive a bit earlier or later and sit and at the bar, as we did.

[FresserGuy]

good to know about the Danforth location :)

I still haven't been able to try it: Tried yesterday, and when my wife and I arrived at about 930 pm, we were told it would be a 1.5 hr wait. So, we gave up and went to Foxley down the road, which I hadn't tried before, but really enjoyed.

I blame Chowhound for this!! The word spreads, so now I can't get in ;)

[ThoughtForFood]

Word spread beyond chow in 2008. The reason they are still busy is because they are a darn good restaurant.

[PrincessStress]

I wanted to go try this place. But ended up not because of the horrible service. We went around 5:30pm and wanted our names put down for a table. They told us 1 hour wait and that they'll call us when a table is ready. We thought ok, we're hardly in the area, and this place has great reviews, so we'll wait. My cousin however gets really grumpy when she's hungry wanted to eat fish and chips at the Lakeview just so she doesnt' get as grumpy, hubby and i shared a plate of fries there just to hold us over. An hour and a half later, still no call, so we walk back, they said it's really busy, another half hour. We figured, ok we waited for an hr and a half already, whats another half hour right? Half hour passed, still nothing, and at this point we were just waiting infront of the restaurant. Hubby goes in and asks.....another half hour....at this point i'm getting annoyed. But we wait some more. 45 minutes pass and this time i go in. They said another half hour. WTF! I get fed up and i just ask them, what if i want take out, how long would that take? They told me half an hour. Seems like their answer for everything is 'half an hour'. So i told them forget it and turned around and left. They come running after me and say, Oh, we now have a table for you. How convenient was that. So i asked them I'll still have to wait half an hour for a pizza right? They said yes. I told them forget it.

There's no pizza place out there that's worth me waiting over 3 hours for. And because of this i doubt i'll be going to pizza liberetto to try their pizzas ever!

[flying101]

I have never had to wait very long (maybe 10min max) for a table, then again I usually go at around 9pm, last time I went was a Thursday night at 9:30pm for a table for 6 and we had no wait.

You seem to have run into a terrible host (who clearly didn't have much experience at their position), while this is the restaurants fault and might have turned you off, the no reservation policy has been lifted at their new location, so if you want to try out their food you might want to make the trip to the Danforth.

[jamesm]

I've never waited very long at all either. No complaints about the service either.

[ThoughtForFood]

That's unfortunate. I have been going for years, never had bad service and longest I waited is 30 minutes. Even though I don't blame you if you don't, you should give it another shot.

[setofdueces]

What i really can't figure out is that they say it takes 90seconds to cook the pizza? Then why would it take 30minutes for them to make it..

[ThoughtForFood]

They can only cook and have prepped so many pizzas at one time. Its a very small oven. Its often hard for them to bring everyone's pizza to the table at the exact same moment.

[haggisdragon]

Really? You can't figure that out. How much time do think it might take to make 100 pizzas. What if those 100 pizzas all get ordered within 15 minutes? Hmmmm....

[haggisdragon]

That sounds very stressfull PrincessStress. Why don't you try the location on the Danforth and make a reservation first? Its really quite good.

[justsayn]

My advice would be to make a reservation at Pizza e Pazzi as it is superior pizza, a little bit better value and you won't be treated that way. Or QMP - again superior pizza to Libretto.

[PrincessStress]

Wow...seems like I'm the only one with bad luck here then! Both locations are quite a far drive for me, so unless I'm in area of either location, I won't make a special trip down for it like I last did. To keep my stomach pizza happy for now, I'll stick to Nonnas up in my area.

[justsayn]

Check this post for other recommendations - http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/1018...

[ylsf]

Wow, that is nuts. I thought they forgot about you totally or didn't realize you were on the list but that is pretty bad wait time. Did you happen to glance to see how many people were ahead of you?

[ThoughtForFood]

Well at least you got out from under that rock. hehe http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/552830

[flying101]

I'm not sure if they're trolling us... or they literally just woke up from a coma they have been in since 2009? ಠ_ಠ

[setofdueces]

The coma.. definitely the coma.. Why oh why did I not try this place before....

[foodyDudey]

Because you were going to Tommaso's Trattoria for your pizza fix?

[pakmode]

2009 called. It wants its thread back.