Best of Toronto
The Best Pizza Slice in Toronto
The best pizza slice in Toronto is proof that, along with a good coffee shop, no neighbourhood is complete without a decent place to get a slice. Because after all, is there a more perfect food? A fully loaded slice contains starch, dairy, protein and veggies; just add an apple and you've got your whole food pyramid in a meal you can eat while walking.
This list blankets the town, with the downtown thick with slices, a single chain that's on its way to blanketing the city, and a single slice in the far north of Richmond Hill. You'll find the classics everywhere - cheese, pepperoni and veggie - alongside a lot of specialties, some gourmet highlights, and at least one exotic newcomer that could change the way we look at pizza.
Here are the best pizza slices in Toronto.
See also:
The best pizza in Toronto
The best pizza delivery in Toronto
The best calzone in Toronto
The best Italian restaurants in Toronto
North of Brooklyn
Opened by veterans of Pizzeria Libretto, this eatery just north of Queen on Palmerston builds everything on its superb, crispy crust, with fresh toppings and an instinct that sometimes - just sometimes - you want something more than a greasy slice you can fold. There's a margherita and a pepperoni slice, but they're brave enough to make white pizza - ricotta and greens, so refreshing - one of their regular selections. More »
Vinny Massimo's
It's weathered management squabbles and a location change, but after relocating from College to West Queen West (then back to College,) it added a first name and resumed serving the big, loaded slices that made its reputation. Some people survived as undergraduates on their big slices covered in well-balanced toppings; for some of them, Massimo's margherita pizza might just be the perfect slice. More »
Bitondo
Just off College St., they don't deliver and serve those veal sandwiches that people need before they make their way home after last call. Their slices, in the traditional flavours, are as old school as you want - hefty and cheesy and not even remotely gourmet, but rich with the memories of how slices tasted when they were the best thing you could spend with what was left of the money you'd spent on records or clothes. More »
King Slice
King Slice is another old-school pizzeria, just by Dundas West station and famous for a big slice covered in toppings and enough hot melted cheese and garlicky sauce to make you worry about your clothes and the roof of your mouth. The street outside isn't exactly bustling, so make sure you time your visit if you want your slice fresh. More »
Pizzaiolo
The only chain on our list, Pizzaiolo has succeeded where so many others have failed to make gourmet, thin-crust pizzas available almost anywhere. The ingredients are high quality and the crusts come in every thickness, and while many places on the list stick to tried-and-true Italian flavours, Pizzaiolo is where you go when you have a taste for Thai Pie. More »
Pizza Gigi
Thanks to its well-publicized legal troubles, Pizza Gigi is the place you can't mention without the obligatory joke about "the munchies." For U of T students, this is the taste of late night essay-writing and impromptu house parties after someone gets a cheque from home. Chewy and cheesy and greasy in the right way - not gourmet, but you knew that, didn't you? More »
Big Slice (Yonge St.)
It always looks like a Stanley Cup party has just left the premises, but this Yonge Strip stalwart serves a good, hearty slice despite the untidy surroundings. It's a no-nonsense, cheese-heavy slice free of gourmet pretentions that you're encouraged to cover in hot sauce, pepper sprinkles and canned parmesan and eat while you argue with a friend. More »
Abruzzo Pizza
Way up in Richmond Hill, this pizza factory - the size of the operation extends way beyond the two storefronts it occupies in a mini strip mall - serves a very good, very traditional slice in the usual three varieties to a clientele that mostly travels on wheels. You can also get a good espresso, but they're expanding the little sit-down eatery into the space next door, so Abruzzo's could end up being more than just the place for delivery pizza past the city borders. More »
Falasca SPQR
If you've read your Pliny and your Livy, the name of this place might tip you off that it's Roman pizza - pre-baked and -sliced and sold by the ounce, and featuring interesting toppings like zucchini and chilies and a whole lot of cheeses that aren't mozzarella. It somehow seems wrong to hit this Yonge and Eglinton pizzeria for a quick slice on the go, as what they're cooking demands a moment to savour. More »
Big Slice (St. Clair)
Run by the family who opened the original Big Slice on Yonge (but sold it almost twenty years ago,) it's the closest Toronto gets to a New York style Famous Ray's battle of the slices. There's a steam table for lunch and dinner but the slices are front and centre, with the three trad choices joined by a daily special, all built around chewy crust and cheese on a slice as big as your face. More »
Il Paesano
Out at the edge of an old strip mall in Etobicoke, Il Paesano's been in business since 1959 and has a customer loyalty you can only buy in decades. Which is amazing for a place that doesn't go heavy on the cheese, as many folks judge a slice on its ability to turn a shirt translucent. More »
Albany Pizza
Tucked into the shoulder of a No Frills at Dundas and Lansdowne, Albany boasts a friendly, colourful owner and a thin, crispy crust that fancier places strive to produce. Toppings are good but space to chow down is limited, so you'll probably end up eating this on your feet or in your car, and likely as a way to prevent yourself from shopping for groceries on an empty stomach. More »
Pizza Pide
Turkish pizza, or lahmacun, is probably the best thing to happen to pizza here since Neapolitan thin crust, and Pizza Pide, an unassuming corner storefront near Gerrard Square, is probably the best place to get it. They have regular slices, but you really want to try something like the combos, which combine ingredients like ground and roast beef, feta, spinach, sausage and smoked chicken on a remarkably light, folded crust. More »
Vesuvio Pizzeria
Once upon a time this was the only game in town, if your town was the Junction, a pizzeria that weathered the liquor license-free dry years in the area until it could expand into its unused annex when the neighbourhood went wet. For many west enders, pizza isn't pizza without Vesuvio's signature crust - thick but somehow airy, with a no smothering if melted cheese can defeat. More »
Arte Gelato
This new Bloor Street gelateria doesn't just serve slices as a way to get through the winter. It's a solid, New York-style slice, available in the three classic flavours, in a place where you can get a seat and enjoy the view through walls of glass. More »
Discussion
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All of the ones on this Toronto list look like they have managed to make the pizza fresh and tasty and loaded with toppings while still maintaining some kind of strength to the crust. Toronto should aim for its own blend of the New York and Chicago schools with some strong original Italian input - would you agree that's what these selections represent?
Also, Vesuvio's is WAYYYY to salty.
does not sell by the slice
Also, I think that people should be listening to iSkyscraper's sage advice about not wanting Toronto pizza to be like New York pizza (he does live there, after all and would know of what he speaks.
I can't tell you how many times I've walked into a T.O. pizza shop that didn't have a plain slice. Plain! It's like walking in to Tim Hortons and them not having chocolate glazed (granted, that's also happened). You're right - in New York they do like their plain pizza, which is fine by me. At least you can get them.
One last off-kilter pizza comment -- in New York, the price of a single-ride subway fare usually tracks closely to the price of a cheese slice (currently $2.25, going up to $2.50). What is the Toronto pizza slice-TTC index?
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/love-at-first-bite-toronto
Get the basics right
Crust & Sauce
Then make a great cheese pizza, a great pepperoni, a great veggie, a great deluxe. Get those down and your golden. Once you get the basic pizza's down, they you can get into the gourmet pizza's if you wish BUT too many places go straight for the gourmet, then after time to reduce cost they get cheaper ingerdients and it isn't the same, gourmet slice with low quality meat and vegtables...
I'm sure people are open to try them if they delivered to the Toronto core, which I doubt any of them do.
http://www.blogto.com/restaurants/gelato-pizza-toronto