Salt Pizzeria — Restaurant in Area G (Mid-Oceanside)

Here for a short stay while on holidays and it was our kids turn to pick what to have for supper. So pizza it was. A quick google search popped up this place nice and close to where we were staying.

Pulling up they have a large picnic table with umbrella outside, unfortunately this is all the outdoor seating that they had and was occupied when we first arrived. Popping inside we were quickly greeted and asked if we had ordered already and if we were eating in or taking out. A quick glance around and we understood the they primarily do take out and people were frequently in and out to grab their orders. A few spots are available inside but won’t easily accommodate groups larger than 4.

We ordered a margarita, Hawaiian, and Della Carne. They have a nice selection of lemonades and drinks, and a small selection of alcoholic beverages.

The pizza is really, really good. I have nothing to say that I would want to improve. It comes out hot, so you probably need a couple minutes to let it cool off or you will get a mouth full of napalm. I love it when it arrives right out of the fire. The middle tends to be a little flimsy as Neapolitan tends to be. The crust- crispy with a tender middle and bubbly crumb. Not a single pizza bone was left on a plate. The staff checked in periodically and our daughter thought she would get a box to take the last couple pieces home. After getting the box she continued to finish the pizza, she just couldn’t stop eating it. It’s that good. I also got a 1/2 pint of cherry cheesecake gelato. It was phenomenal. A great way to finish that meal.

This is my favorite style of pizza - Neapolitan so if it is not yours adjust accordingly. They hit all the right notes with this pizza.

The atmosphere gets a lower mark due to the limited space for dine in. But if you’re here for the food and the service you will...

The pizza here is AMAZING. Service was seriously lacking though (our order seemed to be lost, watched many people walk out angry that pizza was sold out (at 6:30 pm with a 8:00 pm close time), but my favourite was when we asked for napkins when pizza was delivered - "you can wait a few minutes and then come in and ask for them" 🤣). It would have been easy to be annoyed with staff but not their fault. But it is management's (fault).

UPDATE/EDIT: Appreciate Salt taking the time to respond. It does actually make my point for me though. I didn't blame staff, I blamed management's choice of putting someone at the front desk alone which obviously and by their own admission was first day first job (without shadowing, working in the back first, cleaning up and interacting with customers - ie. first job kinds of duties in more mature businesses). Likewise, defending closing early routinely (noted by other reviews here), so as not to compromise quality in any way. It's all good, but then just recognize for 5* product, will occasionally lead to 1* service. It's not the customer's job to understand why service was poor and adjust accordingly. FWIW, some small changes could be made to minimize that - e.g. put a "closed" sign out when you run out of pizza, change the "close time" to read "when pizzas run out" which will help manage customer's expectations about service. This is a really nice lovely and clearly family run/owned business with a great product, but arguing with people's experiences isn't a long term winning strategy imho. If you can accept the unspoken rules of engagement, you'll...

We love pizza as a family and we’ve had pizza from different places during our visits in Parksville over the last few weeks and Salt Pizzeria is hands down on top of our list.

Quality of the pizza is great. Ingredients are fresh, the crust is a great balance between the thin crust and the edges. The taste is amazing.

We had the Nduja, Formagio, Hawaiian, Della Carne & Diavolo.

We love the sweet and spicy flavour of Nduja. Definitely a must have.

Formagio was a hit with the ricota chunks. My daughter said their cheese is much better than a normal cheese pizza.

The Hawaiian was full lots of pineapple and ham. Absolutely delicious.

Della Carne was definitely meat lovers. It was loaded with meat. They didn’t cheap out on this.

Diavolo is meat lovers with the added heat. We asked for extra honey topping that made it perfect.

Service is amazing. You can feel how much they take pizza here seriously. The staff is exceptional.

They brought us a to go box for the last few pieces we couldn’t finish since we ordered a third large pizza - before we even asked for a box!

The atmosphere was nice too. Place is clean. Comfortable.

Will go back for sure. And...