Shorty's Pizza — Restaurant in Hamilton

I was really looking forward to trying this joint because I’ve heard the pizza is pretty good. Unfortunately my experiences was quite opposite! For one, this place is is a really sketchy part of town, which makes it really unappealing to go to. The decor is old looking, it’s really hot inside, and it just feels greasy in there. Now on to the customer service. When my husband and I walked in, we were basically ignored until I walked closer to the counter and asked if we order there or sit down and order, the one girl told me to just hold on a minute. This was fine - then I waited until another girl who was trying to take an order on the phone and couldn’t get it right, was down. Once the computer was free, the 2nd girl tried to take our order. I say tried because it seemed like she couldn’t hear a word we were saying and I had to repeat myself every time I said anything.

We ordered Nodini (like little garlic knots) and a small sausage and rapini pizza. She asked a bunch of times what kind of pizza, how many Nodini, and if we were staying in or taking out - I told her multiple times...staying in, small pizza, 12 Nodini. Also ordered a bottle or water and my husband ordered a beer. We paid and sat down. After a few minutes the 2nd girl came over and asked again if we wanted our pizza in a box to take out or on a tray, again I said we were staying in. She went away, and the other girl came over and asked again to clarify if we were staying in - I said yes (for the 10th time!) After another 10 mins or so, while they were cutting our pizza they brought over our drinks and apologized (I guess because they should have brought them way sooner). Then the 2nd girl brought our pizza over. Then she brought over only 6 Nodini is a take out box. I looked back at the menu and then my bill and realized she only charged me for 6 Nodini but we ordered 12, I was fine with this because I just wanted to eat - but really they need to listen!

Our pizza was mediocre at best, the crust was so thin but it still wasn’t even cut thru all the way for slices. The rapini was just shoved on top and not even cut small so it was easy to bite. I asked for cutlery and they brought over a plastic fork and knife - ummmm how am I supposed to cut anything with plastic!? Useless. We looked over into the “kitchen” area and my husband noticed they just use cheap billy bee honey for the pizza topping - it would be nice to support local, no? The sauce was flavourless and watery, really quite boring. Crust was slightly burnt and too crispy, and random sesame seeds thrown on. They tasted fine I just don’t think it was necessary. The Nodini were not bad, but my husband thought they just tasted like Pillsbury croissant rolls with garlic and spices. LOL.

No one ever checked on us, asked how our food was, or really ever said another word to us after they brought our food to the table. Customer service is a huge flop for the place!

I wanted to like Shorty’s but unfortunately it didn’t add up at all for us. Bad service left a terrible taste in my mouth and so did...

Hate shortcomings? Come to Shorty's. This Cannon Street pizzeria is an unmistakable juggernaut on the Hamilton pizza scene.

Leading off, I found the personality of the storefront and design very endearing. The window has a red neon "Shorty's Pizza" sign that lusters like a ruby pendant around your crush's neck. The interior felt effortlessly cool; simple with verdant plants, warmed by a few photos on the wall, industrious brickwork and a checkered floor pattern. It felt like a friend's home, a clean business and a fun public hangout spot simultaniously. Bravo for that.

This pie has the best form of any pizza that I have EVER tried, thus far in my life. It is #1 on that front, hands down, case closed. This delicate, light, thin-crust pizza is amply scaled, with zero flop or sag and an immaculate crisp.The degree to which each slice upheld its structural integrity was monumental.

The crust was firm but not crunchy with laudable consistency. Shorty's crust and underside forego the luxury of a char, which would have propelled it to even greater heights.

The other aspects of the pie are readily able to be examined and considered carefully, much the way that items on an almighty alter are able to be clearly differentiated. Consequently, I found myself somewhat lost in the sauce. While flawlessly portioned and, to its credit, complex and multidimensional, it was not my favourite. I can't speak to recipe ratios but can say confidently that they confidently use garlic (or more likely garlic powder) in a co-starring role with the tomato base. The slightly overboard sweetness also seems derived from sugar itself and not from the natural sweetness imbued within certain tomato varieties. This is an "Americanized" or nuovo mondo sauce. As a result, the pie could have used slightly more basil to revitalize the pallet along the way.

Unsurprisingly, then, another noteworthy departure from convention are the sesame seeds or oil (depending on your order) that crest the pie. It was a deliciously welcomed and surprisingly unobtrusive accentuation on an otherwise classical thin crust pizza. The cheese was also proportional, light, savoury and pleasantly understated.

Overall, Shorty's is an instant Hamilton institution. I'm proud that this pizza is available in our city and surpassing it is no short order.

I give it an 8.4 on the world scale and a 9.5 on the Hamilton...

So. 2 friends and I went on a Hamilton Pizza Tour. Spots hit: Cowabunga, Shorty's, Flora, Mai Pai to finish er off. Shorty's was a dissapointment on the tour and I don't recommend including it in your pizza tour of Hamilton, which inevitabily your on if you're reading this review.. All the other spots - Bangin. But Shorty's felt like stomach space that I wish I didn't take up, because the pizza was surprisingly mid.

Crust: Hurt my jaw without being flavourful or interesting - just overly chewy. Sauce: Almost non-existent tbh, there was barely any sauce on the pizza, however the flavour in the isolated spots was quite good, maybe the most redeeming part of the pizza. Cheese/toppings: The cheese slice we got for our one veggie friend was terrible, honestly hard to consider pizza. The pep slices were good on first bite, but that's because of an excess of salt which blows up the taste-buds. Subsequent bites were mediocre, and the toppings were unevenly distributed - dissapointing. Dipping Sauces: The dill garlic dipping sauce was really good. The most redeeming part of the experience at Shorty's. Vibe: Vibe is good - feels like a classic pizza joint, sort of manhattan style. Feels like a good ol' fashion pizza joint.

Overall, if you just wanna try Shorty's - go ahead, and sit on the patio, it looked like it had a nice vibe. But if you're doing a pizza tour, I would just do the other three that were mentioned - Cowabunga, Flora, Mai Pai.

Peace, Love, and...