Pizzeria La Stella — Restaurant in Nanaimo

When I arrived to pick up my online order there was an issue with the online app and my order didn't go through. 20min delay , not a big deal. I was seated at the bar and ordered the appie I call risotto balls. They are my fav but not something I'd order to go. ( that isn't the correct name of the menu item but whatever) I hadn't sat at the bar before, or visited La Stella solo.

Sitting at the bar was a whole new experience and I highly recommend it. It was like being immersed in a live cooking show. Plus, the wood fire oven is mesmerizing and gives off whatever the turkey drug is without having to eat turkey. The servers were apologetic about the wait and super accommodating. The show stopper of the evening was pizza chef Tyrel ( I hope Im spelling that right ).

Ordered the squash and bacon pizza , with that famous house made La Stella bacon. Requested crisp bacon , which I learned can be tricky in a wood fire pizza oven. From the moment my order went in, Tyrel was on it. He explained every step of the bacon crisping process as it was happening. Not necessary, but appreciated and , like the risotto balls I ate it up.

First he put the bacon into the oven to crisp on it's own , at the end the pizza was put in a cooler and area of the oven to allow for a slow and low cooking to help with the final crisp up.

The icing on the cake was the beautiful heap of grated ( what I believe was ) parm on to of this masterpiece.

The extra steps on a busy Saturday night were impressive, but getting home to a pizza made with so much attention moved me to leave a review. Besides that , I want to give Tyrel feedback that his bacon crisping techniques worked!!

Thanks Tyrel for going above and beyond. You are incredibly...

If you haven't tried them, give them a call or stop in asap! 5 star food!

I had the 12 inch Funghi Pizza with prosciutto added and with arugula (packaged seperately) and Calabrian chili dip (very spicy which was great). I also ordered the warmed spiced olives and the beet salad (arugula also packaged to the side to prevent wilting). The quality and quality of food is excellent. Flavors and ingredients are fresh and cooked perfectly! We are so lucky to have this spot in North Nanaimo.

I ordered takeout and the presentation and packaging were great. Customer service was friendly. Seating area is limited if you're eating in (hence the 4 stars but not their fault given the space). Spotlessly clean. It is tucked away in the plaza so might be hard to spot initially.

Friendly reminder that if you are ordering takeout for pick up, to support them by placing a phone call to order directly, rather than using the usual takeout apps but I'm grateful they are on the delivery apps if you don't want to drive (I am saying this because I know those apps charge crazy fees to the buisness for pickup when a person...

Some of the best pizza crust i’ve ever eaten. For a pizza place trying to be authentic Italian the margarita is bad. It has way to much cheese and tastes dry because there’s not enough sauce.

It’s a shame the owner folded to the customers complaining that their pizza wasn’t greasy enough. Kind’ve like covid we’re all suffering because of the stupidity of a small vocal minority.

The perfect margarita is like the Italian flag, 1/3 white cheese, 1/3 red sauce and 1/3 green basil. This pizza is 85% cheese and 15% basil, resulting in a pizza lacking the acidity to balances the cheese.

I’ve also had consistency issues, one of my margarita pizzas was closer to margarita soup. Another time I had 4-5 inches of crust on a...