Artista Pizzeria — Restaurant in Pitt Meadows

The owner is very welcoming, from my time there it looks like he takes the time to memorize his customers names and how they are. He takes a lot of time to learn about customers and is very personal, but not in an offending way. I catch him small talking customers a lot which actually made me avoid the business as he looked busy.. He probably isn't, so don't worry about going in. This is probably a side effect of the hospitality I mentioned earlier.

The pizza is solid and delicious, there is cheese drag and string to it which is the mark of a craftsman. I went with cheese and Hawaiian to gauge how it stacks up against other pizza places and I would say it's Michelin star worthy. The pizza also has a nice depth to it, not too thin where you're left hungry but not too thick where it becomes overly filling. Great ingredients to dough ratio.

The sauce is well constructed too, the hot sauce seemed to be a tomato sauce sriracha blend with peppers, but ask for the Caesar sauce, it's actually super delicious (almost a shrimp like taste) and will probably be one of the best Caesar sauces you'll have tasted. Would have loved to see how the owner can make his own blend of cheddar habanero dip or cheese dip, as they don't carry any of the Hainez dips.

Where we come short is, the establishment is small and looks like it used to be a sushi bar, there's only room for 2 groups, the owner has paper all over the bar counter so you can't eat there. He's always in small talk so it's hard to tell if they are open to take your order. Missing staple dips and cash only (but I was under the impression this is temporary as he said his machine is down and seems to been down for at...

We have been looking for many years for a really good pizza place that has all the wow factors needed in order to succeed at this...unfortunately without success...unless we made it ourselves at home...and even then to be honest this pie is so much better than mine...The Wood Fired Pizza Oven is just the beginning of a very wonderful experience and it only gets better from here...you then move on to a perfectly rolled out dough that is beyond yummy and such a great balance of crispy and gooey...then the wonderful flavor of tomato sauce which tastes like it was just made by your Nonna and smells and tastes like heaven...ohhh and then the cheese and toppings which are beyond fantastic and fresher than fresh...This is where you know that your food was made by people that truly know what pizza is supposed to taste and look like and they make you feel like family when you walk through the door such wonderfully nice people.

BUT WAIT if you get the chance DO NOT refuse the Nutella Cookie...Oh My this was the best and tastiest cookie I have ever had...it was the perfect mix of light crispy chocolaty goodness and it was so very yummy...but watch out as you will have to cut down on your pieces of pie as the cookie is huge.

Gratsie Nick and we will see you next week...or...

So much promise. So little execution. First off, let me say that the service is very friendly and warm, which is great. The host and owner is attentive and chatty. But, for wood-fired pizza, the execution was way off. Let's discuss the technical elements of this style of pizza-chewy crust, San Marzano tomato sauce, airy dough so that when it hits the heat it becomes airy pockets of slightly caramelized deliciousness. But, to get this, your oven has to be HOT. And I mean 875° hot. With the oven at this temp, your Zza cooks in about a minute and a half. These guys do not have their oven even close to temp. So, your pizza will cook in about 15-20 minutes once it is in the oven. Unfortunately, that means there is a huge backlog. When we went there were three people in front of us. This led to them saying it'll take an hour. Fine, we thought. Well, we turn up an hour later to have to wait another 30 minutes. Not so great as we had movie tickets for 7:10pm, by the time we got the pizza it was 6:55pm. Rush back to the car, and wolf down a slice before heading in to the show.

So much promise, but they really need to learn how to use the amazing oven...