Blondies Pizza - Leslieville — Restaurant in Toronto

This is a solid 3.5 star place and I think it has the potential to be a 4 star spot for me.

A new local pizza joint that opened up a in a long empty little commercial plot on Dundas and Hastings. The shop is a tweeer, as in between Queen St and Gerrard St. It's a delicious sore thumb that sticks out in the Leslieville neighbourhood. They don't serve pizza by the slice here but I wish they did!

I received their grand opening promo ($5 off your order) in the mail and today was the perfect opportunity to give them a try. I didn't feel like cooking and they were within walking distance of me for lunch.

You won't miss the shop because it is a shade of hot pink that screams "PIZZA LIVES HERE!" The inside brand new, clean, and minimalist. Three things that I immediately noticed and love! There are two small picnic benches if you want to eat there otherwise you will have to grab and go.

The menu is very focused on a selection of red and blonde based pizzas. The ingredient combinations & choices are non-traditional and more premium. They also offer salads and two delicious soft serve flavours (strawberry roobios & salted chocolate) that I sadly neglected to order.

I read through the menu and pondered about which pizza should I select. It ended up being the "These Golden Eyes" that had prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella, rocket (greens), and banana peppers. They make the pizza fresh when ordered and put it in a walking sidewalk oven. I am always happy to wait a little longer for cooked from fresh.

So I hustled home to open the box and take a big bite. The pizza smelled great and the toppings generously covered the pie. The crust of the pie was flaky and soft and the bottom was crunchy but it won't provide support for the toppings. You will have to eat this NYC-style for optimal consumption.

I do wish I waited maybe 5 minutes before tucking in because the pizza was so fresh, the toppings and cheese barely stayed on the softer centre portions of the round circle of delicious.

The buffalo mozzarella added the pinch of salt and the prosciutto was crispy. The rocket added a much needed green while the banana peppers gave a little heat overall. I thought it tasted really good and it was satisfying after just two slices.

The price ranges for the pizza are fair considering the pizza competitors in the neighbourhood. The pizza combinations and ingredients themselves seem to be fresh and/or better quality than your run-of-the-mill pizza joint.

One thing I wish they did was serve a few of these pizzas by the slice only so I could try them all over time. :-)

Overall, I think that this is a welcome addition to the neighbourhood in a very off-the-beaten path spot that could prove to be a gem for others.

I will have to come back another time to try the strawberry roobois...

I read just about every review here prior to ordering...so I was prepared for the fact that it would take a while to get our pizzas - for those who can’t figure this out, the reason it takes a bit longer to get your food is because the place is super busy as a result of being so popular, and for good reason - good things come to those who wait! Pizza Pizza is for those who want speed over taste and quality. First, I will address the service:

On our second time ordering, we used Skip, and were waiting patiently for what we knew would be a great meal, based on our first experience. We got a call directly from Blondie’s explaining that there had been a mixup, and rather than the 2 medium custom pizzas we had ordered, we would be receiving 2 large pizzas that were meant for another customer. They explained that the pizzas we had actually ordered were in the oven and would be delivered to us as soon as they were out of the oven, and that we were “free to do whatever we wanted” with the 2 large pizzas coming (we had offered to send them back with the driver). Well, we ate ALL OF THE PIZZAS, at less than half price, and loved every minute of it. I believe in the service business, this is called ‘doing the right thing’.

As for the taste/quality:

Without a doubt one of the best pies I’ve had. Deliciously spongy crust reminiscent of authentic Neapolitan. The pepperoni/honey combo is a great balance of spicy and sweet, and our custom-built pizzas were equally fantastic...in fact, one of the mistake pizzas we got was something I never would have ordered (it had zucchini on it!); it is now my favourite pizza of theirs...best mistake ever!

So yeah, maybe it’s a little cold by the time it gets to you (although it never has been for us)...a restaurant in Toronto that is willing to own their mistakes sets a solid example and far outweighs the cost of preheating my oven...

I really really hate having to leave bad reviews as I have been on the receiving end of a couple in my career so I know how it feels.. but this just couldn't be avoided. I tried to take it up with Uber Eats to get this message to the restaurant quietly.. but apparently there was 'nothing' Uber Eats could/would do.. It wasn't like I was asking for money back or freebies or anything... I just wanted my message given to the restaurant/chef so maybe they can check in on the quality control at the restaurant bearing their name.

My review:

This pizza was SUPER underwhelming especially after reading so much hype about the place. First strike was waiting for long over an hour for a two topping pizza (Blondie's is 2 blocks from my house).

This pizza was quite possible the world's saltiest/ greasiest pizzas ever created. Each slice felt like it was slowly marinated in grease and rolled in rock salt before being put in the box... There was an actual squish and squirt of grease with every bite into the crust... I'm not even kidding here.

The baby mushrooms were incredibly dehydrated, shrivelled, wizened little rubber bullets and If there was any actual bacon on this pizza (besides the bacon fat they soaked the pizza in) you would need a microscope to find it.

For a supposedly cool new artisanal pizza place run by chef types... this was a complete letdown on every level (except the box design.. the box is very nicely designed!).

Its sad to say but, I have had higher quality pizza from 241 Pizza... and that's not even a joke. This was quite possibly the highest priced, lowest quality pizza I've ever had in Toronto. I am so let down because I've wanted to try it for a while and it's right around the corner from my house and need a good local...