Famoso Italian Pizzeria - Commercial Drive — Restaurant in Vancouver

Anyone remember back in the day when pizzas were called “pizza pies”? I mean, there’s that old Dean Martin song, That’s Amore… “When a moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie that’s amore.” In any case, we were hankering for a nice pizza one weekend but we couldn’t decide where to get it from. We were looking for an actual sit-down restaurant where you could not only get a pizza but you could also get some pasta and other stuff… and I guess we’re a bit picky with our pizzas.

Sure, any pizza is better than no pizza, but we were looking for something more than just a plain margherita pizza (which is seeing a bit of a resurgence in Vancouver lately). The thing is, there’s not many places that serve a good pizza with lots of toppings anymore. Anyways, we wound up heading down to Little Italy on the Drive (cause where else would you go?) and stopped by Famoso Neapolitan Pizzeria.

We wound up ordering the Il Diablo 7″ lunch special ($11) and added pineapple and red onions (+$1.10, +$0.80) as well as the Lasagna lunch special ($13) which came with your choice of sides (we opted for the Caesar salad and tomato bisque). Our orders seemed to take a bit of a while to come out but their menu did state that the lasagna takes longer to cook.

To be fair, Famoso serves up Neapolitan-style pizzas which are known to have a soft, moist centre with a thin crust that is meant to be folded to eat. Sure enough, the crust was thin, soft, and possessing a chewy centre. This, of course, makes is extremely difficult to pick up to eat because the toppings all fall off. If you don’t plan to fold your slice, you might be better off to knife-and-fork it. The toppings were pretty good… the Il Diablo uses campania tomato sauce, fresh fior di latte (a semi-soft type of mozzarella), smoked mozzarella, red and green peppers, roasted mushrooms, roasted chorizo sausage and a drizzle of chili oil. Despite the name and the chili oil, the pizza itself isn’t very spicy.

I was actually more pleased with the way the Lasagna turned out. The homestyle Italian meat sauce that they layer between the ricotta and lasagna noodles is the kicker here. The side order of tomato bisque was pretty spot on too with a dollop of feta cheese in the middle.

So, if you’re in the mood for a sit down restaurant where you can enjoy Neapolitan-style pizzas, Famoso might be a good place for...

Regrettably disappointed in every sense.

Being in the heart of Little Italy, with several other amazing authentic Italian restaurants within the block, I was incredibly disappointed with the food quality.

Everything somehow lacked any flavour? It was bizzare. I cooked my own sauce with spices of my own to add to the pasta, because a bolognese (?!) had no flavour - at all. It was eerie enough I thought maybe I could be under the weather and couldn't access my palate, but upon trying the other items - wings, flatbread - and a 3rd party trying bites of each (offering the food away).

The 3rd party described it as sustenance food. This is not Italian. An oven stone means nothing if you don't have flavour. I respect the establishment and am sure the staff work hard. As a restaurant manager for many years (though no longer) including in-house daily made pasta for Italian restaurants, I have 90% of my order from yesterday left. A few bites of everything, and the lack of flavour, quality, actual FOH service...

It was a learning experience for me. I hope the management make some changes soon, because frankly, such a key location should be given to a more competent and deserving restaurant.

Wishing the staff and management well, I know it's not easy. I didn't care about the extra wait time (~40min), but to get home and have inedible food was a real wake up call.

Work as a team. That was the biggest thing I could easily identify as a problem. Should someone be rolling cutlery with 6+ people waiting in the front?

I truly wish success for this restaurant in the future, but I can say without a doubt, a half dozen restaurants within 5min walking that will actually delight - not "just get by", or sad to say again, disapppoint. I'll never throw away food unless poisoned, so I need to re-cook.

Chefs, bartenders, hosts, management: You have done an incredible job in the face of adversity due to COVID. Your work is appreciated, but that was the most surreal experience in a restaurant that's reputable to an extent.

I wish you continued success, and I realize I probably don't come across well here (lol Karen), my feedback is genuine.

May everyone have a happy, healthy, hopeful, and positive outlook for the coming...

I'm so glad I googled "is Italian pizza soggy?" before I wrote this review because I learned that Neapolitan pizza actually is wet/soupy, unlike any other pizza I've ever eaten. I thought they just rushed my order because I'd been waiting so long for service. To be fair, I joined a table of friends late that had already ordered so was easily missed. However, another person who'd joined the table before me had the same issue. My wine and food arrived together. I would have preferred to have a glass of wine before my meal. Once I finally had my order taken, the food came out quickly. I had a small Abruzzo pizza and a Napoli salad, both of which were delicious. In fact, now that I know it was intended to be the way it was, eaten with a knife and fork (no other choice as the point of the slices flopped impotently), I would say it was one of the most flavourful pizzas I've ever had. (I just added another star to make it five.) I could maybe add another star for atmosphere also because there were two good-looking guys playing guitar and singing who sounded great and added a lot of ambience to the evening. Overall I found the service lacking as there were four or five of us at times sitting around three sides of a table for four and the table was crowded with dishes and glasses to the point that we just started piling them on an adjacent table. I was surprised to see the tip percentage options on the debit machine start at 12%. I was going to give 15% but really didn't feel it was deserved so I went with 12. Our server was pleasant, just too busy or distracted talking to coworkers to be on top of her game. On another night, this might have been a four star review. I'd definitely go back but it's a long drive from Maple Ridge where I live. The memory of those spicy, juicy toppings is lingering, though. I'd say check it out but leave your expectations at the door and enjoy...