Notre ami Amelio's.

Amelio's is a tiny family-owned restaurant on the corner of Milton and St-Famille. Amelio's specializes in 'gourmet' pizzas - pizzas that are of a higher caliber than your standard Domino's or Pizza Hut - but they also serve subs and pastas. Despite its low-key appearance and plain decor, the perpetual line-up outside its doors will be sure to alert you to Amelio's presence and to its quality.

Accessibility - Grade: A-
It's about a 10-15 minute walk from Place Des Arts metro, but from the De Bleury exit. I think it only took us 15 minutes because we got a bit lost though. (I have no sense of direction. Shhhhh.)


Service - Grade: A-
The service was warm and friendly, the type you would normally expect from a family-owned joint. When I was accidentally going to order the medium pizza because I thought it was a medium personal pizza (hey, I don't normally eat pizza. Cut my some slack. My brain also doesn't work in inches), she politely clued me in that a medium was large enough to feed two or three people. The food came at a good pace, and each table had its own jug of water, so there was no need for refilling. Other than that, though, it was pretty busy, so she didn't check in on us that often.


Food - Grade: B+
Bonus marks: Amazing first bite.

Their pizzas come in three size: they have the 10" (personal), 12" (medium) and the 16" (large). All their pizzas are served with a bowl of regular garden salad.

Florentine Pizza

I'm so sorry for the terrible picture quality. I really have to start bringing an actual camera with me when I eat out instead of resorting to the camera on my phone. Eeesh.

My friend ordered the Florentine pizza, which has mozerella cheese, spinach and artichoke hearts for a topping. Ever had nachos with spinach dip? And I mean good spinach dip, not the gooey mess you get at Baton Rouge. Well, imagine a spinach dip in the form of a pizza, and you have the Florentine pizza. The cheese was stringy on top, but between the layer of cheese, there was a rich layer of softer, sauce-like cheese mixed with the spinach and artichoke hearts. This gave the pizza the moisture it needed, despite having no sauce. The crust was nice and crisp, and it was infused with that woody aroma that comes with pizzas cooked in wood-fire ovens. The dough itself was salted, so you weren't left with a bland piece of crust at the end of your slice.

My only complaint with this particular pizza was that it was a tad too salty. The cheese itself was already salty enough, and coupled with the salted dough, it made for a bit too much sodium. Regardless, that didn't take away from the multitude of flavours that the spinach and artichoke hearts provided.

White Pizza with random slice of Florentine

White Pizza (with random slice of Florentine)

When I first took a bit of the White pizza (one of their most popular pizzas), I remember being amazed at all the subtle flavours and textures that the five cheeses lended to the pizza. I'm not a cheese conoisseur, but I could make out at least three types of cheese.

There was the standard mozzarella, which was stringy and melted and mozarella-y. Then, I identified what could be unripened cheese (the white circles on the pizza). This cheese had a crumbly texture to it, and broke apart easily under the fork. It also served as the substitute sauce, since this pizza did not contain tomato sauce either. It was moist and creamy, and wasn't terribly salty, since the mozerella and the other cheese already contained enough salt. I'm not going to make a food of myself and try to identify the others, but in any case, the cheeses all blended together into one giant white blanket of cheesy goodness, but still maintained some of their individual characteristics, which made for a very interesting pizza.

The downside of this pizza is that once the pizza cooled down, it wasn't quite so fun anymore, since the cheeses lost their stretchy quality. And again, as with the Florentine, it was a little on the salty side. Other than that, though, it definitely lived up to all the hype and praise it has gotten.


Price - $$ (Cash-only)
A 10" costs around $15 before tax and tip, which I guess is a little more expensive than your average pizza. I personally found the 10" to be more than enough for me, since I had to doggy bag my last two slices. They also deliver if you live within the area, so you could order a medium or large and split it with your friends. All-in-all, I'd say it's pretty student-friendly.


Final Grade: B+
You'll often see that my final grade will be slightly lower than the other grades. Like in this case. That's because the final grade really comes down to personal taste and how the restaurant does in comparison to the other restaurants I've been to. Amelio's was pretty good, but it wasn't one of my favourites, since I'm not a huge fan of pizzas. But even then, I was pretty impressed with my meal, and would definitely be willing to return and try their other pies.



Amelio's

201 rue Milton, Montréal
514-845-8396
http://ameliospizza.com/Amelios/Bienvenue_Welcome.html