Amazing Pizza at Beast Pizza

Beast Pizza
Location
: 96 Tecumseth Street, Toronto
Website: https://thebeastrestaurant.com/

I was a big fan of Beast way back in the day — it was one of my earliest reviews on this blog, and I actually wrote about the Beastwich on Serious Eats (alas, that post is long gone) — so it’s weird it took me this long to check out Beast Pizza.

Beast Pizza

I’m happy to say that Beast has not lost a step over the years.  I’m honestly a bit shocked that it doesn’t come up more often when the best pizza in the city is being discussed (though I guess the fact that they’re only open for dinner and don’t do slices probably doesn’t help).

Beast Pizza

I started with the smoked trout pate: “Applewood smoked Ontario trout pate topped w/ pickled chilies and chives. Served w/ our house-made pizza dough bread.”  This was pretty fantastic — it’s rich and creamy with a mild smokiness, and a nice flavour from the trout. The fresh bread that comes on the side is great. It’s a stellar appetizer.

Beast Pizza

But of course, the pizza is the reason to come here.

I went with the meatball: “red sauce, mozzarella, meatballs, fennel jam, and arugula.”

Beast Pizza

Every element here is just right; the meatballs are tender and packed with flavour, the fennel jam adds some nice pops of sweetness that doesn’t overwhelm, and the pepperiness of the arugula rounds things out.

Beast Pizza

But as good as all the flavours are here, it’s the crust that makes this a best-in-the-city contender.  The contrast between the seriously crispy exterior and fluffy interior is the stuff dreams are made of.  It also has a good amount of flavour, and enough chewiness to keep things interesting.  It’s so good.

A Tasty Slice at Big Trouble Pizza

Big Trouble Pizza
Location
: 191 Geary Avenue, Toronto
Website: https://bigtroublepizza.com/

I tried the very odd Butter Jam Jam pizza at Big Trouble years ago, when they were still on Spadina, and liked it quite a bit. They’ve since moved to Geary (which has become a bit of a food hotspot), and now serve burgers as well as pizza.

Big Trouble Pizza

I stuck with the pizza, and tried a slice of the King Fungi: “Cremini Mushrooms, Beech Mushrooms, Mozzarella, Sauteed Onions, Chives, Truffle Oil and Tangy Chilli Jelly.”

I mostly got this after being intrigued by the sight of several bright red cubes of chilli jelly on the pizza, and yeah, that stuff works. It’s a very savoury pizza, with a nice umami punch from the two types of mushrooms, and the sweet and spicy jelly does a fantastic job of balancing that out.

Big Trouble Pizza

I was a bit worried about the presence of truffle oil, which I don’t particularly care for, but it wasn’t applied too heavily, and was only mildly offensive (rather than ruining the pizza outright, which it would have if they had used too much of it).

Big Trouble Pizza

And the crust was great — it’s thicker and breadier than the New York style you might be expecting, with an almost focaccia-like heft and nice external crispiness that holds up nicely to the heavily-topped pizza.

Delicious Slices at Sadboy Pizza

Sadboy Pizza
Location
: 51 Main Street South, Georgetown
Website: https://sadboy.ca/

I can’t say I’m in Georgetown often (or ever), but I had heard nothing about good things about Sadboy Pizza and was in the general vicinity, so sure, why not?

All those good things: 100% correct.  Sadboy Pizza serves some top notch slices.

Sadboy Pizza

They have a variety of interesting-looking pizzas, but I’m all about the plain cheese, particularly when I’m first trying a place, so I went with the mozz OG (“fresh and aged mozzarella blend”).

Sadboy Pizza

It’s a great slice of pizza.  In particular, the crust is just where you want it to be, with a perfect amount of exterior crispiness, a tender chewiness within, and a really satisfying flavour.

The combo of fresh and aged mozzarella adds a pop of flavour that you normally don’t get in this type of pizza, and there’s a good ratio of cheese to tasty sauce.

Sadboy Pizza

It’s not one of the bigger slices I’ve ever had, but it was also only five bucks even.  Which means that it was small enough and cheap enough that I was able to justify buying a second slice.  I went with the breakfast4dinner (“garlic cream sauce, crispy diced hashbrowns, bacon, chicken breakfast sausage (halal), sesame seed crust, frank’s maple syrup drizzle”), and yeah, it was just as good.

Sadboy Pizza

I don’t know that I would have guessed the breakfast angle if you hadn’t told me — it tastes like a pretty standard meaty pizza, though the syrup does add a nice sweetness that helps to balance out the saltiness from the sausage and bacon.  Still, whatever it is, it’s quite delicious.

Sadboy Pizza

My only real complaint here is that both slices could have used another minute or two in the oven (they were both a bit lukewarm around the middle), but other than that?  Sadboy totally holds up to any of the top-tier pizza joints in the GTA.  It’s that good.

Tasty Slices at Revolver Pizza

Revolver Pizza
Location
: 388 Royal York Road, Etobicoke
Websitehttps://revolverpizza.com/

Revolver Pizza is clearly doing quite well.  They now have four locations, and when I visited on a weekday afternoon, the place was packed.

Revolver Pizza

And yeah, I get it.  I got the margherita (“sauce, fresh mozzarella, fior di latte, and basil”), and it was a solid slice of pizza.

I wish the slice had been a bit crispier on the bottom (or crispy at all — it had a softer texture, closer to Neapolitan than New York style), but otherwise, I quite enjoyed this.

Revolver Pizza

I think the prodigious amount of cheese might have something to do with the crust’s lack of texture — I’m certainly not going to say no to a lot of cheese on a pizza, but there probably could have been a bit less here.

Revolver Pizza

Still, the overall quality is pretty high, including a good amount of flavour and a nice chewiness on the crust.  I don’t know if it’s up there with the best in the city, but it’s a top-shelf slice of pizza, that’s for sure (bonus: it costs about five bucks for a pretty sizable slice).

Great Pizza at King Slice

King Slice
Location
: 1598 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Website: https://www.kingslice.ca/

Whenever there’s a discussion of the best pizza joints in Toronto, King Slice pretty much always comes up.  They’ve been around since ’89 and predate all the trendy spots in the GTA by a few decades, so clearly they’re doing something right.

And yeah, okay.  I just tried a pepperoni slice, and I get it.  I don’t know if it’s my favourite slice in the GTA, but it would be in my top 10 for sure.

King Slice

It’s a simple slice of pizza, but everything is just right: it’s got a good amount of cheese and pepperoni (it’s heavy on both, but doesn’t feel overloaded), the sauce has a zippy richness and definitely doesn’t taste like the canned stuff you might expect from an old-school place like this, and the crust is nicely baked (if a bit bland) with a light crispiness on its exterior.

King Slice

That’s not to mention the famous garlic oil, which they can either slather on just the crust or the whole slice (I went with the former).  This stuff is herby, garlicky, and delicious, and definitely brings the pizza a bunch of personality.  The crust is otherwise a bit lacking in flavour, but once you add a bunch of that garlic oil, you’re in business.

King Slice

The pizza doesn’t taste as fussed-over as some of the trendier joints in the GTA like Badiali or One Night Only (I’m pretty confident that there’s no sourdough or 48 hour proofs happening with the dough here), but for an old-school, no-frills pizza joint like this, it doesn’t get much better.

King Slice

I liked it so much that I came back about a week later to try the margherita slice, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I should also note that the slices are comically oversized; I don’t think I’ve had such a gigantic slice of pizza since the heyday of The Big Slice (RIP).