Ottawa Foodies

Two perfect words to describe Pizza Pizza - salted cardboard. I rest my case.

Pizza Pizza recently changed their ingredient lists, and for those of us who try to avoid chemicals and MSG, a word of warning: very little on their menu is safe now. I used to be able to eat about half their items and loved the fact that it was a fast food chain that I could enjoy, but now I can only eat a couple things. Disappointing, and I also feel like the flavour has gone downhill with the alterations.

They have an unusually good online ordering system that lets you get into the nitty gritty details of your specialized order. You can specify different toppings for each half of your pizza, you can adjust the amount of tomato sauce and the thickness of your crust, you can specify whether you like the cheese above or below the other toppings, you can ask for it to be more or less cooked than usual, and you can choose from a whole bunch of free enhancements: things like olive oil, garlic oil, chili flakes, chili sauce, bbq sauce, tabasco, etc.

It might not be THE best tasting pizza in town, but it's pretty good and they sure do make customization easy.

MelodySoul, you hit all 5 points that make Pizza Pizza one of my favourites:

* Excellent choice of toppings
* Online ordering
* Garlic dipping sauce
* Bruschetta topping (instead of tomato sauce)
* It isn't sloppy and gooey

I agree with the nay-sayers that there are tastier cheeses and better breads available out there if you know where to look. But Pizza Pizza is very decent for such a ubiquitous chain.

The crust isn't great (hence the garlic dipping sauce), but I think it's way better than any frozen pizza.

I know most pizza connoisseurs regard Pizza Pizza as the worst out there but I like it. I'm not into the greasy, sloppy, really cheesy pizza that most small shops deliver. I like the huge list of toppings and options available, I love the online ordering and let's not forget the garlic dipping sauce...gotta have it! My favorite is the bruschetta chicken parm, comes on a thin crust and it's garlicky and delish!

The appeal of the place, for me, is its simplicity. They make a servicable pizza.

If I wanted a pizza that was six kinds of awesome (roasted asparagus, proscuitto and marinated mushrooms or the like), I'd make it myself. But every few months or so I get the craving for the fast food equivalent (i.e. the classic super) and it just works.

I too do not understand the love affair with this establishment. YUCK!

A crust that I would label frozen supermarket crust, low quality ingredients and even lower quality cheese, makes me wish for a rubber biscuit.

I've had a run of consistently good pizzas from the Rideau Street location after falling in love with their online ordering system. The level of detail, as FF points out, is tremendous.

I actually think the crust is a selling point because it's so unlike the thick, doughy crust that is prevalent in Ottawa. The sauce has a nice, basic tomato taste which can be augmented by the variety of free options available.

I've found that ordering extra cheese is key to getting the same amount that most places dole out by default. My current favourite is the classic Canadian: pepperoni, mushrooms, extra cheese.

I actually like their pizza. Others seem to complain about not enough cheese but actually I really hate how greasy pizza gets with too much which is a key reason why I like this one. The Classic Super with Pepperoni, Green Pepper and Mushroom is yummy and dependable. It's not as flavourful as some but it's pretty non-offensive at the same time. The whole wheat crust option is actually really nice.

The pizza from Pizza Pizza is passable. The crust is vegan (yay!), and they have no problems leaving the cheese off. I agree that the white crust isn't great, so I've taken to ordering the whole wheat. I like that their toppings are very fresh. My one complaint is that the cost really adds up even for just four toppings.

More dodgy-quality food porn.

Two pies: a thin-crust with the 'four-cheese blend,' onions, mushrooms, and green peppers, and a regular crust (note somewhat trivial difference) with Mr Kmennie's strange but usual topping pick: double cheese, green olives, and pineapples.

I am far from the first one to note that Pizza Pizza pizzas' goodness does depend a fair bit on knowing what to order.

Mine is a thin-crust vegetarian, with onions (not included in their vegetarian), no olives, and extra cheese, usually by way of their 'five cheese blend' (or is it four?). Solid comfort food.

Q: out of town recently, I noticed pasta listed on a PP sign. Eh? No pasta was listed on the menu.

And then I noticed it on an Ottawa one, too.

Can anybody explain?

I find that pizza pizza for want of a better word tastes like ass, and not a good one either

I love the breaded wings, with honey garlic sauce. But you have to get the sauce on the side and, for best results, pick them up.

That's nasty! Which location did you all order from?

The week before Christmas I ordered wings and a small pizza from PP. Then I got stomach poisoning...mmmm Happy Holidays.

Incidentally my roomate and her b/f ordered separate pizzas and they too came down with stomach problems. :S

I tried these on a whim along with an order of pizza and was impressed. They have some different styles, but I got the "lightly breaded" kind that were coated with something similar to KFC batter. Tossed in the "spicy" sauce (not mild but not suicide) they were quite yummy!