Foods from Farinella
Comments
2019 Jun 19
Brought the family here for supper this evening. The pizza is good, especially considering it's not cooked to order and just sits around until someone buys a piece. Don't expect the delightfully chewy crust of a Neapolitan pizza... this is a thin crunchy pizza drizzled with oil. The crust is nicely charred and the toppings taste of quality.
I tried the Veggie and it was good, featuring lots of tasty mushrooms but also big dollops of ricotta that didn't add much other than weight. The Mozza was excellent and much better value. A really nice thing about the pay-by-weight approach is that you can get a little piece of each if you want.
You order and buy the food cafeteria style, complete with plastic tray. The payment terminal offers preset choices of tip but none of them are zero. The only way to leave no tip is to choose Other and then put in a zero. Or pay cash I guess. Anyway, practically forcing me to tip for fast-food service is a quick way to remove any inclination for tipping I might have!
Tipping weirdness aside, the approach to gelato payment is excellent. You pay for your gelato and *then* choose your flavours. No more juggling melting cones and wallets. This seems like a no-brainer and all other gelato places should figure this out. I don't care though, because after eating gelato at Farinella I may never go to another gelato store again! More details under that food item...
Seating is mostly outdoors on patio furniture. When we were there we noticed a bit of a garbage smell in the outdoor seating area. The indoor area was busy and stuffy. Probably best to get your food to go!
Here you can watch co-owner of Farinella, Cesare Agostini showing how his pizza is made while working at Roscioli in Rome:
youtu.be/GajbZY0l7oY
I tried the Veggie and it was good, featuring lots of tasty mushrooms but also big dollops of ricotta that didn't add much other than weight. The Mozza was excellent and much better value. A really nice thing about the pay-by-weight approach is that you can get a little piece of each if you want.
You order and buy the food cafeteria style, complete with plastic tray. The payment terminal offers preset choices of tip but none of them are zero. The only way to leave no tip is to choose Other and then put in a zero. Or pay cash I guess. Anyway, practically forcing me to tip for fast-food service is a quick way to remove any inclination for tipping I might have!
Tipping weirdness aside, the approach to gelato payment is excellent. You pay for your gelato and *then* choose your flavours. No more juggling melting cones and wallets. This seems like a no-brainer and all other gelato places should figure this out. I don't care though, because after eating gelato at Farinella I may never go to another gelato store again! More details under that food item...
Seating is mostly outdoors on patio furniture. When we were there we noticed a bit of a garbage smell in the outdoor seating area. The indoor area was busy and stuffy. Probably best to get your food to go!
Here you can watch co-owner of Farinella, Cesare Agostini showing how his pizza is made while working at Roscioli in Rome:
youtu.be/GajbZY0l7oY
2019 Jun 1
Thin crust, rectangular pizza that you order by showing the width with your hands for how much pizza you want. It can be a tiny sliver of a few types, or a big slab of one kind, however you feel like mixing it up. We went with smaller slices from all the pies - sausage and artichoke, zucchini and burrata, potato, margarita, & spicy salami. The options are constantly changing while you are there. My husband kept his eye on what was being made and went up a few times.
Prices are by weight, 100g/$2-$3.50 depending on toppings. Our slices were generally in the $7-$9 range and we cut each into 2 squares.
It’s very new and still working out some kinks. The pizza scale was acting a little wonky and with only one scale the line gets held up. The gelato ordering was confusing. They want you to pay first and then go to the gelato display when you are ready for dessert. I’d suggest not doing this because you may decide to eat more pizza for dessert instead. Also some of the flavours are a little strong (dark chocolate has a pleasing bitterness but might not be to everyone’s liking) so you’d want to taste test a few flavours before deciding if you want gelato. They listed some other frozen options for dessert but I didn’t see those anywhere.
Currently there are just a few chairs inside and maybe 10 patio tables outside (2-4 chairs per table). It would/will? Be nice once they spruce up the outdoor area so it feels less like you are eating on a driveway. For now, I’d suggest getting it to go and walking over to Dow’s Lake to eat.
There was no booze, so getting it to go would mean you could bring along your own beverages too.
The one drawback is the pizza is room temp when you eat it. Since it is sitting on a counter and the crust is thin, it cools off quickly. They mentioned that you can order a custom pizza to be made, so that might be a better option if you care about that sort of thing. I didn’t mind it but in colder weather I think I’d want it hot.
We did try the gelato and it was fine. I hope they branch out in their options and offer something different than Gelatini has (which is close by)
I think it’s a good option in the neighbourhood and it’s great you can get it to go in the evenings and on weekends since everywhere else on Preston are sit down restaurants.
Prices are by weight, 100g/$2-$3.50 depending on toppings. Our slices were generally in the $7-$9 range and we cut each into 2 squares.
It’s very new and still working out some kinks. The pizza scale was acting a little wonky and with only one scale the line gets held up. The gelato ordering was confusing. They want you to pay first and then go to the gelato display when you are ready for dessert. I’d suggest not doing this because you may decide to eat more pizza for dessert instead. Also some of the flavours are a little strong (dark chocolate has a pleasing bitterness but might not be to everyone’s liking) so you’d want to taste test a few flavours before deciding if you want gelato. They listed some other frozen options for dessert but I didn’t see those anywhere.
Currently there are just a few chairs inside and maybe 10 patio tables outside (2-4 chairs per table). It would/will? Be nice once they spruce up the outdoor area so it feels less like you are eating on a driveway. For now, I’d suggest getting it to go and walking over to Dow’s Lake to eat.
There was no booze, so getting it to go would mean you could bring along your own beverages too.
The one drawback is the pizza is room temp when you eat it. Since it is sitting on a counter and the crust is thin, it cools off quickly. They mentioned that you can order a custom pizza to be made, so that might be a better option if you care about that sort of thing. I didn’t mind it but in colder weather I think I’d want it hot.
We did try the gelato and it was fine. I hope they branch out in their options and offer something different than Gelatini has (which is close by)
I think it’s a good option in the neighbourhood and it’s great you can get it to go in the evenings and on weekends since everywhere else on Preston are sit down restaurants.
Gelato 6
2019 Jun 19
Okay this was amazing!!! They have about 8 flavours available and all the ones I tried were excellent. If all you've had is the overly sweet stuff then you're in for a treat. This is classy gelato!
I tasted the Coconut (it was great) but then ordered the Hazelnut and the Fior di Latte. A small cup or cone is $4.50 and a large is $7.50. I got the small and it was a good amount. That said, I loved it so much I'd happily eat half the amount of pizza and get a large gelato.
The Hazelnut gelato was superb. This is like pure chilled Gianduja. Loads of hazelnut flavour and just enough sugar.
The Fior di Latte was super mild, as it should be, and provided a lusciously creamy base for its nutty cupmate. As it warmed up it started to really shine, turning into a decadent wonderful layer of thick cream.
I also tried some of my wife's Caffe gelato and the Cocoa Mascarpone. Both were subtle, delicious, and not too sweet. Top marks all around!
I tasted the Coconut (it was great) but then ordered the Hazelnut and the Fior di Latte. A small cup or cone is $4.50 and a large is $7.50. I got the small and it was a good amount. That said, I loved it so much I'd happily eat half the amount of pizza and get a large gelato.
The Hazelnut gelato was superb. This is like pure chilled Gianduja. Loads of hazelnut flavour and just enough sugar.
The Fior di Latte was super mild, as it should be, and provided a lusciously creamy base for its nutty cupmate. As it warmed up it started to really shine, turning into a decadent wonderful layer of thick cream.
I also tried some of my wife's Caffe gelato and the Cocoa Mascarpone. Both were subtle, delicious, and not too sweet. Top marks all around!
Pastries 6
2020 Jan 26
The selection of pastries is good. I got one of each and two of the marizotti. So glad I did. It is as good as Warby describes it. It is very similar to a similar Hong Kong originated pastry that is available at the pastry shop in Kowloon but I think this one is really good. Solid bun and very nice texture to the vanilla cream. Well done! The other buns are made with the same base but one is dipped in sugar, two filled with custard, and one filled with a Nutella cream.
Go try them!
Go try them!
2019 Nov 10
I tried one of Farinella's maritozzi at La Bottega Nicastro recently and it was really nice. Perfectly chewy rich bread, glazed with sugar, sliced open, and filled with vanilla cream. This was delicious in that wonderful homemade way where the ingredients taste clean and unprocessed.
Next time you think you want a doughnut, try a maritozzo instead! I enjoyed it much more than any doughnut. That said, I do still need to try Farinella's doughnuts...
Next time you think you want a doughnut, try a maritozzo instead! I enjoyed it much more than any doughnut. That said, I do still need to try Farinella's doughnuts...
Aug 23
Their pizza is currently available for take out only in 1m or 1/2m portions. This is 1m "Tony" ($39) which easily fed 6 hungry adults. This is some really great pizza and its evident they are using high quality ingredients. The tomato sauce was particularly delicious and I also appreciated the whipped ricotta. The pizza could have been cooked slightly more for my liking but otherwise a stellar pie!
TheNatureMan