PICEA997

Have been here a few times since they opened. They do a great thin-​crust pizza, which is the obvious thing you’d look for, and have some other nice stuff as well. Last time I was there, I had the «white salad» to start (pears, endive, fennel), which was lovely and an unexpected mix of flavours, and a chestnut ravioli which was incredible, if a bit oily. Usually I get the beet salad, which is also great.
Service can be a bit up-​and-​down, we’ve had great service and mediocre service. You never which you’re going to get, really. But overall, it’s a great (and much-​needed) addition to the neighbourhood.

First time here. We ordered the capo and the white pizza. Both were really good and thin crust, not the doughy versions we read in the previous reviews.
We came early so were almost alone at the restaurant and had great service. We did notice that as more people came in it was harder to get the waitress’s attention.
The garlic bread is a must, one of the best we’ve had along with their polpette. I would recommend to a friend as long as she came early to get good service.

Went on a groupon. Had no problem redeeming it even though they didn’t have my reservation (which is required with the groupon). The place was empty so I had no issues with the service which was basic but friendly. The pizza was decent. The dough slightly thick and under seasoned. Definitely JUST missed the authenticity vote. Wasn’t worth $ 12 – 18 dollars we paid for each pizza.

My review is based on 6 – 8 visits. The service here is inconsistent but tends to be poor more often than good. Do not arrive when you are very hungry. Kitchen staff can be seen working on food prep when salads (food that doesn’t need cooking) have yet to be served. Food tends to take a long time even when there are less than 3 tables in the place. My most recent experience was so bad I’ve decided to never return considering there are so many alternatives in toronto. My friend and I came here for dinner after work. Another couple was seated next to us. Their apps came before ours while we had arrived and ordered at least 15 minutes before them. The server tried to explain that this was because one of our apps takes a long time in the oven and she had ASSumed we wanted our apps to come out all at once. This didn’t explain why their pizzas arrived 10 minutes+ before ours. I ordered a vegetarian lasagna (daily special) for take out. This was the worst issue of all. I asked if they had vegetarian lasagna because the menu showed beef lasagna. The server confirmed they do. My vegetarian daughter took a bite to find out that they gave us meat by mistake. Inexcusable mistake!!!

I wish that I could give a better review because the food is good and it is right down the street from where I live but after many disappointments, I cannot recommend this spot with a good conscience.
The management is absolutely horrid. On our first visit, the manager asked us to sit at the bar to wait for a table– in a completely empty restaurant. We waited and were seated about 5 minutes later. Once seated, the manager micromanaged our server– cutting her off, getting in the way of us ordering, and contradicting her. I felt terrible as she was doing a great job with our service. Despite the management issues, the food was good so we returned.
The next few visits were similar to the first– the manager lacks complete social skills and should not be in the front of house. It would probably benefit the restaurant to have her stay away from the tables and patrons. Nonetheless, we loved the food and just attempted to steer clear of her.
The last straw was the purchase of our Groupon. After attempting to make an email reservation, we received a reply email simply asking, «If we had a Groupon». When I answered «Yes», we were told that we would not be able to redeem the deal but could use the value at the restaurant at some other time. Ha! I responded with a none to pleased email to which I received some sob story from the manager stating that she was the owner and sole operator due to a «series of unfortunate events». Instead of offering some other compromise, I was told not to be so harsh and judgmental.
I don’t believe that I was being harsh at all by simply trying to redeem our Groupon by getting a table for two in the imminent future.
Bottom line: 1) Do not sell Groupons that you can’t fulfill, 2) Work WITH your customers to come up with a solution, 3) Hire a social appropriate manager so that you are able to RETAIN those that have been good to you.
Future potential customers: I would not suggest buying any deals that come from this place and at best, only do takeout.
I personally, will never be back and even asked Groupon for a refund. So sad.

If you want to wait 20 min to be asked for drinks and then another 30min for the food to come then this is the place!
Nice inside. Good food. But need at least another employee!

Price ³⁄₅ — $ 14 – 18 per one person pizza
Location ³⁄₅ — kind of central kind of not. no parking. nearest parking a block away
Food ⁴⁄₅ — good pizza, limited choice of beer (3 to 5)
Will NOT be back

I give this a marginal pass.
The pizza was limp, the edge of the crust too big, but the dough is a marginal pass. Still better than a Pizza Pizza or Pizza Nova, but it’s just alright for a specialty pizza restaurant.
The seafood pasta was perfect portion, with the calamari being perfect, but the spaghetti could have been al denti, and less drenched in oil.
We were there on a less busy evening, but the one server working definitely needed help. My question is; why didn’t (seems like) the owner didn’t help out. Service was slow and could have been better.

My wife and I have been 6 or 7 times. We prefer this place over Libretto which is also nearby.
The oven baked olives are delicious. The beet salad is to die for. They have Mill St in tap (even the more obscure ones like curious parrot)
The only entrees we have tried are the pizzas and we love them. I usually switch between the Margherita and the Capo. Spicy honey on a pizza is amazing.

First let me say, my experience over all here was an absolute 5 star.
~The food ~
Oh my gosh, where to start? We ordered the eggplant bake (not sure its name) and cesar salad to start, followed by a couple of beers. Cesar salad was amazing, but small. .The beer was light and crisp just how I like it.
For our main dish he ordered the brocollini pizza and I the spaghetti with clams. He said the pizza wasn’t anything special (but then again he eats pizza from all over Toronto about 2 – 3 times a week. It’s crazy!) I thought it was very bland, I have made better pizza’s myself from scratch. Broccolini was a good idea though! I thought the pasta was a little over done, but for once a perfect portion size. I ATE EVERY BITE! :D
The reason why I am giving this restaurant a 4 star rating is due to the flavours/​quality of the main dishes. Usually they are outstanding when you go to a pricier place for a meal however this restaurant (which I’m assuming is new) needs to put a little more love into their mains.
After they placed down the main dishes we got our own bottle to use of freshly made olive oil. I LOVED their home made olive oil! It was delicious and tasted magnificent on the crust of the pizza we had ordered. Some dishes they were carrying out from the kitchen were massive in size! Exciting!
For dessert we split the nutella brownie. It was to die for. I wish we got our own!
~The Service~
There were only two women serving the whole restaurant that night. Both were super nice and not overly fake! (lol I hate when servers try so hard and are super fake-​happy-​over the top energetic) Food came quickly with no delay and hardly any wait time. The waitresses were knowledgeable, helpful and polite.
~The Atmosphere~
Very romantic, sensual, dim lit atmosphere. Perfect for a couple to go for date night
~Overall~
Quaint little restaurant I would advise anyone to go for a quiet evening with someone they love.
~Prices~
Our bill was about $ 100.00 which isn’t too bad for a restaurant of this calibur for two people!

Doesn’t even deserve the one star.
I don’t generally give bad review’s, but my experience here was inexcusable.
Service was horrible, with a forced smile from the waitress only when giving us the bill. Waited on table bread for 1 hour, but it never came. Restaurant wasn’t busy at all, but our appetizers took 75 minutes to come out. Followed by two flavorless pies with the least amount of toppings possible, even for a Neapolitan style pizza.
Save your money, and stick to the pizzerias that do it best in this city. Queen Margarita, Pizzeria Libretto, etc.

SOGGY BOTTOM PIZZA!
Our experience at Picea997 was so bad that I felt compelled to write my first Unilocal review. There is no way we would have gone here a second time, but there was a mess up with Groupon purchases so this was our second poor experience.
Our $ 10 ceaser salad was served on a tiny plate and while tasty was only lettuce and parmesan flakes — no croutons or bacon. Their menu was minimalist and we had already exhausted all the appetizers from out first excursion. They are all meh! worthy and overpriced.
We all ordered pizzas as the pasta we got last time was also a very small portion and not very good. When we lifted the pizza to our mouth the slice would droop down — every slice was soggy! Our bill came to over $ 110 for 4 and that is with a $ 55 groupon. Yikes! we could have gone to Big Slice on St Clair and got more food for $ 40!

This is a really nice space that is in a neighbourhood that definitely needs more restaurant love. My friend and I went in early (6pm) on a Thursday, and were seated immediately. It did get quite busy later though. The interior is lovely and cosy, with lots of large, spacious booths. We were kid– free that day, but it seemed like it would be a great place for families. The vibe is fantastic — classy but laid back, with super friendly service. Even though it was quite busy when we left, we were not rushed out at all (we were still ordering drinks well after our food was finished).
We shared the olive tray to start and it was really tasty and served warm. We followed this with wood-​oven pizza, which was GREAT. They also had lots of pasta options on the menu, and unlike some other places, they aren’t fussy about people making substitutions on the pizza toppings. Prices were moderate and completely fair for the level of quality and service. I will most definitely come back here.

I live within a walking distance to Picea and through my purchase of Groupon voucher, it gave me a really good excuse to check it out.
I went with a friend on a Sunday night and made a reservation for 8pm. When I arrived, I mentioned my reservation at 8 and the server told me that they don’t actually «reserve» tables. Groupon deal mentioned reservation is required however, so I thought this was contradictory. Luckily we didn’t have to wait long and was seated. Our server was friendly and courteous, and she was prompt. We got two appitzers, eggplant rollatini, and it was really good. We also got Meatball, and it was average. The pizza was pretty good, nothing out of this world, but decent enough that I can see myself going there next time I crave pizza within my neighbor. Pizza is priced at a decent price, while I think appetizer was a bit too expensive for what you get.
Overall, it’s a nice addition to this area where it’s lacking in decent restaurants. Their atmosphere is also pretty nice.

I purchased a Groupon deal to try out this restaurant with some girlfriends of mine. I made a reservation almost a month in advance and had mentioned I would be using the Groupons I had purchased. Fast forward to a few days before the reservation and I received a message saying «fyi you can only use one Groupon at a time». I replied, expressing my confusion seeing as I don’t see the difference of using 2 groupons at a table of 4 people or using them for 2 tables of 2 people, and asked if someone could kindly call me. I received no call and when I tried to call the restaurant noone picked up. As a result, I assumed that I would not have any trouble.
What I arrived to was an extremely passive aggressive woman who refused to honour both Groupons I purchased. We are all residents in the area who were excited to try a new place and based on this experience none of us will be returning to this establishment.
The restaurant was also empty (which is never a good indication) so I would imagine most business owners would put aside nonsensical ‘fine print’ in order to welcome more guests into their restaurant. Because at the end of the day, both parties are still receiving the same deal.
I NEVER usually feel strongly enough to write reviews online but I felt this one was a special circumstance. I rarely run into situations where I’m met with such incredibly poor customer service.
Needless to say, I will never be returning to Picea997 and will not be recommending it to ANY of my friends.

I noticed this new restaurant pop up in the neighborhood and bonus a groupon was offered for it. I purchased the group on as an added incentive to try this new place. The stipulation of the group on being that it could only be used sun-​thur no other exclusions included.
I made a reservation for next Thursday for dinner. It happens to be Valentines Day. When I made the reservation I mentioned the groupon and no issue was made of it. I received a call the next day saying they would not except the groupon as it was Valentines Day. I mentioned the fact that there were no dates stipulated as excluded. They reaffirmed they would not except it.
I don’t much care for restaurants that don’t honour their promotions.

If you don’t love large novelty meatballs, there is obviously something deeply wrong with you.
Picea is just another magnificent surprise popping up in my new neighbourhood. The wood-​fired pizza is fired up (for the dance, thanks Rankins), and they have all of the things you love from Libretto at half the price. The wine list is tiny, but it isn’t marked up to break your bank. Ideal.
I had their special which was a 4 cheese pizza with a mushroom gravy instead of tomato sauce with an arugula topper. If it’s on the menu when you’re there, be sure to check it out.
Most importantly. And this gets it’s own paragraph. They serve more than just pizza. Amen.
PEPPER POINTS: For non stop booths. So comfy. Gratzie.

Date night. We ate @ Picea977 last night. Everything was fresh and well-​made.
The service was very good, helpful and friendly.
The salads were delicious. I had the beet salad and he had the arugula.
And yes, the pizza did take a while, but we preferred the atmosphere to Libretto or Terroni’s where I feel like people are looking over my shoulder to see if I’m almost finished ready to take in more customers.

This is a great addition to the hood. The food was excellent although the menu was pretty limited. I was bummed they didn’t have their liquor license as I like to start dinner with a cocktail.
We will go back for sure and bring the kids next time!

The first time I went to PICEA997, I took a chance and took a date. Luckily, my bet that the place would be good was more than justified.
It’s a nice restaurant, well-​renovated with a nice ambiance and good service. The food is excellent, some of the best pizza I’ve had. I was sad to run out of leftovers.