MFS Part 1: Amelio's Pizza

Wednesday, August 8, 2012 Categories: , , , , , , ,

Amelio's Pizza
201 Rue Milton
Montreal, Quebec Canada
Phone: +1(504) 845 8396

This menu is bilingual friendly! (French on the reverse side)


TYPE OF RESTAURANT: Italian, Pizza/Pasta
ATTIRE: Casual
PRICES: $$/$$$
PAYMENT OPTIONS: Cash, Mastercard, Visa, Debit/POS

HOURS: Sunday-Monday CLOSED
               Tuesday-Friday 11:30AM-8:45PM
               Saturday 4:00PM-8:45PM
RESERVATIONS? Not at this location but at the Bernard
location yes
HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE? No
VEGETARIAN? Yes, it’s possible
Vegan? No
GLUTEN FREE? Highly doubtful

RATING:


Quality of Food: 5/5 
Service: 4/5 
Originality: 3/5
Atmosphere: 4/5

After a long morning drive from the GTA and settling in to our rented apartment on the plateau, the girls (Kasia, Evelyn and Kristel) and I were hot, tired and hungry. None of us being very good decision makers, we turned to Kasia who lived in Montreal during her undergrad co-op for some recommendations for some much needed nourishment. After deliberation, we finally decided on this cute little pizzeria, Amelio's. 

 What is considered a McGill "Ghetto" institution 25 years ago, Amelio's makes pizza the "old fashioned" way; hand-tossed and homemade. With a second location in the heart of Outremont, Amelio's is the perfect place for any kind of pizza lover with a plethora of simple and elegant pizzas like all-dressed (green pepper, mushroom and pepperoni), pepperoni and Italian sausage. This hidden gem also offers unique selections like the Reuben, BBQ chicken and Club pizzas. Finally, I can't forget Amelio's signature pizzas like the Florentine and cheese-loving white pizza which has not 3, not 4 but 5 cheeses!!

 When we arrived at the very lively and hoppin' pizzeria about an hour before closing time with no surprise of a lineup that was out the door. We managed to go at a very convenient time and got seated almost immediately despite the crowd by the entrance. Upon first glance, as soon as you walk in, you can see see a mini army of kitchen chefs,working away tossing dough and preparing pizza pies to be thrown into the oven through the pass window. I could immediately tell that this establishment was pretty tourist friendly as nearly all the customers sitting inside were speaking English. 

 Our waitress was pleasant and friendly and flipped between French and English without thinking twice. After a few minutes, I settled on the signature Florentine pizza. There are 3 different sizes including small, medium and large and we all opted for smalls as per Kasia's recommendation. Each pie comes with a complementary side salad that was served in these old school wooden salad bowls (reminding me of when my parents restaurant used to use these things)
this ain't no individual pan pizza from Pizza Hut
Salad is salad but when the pizzas came out, it got all of our attention. When these pizzas hit each of our plates, I understand why Kasia recommended to only get a small. These things were huge! Perhaps not in diameter but they were certainly thick and they were not shy on the fromage! My Florentine pizza (cheese pizza with Spinach and Artichoke sauce instead of marinara; I added Italian sausage) was litterally slided on and hanging over my plate from an aluminum pizza pan. When I cut into this oozing gluten disc, I was stunned to see the ratio of toppings to dough. Underneath the mounds of sauce and cheese, the dough below was literally millimeters thick!! Literally a 2:1 ratio of toppings to crust. To give you a better idea, I made sure to take cross section pictures.  
Cross Section of my Florentine Pizza

First bite verdict: appetizing and DEFINITELY rich. I've had white pizzas before but never any with literally spinach and artichoke dip as the pizza sauce. My decision to add Italian sausage was just icing on the cake. 

Cheese lovers, meet your maker!
The other pie worth mentioning was Kasia's favourite: the 5 cheese white pizza. As she's not a fan of marinara (or cooked tomatoes for that matter :P), this pizza is totally up her alley topping this perfectly tossed dough brushed with olive oil and topped with 5 delicious cheeses (Ricotta, Mozzarella, Brick, Parmigiano-Reggiano and oddly enough, Feta). This pizza is definately not for the faint of heart, or anyone who is lactose intolerant. I've also included a cross section of this pizza to show you how much cheese we are talking about.

This picture was not Photoshopped, thats literally like an inch of cheese on top of the bottom crust!!

I'm going to let the pictures speak for themselves, these pizza pies definitely hit the spot. Not a single one of us finished our pizzas and we all went home with doggie bags. I will confirm though, that these pizzas are still wonderful cold ;) .

This sums up part one of my Montreal Food Series. If you ever travel to Montreal and happen to find yourself in the student "ghetto", do try your best and try and stop into this bustling, quaint pizzeria. Aside from the lineups, its hard to miss and you will regret it if you do! 

 


Amelio's on Urbanspoon

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