Tom Z.
Yelp
Piano Piano review:
Accidentally discovered Piano Piano (which mainly offers Neo-style pies) had a stall at Chef's Hall (111 Richmond St. West) and that they offered 18" pies (all their other locations only offered 10"). I also learned that the next day was their last day at this location. Apparently, the Chef's Hall menu lists 16" pies' prices in the late-20s range, but the stall only lists 18" pies in the early-30s range. Impressively for a small stall, they are (were?) open 11 AM until 10 PM every day except Sundays.
So I ordered their "Margherita Pizza" pie which came with 3 different cheeses (Mozz', Fior di Latte, Parmesan). And decided to also add Soppressata (note: avoid deli meats on well-done pies). Asked for "quite thin," and "nearly well done." Price was about $32 before taxes and tip.
The dough was the best version of the Badiali and Maker style I've had, where the dough almost seems like it is fried. Here, the dough was crispy outside, and almost flaky inside, with minimal char. It could have been more well done, respectfully. The dough also could have been thinner, but was not overwhelmingly "bready" but the thickness was useful in holding the impressively generous amount of toppings they applied.
Ordering soppressata was a mistake on my part, as it was too salty and got quite rigid in texture after being cooked at my request of "well done," (it is actually only used with their "hot honey" for their "Raging Hot Pizza.") so I do not reccomend anyone order a "well done" pie with deli-cut meats.
Tomato sauce was great and could have been enjoyed on it's own, but could have been thicker in texture. Not too savoury or sweet. Perhaps over-powered by the soppressata (which I requested extra) and cheeses.
Cheese was great and was not skimped on. The variety of the 3 cheeses really shone through, as the triple combination created a solid, dense, yet thin, layer of cheese, which added great flavour and savouriness, of varying textures and flavour profiles.
The picture has a lot of shiny liquid, which was my generous application of olive oil, and the pictures also show the generous addition of chili flakes I added from the ramiken of chili flakes they included. They also included a free ramiken of their "spicy mayonnaise" dip which I didn't use, but tasted "alright."
Overall, I'm hugely disappointed Piano Piano chose to shutter here, as it was a unique addition to the area and this location was the only one offering 18" versions of their pies. Piano Piano did not advertise the location at the bottom of their page amongst all their other locations (instead, the location was listed in the middle of a paragraph in their "take-out" section, which itself is listed amongst a long horizontal list of other sections, namely, between "Frozen Pizza" and "Gift Cards" on the list).
Hopefully they will offer 16" (as Libretto once did) or 18" pies at one of their other locations...