David D.
Yelp
I had heard if Da Bologna through a Facebook post of one of my girlfriend's friend who raved about it. It's been around since 1958. It's the quintessential mom & pop corner store (really on the corner) that's become a neighborhood institution. I had to go. So about a year later, my girlfriend and I got a roundtuit and in we went...
My expectations were dashed. I thought Da Bologna was an Italian restaurant. It is, but it's in the Pizza/Sub format but with a pretty dinning room and no visible stacks of pizza boxes. Don't get me wrong, I f'ing love pizza and subs. But I was expecting more of a Napolitano Pizzeria in the Italian quarter with nice Calabrese salad, grilled sausage, a ton of fresh pasta options, of course, delicious 'Za, some cannolis for desert, yada, yada, yada.
But that sure as shit didn't stop me, because PIZZA! Good 'Za I could eat every day.
I ordered the sausage pizza, my girlfriend had the all-dressed with bacon, with some frings. Da Bologna really doesn't skimp on the toppings and they are fresh & tasty. The dough is soft and chewy and yet firm enough to not flop down dumping all your cheesy goodness on your plate. I'm a folder. I told my slice to eat it like a sammich. It folded, but damn was it loaded. Tons of cheese, always a bonus and instead of having some cheap sausage sliced into tiny disks of jerky-like texture, they had the class of de-casing the sausage (if it was ever in a casing) and there's was a truckload of it. Nice sauce. Just meat & cheese, nothing fancy, just a very flavorful pizza. And upon reheating the left overs the next day, the crust remained chewy and didn't become concrete. The all-dressed with bacon was equally fantastic. Salty bacon, another plus.
Frings, or fries and onion rings. This is where all restaurants lose me a little when I am served French fries that come from the freezer and not the slicer. You just served me this awesome, delicious, flavor packed 'Za but then you go a serve me some McCain's. Nope, just nope. (They were still pretty good). The equally frozen were had a pretty good crunch and were what you expect from frozen rings. (They were still pretty good).
And for dessert, they have limited options. Rice pudding, cake which varies from day to day (probably means made fresh (why not the fries?) And Pouding Chômeur and I of course went for the classic Québécois dessert. And. It. Was. Awesome. Made in house? I don't know, but it was a hit.
The dinning room isn't all that big (perfect) and the service was great even though the poor girl had the packed room to contend with. She didn't miss a beat... ok one. We waited a little to long for the bill. But I wasn't complaining.
In any case, if you're looking for some amazing pizza, Da Bologna is a winner. Next time I might venture in the subs menu, but I'll probably have the sausage pizza again. Yum.