A Tale of Two Pizzas
This past Friday we got a chance to try PieBar with a few friends. My curiousity was set on fire from a previous post by Kendall. With that, our adventure was on!
Let me start out by just saying, that there are a lot of things that change on day to day basis when you eat anywhere. I will only focus on our night there… and what we experienced. But I would love to hear from anyone else’s experience.
This place is new… and it is trendy and it is hot! So if you are going….prepare yourself for a wait. Maybe when the buzz dies down a little it will be less chaotic. When you first get there you are greeted by the Pie tower. We got there around 9ish and there was a hour and 20 minute wait. So it was time to chill at the bar. With that amount of time, we were able to dig into a few appetizers and a generous amount of drinks. The bar was very packed, and would have been uncomfortable if we had not gotten lucky in getting a spot. The layout and design is very cutting edge stone and steel. The lighting was colorful and soft. The most impressive piece being the giant oven in the center. Sleek, white coated and demanding your attention. This oven IS the kitchen and it IS the center of the building. They do some food prep below, but everything cooked their has to go to the center. The center is also the Bar. ….So, very cool looking, but also very busy area.
Don’t come to this place looking to get stuffed. The appetizers are tasty but light (and a little funky). The drinks were well mixed and strong (as requested). I loved my pizza. Great strong flavor and well cooked. But again, the portions are not huge. Then the desserts arrived. Beautiful presentations all around, and deliciously rich desserts. Almost too artsy to eat… but we did anyways.
So, overall, we had a great time at Piebar. We loved getting out and trying this new place. We loved the service, food and the ‘new’ atmosphere… but like most new places, there are probably a few things that will need to get ‘fixed’ or adjusted as it cranks up for the long run. I look forward to trying it out when the “buzz” dies down a bit.
Sounds like fun- I will have to try Piebar soon. These guys know how to open a restaurant and have been very successful in our city. Go figure!
What a great concept. The rage here in Toronto are Thai and Dim Sum resto bars. A pizza pie bar with a martini lounge feel to it is unheard of here.
How was the parking there? Much trouble?
When we pulled in … we were a bit freaked since there was no sign of a parking spot anywhere. But then we were greeted by “Complimentary Valet” sign… and gave a sigh of relief. Not sure where they put our car… We were there until way after they closed down (2am) so there were only three or four cars left when we were heading out… but the car was ok.
Just wanted to comment on my experience at Piebar from Sat. nite… we are big fans of the other 2 places owned by Bob Amick (ONE & TWO) so we knew that this place would quickly become a popular place. I had called to make reservations early in the week and was told that they only do call ahead seating and to call 2 hoiurs before you wanted to be seated. We called at 6 pm on Sat. and were told that there was no wait – no list so to call again 30 minutes beforehand. Calling at 7:30, I was told there was now a 2 hour wait and they were no longer taking names for pre-seating! I asked to speak to a manager and was told that they simply got busier than expected but she would seat me as quickly as she could upon our arrival. We arrived just before 8 and could barely get in the door – the main part of the bar is just when you enter the building so a bottleneck does occur. If you move to the sides, however, there are seats at the bar and stand-up tables to wait at for your table. The manager took my name and sat my party of 3 within 5 minutes! She apologized again for the miscommunication and hoped we enjoyed our meal. Piebar is made for social eating – get there early, have a drink, order an anti-pasta – once you get that, then order you main course – it is not a lot of food but you can get full in a hurry. They have different sized meals depending on your hunger – both for anti-pasta and your entree or pizza. We completely enjoyed our experince at Piebar – given the exceptional customer service by the Manager, I would be going back even if the meal wasn’t first rate…our meal, however, was excellent!