Give me liberty! Or give me... pizza!
Also: Liberty Pizza is not located in the Toronto neighbourhood of Liberty Village... they call the newly transforming Regent Park home instead. So why are they called this? Whaaaa? As ridiculously expensive and underwhelming as District Pizza is... I at least get why they're called that.
At the risk of skipping my usual dawdling intro paragraphs (I'm sure all you readers are heartbroken), I'm sorry to say that Liberty Pizza was a solid disappointment. Google Reviews seem to love them, with an average score of 4.7 as I write this. I'm sorry, but huh? Was the best pizza option in this area a Domino's or something for like thirty years, and so anything slightly better in quality gets a laundry basket of undeserved praise? Actually... if the only pizza I could eat for three decades was Domino's... well I suppose by now this would be a cheeseburger or shawarma blog instead but nevertheless!
I'm being somewhat unnecessarily mean because Liberty isn't actually bad, but it also is distant from amazing and I had higher expectations for this one. Especially at the price (nearly 30 bucks)... you've gotta bring something more than this. It also reheats terribly (more on that later) and frankly none of the key components of a pizza (sauce, cheese, bread) are strong or notable enough to elevate its most lacking elements.
So what exactly is the problem? Why is this humble (but experienced) pizza reviewer so dismayed by a place with consistently excellent reviews? Well, I'll start with the positives: the thin crust texture works to its favour. The pickled onions are pleasant and provide some delicate sweetness. Annnnnd that's all. Seriously, like I said... nothing here is especially bad, but none of it jumps out either.
As you possibly know I tend to like sampling unusual topping combinations as a way of judging the creative skill of a pizza joint. One of the many reasons I like Descendant so much is because many of their pies combine ingredients you might not have thought could work so well together. It's a tricky balance: I don't like crazy for the sake of crazy, but there's also a reason I don't just order a cheese or pepperoni pizza everytime I try new places.
This here is Liberty's "chorizo" pizza, additionally with pickled onions and sliced potatoes. While I strongly defend pineapple and even chicken (when done right) on pizza... potatoes on a pie has never been a winner for me. Basically, I've never encountered one where it works, and despite initial optimism Liberty doesn't pull it off either. Tomatoes and potatoes (rhyme time!) are an awkward fit to begin with, the starch doesn't blend well with the saucey acidity... and then factoring in the dough... you get a lot of bites of flavours and textures clashing. A white pizza with potatoes makes way more sense: give it a creamier, cheesier base and it can blend together (in theory) nicely. Here, with tomato sauce? Just doesn't work for me.
But the real issue aren't the potatoes, which themselves are nicely sliced and individually enjoyable. No, it's the sausage. You call this a chorizo pizza, and sadly the chorizo is the topping that stands out the least. You barely notice it: not much flavour, the bits of it are tiny, and well frankly can you even see it in my photographs? No, this is more of an onion and potato pizza, with faint notions of pork. Man, what a let down.
It's also waaaay too overseasoned. Normally I like a pinch of pepper or garlic or whatever as a nice compliment, but this is just overkill. Seasoning shouldn't overshadow the main attractions, and frankly considering how bland/not a presence the chorizo is on this pizza... it feels like an attempt to hide it. Even tasting one of the very little bits of pork on its own... just bleh. Little flavour.
For whatever reason... reasons that make little sense to me... it reheats horribly. Even in the pan, low temperature... it gets super dry and crusty, and loses the little flavour it clings to. At this point... a complete waste of money.
Overall. Yeah no. I don't get it. Maybe it's my fault for ordering the weirdest pizza on the menu? But even then... the fundamentals were so underwhelming that I'm confident saying even if I'd ordered a standard pepperoni pie, I wouldn't recommend Liberty Pizza. Despite this review being largely negative, they legitimately aren't terrible... I'd take this over most big pizza chains... but that's not a compliment. Unlike a place like Otherside, which had considerable strengths brought down by considerable weaknesses... Liberty didn't show me anything worth considering a second chance. Sorry, but it's a "C" from me. Being so terrible and barely edible on the reheat clinches it. Not impressed whatsoever.
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