When you've tried nearly a bicentennial number of pizzas in just over half a decade... there really are certain genres of pizzerias that warm your heart more than others. Some places (Hamilton's Cowabunga, Get Well, or the long gone Yeah Yeah's) get the youthful coolness appeal right, wherein their "hipness" indeed comes across as natural rather than cynically forced. Other spots are insanely popular and deservedly so because their pizzas are just that good (Badiali, Prince Street) resulting in the pizza itself being the primary and singular attraction... with lineups every day what else do you need? (though Badiali on Dovercourt does have a nice streetside patio). I've certainly got a soft spot for more unheralded Italian restaurants (Defina, Napoli Centrale, Pizza e Pazzi) that make tremendous quality pizzas but don't get quite the amount of love the more famous ones like Libretto, Piano Piano or Terroni do.
However I think the softest spot of all has to be reserved for the long standing neighbourhood gem that's been slinging good pies for decades and only the locals really know about it. A place you can walk inside and see a space almost untouched by the very passage of time itself... much like the recipes too. Il Paesano on Brown's Line for instance, Buzz Buzz on Wilson Avenue, Danforth Pizza House, or the now-gone legendary Vesuvio's in the Junction.
Hey, as much as I'll heap endless praise upon the Descendants or Annette Food Markets out there... they don't all have to be home runs, you know? Sometimes a simple little double in the gap does the job too.
Which brings us to Il Padre's, a corner spot on Royal York and Vanevery Street that has been feeding Mimico residents for at least two decades. On a sunny Wednesday afternoon (before I had to work a Weird Al concert) my close friend/occasional pizza trying associate and I made our way to Mimico... and after a bit of a stroll (encountering an especially unpleasant Karen-esque gatekeeping local) we'd worked up enough of an appetite to split a large pie between us.
We mused aloud what to settle on as our three toppings, to which the man behind the counter had already begun making the pizza just as our deliberations were complete and I'd gotten up to make the order. He knew even before we did! That's some veteran pizza clairvoyance there, my friends.
There is very limited seating (or overall space) inside Il Padre's but fortunately the two of us were able to snag the singular table by the window. After a moderate wait spent glancing around the room at the various plants and old timey gumball machines, out came our pizza (to which the kind fellow behind the counter offered and then generously added a handful of finely shredded parmesan free of charge).
The three topping large special came out to exactly twenty bucks, which while not an exceptional bargain this was definitely a sizeable pizza with a likewise hefty amount of toppings on top: Italian sausage, pineapple and green pepper (we debated bacon but didn't want to take any chances on it being a bacon crumble, always a concern in certain pizza joints).
Probably the most notable trait of Il Padre's pizza is its distinctive crispness, specifically on the bottom. This led to it losing considerable texture on the reheat (dry and stale) but fresh from the oven that crispness was downright delightful on every bite.
The scent of it also made an impression in the moment, smelling of sweet tomatoes and peppers roasting in the oven. That sweetness indeed translated to the taste of the pie as well, combined with the firm chunks of pineapple (a good step above the overly sweetened cheap canned stuff) and slight bitterness of the green peppers.
As for the sausage... just solid. Not particularly greasy or salty or spicy... a bit of light heat and general chunkiness while having a modest juiciness to them.
Solid is a description I could use a dozen times in this review because there isn't a whole lot else to dive deep into here. The mozzarella has a firmness crispiness to it that like the dough/crust doesn't handle the reheat well but is just great when still fresh out of the oven, and there's just enough tomato sauce to be a lightly sweet undercurrent bleeding into every bite but hardly a dominant presence at all. I think the greatest enjoyment one gets from this pie is that wonderful light crunch on every bite, it's a tremendously satisfying texture coupled with generally decent quality pizza elements.
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Overall! Il Padre's meets that definition of a classic independent family run neighbourhood pizza spot, the kind you really wish you had in your neighbourhood if you don't (*cough* The Beaches *cough* *cough*).
It's not quite good enough where I'd say you need to adventure off to the other side of town to try them (unless of course you're some pizza obsessed maniac) but it is... yes to use the term again... 'solid'. Sorry but that really is the most accurate assessment there is for this! That fresh crispness to it is lovely, the place is incredibly charming... as my friend put it "this is the kind of place that a family pizza night was made for".
All that considered I'll give Il Padre's a lukewarm "B" grade. It hits the spot in a uniquely wholesome way. The unfortunate weakness on the reheat does hurt my overall score a little bit, so it's really a pizza best shared quickly for maximum enjoyment.
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