In this age of infinite information, easily edited by our mere fingertips... one truly needs to be extra judicious when taking in a generalized evaluation. Whether it be films, retail products, or in my specific case: pizza restaurants... it's important to remember a strong average score only suggests something is good, not guarantees it.
Especially with restaurants, there are multiple factors that can influence a high score. Low prices, the place has been there for decades and have devoted regulars, lack of other similar options in that neighbourhood... just to name a couple potential explanations. In the case of Aleeza's Pizza (with a 4.6 ranking on Google) located a block from the Weston GO station near Lawrence and Weston, there definitely aren't many other places within walking distance slinging out pizza pies.
Aleeza's has been operating out of its corner of a Weston plaza for about a decade now, initially going by the name "Canadian Pizza Unlimited" for a brief moment in time before changing into something more pleasing to the tongue. Knowing nothing about this place at all (but always on the hunt for any hidden pizza gem) I went in on an early Saturday afternoon before having to play a ballgame nearby.
There's very much a 'suburban front yard' vibe to the front of Aleeza's, while the interior goes full on retro pizza diner with red walls, tiled floors and menu pictures all over the place. You're just missing the Capcom arcade machine.
There's a definite fusion of pizza with Arab cuisine happening here: the scent of heavy earthy spices in the air with the menu offering dishes like mandi and fatayer. It is also (unsurprisingly) as such Halal, which I quickly discovered upon ordering a sausage pizza and getting a beefy crumble.
As a quick aside... there just aren't that many places left (excluding major chains) that offer a one topping medium clocking in around twelve bucks. Another factor in Aleeza's high Google Review score, no doubt...
...because sadly, it definitely isn't because of the pizza. There's some interesting seasonings in here (those same Arab-like spices I described earlier perhaps) but it's very faint, meanwhile the beef sausage crumble is very dry and lacking any kind of juiciness or flavour beyond dustiness. Rather similar to overfrying some extra lean ground beef at home in a pan.
The dough itself is soft but suspiciously so, as there isn't a fresh baked bread flavour to it whatsoever. I do like that they're generous with the tomato sauce (often a rarity in discount pizzas) but it's an extremely sugary sweet sauce without much depth or genuine tomato taste. There's also some grittiness to the bottom of the slice from a cornmeal base (I'm guessing), which while fine doesn't help this pizza taste any less empty and dry. The cheese is meh.
There are the makings of a decent cheap pizza in here, somewhere, but it just doesn't come together enough to reach even that bar. There's just so little flavour and the texture isn't all that enjoyable either... just soft and oddly dusty. Damn.
Overall... unfortunately I have to say this was a genuinely bad pizza. There was really nothing about it I liked in any capacity and most damning of all... I never even finished the whole thing. Leftover slices remained in my fridge for at least a week before I decided to just throw them in the compost bin. Keep in mind, we're talking about me here: I worked full time at a pizza restaurant for nearly two years, had their pizza nearly every shift and never one day got tired of pizza. It takes a special kind of pie for me to simply not care and let it go to actual waste like that.
This is all too bad because I wanted to like this place. Unlike Pizza Karachi which just pissed me off with its overpriced cheapness, there is a genuine wholesomeness I sensed with Aleeza's. Maybe if I lived in the area, I'd grow to sorta like their pizza once I figured out the right combination of toppings, sauces etc through trial and error... but as a one off I can't recommend trying them at all. This is a rough "D+" for me. It's not horrible but when there's so little taste to it... how can it truly offend? I'd only eat this if I was really starving.
No comments:
Post a Comment