This is an interesting one.
Sugo the restaurant has been around for several years now (I recall an ex telling me how good their lasagna was back in late 2018) and it feels like the whole run of their existence has been crazy lineups and busyness. An instant hit and one that has persisted. I mean, that pesky pandemic probably slowed them up just a little bit... but here in 2024, even with a second location right beside the original, both places are filled with noisy chaos even on a Sunday evening.
I've still never been to Sugo, but I did try their sister restaurant Conzo's (the previous next door tenant) a couple of times. A dear friend of mine lives/used to live (it's complicated at the moment) very close to there, and me of course being a pizza fiend-I-mean-expert... well you can figure it out. He's a vegetarian however... so we would normally settle upon some kind of mushroom pie to share, which leads into one of the weirder pizzas I've ever had. Settle in for storytime! (yeah yeah I heard that groan).
It actually isn't much of a story. Basically, I called and we agreed on Conzo's special of that particular day: a mushroom and pineapple pizza. That's it that's all... sauce, cheese, mushrooms and pineapple.
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Side note upon a side note time: I still don't get the extreme hatred 'pineapple on pizza' evokes from so many people. The dislike of it is understandable: personally I can't stand anchovies or any kind of olive on a pizza... that kind of intense saltiness is a complete disqualification. No, what I don't understand is the intense passion with which people despise pineapple... like it's an affront to the very beautiful concept of pizza. Even Gordon Ramsay feels this way! Okay, maybe that isn't surprising.
But why pineapple? How about sliced apples or pear or figs on a pizza? Those all happen too. I've just never understood the militarism against what, in my view, is a very inoffensive topping (it's also one of the easiest to pick off if you don't like it!)
Alas, perhaps my poorest ever pizza decision does involve pineapple. When I was much, much younger (still living at home) Domino's still had their soil-cheap one topping pickup special and one day I went and got one. For whatever inconceivable reason (maybe I was doing a vegetarian month thing?) I chose pineapple as my one topping... and you know you've made a bizarre choice when the Domino's employees at Sherbourne and Wellesley look at you with skepticism.
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Anyhow I don't need to describe how that 'just pineapple and sauce and cheese' pizza from Domino's tasted (spoiler... not very good). But that was also Domino's (also generally not very good)... Conzo's mushroom and pineapple pizza? Strangely effective and tasty. Mind boggling indeed... the pineapple was unsurprisingly very out of place but the overall strong quality of the pizza made this Frankenstein experiment actually work (unlike the murderous wretched existential crisis I'd initially feared).
This was a few years ago and in that span of time, Conzo's shuttered/reconfigured into what is now Bar Sugo. The difference between 'Sugo' and 'Bar Sugo' is... um... one has "Bar" in the title? Actually, while still never having sat down inside either restaurant, the original Sugo is smaller and more like a classical casual Italian restaurant... whereas 'Bar' Sugo has a few more tables, the inside is wooden paneled and narrow with the bar immediately at the entranceway.
Bar Sugo also describes itself as a pizzeria ('Sugo' doesn't even offer it) which is why (at long last, sorry) we're here. Checking out Bar Sugo's pizza!
Even though I'd tried Conzo's a few times I never reviewed them (nor can I find a photo I know I took of said pizza). A while back I also saw a post on Reddit mentioning how the new Bar Sugo had changed their dough recipe from the Conzo's one. Good enough reason for me to approach this as something completely new.
On a fairly cool August Sunday evening (after trying the exceptional and nearby-ish Gram's Pizza), I made my way through the crowded sidewalk of Bloor and Lansdowne (well over a dozen people waiting in line to eat at either Sugo) for a 'to go' pizza.
One little aspect I found endearing was the choice of names for Bar Sugo's pizzas. Many of them have a Toronto reference to them: their Margherita pie is named for nearby Margueretta Street, another is named Vinny Massimo as a nod to College/Spadina's old pizzeria Massimo's (now Fresca), then you've got 'Vesuvio's' (surely I don't have to explain that reference), 'GiGi' for the infamous Harbord spot (a nice little wink by putting basil on there) and the very pizza you see in the photo above... the 'Bitondo' (again I don't have to explain that one). Somewhat corny? Perhaps, but personally I like the nod to some of the famed pizzas of Toronto past (I guess it would've been logistically tricky/confusing to name a whole pizza 'The Big Slice' but nevertheless).
Bar Sugo's 'Bitondo' pizza is essentially their take on a meat lovers: pepperoni, smoked bacon, and their meatballs subbing in as the ground beef/sausage component. Some shavings of parmesan are also present along the crust but honestly just serve to make the pizza look prettier (although there is a little chunk of parm on the side) while that little packet off in the left corner is filled with basil. Quite wise of them to separate the basil this way for a takeout order, lest it soften/dry out upon the hot fresh pizza and lose its distinct flavour by the time one arrives home/wherever to eat it.
On visuals alone... that's a pretty damn good looking pizza. Poofy and cheesy, loaded with deliciously appealing meats, bubbles of char in just the right places. Does it taste as good as it looks?
Holy pigs flying it sure does. It took about ten minutes to find an adequate place to start eating some of this, so the pie had cooled significantly... but it didn't matter. Even warm-ish, the flavours and texture here were completely on an elite level.
The sauce... it makes its presence known immediately, like a tomato grenade. Vivid and hearty, like a thick cheesy tomato soup that reminds one of a snow day from school (not that we get a lot of those here in Canada... just climb over that snowbank and don't forget your textbook). One of the best tomato sauces on any pizza I've had in Toronto, it has the perfect level of presence to be wonderful and not obstruct the other flavours. I instantly knew it was fantastic, and I suppose that should be no surprise considering this is a restaurant in such high demand for their pasta dishes.
The cheese isn't quite at that 'geezus this is one of the best pizza sauces ever' standard, but is still excellent. That oily, buttery, specifically full-taste of a legitimate mozzarella is unmistakable... not overly melted but just enough to cover most of the surface of the pie, giving you that precious cheesiness in nearly every bite.
There's a remarkable and wonderful softness to this pizza, extraordinarily impressive when you consider the crispy meats that adorn the top of it. The base dough melts away in the mouth, while the crust gives significant char flavour yet itself is also deceptively soft and bready. Definitely the kind of crust that gets more chewy rather than crunchy/crumbly once cold (more on that later).
Toppings! Well... it's a lot of meat. Meat! The pepperoni is your classic tiny pepp cups, not super crispy around the edges but very thin and consistent throughout. I've written so many of these reviews that I can only describe what freaking pepperoni tastes like so many times... however you can tell a quality pepp by it's lasting subtlety, rather than a cheap one that gives a salty greasy hit and departs immediately afterward (insert joke here).
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this pizza, which is a turbo-charged Meat Lover's don't forget... is how barely salty it is overall. The smokiness of the crispy bacon strips hide whatever saltiness may or not be there, and is another excellent topping in it's own right. Meanwhile the bits of meatball... very tender and juicy, no hard exterior crust from the oven, and you get a good taste of a bread/egg/meat blend. Simple, yet very delicious. I can see why people order this as its own dish.
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Overall! I don't think it's going to be any surprise when I strongly recommend the pizza at Bar Sugo, which I most certainly am doing.
There is a singular flaw, however, that must be mentioned: the reheat test. Strangely, the toaster oven (on a little baking sheet) worked much better than the low heat frying pan method. For whatever reason, the pan dried the slice out considerably, the biggest casualty being the crust which became pretty tough and chewy (still good with some hummus though). The toaster oven made the slice a bit gooier and floppier, losing the cooked base benefit of the pan but the slice overall was much softer and required less work from my teeth. Sadly, neither method could rejuvenate this pizza's greatest asset: that wondrous tomato sauce. So excellent and present when fresh, but dried and invisible on any reheat. Tragic indeed.
Regardless of that, Bar Sugo is a better pizza than I remember Conzo's being (which was still extremely good). It's basically the same pizza just notably better around the margins, while the sauce is an absolute home run... and it is good to not have to eat a vegetarian pizza for a change.
You can see how ridiculously busy they get by that photo (8:30pm on a Sunday!) and they don't take reservations except for large groups... so trying them is either a "plan well ahead and still be prepared to wait outside", or know somebody who lives closeby and take a pizza over to their house. Or eat it on a random park bench at Dundas West and Brock Avenue... we all have our own ways.
This is one of Toronto's best pizzas, full stop. Gotta be Top 15, I'm thinking... even the reheat disappointment can't deny them a worthy 'A-' grade from me. There are better ones for sure... but not many and in this elite company the nuances become very subjective.
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