Margherita
Blistered rim, restrained sauce, good fior di latte. The benchmark order.
Pizza · Roncesvalles
Pizzeria Defina
Roncesvalles’ everyday pizza — thin, blistered, and never a production
PizzaRoncesvalles, Toronto$$Details being confirmed
The review
Defina is the restaurant a neighbourhood needs about four times a month and the kind that gets written about roughly never. Short menu, wood oven, thin bases with a blistered rim, and no interest in being anyone's discovery.
Margherita is the benchmark and it is a good one — sauce applied with restraint, fior di latte that has not turned the base to soup. The fennel sausage is the regulars' order, and asking for honey on it is not a gimmick here. Arugula and prosciutto is dressed after the oven, which is the only correct way and still not universal.
Honest notes: the room is small, there are no reservations for two, the menu barely changes and the wine list is functional. If you are looking for the best pizza in Toronto, keep walking down to Ossington. If you are looking for very good pizza fifteen minutes from now, this is it.
What to order
Fennel Sausage
House sausage, chilli, honey if you ask. The one regulars order.
Arugula & Prosciutto
Dressed after the oven, as it should be.
What works
- Short menu, executed consistently
- Fast enough for a weeknight with kids
- Takeout travels better than most wood-fired pizza
What doesn’t
- Small room, and no reservations for two
- Menu rarely changes
- Wine list is functional
Verdict
Fennel sausage, honey on top, eaten on a Tuesday without ceremony.