Italian

La Roma is located right in the heart of Ottawa’s Little Italy. It’s an area lined with Italian restaurants and cafés, which makes it a competitive spot for any restaurant to stand out. We decided to stop in for lunch on a Friday, and surprisingly, the place wasn’t very busy at all. Including our table, there were only three occupied tables in the dining room. This might have been because of the time of day, but it did make the space feel a bit quiet for a Friday lunch rush.

Schoolhouse Pizza serves up generously topped pies with creative flavour combinations. The Buffalo NY sounded promising with its mix of tomato sauce, mozzarella, chicken, jalapeño, shallots, Frank’s buffalo hot sauce, crème fraîche, and cilantro. While the flavour was solid, the crust let it down.

Heartbreakers Pizza is easily one of my favourite pizza spots in Ottawa. The restaurant is located on Parkdale Avenue, not far from the highway entrance and exit, which makes it convenient to get to but sometimes tricky for parking. They technically have only two or three spots out front that are designated for the restaurant, but those are almost always full. Most times, you’ll need to find street parking nearby, which isn’t always ideal but manageable if you plan ahead.