NaRoma Pizza Bar

Date Visited: Lunch on Sunday Jun 14, 2015
Company: Walk-in for 5

I had a bit of a family reunion this summer and had a bunch of family members from out of the country stay at my house for a few weeks. My cousin +Mark decided to take our cousins from HK out for a hiking day trip in Hamilton to experience some Canadian nature. After being rained out, we headed into the city to grab some lunch. We picked NaRoma out of a list of restaurants from a blogTO article showcasing some of the best places to eat in the city. Parking wasn't too hard to find on Locke St. and we also saw a few shops to stop by after lunch (ie cupcakes!).

The location was a lot smaller inside than I expected with only about 8 tables and more of a cafe vibe than a restaurant. Our wait for 5 people was going to be around 10 minutes. Their menu was very intensive with a ton of different pizza flavours. We were a bit confused on what their 'sizes' meant and weren't sure if flavours meant we could try multiple on an order. We ended up getting 2 Coppia's (12 pieces) and only 2 flavours, but we could have tried 4 flavours which was unfortunate to find out after. Our wait seemed forever as we were starving from the hiking but the kitchen also seemed to take a long time. Every time I saw the cooks slicing up pizza I was excited but it seemed they had a lot of take-out orders.

Eventually, our pizzas did come fresh out of the oven and they were huge for the smallest sizes. Our first pick was the Brie e Prosciutto with Mozzarella, Triple Cream Brie Cheese, Prosciutto, Fig Jam, Caramelized Onions, Arugula, and reduced Balsamic. The Prosciutto was very crispy and you could really taste the Brie. The Arugula balanced nicely with the sweet Balsamic which was drizzled all over. I liked this the best, the flavours were equally distributed and tasted great together!

Our second pizza was the Vegetale with Mozzarella, Ricotta, Zucchini, Rapini, Red Peppers, and Garlic. The only reason I didn't enjoy this one as much were the Garlic patches, all I could taste was garlic after eating them. The flavours of the vegetables weren't as prominent, but it was more cheesy and bland. My cousins from HK preferred this one however while Mark and I preferred the Prosciutto.

I was very impressed with their pizzas, they are thicker crust and less cheese but were done excellently. The dough was delicious which is important in this case and they had a ton unique flavours for you to choose from, I can see why it's such a popular spot!

Food: 4/5 - Delicious and filling pizza.
Decor: 2/5 - Very small and hipster, set like a pizza cafe.
Service: 2/5 - Nice servers but slow!
Willingness to go back: 4/5 - Definitely!
Overall: 3/5

Website: http://www.naroma.ca/

Pho Viet Nam 999

Date Visited: Dinner on Thursday Dec 26, 2013
Company: +Lilian




+Lilian and I decided to check out Pho Viet Nam 999 on Boxing Day when our parents were going out for dinner with their friends. We had noticed it opened a while back and wanted to check it out, but never got around to actually going there.  When we pulled in the parking lot, we could see that it was pretty busy and parking was scarce. They share part of the lot with the popular Red Lobster next door so that may have been why there were so many cars. We were told to seat ourselves upon entering and there were a few open tables around but it was surprisingly full for the spacious restaurant.

Checking out the menu, +Lilian and I both felt nostalgic toward our University pho restaurants we'd regular back then as the set-up was identical to them. We were served tea and wrote down our orders on the paper on the table for the waitress to take. To start, we got the classic Vietnamese Shrimp Spring Rolls. I read some reviews in the meanwhile and many complained about the service received here. I was surprised because our food came very timely and the place was busy too. Just after eating half of our Spring Rolls, our Pho came right away. Their Shrimp Spring Rolls also included shredded pork which wasn't something I saw regularly. I think the most important aspect of this simple dish is having fresh ingredients which they did. They were stingy on the shrimp though, only two in 1 roll (maybe because of the pork) and the rice paper didn't fully wrap the ends. The sauce was also a bit bland, needed to be more sweeter as I felt like I had to put a lot of it on.

For the pho, I ordered my go-to Rare Beef & Beef Balls Noodle Soup in medium. The portion size was good and there was a perfect amount of beef. The bean sprouts, mint, and lime was very fresh and I was happy they just had all the classic staples of a Vietnamese restaurant like hoisin and Siracha sauce. I found the broth a bit oily, especially just looking at it. The lime gave the broth a very strong sour flavour rather than a subtle one which I am used to. The beef was very tender and the balls had excellent flavour. Other than that there's no real criticisms, it was very authentic pho and even run by a family. We went up to the cash after having some more tea to pay and we were on our way! Most people will point out that it is pricier than what you would find in the Toronto area but I'm super excited to have a place like this so close to me. I left with the perfect amount of fullness in my belly. Brings back a lot of memories!

Food: 3.5/5 - Not the best Vietnamese food I've had but still good nonetheless

Decor: 3/5 - So classic, large open space, lots of tables, minimal random decorations.

Service: 3/5 - Quick, to the point with no small talk, just the way it should be. Decent waiting time.

Willingness to go back: 4.5/5 - For sure would go back when I'm craving pho.

Overall: 3.5/5

Website: none