The Best of PATH - A Look at Pizza in Brookfield Place and Scotia Plaza

By Karl Petschke exclusive to torontopath.com

Let's be honest, there are more than enough food courts throughout the PATH. There's a seemingly endless amount of possibilities from which to choose a breakfast on your way to work, a lunch to get you through a busy day, or a dinner to complement your evening out in the city. We know you don't have trouble finding food. Instead, we're much more interested in helping you find good food, something that won't just satisfy your stomach, but your senses.

To help you do this, we've scoured the PATH for the tastiest and most scintillating meals. Here`s a look at pizza worth getting excited about in Brookfield Place and Scotia Plaza. Watch out for a look at great cuisine elsewhere in the PATH, coming soon.

Mio RistoBar

Lunch time in Mio RistoBar, a sophisticated restaurant in Scotia Plaza, is vastly different than many other lunch stops in the PATH, as the main factor shaping the experience is not simply the limited amount of time available to those on their lunch break, but rather the high level of quality these loyal customers have come to expect. Basically, this is not a place to go to if you’re looking for a meal that is greasy or hastily prepared, or one served without care or attention. Though they do have an express service devoted to PATH-goers on the run, or can cater for special events, to get a true sense of this restaurant’s value, I suggest taking a few minutes to go in, sit down, and enjoy your meal the way you’re supposed to. This is good stuff, the type of pizza you don’t feel awkward eating with a fork and knife, the kind you’re glad isn’t served in a cardboard box.

By the time it reached my plate, the crust, whose dough is made fresh daily, was delicate and warm enough to be softened by the rich, gooey goat cheese, while still retaining a gentle, gratifying crunch. The sauce, like the dough, is made fresh each day using tomatoes imported straight from Italy. And it’s a difference you can taste. As a whole, the pizza is served piping hot, and its toppings are as mouth-watering as they are abundant. The sweetness of the caramelized onions, the savoury sautéed rosemary mushrooms, the creamy goat cheese, the touch of basil, it all combines to create a pizza that is succulent and satisfying.

Though Mio RistoBar may not be as quick and convenient as some of the fast-food lunches available on the PATH, if you can manage to find some time in your busy schedule to sit down, relax, and treat yourself, you’ll soon learn how refreshing it is to have a meal that’s tailored to your taste buds rather than the minute hand on your watch. Another thing you'll learn, at Mio RistoBar, it’s worth planning some extra time to enjoy this top quality pizza. They are, after all, dishing out some of the best in the city!

Piazza Manna

Piazza Manna’s growing presence and popularity in the downtown concourse is hard to miss, because they’ve made it clear that lovers of convenient Italian cuisine have been served a tasteful new option. With my visit to their restaurant in Brookfield Place I came to understand why their approach has been so embraced during the downtown lunch rush. Their success is, like their style, anchored in balance. Although the shop resides in Brookfield place, which is always bustling, it still offers a good place to sit down and relax in a contemporary and casual ambience. Again, somewhere between the casual and the sophisticated, between that fast-food place around the corner and a formal sit down restaurant.

But I’m not here for the ambience, or the environment. I’m here for the pizza. And this is where Piazza Manna lives up to the reputation that’s accompanied its newly acquired success. Because their slices are so and inexpensive, their quality stands out against a very crowded backdrop of products that are similarly priced, but of lower calibre. For me, this especially showed in my slice of asiago chicken pizza, whose creamy asiago, and thick, tender hunks of barbecued chicken had me wondering why I was still left with so much change in my pockets. This slice, like the pepperoni slice I also tried, featured the same generous portions of toppings, and thin crust. The crust had a light crunch, which complemented the softness of the cheese, but was also substantial enough to allow the pizza to hold up while on the move, an important part of keeping up during the PATH’s often hectic lunchtime.

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