Restaurant: Coffee Pizza Wine (Elena)
Restaurant type: pizza, Italian, salads, coffee, café, wine, bar
Prices: $9-$24 entrées, $16-$26 mains, $3-$10 desserts, wine bottles starting at $49
Date: Wednesday July 17th 2019
Table of: 2
Last month, my friend Leila and I decided to check out Coffee Pizza Wine / Elena! We had both been wanting to try it out for quite some time, so it was the perfect opportunity. Elena has been open for about a year and serves excellent pizzas and pasta dishes, in St-Henri. Out back, you’ll find Coffee Pizza Wine, which is a multi-functional space: cafe by day and cute terrasse by night (indoor and outdoor seating, no reservations).
We were initially planning on eating at Elena, but it was such a nice day outside that we opted to eat out back at Coffee Pizza Wine (plus we only really wanted to eat their pizzas, which they do serve (along with their salads) at night time, out back at Coffee Pizza Wine). We were lucky, as there was a small benched section that was unoccupied.
Leila ended up ordering the margherita pizza, with tomato sauce, basil and mozza di bufala which she adored; she said it was one of the best she’d ever eaten. I opted for the Fiore! Fiore! pizza, with zucchini flowers and mozza di bufala. I really enjoyed the pizza itself – thicker crust on the outside and thinner crust towards the middle, very tasty dough – but the toppings were underwhelming. Perhaps because I ordered the pizza without the anchovies, but even then, that would have added a salty and fishy texture, which wouldn’t necessarily have solved my problem; I found the pizza too dry. There were also slices of zucchini on the pizza, which the menu made no mention of – only zucchini flowers – and these super sour, marinated bits of vegetable, which I found unpleasant. I did very much enjoy my glass of wine, a Stefan Vetter, Sylvaner, 2017, which smelt very fruity but was very acidic.
Service-wise, we were left very unimpressed; when we arrived, the waitress clearly saw us and just walked away. No hello, no nothing. So we had to chase her down, inside, to be explained how it works at Coffee Pizza Wine; you order inside, go sit down, they bring you your food and you pay inside after the meal. Even at the end of the meal, after we’d paid, no thank you, no good bye. Needless to say, our tips were a mirror reflection of the service we received and were treated to. I do have to say, the serving staff was much nicer and pleasant. Unfortunately, Coffee Pizza Wine makes the #2 spot on my list of snobby service in Montreal, right after Moretti (both are Italian restaurants; coincidence? I’ll let y’all decide).
Overall, the food was really good; I just wish I had ordered the margherita pizza which looked amazing.
So, here is my review of Coffee Pizza Wine:
Food: 4/5 (very good)
Price: $$$
Would I go back?: No, I did not enjoy the service of Coffee Pizza Wine, but I would give Elena a try
*All photos and comments are mine
