Review of 'Una Pizza and Wine'

So, a few days before we left for a trip to Canada we saw an episode of “You Gotta Eat Here” (always interesting to see what is being eaten back in your home country - and to perhaps see places you have been to) where “Una” was featured showing how they have a wonderful crispy, delicious pizza base. Well, I know some friends in Calgary so while we were in the area (ok, Banff) we decided to meet up and give this a try.

Una is located in the, at least formerly, hot spot of good food, 17th Avenue SW (truth be told, I used to live only a few blocks away and enjoyed many a good meal along here including my first sushi) just to the south of Downtown. A fairly non-descript restaurant the long line of people going out the door even after five years of being open should be a clue that this is a cut about the rest. We came early and had our pick of seats and sat at the front window. The tables are crowded together and as the evening wore on it got very crowded and noisy indeed. There is a bar area with seats if you can't get a table.

We started with some very small dishes of what I would call “tapas” which were quite good but not terribly memorable. On recommendation of our friends (it was their first time too but they had heard a lot about Una) we also shared a “Kale Caesar Salad” ($14) which was good but not a lot of flavour (I can't say I am a fan of kale, really).

Of course, the main event was the pizza so we ordered from the menu the “prosciutto” (san marzano tomato sauce, crisp prosciutto, provolone piccante cheese, fresh arugula) ($19) which was quite good with an amazing crust but not quite the amount of flavour I would have hoped for. We also ordered a special of the day from the chalkboard on the wall which was a squash sauce-based affair with, I believe, rocket on top. This was surprisingly tasty and worked quite well despite thinking it might be a bit sweet. It is the crust here that is so good on both of these pizzas - Thin and with the sauce not going all the way to the edges there is a generous, crispy, ring of crust around the outside that is to die for. Wonderful.

For dessert we tried one of each of the desserts on offer here but we particularly enjoyed the “peanut butter + chocolate terrine” (house made marshmallow, roasted peanuts) ($9) which was wonderfully decadent though we don't know how anyone could eat one themselves (we shared all three between the four of us and were very, very full afterwards). Of course, peanut butter and chocolate is a marriage made in heaven so this was always going to work. As expected, it was very thick but, surprisingly, not as sickly sweat as you might have thought.

The service was wonderful with our server knowing a great deal about every dish (at one point he was going on for several minutes about one dish - long after we had determined we were going to get it but we listened politely, if not really paying all that much attention). The place got so busy as it got towards 7 pm that this attention did somewhat get lost but we were more than happy.

The ambiance was rustic and cramped. But perfectly fine for a pizza place. Quite welcoming.

If you are in the area, give it a try. Can't say it has the most outlandish or strongest flavours but it is quite good indeed.

Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”

Review Date: 2015-01-25

Cuisine: Italian

Address: 618 17th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2S 0B4

Location: Calgary (Canada) - Alberta

Map:

Telephone: +1 (403) 453 1183

URL: http://www.unapizzeria.com/