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| - I headed to Cugini's *really* wanting to love it since the West Island has been, alas, a bit of a wasteland in terms of quality pizza joints for a while now. Heck, the island of Montreal as a whole could do a lot better in general, but I digress. Most places in the area have the thick dough and greasy toppings that fill you up on a budget, and I was quite hopeful Cugini's was going to be a breath of fresh air and a bite of fresh pie after having read some online chatter about the chef/owner, Germano, featuring a "New York-style" pizza at his establishment after returning home from having worked in Brooklyn for several years.
Well, having enjoyed several transcendent slices in the Big Apple and the boroughs at spots like Co., Lucali, and others, I'd say he comes close... but there's still some definite room for improvement.
On a positive note, the ingredients at Cugini's are good. Great, even. The toppings are fresh, relatively innovative, and unlike the run-of-the-mill presliced pepperoni-in-a-bag that goes onto 95% of the other pies in the West Island. The crust is superior. Germano himself will come out, introduce himself, talk to you, and solicit feedback, and it's clear that this is a passionate chef who is very proud of his business and product. So from a customer service standpoint I would also say "A1."
On the flip side, as good as those ingredients are, in my view, there simply aren't enough of them, especially on thinner-crusted pizza that runs in the $17 range for a 12" or up to $26 for a 16". Now granted, for gourmet - though in this case, "artisanal" may be more apt, since the toppings are not particularly extravagant - pizza I would expect to pay more, and potentially get a less "weighty" or "doughy" crust than your standard joint. But... I would also expect to get something of substance in every bite, and in the pies I've had at Cugini's to date, that hasn't been the case. The dough is flavorful and has a nice crisp and chew to it, but all too frequently that is all you are biting into, along with whatever the sauce may be. Meats, cheeses, and veg are more judiciously distributed as toppings, and just don't cover enough of the pizza as a whole.
I was on the fence between three stars or four as a rating here, but am posting four because Cugini's and its owner deserve a chance to thrive, so I would encourage you to give it a shot if you haven't yet. The West Island needs more original pizza spots, so for the moment let's hope Cugini's can evolve, get into the black once startup costs are covered, then sink some profits back into sourcing more generous toppings on its star products.
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