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| - Things started off well: the hostess was friendly, and offered us a choice of tables. Our waiter was engaging and accommodating. The ambiance is just right for the neighbourhood: bustling, loud, family-friendly. It's not trying to be anything it isn't, but the space is well-lit, and first impressions - other than a regrettable varnish/paint smell, which really ought to be gone after several months - were positive. Our food came out fairly quickly, but that's where things took a turn for the "meh".
While there was nothing specifically wrong with the two pizzas we had, there was precious little right about them either. Although the crust looked right - just a hint of bubbling and scorching at the edges - the effect on the palate was... nothing much. Bland? Floury, perhaps. In any case, devoid of that magical whatever-it-is that the best Neapolitan-style pizza provides.
So too the pizza toppings: the porchetta managed somehow to be similarly lacking in flavour, and the texture was also not to my liking; I hesitate to speculate, but I wouldn't swear that it had never been frozen. The margherita suffered from the same crust issues, and its tomato sauce was identifiable chiefly from its red colour, and location on top of a pizza, rather than any memorable tomato flavour.
Hoping to liven up my dinner, I reached for the chili oil; devoid of anything I couldn't have got by chewing a chili and taking a shot of cooking oil, it provided heat and disappointment in equal measure. Preparation of a decent chili oil ought to include more than just literally those two ingredients artlessly combined. The bolognese sauce on the pasta dish was somewhat better, managing to provide some flavour, but for the money that's the least it could do.
In the end, food vs. value is what lets this restaurant down: the food would be alright if it cost less, but with its pizzas going for $17-$19, Via Mercanti on Gerrard prices itself into a league in which it simply isn't competitive.
I know that the Kensington branch of Via Mercanti was founded by chefs who had previously worked in Italy, and subsequently at Queen Margherita, but that heavyweight resume just highlights the failings of the Gerrard incarnation. As dinner here costs the same as dinner at Queen Margherita or Libretto, I'm unable to find any reason why I'd bother returning to Via Mercanti.
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