Pizza Night @ Without Papers

Last weekend was Date Night for D and I – we were going to the hockey game and decided to go to dinner beforehand.  I had a craving for pizza so we decided on Without Papers.  We’ve visited once before, quite a few years ago and decided it was time to pay them another visit.  As usual, I made reservations using my Open Table account (which if you don’t already have, I’d highly recommend signing up for.  Find out why here).

Without Papers is a local pizzeria located in the trendy neighbourhood of Inglewood.  It’s located on the top floor of one of many historical buildings within the area.  There’s a bit of a hike up a steep flight of stairs to get to it, but once you’re upstairs its bright and airy, with the kitchen, bar and hostess stand near the back and a variety of pub tables and a bar seating around the staircase (such a smart use of space!).

When we arrived we were greeted warmly and promptly seated at a table in the corner, next to the window.  Our waitress came by and dropped off glasses of water while we perused the drink menu.  Their drink menu is pretty limited to beer and wine, so we both chose beers.  I ordered a Stiegel Radler, which is a grapefruit beer, and D ordered a Peroni which is an Italian beer.

While we waited for our drinks we eyed up the menu and decided to start with a caesar salad, and each get our own pizza.  I chose the Hawaiian 5-0 which was made up of Canadian back bacon, pineapple, jalapenos, aged cheddar and mozzarella.  D chose the Hutch which was topped with Calabrese salami, Genoa salami, pepperonata, and mozzarella.  This also came with a warning that this was spicy, which is part of the reason why he chose it (he loves heat!).

Our salad came shortly after we ordered our pizzas and it looked really good. I’m pretty picky when it comes to caesar salad – a) the dressing needs to have flavour and not be too garlicky b) there needs to be the right amount of dressing (not overloaded so it’s soggy but not dry either) and c) the lettuce needs to be crisp and fresh.  This version had the perfect amount of dressing and the dressing was delicious – creamy and with the right amount of garlic.  The only disappointment was with the lettuce itself – I prefer the dark, leafy part of the lettuce and it was mostly the stalks (I think that’s the word?). Not sure if this is normal for them or just a one-off.  Either way, it was still pretty good and we finished it off.

Then our pizza’s came.  I remember the pizza’s being good the last time ate here, but I don’t remember them being this good.  The pizzas have a super thin crust and are loaded with toppings.  This means that the crust can get a little soggy once it’s sat for a while but that doesn’t bother me one bit.  I must admit I removed the jalapeno’s from mine but I like that they leave a hint of heat behind.  Because of the light crust, you can easily eat more of your pizza than you would usually which is why I love thin crust pizza.

I had a slice of D’s pizza and his was really good too – albeit a bit too spicy for my taste.  He piles Sriracha and chill flakes on almost anything he can and likes the feeling of his mouth burning.  Me not so much.

Despite devouring almost all of our pizzas, we wanted to end our meal with a light dessert, and chose the Tiramisu.  It was really good and the perfect size to share.  The best thing about our meal is that we left full but not stuffed, which is surprising given how much we ate!

Now the one thing I have to mention that I was disappointed with was the service.  While our waitress was prompt and efficient, she was almost to efficient.  While I don’t like wait staff that don’t know when to stop talking, a little bit of conversation/pleasantries are nice.  She never asked us how we were or explained any of the specials or features, or asked if we had any questions.  When Darren’s pizza arrived, it was the incorrect order, and she apologized, whisked the pizza away and brought the correct pizza out shortly thereafter, so we appreciated how quickly that was dealt with that situation.  However, once we finished our pizzas, she took our empty plates away and then promptly brought us our bill.  She never asked if we wanted anything further (such as um, dessert?) so when she came by to ask if we needed the debit machine, I actually mentioned to her that we’d like to see a dessert menu.  She apologized and said she had simply forgotten and brought us the menu right away.  However, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that she wanted us out of there ASAP, which was annoying.   I hate being rushed when out for a meal.   I’m not sure if she was at the end of her shift or just anxious for us to move on, but either way, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

Despite the customer service snafu, we were really pleased with our meal overall and would definitely return.  The delicious pizza made up for the oversight in service, and I’d totally recommend it as a place to curb your pizza craving in Calgary.

Where’s your favourite pizza from?  Let me know below.

Thanks for reading!