On King Street West every weekend, you’ll find lineups outside doors with loud music and modern interiors, advertising clubs and cocktails.
But, the area’s newest hotspot takes on a non-traditional vibe, with funky disco music emanating from the basement space Wednesdays through Sundays. Descending the steps of Pizza Wine Disco is to enter a space that’s half traditional Neapolitan pizza parlour, half club.
Pizza Wine Disco was built by co-partners Adam Szabo, Luca Di Donato and Gurpreet Khailley. Szabo and Di Donato in particular are two under-thirty Etobicoke guys with a passion for the industry. Di Donato comes from experience, as his family are behind Liberty Grand, Cibo and other restaurants in the city. The two have been friends for a long time, and their youthful energy is very present in their restaurant.
Modern clean lines and benches in warm colours are spread out around a massive bar and open kitchen, where pizzas like the mushroom truffle, the hot and honey and the pistachio mortadella come from a paddle in a window. The piece de resistance, though, is the PWD saganaki, crafted with saganaki and bocconcini cheeses that are literally set on fire when served.
The thin crust pizza is light and crispy, cooked fresh and served in individual portions, with modern Italian shareables like a charcuterie board, polenta bites, and lobster ravioli also on the menu. The wine menu is big enough to provide options, but small enough not to be overwhelming, and the cocktail menu offers drinks with gin, tequila and elderflower liquer bases.
At night, all of the tables are moved and the bar becomes the focal point, turning into more of a club with the same funky disco music playing and bottle service available.
If you’re going to call a place Pizza Wine Disco, you better deliver on all three, and make them good enough to be worth the title. At 788 King Street, Pizza Wine Disco kept their promise.