Pizza Balagan draws wide praise for its New York-style pies, with a thin, crackly crust and a chewy center, and dough crafted with care from high-quality, locally sourced ingredients; flavors are deeply satisfying and the balance of tomato, cheese, and toppings is praised across varieties like mushroom-truffle and margherita. The concise menu and the skill evident in every pie stand out as strengths, with the dough repeatedly described as excellent thanks to years of refinement by the owner. Service is warm and attentive, creating a welcoming neighborhood spot where passion for pizza shines through in every bite. Reviewers call it among Montreal's best, note great value for money, and describe the experience as special, sometimes underrated, and well worth a visit, including dessert pizzas as memorable treats.
I am so disappointed of my experience here... I had great expectations from all the hype, press & reviews this place was getting, so I placed an order for their OG margarita & Capricieuse...
The dough. He allegedly spent 7 years perfecting this as per his interview. The slice did stay straight nicely when holding, the tickness & size of the pizza & crust is overall great. But that's all visual aspect, the moment you bite into it, you get dense bite resistant chew (not the good kind of chewy you'd expect from a pizza), it was gummy. The crust was even worst, it felt like I was eating cardboard. I had a slice at room temp & one re-heated at 425, both gave the same mouth feel. Almost on part with the mouth feel of Dominos...
Sauce. You dont taste it at all, & the cheese is most likely the culprit.
The cheese. The owner is French, & the selection of cheeses he decided on his pizza is clearly influenced by his background. That part is not innately a bad thing, if done right, & I feel like he missed the mark big time on this one. He add a 2 years old Gouda Cheese which add a nutty, funky, salty flavour to the pizza, on the OG Magarita, its not bad, I do see his vision, it adds some depth, but combined with a weak sauce that barely comes forward & a dough that is heavy & dense just does not harmonize.
The Capricieuse was the worst pizza I ever had in my life. On their advertised pictures, it disaplayed a crumbled style goat cheese, what I received seems to be Oka cheese?? See my picture as reference. Nothing like their picture & it was so pungent & funky, it was revolting. You taste NOTHING but that cheese, its too much, as I am writing this, I am starting to think that they did a mistake or might have substituted their goat cheese with whatever this was... I had 2 slices & each bite was just pungent, oily cheese with gummy dough. I had 1 slice & a half & I threw the rest of the pizza in the garbage. I ate at more than 30+ pizza places in Montreal & I never threw an entire pie à la poubelle. The cheese just overwhelmed everything... & I felt scammed to see a pizza with what seems to be the wrong cheese that clearly ruined the pizza.
The French twist to their pizza is just not it. It was heavy & nauseous. It looked like pizza but it was by far from a pizza.
Owner, I need an answer/explanation on my Capricieuse.
