For many years, the Victory Café was a beloved gathering place for west-end denizens. Now, there’s a new Toronto legend setting up shop in the red-brick Victorian.
Pizzeria Badiali is opening a second, larger location in Mirvish Village on May 11. The popular Toronto by-the-slice shop was the first business approached to launch there, making them an ad-hoc anchor store in the newly redeveloped stretch of Markham Street.
“It was amazing for us to be the first one they approached. We had started looking, but we didn’t want to just go in the bottom of a condo or anything,” says co-owner Ryan Baddeley, whose chef bona fides include Bar Isabel, Bar Raval and the Paradise Theatre. “Our first location being an older building in a neighbourhood was something that a lot of people are drawn to and we loved being a part of a neighbourhood.”
Pizzeria Badiali opened on Dovercourt Road in 2021 and quickly became one of the city’s most talked-about pizza spots, drawing regular lineups, selling out early and landing on multiple “best of Toronto” lists and scoring international pizza accolades.
Wander south down Markham Street from Bloor and, after passing a cluster of condos, you’ll discover construction crews busy at work. This area was once a little bohemian enclave, housing art bookstores and vintage emporiums in charming old Victorians. Now, the original 10 building facades still remain, while the interiors get modern makeovers.
After the success of their Dovercourt location, the Badiali owners had been toying with the idea of opening a second. When the Mirvish Village developers came knocking, they knew they offered something that, according to Baddeley, can be hard to come by in Toronto: lots of foot traffic, thanks to the development’s pedestrian-forward focus as well as the nearby condos and schools. And as a primarily by-the-slice operation, the joint needs a steady flow of it. “We see a lot of this neighbourhood changing, which is amazing,” Baddeley says, “with a lot of walking traffic, a little bit younger.”
The new location is housed in a handsome brick heritage building on a corner lot, their signature “Badiali” hand-painted sign now splayed across the window. Soon other businesses will join, including a book-themed bar and another Blackbird bakery location; there’s also talk of an architecture firm opening up next door, plus a high-end salon, a Korean restaurant and daycare. Opening dates range from this spring and summer to fall and beyond.
The Palmerston Area Residents’ Association formed the Mirvish Village Task Group with neighbouring residents’ associations in 2013 and spent years working with councillors, city planners and the developer to shape a vision focused on heritage, affordable housing, green space and independent small businesses, according to PARA board member Elizabeth Lane. Thirteen years later, they feel their mission was a success. “We are thrilled to see that vision come to life today, and now Pizza Badiali — a vibrant local business — is joining the community” Lane says.
Passersby have already been stopping to look inside ahead of opening day. Baddeley anticipates a bit of a mob scene on opening day, given how wild the demand is for their pizza. They routinely go through 400 pies a day. The high demand has brought some challenges in the past, including complaints about the noise, garbage and lines, along with patrons settling in to eat their pizza on a nearby church’s steps. The pizzeria has worked to control the issues, installing line ropes and doing frequent garbage pick-ups, practices they will also implement at the new Mirvish Village location. “Luckily, this neighbourhood knows that this is and was a commercial shopping district, so I feel like they’ll have a little bit more understanding than that than, obviously, Dovercourt,” Baddeley says.
The Mirvish Village Business Improvement Area says it’s aware the original location has experienced very high demand, according to Mirvish Village BIA coordinator Melanie Ramsay. “That popularity can sometimes come with crowds and related impacts,” Ramsay says. “We’re confident those lessons will inform operations here.”
For nearby residents, the return of retail activity is welcome after years of construction. “I’m ready for the Mirvish Village construction to end and for businesses to come back to that block and start drawing people to the neighbourhood,” says John Maynard, who has lived in the area for a decade, adding that he’s not worried about any potential hubbub. “People seem to have fond memories of Honest Ed’s with a line wrapping around the block and being a big draw. This is what you want from a vibrant neighbourhood.”
Badiali joins a long tradition of pizza places in the neighbourhood as well. There are at least nine pizza joints within a 10-minute walk of the new pizzeria, but whether you can ever have enough pizza is debatable. “Pizza is always good, honestly — like I’ve never got sick of it after five years,” Baddeley says. “I think there’s some foods that are just craveable all the time.”
