Every neighborhood has a cozy dependable pizzeria in Montreal. The West Island has a handful of great pizzerias. I discovered Athena Pizzeria in Pierrefonds-Roxboro close to Boulevard Sources. This fine eatery is no stranger to the loyal patrons of the area. If you bowl at Bowl-O-Drome, you will most likely grab a sub or pizza at Athena Pizzeria.
After a long week, my wife and I treat ourselves to take-out food on Saturdays. We both agreed we wanted to try the pizza. We are not big fans of fast-food pizza. Old-school pizza was more up our alley. I wanted to try something new. Athena Pizzeria had been under my radar a few months ago. I felt it was time to try them a try. I am surprised it took me only 15 minutes from Saint-Charles Boulevard to get there. If you have a car, Athena Pizzeria is very accessible from the northern part of the West Island.
Brent Mavridis and his partner Alex have both run Athena Pizzeria for almost 10 years. They have built a base of returning satisfied customers in the area. I met Brent earlier this year for another restaurant review for BeaverTails Vaudreuil. Brent is a busy beaver. It was there that I got to appreciate his hard-working ethic. He told me of his other food establishment. Does this guy sleep? I told him I should try some of his food at his pizzeria one day.
Brent told me that is inspired by his dad. His dad has been a restaurant owner since Brent was a kid. He always admired and looked up to him, so he followed suit. Brent worked at his dad’s restaurant and many others. Brent opened his own restaurant called Athena Pizzeria in 2013. After long hours, 7 days a week Brent was able to build it up into a well-known spot.
I went there on the weekend and met Brent’s partner Alex, who told me he uses only the freshest ingredients. But, there was an ingredient he failed to mention, his enthusiasm. It glowed when I met him. I admire his dedication to his craft. Brent spoke very highly of Alex before meeting him. Brent said that Alex started as a delivery driver and noticed he had potential and was great at his job. Over the years, Brent coached him in the kitchen and he is a big part of the pizzeria’s success. They partnered up before the pandemic and have been at it since then. They both stressed to me that they pride themselves on using fresh food with quality ingredients. As prices increase on supply items, they stick to the same ingredients. It makes things hard for them but we don’t want to risk disappointment.
I had the “Athena Special” pizza. It came loaded with pepperoni, bacon, mushrooms, onions, green peppers, and lots of mozzarella cheese. There is nothing like taking a slice of pizza with a nice cold cola. The thing that makes or breaks it for me in a pizza is the tomato sauce. The “Athena” tomato sauce was the right taste to please my hunger without a sour taste. They have ten different pizza choices to pick from. You can get plain, Québécois, all dressed, vegetarian, meat lovers, Hawaiin, meat sauce, steak, and of course the Athena Special.
My wife had the chicken submarine, it was wrapped with chicken, green peppers, onions, and mushrooms. My wife drenched her sub with the house sauce. She really enjoyed her sub, it is not every pizzeria that gets a chicken sub right. Some pizzerias just include the chicken sub to say they carry chicken. Her experience was very enjoyable, she really liked the taste. She has not had a good sub in a long time. Besides chicken submarines, you can get standard subs with steak and pepperoni, steak and mushrooms, steak and grilled onions, and the Athena Special which is loaded with steak, bacon, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, and green peppers.
We both shared a large helping of fries. Generally, pizza restaurants have some of the best fries, you will find a great assortment of poutines. Athena does not fail. One of my favorite poutines is Italian poutine. I did not have this succulent dish. I was stuffed with my pizza. You can customize your poutine with Italian sausage, pepperoni, Gyro, chicken, bacon, peppers, mushrooms, and onions.
We topped off our meal with a house special dessert called “Lydia’s Delights” which is fried dough with cinnamon, sugar, and Nutella. We enjoyed dunking the fried dough bites into the Nutella cup. It was to die for.
The one thing that impressed me about Athena Pizzeria is that they also offer Souvlaki plates and pitas. You can get chicken souvlaki pita with lettuce, tomatoes, and tzatziki. Gyros pita with onions, tomatoes, and tzatziki. If meat is not your thing, then a vegetarian pita is perfect with onions, lettuce, tomatoes, feta, tzatziki, and cucumbers.
But there is more, they also have pasta offerings such as spaghetti and lasagna. There is just about every time of meal you would want your local pizzeria to carry. After a long day at work you deserve a break, call in your order or use your app and pick up your food when you leave the train at Sunnybrooke. You can eat there also. It is so convenient. You should try Athena Pizzeria, you will not regret it.
Athena Pizzeria is located at 10421 Boul. Gouin West, Roxboro. You can call them directly at (514) 613-4343 or order with ubereats.com, skipthedishes.com, doordash.com. The online menu is easy to order from. Give Brent Mavridis, Alex, and his staff a go. Athena Pizzeria is a great pizzeria on the West Island. Planning a big event? They also cater. Once you try Athena Pizzeria, you will become a regular!
Review by Tony Medeiros.