Sam Sourabh knows a thing or two about pizza. Prior to moving to Ottawa in July 2019, he managed a Pizza Pizza store in Winnipeg.

Sourabh was in Ottawa less than a year when the COVID-19 pandemic started. As the Ontario government began to lift the COVID restrictions in the spring of 2022, Sam decided to open a pizzeria in the south end of Ottawa on Riverside Drive.

Viraj Patel (left) and Sam Sourabh (right) are co-owners of Cosenza Pizza N’ Calzones which has replaced House of Pizza in the Convent Glen Shopping Plaza. FRED SHERWIN/PHOTO

Despite the obvious challenges of start-ing a new business in the shadow of the pandemic, the pizzeria slowly gained in popularity among the locals and things took off. The pizzeria has a 4.7 rating on Uber Eats based on 3,290 reviews.

In November, Sourabh heard that the former owners of the House of Pizza in the Convent Glen Shopping Plaza were looking to sell the business.

After the two brothers talked things over, they decided to buy it. The first thing they did was to change the name to Cosenza Pizza N’ Calzones.

The second and most important thing they did was to improve the ingredients and bring them up to the same standards that are the reason behind the success of the Riverside location.

“We’ve basically taken what was working for us on Riverside and brought it here,” says Sourabh. “For instance, we use the best quality pepperoni and sausage we can find.”

The third thing they did which seems to be resonating with local pizza lovers was to expand the menu. Besides the old standards like Pepperoni, Meat Lovers, Margherita,
and Hawaiian pizzas, they also make a Butter Chicken Pizza, along with a Steak Supreme Pizza, a Donair Meat Pizza and a BBQ Chicken Ranch Pizza.

Their Cosenza Special Pizza is also very popular. The toppings include thinly sliced prosciutto, black olives and artichokes on a thin crust pizza with an olive oil drizzle and a dusting of grated Parmesan cheese.

The pizzas can all be ordered with your choice of sauce, including pizza sauce, meat sauce, BBQ sauce, garlic sauce and butter chicken sauce.

Besides the different pizzas, Sourahb also put calzones on the menu. A calzone is basically a small sized pizza folded on itself, to make an inside-out version.

“It’s a lot less messy than your regular pizza and you can eat it with either your hands or a knife and fork,” says Sourabh.

Two other menu items of note are their garlic dipping sauce, which is also made in-house and quite frankly delicious, and their pizza dough balls which are liberally brushed with garlic butter both before and after baking.

There are lots of reasons to give Cosenza Pizza N’ Calzones a try. You can order home delivery through either Uber Eats, or Skip the Dishes, or you can pick it up yourself and save 10 per cent on your bill.

Cosenza Pizza N’ Calzone is located at 6505 Jeanne D’Arc. Blvd. North on the east side of the Convent Glen Shopping Plaza nearest to Orléans Blvd.