Assembli opened their first location on Cambie Street approximately 3 years ago. Recently, they opened their second location Downtown. We came to their first location to experience this custom made pizza during lunchtime. Essentially, you choose the toppings through an assembly line that you do in Subway. Assembli charges a flat rate for either pizza or salad, and you get to put as much stuff on it as possible. The smart thing about this type of ordering style is that you can never blame the restaurant for things tasting bad as long as they provide fresh ingredients.
Strength: Simple fee structure. Highly customizable. Fast serving speed
Weakness: A little expensive
Other Pizza Places
- Uncle Fatih’s Pizza (3.5 Stars)
- Via Tevere Pizzeria Napoletana (5 Stars)
Assembli Facing Cambie
Assembli is located right next to Pepper Lunch. They share the same recess for entrance. These two restaurants are located in the less foot traffic area of Cambie Street. The large clear windows let passerby see what is inside.
Inside of Assembli
The interior space has high ceiling and feels spacious. As soon as I entered the store, the corridor to the right immediately leads me towards the front counter. I looked up to see the menu divided into two main categories, Salad or Pizza. One the major category is picked I get to decide whether to customize my own toppings or use one of the presets.
Busy displays
Assembli has very busy interior displays. They are associated with Ritual App and Foodora delivery service. There are promotional signs at different locations. The beverage cooler was located conveniently in front of the ordering counter so I just grabbed one without considering the fountain drink.
Convenient Station
The convenient station has everything you need to enjoy your pizza or salad. This is also the location where Assembli stores their folded pizza boxes. They were placed neatly so the bright red colored boxes become part of the decor. Customers have a choice between metal utensils or recyclable ones. I picked the recyclable ones to conserve water 😛
A good pizza starts with the dough. Assembli’s pizza dough is a hybrid between Neapolitan and New York style. There is thick dough at some parts and crispy airy crust at other places. At Assembli, we start at the corner where they put the dough, and they will grab one of these doughs to start your customization.
Lots of fresh toppings
There are 3 sections of toppings. The toppings here all seem to be quite fresh. I am a little concerned that they have no lids.
Prep area behind the topping areas
There are 3 ovens behind the topping area. The pizza move down the line and the staff just turn around to put the pizza into the oven for baking. The cooking process took about 2 minutes, so the turn over rate is quite fast.
Gourmet style pizza made by myself
Ordering a pizza and enjoy it is one thing, but being able to choose the toppings down to every little detail and see it cooked right after is a whole other thing. I don’t think I know anywhere else that offers this type of customization. The best part of having customers picking their toppings is Assembli won’t be liable if the pizza doesn’t taste good. So I’m gonna say the pizza tasted really good because I picked the topping. There are thickness variations at different parts of the pizza, so it is a little inconsistency in the workmanship here.
604 Food Critic Assessment
I think $14 per pizza is a fair price to charge because of the space required for customizing pizza. The authentic pizza places are more expensive, but they also have a better topping selection, so we cannot compare Assembli to them. If we compare all the big-name franchises like Pizza Hut, Fresh Slice, and Domino, etc, Assembli is more expensive, but also has more of an artisan feel to it.
Menu
How to get in touch
- Phone: (604) 873-1253
- Address: 2325 Cambie St, Vancouver
- Hours: 10:00 am – 10:00 pm, Saturday and Sunday 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
