Seattle's Best Pizza is Nearby (2024)

Bar del Corso's exemplary pie.

Seattle’s in the throes of a pizza renaissance, no doubt. But we’ve always been a town that’s serious about its pies and slices, from the mid-aughts Neapolitan heyday to our current deep-dish obsession. However, the best pizza is often the one that’s close to home. Here, our favorite New York slices, Sicilian squares, and seasonal sourdough pies across Seattle and beyond.

Jump to Your Neighborhood:

Bainbridge Island / Ballard / Beacon Hill / Bellevue / Belltown / Capitol Hill / CentralDistrict/ Chinatown–International District / Denny Regrade / First Hill / Fremont / Georgetown / Greenwood / Kenmore / Kirkland / Madison Park / Maple Leaf / MercerIsland / Montlake / Mount Baker / Phinney Ridge / Pioneer Square / Portage Bay/ Queen Anne / Rainier Beach / Ravenna / SoDo / South Park / Waterfront / University District / West Seattle / White Center / Various

Bainbridge Island

Bruciato

The former address of a beloved hardware store is now the handsome, cavernous home of Brendan McGill’s Neapolitan pizza restaurant. Strict Naples tradition yields delicate, wood-fired pies you cut with your own scissors. Toppings are split between classic restraint (margherita, quattro formaggi) and flavor forays, like the version topped with dates and prosciutto. Open for lunch and dinner, with some big roll-up windows in front that can approximate outdoor seating.

Ballard

Delancey

Brandon Pettit’s pies may honor New York by way of Naples, but Delancey’s charm draws firmly from the Northwest, in topping combos that balance tomato brightness with pairings like Zoe’s bacon, cremini mushrooms, and basil. When Delancey opened in 2009, the pizza vaulted it into Seattle institution status, even before you throw in the impeccable salads, wood-fired odes to seasonal produce, and those bittersweet chocolate chip cookies dusted with gray salt.

Frelard Pizza Co.

The New York–ish pies at Ethan Stowell’s original pizza joint are lovely, topped with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, and black olives or a play on carbonara. But the charm of this place is in the big picture: the ample patio, the Stowellian chopped salads, the easy beer and wine selections. The children’s play area that’s definitely still closed, because Covid. This location, and the newer one in Ballard, also offer delivery via DoorDash.

Patxi’s

The California-based chain has a location on Ballard Avenue with the old-brick neighborhood’s standard-issue “been there forever” aesthetic, plus some covered outdoor tables to remind you, it’s definitely 2022. These are the sort of pies that put skeptics off deep-dish, given the big, bready jolt of crust around the edges. But the online ordering interface is incredibly convenient (you can even specify whether to pre-slice that pie) and bursts of fresh garlic and tangy sauce keep this pizza’s midsection on point.

Serious Takeout

When Tom Douglas converted his commissary kitchen into a takeout hub, he essentially gave the neighborhood an outpost of his pizza restaurant—one close to the brewery zone. The pies should look familiar to fans of Serious Pie: rustic, personal-size crusts with a blistery crackle and satisfying chew. Not to mention toppings that make smart decisions with seasonal Northwest produce. As the name implies, this place only does takeout, but tented picnic tables offer some outdoor seating.

Sunny Hill

To call this Sunset Hill spot a pizza restaurant undersells the burger, the meatballs, and the unexpectedly beautiful vegetable dishes that remind you chef Jason Stoneburner is a partner here. But Sunny Hill puts out two very different styles of excellent pizza: round, wood-fired pies and thick-crust square pies, a slightly upscale Detroit riff (the latter sells out fast). Both come topped with simple mozzarella, or various veg-forward combos. Order online, or dine indoors or on the patio.

Beacon Hill

Bar del Corso

One of the city’s most indispensable Italian restaurants lives a double life as a neighborhood hub. Bothof its identities hinge on Jerry Corso’s pizza—crusts blistered from the wood-fired oven, toppings simple and seasonal. Bar del Corso also supplies the warmest of hospitality, great negronis, and a convivial covered back patio.

Breezy Town Pizza

Windy City Pie’s younger sibling operates inside the Clock-Out Lounge, baking pies that hover stylistically somewhere between Chicago and Detroit. In other words, it’s Midwestern pan pizza: all that same crisped-cheese goodness, with a sourdough crust and Wisconsin brick cheese blended with mozzarella. The Pepperoni Paint Job, with its dual layers of meat, is a great introduction, but the experimental specials, like slices inspired by vegan reubens or quiche or everything bagels, are weirdly wonderful.

Bellevue

Resonate Brewery and Pizzeria

Why yes, an aging strip mall in the Newport Hills part of Bellevue is home to a legit pizzeria, where oblong Roman-style pies arrive on a personal sheet pan. Crusts have admirable chew, and toppings update classic parlor combos with high-quality meat. Even better, Resonate brews its own beer, an accessible spectrum from kolsch to imperial coffee stout, plus a gaggle of IPAs.

Belltown

Rocco’s

Thisimpressive bar prioritizes pizza and co*cktails equally. This means mega-slices to accompany a perfect negroni, but also whole pies that are delicious in their own right, like an unexpectedly legit banh mi pizza.

Serious Pie

Tom Douglas Restaurants’ pandemic recovery plan involved merging two of the restaurateur’s best concepts to replace a legend. The former home of Dahlia Lounge now holds Serious Pie and its oval pizzas—crackling, puffed crusts topped with Northwest-friendly combos like potatoes, rosemary, and pecorino (even better if you add lardo). The other end of the room holds an enlarged Dahlia Bakery pastry counter for all your mochi doughnut and coconut cream pie needs.

Capitol Hill

Bar Cotto

When Ethan Stowell sold his pizzeria on 15th Avenue, the new owner kept the bubbly wood-fired pies, the salumi platters and burrata, and the feel of a neighborhood restaurant on a block usually defined by destination dining.One of the servers looks awfully familiar.

Big Mario’s

The New York–style pizzeria was designed as a hangover antidote to the post-drinking masses, dispensing enormous foldable slices until 2am. Mario’s is pie that recalls childhood pizza parlors, 14- or 18-inch rounds with pillowy cornicione that come with a satisfying range of toppings, from pear and gorgonzola to a multitude of meats. But it’s hard to beat the massive wedges of pepperoni, sold by the slice for barely $5 apiece.

Blotto

The pandemic’s critical mass of great pizza popups has already yielded a brick-and-mortar evolution, trading advance orders and fixed weeklyhours for walkup-only pies on 12th Avenue. Right now, pizza only happens Wednesday through Saturday, but packs the same charm—naturally leavened crust meets clever seasonal combos. The kitchen has particular fun with an expanded list of sides.

Cornelly

One of the phenoms of Seattle’s naturally leavened pizzeria new guard tops its pies with seasonality: roasted leeks with za’atar, foraged mushrooms and confit garlic. But Cornelly also harbors a deep-dish alter ego. The kitchen used to make limited-edition Detroit-style pizza, then upped the stakes to roughly a dozen deep-dish pies every night—round and tangy with a crunchy bottom and enticing wisps of crisped cheese.

Dino’s Tomato Pie

Brandon Pettit may make cerebrally beautiful thin-crust pies across town at Delancey, but his Olive Way pizza bar (no minors, open 'til 2am) leans hard into the chef’s Jersey roots: thick-crusted squares that riff on Sicily with bright sauce, first-rate toppings, and a high quotient of char. Pettit’s pizza scholarship surfaces in those caramelized crusts, but Dino’s also does some thin pies, combining tavern vibes with high-quality cheese. Delivery is available via GrubHub.

Southpaw

To continue the boxing metaphors that permeate John Sundstrom’s pizza tavern, this place punches way above its class. The James Beard–winning chef turned Lark’s original home on 12th Avenue into a wood-fired early adopter of local grains. Southpaw tops its crusts (somehow both chewy and crunchy) with cool seasonal combos like basil-mint pesto with sausage and feta, or roasted mushrooms with lardo. A gluten-free crust and online ordering broaden the appeal even further—ditto the starters, the soft serve, and JM Enos’s signature salted chocolate chip cookie.

Via Tribunali

A reliable bastion of Neapolitan tradition began as a sibling to fellow Italophile Caffe Vita. Now it’s a pair of locations in the capable hands of Mark McConnell and Cecilia Rikard, forging a new era of invitingly rustic dining rooms, free-flowing barbera, and scrupulous thin-crust pies.

Central District

Central Pizza

Jackson Street’s go-to parlorbrings the basic pizza of our youth into twenty-first century Seattle with combos like the Kale-Zer Soze, which covers bechamel sauce with bacon, cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, and the city’s favorite fibrous green.Hospitality reins—an entire section of vegetarian pies, a gluten-free crust option, a willingness to do half-and-half pies, provided the base sauce is the same. Right now just a few booths seat dine-in pizza-eaters, but call directly for takeout aplenty (or order third-party delivery online).

Chinatown–International District

Humble Pie

There is perhaps no restaurant in Seattle better suited for Covid times (or even regular Northwest life) than this vine-twined compound on a stretch of Rainier just south of Little Saigon.HumblePieis almost entirely open air (much of it covered), with picnic tables lined up beneath strings of lights, or tucked alongside the chicken coop responsible for any eggs that might adorn your wood-firedpie. But the pizza procured from the no-frills walkup window would be marvelous in any setting, thin but with plenty of spring in the chew, topped withclever blendsof organic apples, Beecher’s Flagship cheese, and spiced walnuts, or smoked eggplant with cherry tomatoes and red onions.

World Pizza

This comfortably worn vegetarian pizza bar fits in surprisingly well in Chinatown, with slices and pies that pair utilitarian crusts with clever topping combos. The signature rosemary-potato-gorgonzola pizza migrated from the original Belltown location, as did the plate-sized chocolate chip cookies.

Denny Regrade

Willmott’s Ghost

Renee Erickson transplanted Rome’s square pizza culture into Seattle’s roundest landmark—namely a midcentury Jetsons-go-to-Italy glamor den beneath the Amazon Spheres. The menu centers on sturdy rectangular pies with restrained toppings, equal parts classic (pepperoni, margherita) and seasonal (leek with lemon, mozzarella, and black lime). Order a whole pie to divvy up with chic two-toned scissors, or select individual squares from the glass case by the door. Willmott’s Ghost surrounds these pies with a full Ericksonian dinner menu of salads, small plates, and secondi, in a beautiful space that’s also handily open for weekday lunch. The takeout menueven includes frozen pies to heat at home.

First Hill

Italian Family Pizza

Devotees of curled pepperoni, the type that turn into tiny, crisp-edged cups inside a deck oven, grab your keys and head to First Hill. This family-owned parlor makes colossal 23-inch pies, plus calzones, stromboli, and a personal-size pizza if you can’t hang with the big pies. Equal parts chewy and golden, Italian Family’s creations sport bright tomato sauce and variations that summon visions of New Jersey—meatballs, a white pie, that cupped pepperoni. An updated pizza parlor salad completes the retro vibe, and the housemade cannoli is kind of a big deal.

Fremont

Big Mario’s

The New York–style pizzeria was designed as a hangover antidote to the post-drinking masses, dispensing enormous foldable slices until 2am. Mario’s is pie that recalls childhood pizza parlors, 14- or 18-inch rounds with pillowy cornicione that come with a satisfying range of toppings, from pear and gorgonzola to a multitude of meats. But it’s hard to beat the massive wedges of pepperoni, sold by the slice for barely $5 apiece.

Lupo

This cozy space still bears signs that it used to be a Via Tribunali. But a few years in, new owners have hit their stride in that tiny kitchen withpizzas that combine the best elements of sourdough (tangy, sturdy crusts) and Neapolitan traditions (local, seasonal ingredients, right down to the fresh Samish Bay mozz). The menu spans just six pies, including a cacio e pepe that’s worth the drive across town. Veggie sides pack just as much intrigue as the pizza, and rich housemade ice cream rivals that signature dish too.

The Masonry

The location in Tableau HQ is sleeker than the original Masonry in Queen Anne. But the pizza tastes the same: Neapolitan crusts with a blizzard of char and clever toppings like mushroom and smoked cheddar (meatless eaters have a host of great options here). Owner Matt Storm also runs a brewery project, Fast Fashion, with peripatetic brewer Brian Strumke; anyone lucky enough to snag limited releases can pick them up at this location. But if you’re here for the pizza, there’s a big covered patio.

Petoskey’s

This neighborly tavern is an ode to the big games and even bigger cuisine of the Upper Midwest. That includes the thin, square-cut pizza that proliferates in old-school joints from Madison to Mackinac. Midwestern transplants will surely notice the crusts here skew more Neapolitan than the traditional cracker-thin—Petoskey’s Italian wood-fired oven is a souvenir from the space’s previous identity and does better with that type of dough. Fans and apologists of St. Louis-style pizza, take heed—you can sub in actual provel cheese from Imo’s.

Georgetown

Flying Squirrel Pizza Co.

This affable parlor has a long-established devotion to old-school mixtape cassettes. The pizza menu, come to think of it, resembles a good mixtape, balancing classic jams (say, pepperoni with a sprinkling of fresh chopped garlic) with pies topped with pulled pork and cotija and cilantro, or bacon with caramelized onions and blue cheese. Pies come in personal and 16-inch sizes, and the “fan favorite” portion of the menu doubles down with music-driven names. Bring in a cassette for 10 percent off your pie.

Greenwood

Pizzeria la Rocca

A new arrival in Greenwood makes a great food district even better with delicate pizzas, crisped quickly in a wood oven. Like the rest of the menu, toppings skew steadfastly Italian—a quattro stagioni, salsicia and funghi, prosciutto with arugula. The owners reflect their heritage in the form of a special Romanian wine list.

Kenmore

Stoup Kenmore

Jason Stoneburner is the Dolly Parton Challenge of pizza—elegant pies at Stoneburner, Detroit-inspired squares at Sunny Hill. At the Stoup taproom, he uses local flour and coaxes memorable combos like the Dank, a white pie topped with bacon, brie, garlic, and onions. He also embraces the underappreciated genre of Grandma-style pizza, single-serving squares midway between nonna’s house and southern Italy, with admirable crunch around the edges. The covered patio is similarly impressive.

Kirkland

Deru Market

This place does everything well, from meatloaf to layer cake. But pizza makes up a significant portion of the menu—delicate California-esque pies topped with fennel sausage and kale, apple and arugula, or a no-holds-barred onslaught of bacon, potato confit, fresh mozzarella, and ample drizzles of rosemary cream. Deru is still in takeout-only mode, conducted with drill sergeant precision and genuine warmth.

Madison Park

The Independent Pizzeria

Serious dough technicians hide behind the lace curtains at this neighborly wedge of a pizzeria. Here, crusts arelight but sturdy, with edges that bubble and puff and blister in the oven. Seasonal combos feel specific to the Indie: greens, provolone, and garlic; or cremini mushrooms and sage atop fontina. The Independent might not be much for fanfare, but its pies are among the best in the city, full stop. Right now it’s takeout only.

Maple Leaf

Flying Squirrel Pizza Co.

We still miss the original location in Seward Park, but the mixtape-themed pizza hangout does right by classics and creative pies. A version topped with blue cheese, chopped spinach, and slices of herbed, lemony roasted potato suggests what might happen if you capped a pizza with really excellent french fries. Pies come in personal and 16-inch sizes, and you can get the smaller version with a gluten-free crust.

Mercer Island

Mioposto

Like its siblings, the Mercer Island outpost remains lovingly focused on its immediate neighborhood, from the all-day menu of salads, meatballs, and sandwiches to the breakfast favorites (hash, shakshuka, and yes, bacon-and-egg pizza) and coffee served every morning. And of course, the pizza—puffy and flame-blistered, topped with potatoes and fontina and gorgonzola, or sausage, salami, and pepperoni. At dinner, parents order co*cktails while kids get their own eight-inch pies.

Montlake

Cafe Lago

Over the past three decades, this institution built a rightful reputation for the city’s best lasagna. But the wood-fired pies deserve their own recognition—crusts more delicate than chewy, with a gentle crackle at first bite. A half dozen pizzas offer toppings you might find at any number of careful Italian-leaning spots around the city, but here the combinations work very much in concert, their elements as thoroughly considered as any plated dish: Red onions become transformative when thin and crispy; deep fennel flavors and a delicate grind add nuance to the accompanying sausage.

Mount Baker

Mioposto

Like its siblings, the location facing Mt. Baker park remains lovingly focused on its immediate neighborhood, from the all-day menu of salads, meatballs, and sandwiches to the breakfast favorites (hash, shakshuka, and yes, bacon-and-egg pizza) and coffee served every morning. And of course, the pizza—puffy and flame-blistered, topped with potatoes and fontina and gorgonzola, or sausage, salami, and pepperoni. At dinner, parents order co*cktails while kids get their own eight-inch pies.

Phinney Ridge

Cornuto

This Phinney Ridge spot, now in the care of brothers Andrew and Giancarlo Martino,doles out certifiedpizze napoletane. The crusts are slightly thicker than tradition—the better to support toppings like salame piccante, prosciutto di Parma, and smoked mozzarella, or an egg-crowned carbonara pie. A traditional wood-fired brick oven commands the tiny dining room, and the space hides an impressive back patio. Save room for the mezza luna Nutella, a calzone-like creation stuffed with the cocoa hazelnut spread and dusted with fruit and powdered sugar.

Windy City Pie

Dave Lichterman is Seattle’s deep-dish equivalent of that moment in Pleasantville when the black-and-white film bursts into full color. Windy City’s founder left tech to apply his meticulous brain to a caliber of Chicago-style pizza this town had never seen: a marvel of Maillard reaction and sog mitigation. This guy did preorders and sidewalk handoffs long before the pandemic. But now his pies anchor a low-key bar on Phinney Ridge, where 10 house topping combos make liberal use of sport peppers, roasted garlic, and candied bacon. (A 12-inch pie really does serve four ravenous adults.)

Pioneer Square

Bar Taglio and Kilroy’s

It’s hard to find a more handsome pizza hangout than an Art Deco–era building with one resplendent bar. Roman-style pizza has the same amount of appeal, properly lofted and bubbling with air. On top, salame and chiles, or maybe potato with rosemary and showers of pecorino. The rossa pie challenges a fundamental worldview: great pizza might not actually need cheese? Taglio offers most varieties by the slice, and chef James Lorimer’s popup, Kilroy’s, sprinkles New York–ish piesamong their square brethren. (Online ordering is for Kilroy’s only; use the actual phone to request Taglio pie for takeaway.)

Portage Bay

Johnny Mo’s

New York and Chicago pizzas share equal billing at a neighborhood parlor by the University Bridge that feels built for Little League afterparties. The deep-dish side of the menu spans 11 combos, from a sausage-topped Ditka homage to pineapple with pepperoni. The lineup of New York–style pies is downright massive, and comes in 14- and 18-inch versions (plus a gluten-free crust option). You can also order for takeout, or delivery through Caviar.

Queen Anne

Big Mario’s

The New York–style pizzeria was designed as a hangover antidote to the post-drinking masses, dispensing enormous foldable slices until 2am. Mario’s is pie that recalls childhood pizza parlors, 14- or 18-inch rounds with pillowy cornicione that come with a satisfying range of toppings, from pear and gorgonzola to a multitude of meats and a host of vegetarian combos. But it’s hard to beat the massive wedges of pepperoni, sold by the slice for barely $5 apiece.

The Masonry

Chemistry, yeast, quality ingredients: At their core, the making of great pizza and the making of great beer have lots in common. This underheralded pizzeria near Climate Change Arena forms an intersection of sorts between pizza and beer. Thin crusts underpin smartblends like prosciutto with whipped ricotta and balsamic. Owner Matt Storm is a vegetarian turned vegan; plant-focused eaters have a host of great options here.

Via Tribunali

A reliable bastion of Neapolitan tradition began as a sibling to fellow Italophile Caffe Vita. Now it’s a pair of locations in the capable hands of Mark McConnell and Cecilia Rikard, forging a new era of invitingly rustic dining rooms, free-flowing barbera, and scrupulous thin-crust pies.

Rainier Beach

Pizzeria Pulcinella

The quiet southernmost reaches of Rainier Avenue, across from the lakeshore, seems an unlikely outpost for exacting Neapolitan pizza. However a gleaming Valoriani wood-fired oven speaks to Pulcinella’s legitimacy. Pies sport thin, blistered crusts and toppings like smoked mozzarella, rapini, and sausage, or chicken and rosemary-sparked cream sauce.

Ravenna

Mioposto

Like its three siblings, the northernmost location remains lovingly focused on its immediate neighborhood, from the all-day menu of salads, meatballs, and sandwiches to the breakfast favorites (hash, shakshuka, and yes, bacon-and-egg pizza) and coffee served every morning. And of course, the pizza—puffy and flame-blistered, topped with potatoes and fontina and gorgonzola, or sausage, salami, and pepperoni. At dinner, parents order co*cktails while kids get their own eight-inch pies.

SoDo

Nine Pies Pizzeria

When the bachelorette parties at the San Juan Seltzer garden and the Washington oenophiles tasting at Sleight of Hand or Latta need a break, they turn to the pizzeria tucked in the heart of the SoDo Urbanworks complex. Credible New York–style pies, a few slices, even calzones emanate from a full-service restaurant that adjoins the Nine Hats Wines tasting room. Both offer the full menu and patio tables with umbrellas when weather allows.

SliceBox Pizza

A location in the stadiums’ shadow, not to mention a Sonics-worthy green-and-gold paint job: Yes, this walkup pizza counter caters to sports fans, but also workers on lunch hour and anybody else who appreciates crisp New York–style pizza, marvelously executed and free of fuss. A double-decker glass case holds maybe 10 pies by the slice, a mix of crunchy Sicilian-inspired squares and classic rounds. You can also order whole pies and salads for takeaway.

South Park

South Town Pie

Jackson Pollack has nothing on the birria pie (or the barbecue chicken, the pastrami, or even the veggie combo). This ebullient South Park hangout takes big flavor swings, re-invents outmoded menu options, and has a definite maximalist philosophy when it comes to toppings. Half-and-half pizzas help with decision-making. They also have offerings by the slice, and lunchtime hours. Sub sandwiches and starters have similar swagger, like cheesy garlic bread with a beer cheese sidecar, for some cheese-on-cheese dipping action.

Waterfront

Post Alley Pizza

A decades-old slice shop tucked behind a parking garage recently acquired serious culinary bona fides—and new owners with connections to London Plane. Post Alley didn’t get fancier, exactly, but now local grains power a crust that could hold its own in the sort of restaurant with wine lists and a bread program. On top, just enough cheese and toppings like bacon and onion, peperoncini and coppa. Maybe just a slice of pepperoni, curled into perfect cups. Ten pies come in 16- and 18-inch versions.

University District

Elemental Pizza

Sure, the University Village address guarantees a family-friendly vibe, but in the kitchen, old-school pizza tossers prep fire-bubbled pies with genuine ambition. Don’t knock the baked potato–themed version until you try it, but vegetarians have some solid options, and the kitchen does gluten-free crust and even a vegan cheese. As the U Village location indicates, it’s deeply child-friendly.

Supreme

When Ma‘ono chef Mark Fuller decided to open a pizza bar, he channeled the greasy, oversize pies of your hungover dreams, but made them culinary. The newest location restores pizza to the address of Seattle’s original Pagliacci. The lineup of white- and red-sauced pies start in familiar Americana territory, like the double pep with ample curled-edge pepperoni, and get ever bolder, all on a crust that hints at Fuller’s culinary cred.

West Seattle

Moto

This pizzeria’s location—huddled between a pair of mid-rises inside a tiny holdout cottage—isn’t even its most notable feature. Nope, it’s Lee Kindell’s seven-by-nine-inch Detroit-style pies. Hand-mixed, high-hydration sourdough yields a crust that will blow your mind, but only in very limited quantities. The man blends his own cheese, sourcing genuine Wisconsin brick. Moto’s toppings are as improbably delightful as its location—lechon kawali with chimichurri, heaps of dungeness with lemon and dill, clam chowder or Harlem-style chopped cheese sandwich fixings. Each month’s takeout slots book up at speeds that make the hunt for a PCR test seem chill, so hover on Instagramand mark your calendars. (You can—and should—always drop by for soft serve.)

Supreme

What Mark Fuller’s pizza bar on California Avenue intentionally lacks in proper plates or utensils, or napkins not from a dispenser, it makes up for with gonzo pizzas and fun frozen drinks. The lineup of white- and red-sauced pies start in familiar Americana territory, like the double pep with ample curled-edge pepperoni, and get ever bolder. They all come on a crust rooted in culinary cred, and that finesse bobs up again in seemingly retro side dishes like wings, a caesar, and the cult favorite garlic knots.

Pizzeria 22

A legit Neapolitan-style pizzeria with the credentials to prove it. This Admiral District spot opened in 2011 and has been sating the neighborhood with hot pies topped with the likes of buffalo milk mozzarella and sweet Italian sausage, or cherry tomatoes, arugula, and prosciutto di Parma. Also: calzones! Something wholly American though: wood-fired s’mores with melted chocolate and marshmallows bubbly and golden brown from the oven’s flames.

Pizzeria Credo

Puffy-edged pies emerge blistered from a wood-fire oven in this compact Junction pizzeria, another outpost in a neighborhood rich in pizza napoletana. Jacques Nawar builds his pies with homemade mozzarella, imported Italian flour, and legit San Marzano tomatoes (it matters). Personal-ish size pizzas come sliced into quadrants, their toppings mostly, but not dogmatically traditional; if it’s available, the gluten-free dough option is better than most.

Talarico’s Pizzeria

How to even explain this particularly West Seattle phenomenon? Part sports bar, part untz-untz boomer co*cktail lounge. And yet every inch a family-friendly pizzeria that specializes in enormous New York–style slices roughly the size of a small suitcase, and as neatly foldable as anything you might pack inside. Whole pies run a whopping 28 inches, and the roster of non-pizza options (Italian and wedge salads, chicken parm, meatballs, garlic bread) is similarly oversize. Sure, this place has the sprawl of a Cheesecake Factory, and serves bucket-size co*cktails with names like Junction Juice, but great-quality toppings and a thin,yet still nicely chewy crust plant Talarico’s firmly in “beloved local institution” territory.

Mioposto

Just like its three other siblings around town, the pizza restaurant in Admiral is thoroughly, lovingly focused on its neighborhood, from the all-day menu of salads, meatballs, and sandwiches to the breakfast favorites (hash, shakshuka, and yes, bacon-and-egg pizza) and coffee served every morning. And of course, the pizza—puffy and flame-blistered, topped with potatoes and fontina and gorgonzola, or sausage, salami, and pepperoni. At dinner, parents order co*cktails while kids get their own eight-inch pies.

West of Chicago Pizza Company

The cornmeal-speckled Chicago pizza remains a rarity in this town; the best ones come from a commissary kitchen in Delridge. Here, Shawn Millard hands out textbook-perfect rounds to customers lucky enough to snag one of his 40 daily pies. Toppings like meatballs and ricotta, or Italian sausage with broccoli and roasted garlic lurk beneath that placid marinara surface (gotta love a pizzeria that lists the depth, as well as the diameter of its pies online). This spring, Millard will move to a proper restaurant, and increase his pizza output exponentially.

White Center

Proletariat Pizza

Deeply rooted in its White Center environs, yet also worth a trip: Medium-foldable crusts—puffed and golden and bursting with deck oven nostalgia—meet deeply natural ingredients (but also Spam). True to its name, this spot on the 16th Avenue strip is customer friendly in the extreme: You can order by the slice, build a half-and-half pie, or swap in a surprisingly great gluten-free crust. Kids can snack on plates of pineapple, cheese, and sliced baguette, and the local beer list is ferociously legit. All that, and toe-curling tiramisu. Order online or dine in.

Various

Mod Pizza

Individual-size pies, with one consistent price no matter how many toppings you choose. People often compare the modular business model to Chipotle’s, and the founders’ roots in coffee shopsare evident in a rate of expansion that rivals peak Starbucks. Mod’s pies make for a reliable, affordable lunch everywhere from the Seattle Center Armory to Fremont to Factoria (and now as far away as Florida and West Virginia), but the company’s mission also prioritizes hiring employees who face barriers to employment.

Pagliacci Pizza

The go-to in this town since 1979 for delivery pizza, now in neighborhoods from Kirkland to West Seattle, Shoreline to Capitol Hill (see their website for an up-to-date list of locations). Crusts are serviceable platforms for some inspired combos. Classicists like theAgog (roasted garlic, kalamata olives, tomatoes, and goat cheese, along with mushrooms, mozzarella, and fontina) but gourmands prefer to try seasonal specials, like autumn’s inimitable gorgonzola pear pizza. The sophisticated call-in setup (a friendly human greets you by name if you’re in the system) and a user-friendly app became even more cherished in Covid times.

Tutta Bella Neapolitan

These Neapolitan pies were the first in the region to earn a rigorous VPN certification from the official governing body of pizza in Naples. Now the company spans seven locations from Wallingford to Issaquah, including two in-store “grocerants” that dispense fresh-fired pizzas and grab-and-go gnocchi, meatballs, and salads at QFCs in Kirkland and University Village. Through it all, Tutta Bella has balanced those uncompromising Italian traditions with American accessibility.

Zeeks Pizza

Now 20 locations strong, this pizza chain has a rugged feel to it: snow sports lingo, taps of high-hop local beer, and a crust with more personality than you’d expect from a 30-year-old operation. Zeeks offers a dizzying breadth of pies, in various sizes, sauces, and topping configurations (the Buffalo Soldier, essentially a buffalo chicken pizza, has a covert fan base). The company also delivers, provided you live close to one of the restaurants.