the independent pizzeria

went here for a team outing and had a good experience. we majorly ordered queen and syracuse (with person specific variations) and pizzas were mouth watering good. thin crust, delicious sauces and sparse but flavorful toppings. a different kind of pizza experience all-together. they were quite occupied at the time but server was polite and service was fast paced. big glass windows made the late evening sun light up the place well and provided for a good ambiance.

food: 8/10
ambiance: 8/10
service: 8/10

food: 8/10

sit at the counter with joe and watch him toss and fire the best pizzas anywhere. call ahead and order as it's often an hour or two until your perfect pie is ready. during nice weather there is patio across from madison park beach that's fantastic people watching. lambrusco, rose or a red, local draft beer. it's quirky for sure and not for people who expect everything now. i love the simple queen for $10.00.

best pizza in seattle, really.. i have enjoyed pizza in many cities, states and countries. this pizza is the best in seattle. if you like perfect dough, made and proofed from scratch each day by tom the owner, carefully prepared and baked one pizza at a time, then you meed to eat here. and the salads are rich in homemade dressing flavors. the space is warm, the team are all wonderful and nice people and the prices are more than fair. oh, the beer and wine list is unique.

what more do you want?. tasty caesar salad, good basic pizza right out of the oven. if we lived closer by we'd stop in every week.

terrible wait time. we tried independent pizzeria in mad park last night. smelled great from the outside, perfect location if you have kids as its adjacent to the playground, etc. got seated after 20 min. wait (not too bad) but, here's the clincher- waited over an hour for our pizzas! other tables that were seated after us were on desert before we'd received our food. we finally paid the bill and took our dinner to go. ridiculous! especially if you have little ones, cannot wait that long. hope they get their act together soon. would not recommend in current state of operations.

best in seattle. the real thing. amazed word is not out!

tiny but tasty!. parking is at a premium here, so i wanted to be able to walk to pick up dinner. a quick search of the area yielded a few options, two of which i have recently been disappointed with, so i went with the new place. and am i ever glad i did! the menu is simple which made choosing 2 pies easy: the queen and roman came home and they were quite tasty! the crust has a lovely chew and crunch, more akin to what i used to eat back east than most of the doughfests you usually get out here. the toppings were super: the spinach on the roman was fresh and just wilted and a bit charred and the basil on the queen also had that tasty char which enhances the flavor. every bite was a bit different as the toppings were plentiful and randomly scattered across the surface. it's a tiny space, but take-out is also an option. i urge you to go!

pizza worth travelling for. i live by greenlake but happened to be in madison park a few months ago and decided to grab a few pies from the independent. i have plenty of places to choose from closer to home but i've since made the pilgrimage on several occasions and i've never been disappointed (except the time i got there and they were closed for the week). the crust is great, neapolitan style but not too thin, there's still a nice slightly chewy but airy center with just enough rise; a perfect complement to the inevitable and always desirable surface char from the open flame. they use a gas fired pizza oven, and i know the purists will still argue for a wood fire, but you can't argue the even heat it produces. i've had way too many wood fired pies come out burnt to a crisp or too dense and chewy when the heat wasn't there, at least gas is consistent. as far as their pies go, the stevedore with mama lil's and applegate farms genoa salami is great but i think my favorite is the norwalk with a perfect blend of fiore di latte, prosciutto di norwalk, grana and healthy piling of fresh rocket. i'm not always a fan of "salad pizzas" but they got it right with this one. they don't skimp on the toppings (i hate having to hunt for the token leaf of basil some places seem so loathe to part with) but they aren't overloaded either; rather a nice balance of well thought out combinations in proportions that don't leave you double checking the menu to see if caper really was on the list and didn't just fall on there by chance. the wine list is compact but eclectic and i haven't had a bad one yet (i used to own a wine shop so i'd be the first one to point out if they were padding the list with the same plonk you can buy for 6 bucks at safeway). they have a couple taps that are always in rotation and whether by luck or chance they've always had a good ipa on when i was there. in short, if you're looking for a quality pizza in seattle i can count on one hand the number of places i'd recommend and this would be one of them. one last note, the space is small so get there before they get busy or better yet, pick a sunny day and enjoy your pizza in the park across the street.