tutta bella neapolitan pizzeria

repeatable: maybe. visits: 2 tuttabellapie seattle is not new york or chicago, so you can fuhgeddabout all the fine distinctions that make pies worthy of either the big apple or the windy city. still, seattle's trying. tuttabellaisn't exactly news any

defective, amateur service blights nicely-prepared food. staff is young and acts as though they are poorly trained. too many floor staff hang out at the reception, and even when the house is only a quarter full, you are pressed to get basic service.

when i'm alone and have a book, their slackness is bearable, but tonight i was taking a family out and chose tuttabellafor the menu and how close it was. the floor staff managed to break the 15 minute rule...while hostess dropped menus at our table when she sat us, we couldn't get our order in or even water, even having caught the eye of our waitress at least twice. fifteen minutes after we were seated without being actually approached, we moved on to a different place up the street. on the positive side, the multitude of cute kid staff who had greeted us at the reception wished us a good evening as we left, very congenially, i should say.

tuttabellahas consistently good service and pizza and we eat here usually once a month. they serve thin crust neapolitan pizza which is cooked in 60-90 seconds so it comes out very fast. they also have a nice selection of salads and good minestrone soup. they also have good gelato. it is a fun place to take kids!

delish neighborhood pizza. tuttabellais a great neighborhood spot in wallingford where you can find couples, families, and larger groups. it is always packed, but luckily they have a lot of seating so most of the time you don't need to wait too long. the pizza are thin crust - always ask for extra sauce for dipping. my personal dish suggestions are to try the misto pizza and make room for tiramisu. it is a perfect mid-week pizza break!

great pizza, now overrun by families!. i used to love tuttabella- some of the best neapolitan style pizza in the northwest. one of the locations has an alcoholic beverage - a twist on the shakerato. so tasty! the problem with the place these days is that it becomes family fun time - all day, every day and all night every night. there are often birthday parties, 3 tired parents trying to feed seventeen screaming children, all of whom are trying to play with the kids at the next table over. i think kids and families are just fine - but since i have no desire to be roped into sitting with a bunch of them, my last trip was 2 months back. never. again.

the wife liked tuttabellain seattle, wa. i think that she is prejudiced but i won't say why here. but i agree, great stuff! the ambiance inside is perfect also.they have other neapolitan pizza locations too! she puts the brick oven pizza in nyc in her top four, but doesn't remember which great pizzeria in particular. on second thought, she thinks it's the oldest pizzeria in manhattan; that would make it lombardi's!? then diorios (grand jct., co.) and pizzeria bianco in phoenix agree with her. so there is your best of the best pizza in america, from an unbiased observer. she knows her food.

this is a pizza?. a friend of mine said this is the best pizza in seattle so, i decided to investigate. let me tell you, ol' jimmy's eaten plenty of pies in his time - the signature tuttabellapizza i had at tuttabellamight be one of the worst ever. i respectfully submit a picture of a representative slice as evidence: i get the whole neapolitan pizza bit but $12.50 for that? no way. here's the thing...the place was also packed and louddddd!!! i mean stunningly louddd. it's a great business plan - make huge profits on pizza now and on hearing aids later. don't do it. atb - jimmy

issaquah tutta bella. we went to the new tuttabellain issaquah tonight. i know this is their first week open, but, with the prior experience of the other 3 locations, i expected better results. first, they don't have their act down for seating people in something close to the order they arrive in. we were a party of 5 and were told we'd have a 40 minute wait. that was fine because they were very busy. however, we stood and watched as parties of 3 and 4 who came in after us were seated at the available tables for 4. why didn't they just add an end seat and make it for 5? after 55 minutes wait, that's what they finally did. if they'd done it earlier when it was more or less our turn, we wouldn't have had the extra 20 minute wait. we placed our orders for starters, salads, and pizzas. the starters did not arrive at the same time, and one came a long while after everyone else was served. same with the pizzas. the waiter kindly told us that we wouldn't be billed for the late pizza. however, when our bills arrived (we 2 families) the wrong items were grouped together and we were charged for the late pizza. to cap it all off, the pizzas were limp and unlike the crisp-crust pizzas we'd had in italy. i guess the ovens weren't hot enough or they were rushing orders out. we hope they improve. we aren't going back until we hear better reports.

family-friendly authentic italian pizza. sunday lunchtime, three hungry children, green lake, looking for well-prepared food - where do you go? tuttabellais about as good a choice as we've found so far.

three things i love about this place:
1. children aren't just "tolerated", they're "appreciated". our kids love the big glass screens where they can watch the pizzas being made, and love that the pizzaioli hand out fresh dough and craft activities for them to play with while they wait for their dinner. (it's a nice change from crayons!)
2. the pizzas are fresh and natural. real italian: no hawaiian, bbq or pepperoni options here! they make a big play out of the authenticity of their ingredients on their website, and although it's a little over-the-top (who cares if their dough mixer is certified by a naples association?), the quality of the ingredients comes across in the finished product.
3. generous servings of red table wine. their montepulciano d'abruzzo is a favorite of mine: it reminds me of lazy holidays on the european continent in years gone by.

it's a good place - worth a visit. about my only reservation is that it can be a little expensive with children, as the 'bambino' pizzas are only a dollar or two cheaper than the adult pizzas, but i can't complain too much - they eat well. looking forward to the issaquah location opening soon...

unless you have time to visit naples, this is as close as you're getting.. and frankly, i don't recommend visiting naples. it's a dirty hellhole. sorrento is more worth your time. but that's hardly the point i'm making here. tuttabellabrings a sunny slice of italy to pasty white seattle. the average seattle-ite may well view pagliacci as authentic italian pizza, despite its being firmly rooted in brooklyn, and those hailing from lacey will most likely be surprised to find out pizza in italy is not similar to pizza hut. hopefully these misconceptions will change with the advent of such god-sends as tutta bella.

having spent time and lire/euros in florence, rome, naples, salerno, sorrento, and pisa sampling pizza, i should know authoritatively what a good italian-style pizza is, and by god, i do. such a pizza should have a smoky crust thinner than thin, but punctuated with massive air bubbles that rise above even the cheese. the cheese should be full-flavored and rich tasting but never too heavily applied. the sauce must, absolutely must, be a minimalist concoction seemingly defying the laws of culinary physics with how much complexity it packs into so few ingredients, but with appropriate off-the-vine freshness coming through clearly. the toppings must complement and enhance but always defer to the base flavors of the pizza, and by jupiter, they must never include pepperoni. the entire package should have the depth of flavor only a wood oven can bring.

tuttabellalives up to each of these requirements and sometimes even exceeds them. all the basic mechanics of a good pizza are present, and the toppings available range from simple ricotta to prosciutto, various fresh vegetables and mushrooms. no pepperoni to be found. while the more loaded pizzas can be a fun diversion once in a while, a simple margherita - with only cheese, sauce, and basil onboard - is usually the best choice, akin to savoring a fine steak without the distraction of fussy sauces.

because the pizzas are so light of construction, an entire pie is easily within the abilities of even a modest eater, and should leave room for the tiramisu. i am an expert on tiramisu almost to the extent that i am of pizza, and the tiramisu here is nigh-perfect. the essence of rum is there without the unpleasant alcoholic taste, allowing the silky mascarpone and coffee to be the stars. this is yet another good reason to order a simple margherita.

the price of such splendor includes long waits and whining children. while it's all well and good that parents are exposing their spawn to real food, sometimes it would be nice if those parents would just schlep their little monsters to chuck e cheese where at least their screaming would be drowned out by skee-ball. some may balk at these annoyances, however doing so is a mistake. the food is just too good, too real to pass up for reasons of background noise. besides, you'd have to deal with this noise and more in naples.

this has been a very good food week for us. our most recent satisfying experience came courtesy of tuttabellain wallingford, a place we've been meaning to try for some time. while the rock stars at pizzeria picco still make our all-time favorite pizzas

busy all the time!. i live right by tuttabellain wallingford and it's always so crowded! they deserve it though, the pizzas are simple but fantastic. try the salad pizzas! it's like an incentive: if you eat all your veggies, you get a cheezy bread treat at the bottom! also, the tarimisu is some of the best i've had. make sure to get there early, or be prepared to wait a bit for a table. the staff is always very very friendly, though, the the space is beautiful.