SERIOUS PIE
ADDRESS: 12540 120th Avenue NE #122, Kirkland, WA 98034
WEBSITE: https://www.seriouspieseattle.com/
After a day spent mostly chilling out and catching a movie, my brother Kevin, my sister-in-law Alina, and I were talking about a spot to get some dinner to eat. Since we were also still slightly full from lunch, we decided to try and find somewhere with lighter portions. We ended up deciding on going to a pizza shop called Serious Pie in Totem Lake, which was in the same complex as the movie theater that we had stopped at.
Kevin and Alina had been to Serious Pie before, which specialized in what I’d consider artisanal pizzas. They had six different choices of their artisanal pizza selection, along with one that was a plain cheese pizza. In addition to the pizzas, they also had a number of starters that involved some salad greens or vegetables.
With me trying to avoid cow’s milk, pizza places sometimes end up being hit or miss, depending on whether they have any other types of cheese available. For Serious Pie, there were two pizzas on their menu that used cheese made from goats and sheep. That lined up really well since those two pizzas ended up being the ones that sounded most interesting to us and wanting to try. Alina and Kevin also ended up tacking on a regular cheese pizza just to help break up the flavors a little bit.
It was prime dinnertime on a Wednesday night, but the restaurant (both indoor and outdoor dining areas) only had patrons at about a third of their tables. That did work well for us, however, since that meant that the chefs at the pizza oven could crank out our food faster. Sure enough, we only ended up waiting about 15 minutes total to get all three of our pizzas out to the table. With the oven setup that they had going on, it probably didn’t take too long at all for each pizza to cook inside.
The first pizza we tried had thin-sliced Yukon gold potatoes, rosemary, and shaved Pecorino Romano cheese on top. I couldn’t remember if I had ever tried a pizza with potatoes on top before, so it was definitely a bit of a departure from other things I’ve had in the past. The distinct brine flavor from the Pecorino Romano was complemented well by the rosemary, with the potatoes really adding a slight starchy texture to each bite. It was definitely an interesting pizza to try, but the flavors didn’t really stand out enough for me to want to get it again.
Next up was a pizza that I definitely had higher hopes for, just based on the toppings: roast pear, housemade pancetta, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and hot honey. I was able to successfully get a bite that encompassed all of those ingredients, and it certainly delivered. Savory and umami were the primary flavors coming through, with hints of sweetness and a slight spiciness depending on how much roast pear and hot honey were in the bite. I definitely appreciated this pizza more than the Yukon gold potato one, since the flavor profiles were more layered than the other. If I had to choose one to get on a following visit, it’d definitely be the roast pear, easily.
Serious Pie is definitely a nice spot located in Totem Lake, right there amongst a number of other restaurants, coffee shops, and dessert places. The ambiance is definitely pretty chill, and they have a nice selection of different artisanal pizzas to choose from. I’m not sure if it’s because of where they are located, however, but I did find that the pizzas lean more on the expensive side for the size of what you get. The ingredients, however, do seem to be higher quality for what you pay. If you find yourself in this area and are looking to go for some pizza, Serious Pie is a good option, if you don’t mind forking over a little more for the food.
Let’s now take a look at the Serious Pie Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Roast Pear and Pancetta Pizza **
Roast pear, housemade pancetta, caramelized onions, goat cheese, and hot honey.
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** Yukon Gold Potato and Rosemary Pizza **
Thin-sliced Yukon gold potatoes, rosemary, and Pecorino Romano cheese.
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And finally, here are my rankings for Serious Pie:
Food: 4.25 / 5
For the six different artisanal pizzas they had on their menu, there is definitely a diversity of different flavor profiles between them. They also use higher quality ingredients for the pizza toppings, and the dough had a good texture to it, being a nice blend between chewy and crispy.
Atmosphere: 4.25 / 5
The dining area definitely has a nice vibe to it, with high ceilings and a décor color palette that mirrors the forest greenery of the Pacific Northwest region. There’s plenty of windows in the front to let in natural light as well.
Service: 4 / 5
Our waiter, Roberto, would stop by at the table throughout the meal to check and see if we had everything we needed. Overall, it took about 15 minutes for all three of our pizzas to get to our table, which was pretty reasonable as well.
Price: 3.5 / 5
For pizzas that were ranging anywhere from $20 – $24, these were definitely pretty pricey. It did seem like they were using higher quality ingredients, but at the same time, I think that each pizza would have been more reasonable at $3 less than the listed price.
Overall:
16 / 20
(80%)
Categories: Restaurants, Washington
Chu On This 