Stevie's Famous Burien — Restaurant in Burien

Friday night at 5 pm was already a full house for this small corner pizza joint. I was impressed upon entry both at the number of people waiting for pizza as well as the number of people making it. I wanna say 6+ people in the open kitchen going absolutely ham, poppin' out zas, but I digress. As this was our first time here, we did not want to commit to a full pizza of one variety (that seemed a little pricey too be honest), and with all the people there, the ready to go slice options seemed like a time saving solution. BOY were we wrong. It took almost 30 minutes to get our pizza! I understand that it was a Friday night (technically still only like late afternoon) but I want to emphasize again that these slices of pizza were already cooked and sitting in the glass box. They only needed to be warmed and handed to us. We said to go, so it would have been completely acceptable is the cashier asked us if we wanted to warm it up ourselves! Since it was busy, I understood that the ovens were probably occupied with call-in orders and that it might be a minute before our slices could sneak in there for a couple minutes, but after 20 minutes of waiting, we FINALLY saw someone open the glass container immediately to the right of the cashier, take out our 4 slices, then put them in a warmer that I hadn't noticed and I think had been empty, or at least had room in it the entire time we were there! The pizza was good. It was a refreshing change of flavors and pizza style than what is conventionally available, but it was nothing remarkable, especially considering the price. $6-$7 for a generous slice. (That's like a whole medium pizza at Domino's!) I also noticed that through the reheating process that our pizzas seemed to get a little overly crisp for I think a lot of people's preferences.

I have a few notes for future customers and managers if you read this.

Customer: Dear God, order ahead. Even if you want individual slices, call it in beforehand. They are only open from 4pm to 9pm so there isn't a "slow time" to sneak in there, all their hours will be busy hours, so plan accordingly.

Manager/Owner: Premake and freeze/refrigerate your popular pies. I worked at a pizza joint in south Texas for 2 years and we did this and I never noticed a decrease in crust quality, especially if you half bake the dough rounds before adding toppings then refrigerating. We were open from 11 to 11 and would start making pepperonis and cheeses at 9:30 am to get us through the lunch rush then around 3pm again once things have tapered off. Additionally I think you should consider some form of digital clock for team awareness on when orders are coming in. I notice that the cashier is taking digital orders and then the cooks are using paper slips to fill orders? How does each cook know how long it's been for each order if they can't see the whole list at once? Who's responsible for timing and coordination? If its the cashier the strategy needs to be rethought. Twice in the 30 minutes we were there, she walked around as asked people what their names were and what they ordered. Like what is that? Were our orders forgotten as I suspected? How is that possible with digital ordering? In terms of how this is possible, I know its implemented in a number of fast food restaurants and even mom and pop places like the fired chicken joint I worked in after the pizza place. As a comedic side note: it's also used in a video game called Overcooked. I think you should look into this.

I will try this pizza again, maybe in 6 months or so to see if any of this has been ironed out. Hope this new business can work out the kinks because I think they have some...

We recently discovered an absolute gem Stevie's Famous pizza place, and it exceeded all expectations! The online pictures and glowing reviews truly captured the essence of what turned out to be an amazing experience.

Although there's a closer location in Beacon Hill, we opted for the Burien shop, and we're so glad we did! The promise of homemade pistachio ice cream—one of our all-time favorite flavors—was too enticing to pass up. The journey from Kirkland, about 30 minutes, was absolutely worth every minute.

From the moment we walked in, the experience was fantastic. The lady who took our order was incredibly nice and professional. We decided on a whole pepperoni pie for dining in, and she accurately quoted about a 20-minute wait. While we waited, we enjoyed two craft beers, and to our delight, someone brought us a sample of their vanilla cream ice cream. It was incredibly flavorful and only heightened our anticipation for the pistachio treat after dinner.

When the pizza arrived, it was everything we hoped for and more. We almost finished the entire pie, leaving only three slices! The quality of the pizza, combined with the reasonable wait time and the drive, made for a truly satisfying meal. We picked up a box for the leftovers and, of course, our highly anticipated pistachio ice cream. It did not disappoint! We're already looking forward to our next visit to try more of their pizzas.

As an added bonus, the Burien neighborhood where the shop is located is really cool. It's filled with a variety of small businesses, perfect for exploring more food, drinks, and...

Update: Gave it another shot and it matched the hype this time. Crispy, tastey, sourdough heaven. The service was also much much better today.

Previous:

Good, but not great.

Stevie’s is a nice little spot tucked away in Burien. It’s cozy, with two tables inside, two tables outside, and a few stool seats along the window. You can watch them making the pizzas, and the place smells incredible, thanks to their sourdough crust.

I ordered a pepperoni and sausage pizza online. When I arrived, the pizza ended up taking about 15 minutes longer than quoted. Part of the delay was because they seemed to forget about me after I checked in, probably could’ve gotten it a little faster and fresher otherwise.

The pizza itself was good, just not quite as impressive as I expected based on the online video and written reviews. It was tasty, but I was hoping for more of a crunch with little to no flop. The edge of the crust had a nice burst of sourdough flavor and a slight crunch, but the front half of the pizza was floppy and soggy. To be fair, it may have sat in the box longer than ideal before I got it. Again, because they forgot I was there.

The toppings were a highlight. The pepperoni was solid, and the sausage was some of the best I’ve had on a pizza in a long time, really flavorful. The sauce had a nice balance of tanginess and sweetness, which I thought was perfect.

Overall, it’s a good pizza and I’ll give Stevie’s another shot. I was just hoping for the experience I'd heard about....