Bar Cotto — Restaurant in Seattle

Updated July 19, 2021 (Original Review July 14, 2021) Instead of a review of the business, now it is more about the ethic and conduct of this business and its owner and how he does not care about his employees' welfare.

The owner was not happy with my earlier review, which was very understandable. However, what was not understandable was how he handled the review by making false statement within his comment to my review saying I left ZERO TIP to their staff. Luckily, I have the habit to take photo of my signed receipt and it is clearly showing the tip amount and the amount was not bad for that whole experience. (The receipt was also uploaded below)

Since then, I had reached out to the owner multiple times to get the "ZERO TIP" part edited as it was a lie, whereas he did not take action on it. It turns out that himself was the person who welcomed with ONLY gesture, took away all our plates and utensils and brought us the wrong bill initially.

He said he did not have the copy of my receipt. Then I told him that he can charge the full amount with tip under my authorization but has to take off the false statement in his comment. Until now, he just did not care to do it.

Clearly he was not caring about his employees' welfare.

I worked in service industry before and I knew how it feels when business receive a not so positive review. However, should not the next step be reflecting on it and improve in the future?

To the owner:

You were the person who we were mostly interacting with while dining at your restaurant. You should take complete responsibility it all. If you do care about your online review that much.

Learn how to welcome your guest. Make good track of your order and receipt. Reflect, improve and move on! Would not recommend to anyone and will not come back again.

We were greeted with gesture ONLY and no smile, giving us a hint of unpleasant experience already, and the hint turned out to be correct.

Not to say my knife was greasy and stained, our food was extremely slow, so slow to the point that a waiter maybe felt like we were there for too long, so he came and took all plates and utensils away before our pizza was even served.

And that was not the end. Our bill came out wrong. (I’m guessing it was with tip pre-loaded, as there was line for me to sign says “additional tip”. There was no notation anywhere saying they charged a fixed tip amount.)

Food was average at the most.

There are a lot of issues with...

Used to love this place but after last night, I definitely need to reconsider. Friend was in town visiting so I thought I'd take him to Bar Cotto. What a mistake.

There was a wait when we arrived. That wasn't a problem. The disorganization was. The poor wounded puppy greeting guests was clearly overwhelmed. Not sure if he was just new/untrained/unfamiliar with their systems or if there was just an intellectual issue with him but it made for a bit of an awkward and unpleasant waiting experience for the people jammed in the corner. And he was none the wiser to realize this.

Drinks and appetizer were fine and each of us ordered a pizza. Mine came out. It was just ok. It was very undercooked and soggy in the middle but we were starving.

Five minutes later, we inquired where my friend's pizza was and the bar tender said it would be another five or so minutes. That was surprising so I asked if that was their new practice: to bring out people's entrees at staggered times. Some restaurants do that. He was clearly upset by this question. And responded: "dude, come on." Given the price point and ambience of Bar Cotto I was surprised by this response. Whatever happened to assuming best intentions? Perhaps the owners should remind their bar tender that their restaurant is supposed to be an upscale restaurant providing some service. Defensive quips aren't necessary.

Above five minutes later the bar tender came over to say that they had burned my friend's pizza and were starting over. He said it would be free but we would have to wait, probably another 15 or so minutes. We didn't want to so he threw down the check - offering no apology and certainly offering nothing to make up for this.

While the restaurant was full when we arrived it was less than half full when this happened. The two "cooks" at the pizza oven were flirting with each other the entire time and it's my guess that is why the pizza was burned and the timing was off. Regardless, they shouldn't be empty at 9:00 on a Saturday night in Cap Hill, but now I know why they were. We left and went elsewhere to get my friend food and encountered crowds everywhere we went.

I don't think I need to go there again, which is a shame, because Bar Cotto used to be great. At least it was when their employees cared...

Update August '23: we visited Bar Cotto and ate on site for the first time after a long run of ordering take out and would like to update our review. I should say we have not interacted with the owner or have any affiliation with BC so this remains an independent take on Bar Cotto’s food.

We ordered a couple of pies and a couple of antipasti (our usual Brussels sprouts and broccoli). All were exemplary. I’m returning their star rating to 5 because they remain the best artisanal-style pizza on Capitol Hill in my opinion.

On our previous order, a takeout, I dinged them for an underwhelming crust (as well as for over-saltiness, a bane of most Seattle pizzas I’ve tasted, which makes me wonder if the regional cheesemongers might have a heavy hand?). I think the crust issue probably was due to the trauma of delivery boxes combined with being slightly under-baked. We ordered this take-out on a weekend night, so it seems easily possible our order could have been rushed in this instance.

An extra note on how great the service is. I think our server for our in-house visit was the same guy who’s been handing off the take-out orders I’ve picked up, and it’s so nice to always have a friendly, genuine-feeling interaction whether it’s for a sit-down meal or simply a pick up.

Update July 2023: sad to say Bar Cotto pizza is no longer on point. Lackluster crust and over-salted overall. Such a shame.

2021: This place has been around for a while and has changed hands. These things obscure the fact this is the best artisanal pizza on Capitol Hill. Sorry, establishment and new kids...