Pizzeria Pulcinella — Restaurant in Seattle

We visited on 7/12/2024 at 6:15 pm. There is street parking along with parking on the side and in the back of the restaurant for those that drive. The bus also goes right by it you want to use public transportation.

While very busy, there was a table available and we were seated immediately. This is in a converted house at the corner of Rainier and 68th in south Seattle. Out front there are a handful of tables and you can see Lake Washington. Be aware that Rainier is a busy, noisy street so be prepared if you do eat outside. Inside there is a bar that looks like it seats 6-7 people. There are many tables inside from 2 tops to 8+ for a variety of seating accomodations.

The host was very friendly and attentive which made our initial experience and impression very good. Our server Liza was also very prompt, helpful and friendly. Again, a very positive and pleasant experience. We started with a bottle of white Pecorino wine that was on their specials list. Tasty and went well with our appetizer of burrata/pesto/sweet pepper sauce, also on their specials list. We really enjoyed them. The pepper sauce and pesto were very flavorful and a good compliment to the rich burrata cheese. The appetizer also came with pizza crust pieces for the cheese.

We had the Sorrento pizza for our main which was plenty for two people. It was tomato sauce, crimini mushrooms, gaeta olives, mozzarella, basil, capers and prosciutto. It was delicious! The edges were medium sized and the center crust was nice and thin typical of that style. Overall the crust had a very pleasant chew. It was cooked to light golden brown and was cooked perfectly all around. No half burnt or burnt on one side and barely done on the other - it was nice and even all the way around.

The flavors went together wonderfully. The salty olives, capers and prosciutto were great compliments to the light tang of the tomato sauce, the flavorful earthyness of the mushrooms and the herbal basil. Overall very flavorful and I would have it again.

Based on food quality, atmosphere, and great service from our server Liza, I would highly recommend. Great for couples - date night, great for families, and perfect if you just want to sit at the bar and have you meal.

Update 07/28/25: we were in town for a visit and took the opportunity to eat here. It was very busy with a large party but it wasn't long before our party of 4 were seated. Like our previous visit the customer service was excellent and all the staff we encountered were friendly and pleasant. Our server Mike took great care of us and we really appreciated the service.

For this visit we had the burrata appetizer (again!) and the steamed clams. Both were delicious. We also had two pizzas; the Sorrento (also again!) and the Gustosa with mozzarella, gorgonzola, sausage and oven roasted crimini mushrooms. Both were cooked perfectly and were delicious.

We continue to highly recommend Pizzeria Pulcinella. Both the customer service and the food quality and flavors make it a must visit when...

I'm going to gush for a few paragraphs, so if you don't want to read that, the short version is that after many many years of trying all of the best pizza places I could find in the Seattle area, Pulcinella stands out as one of the very best.

Now on to the navel gazing.

Pizzeria Pulcinella is one of the current end-points of my 30 year quest (as of this writing, I'm only 33, but my love of pizza is life-long) to find the best pizza around here. I've browsed every "best pizza" listicle I could find, followed up on nearly every pizza recommendation I've received from everyone I've ever known. I've scrubbed google maps for pizza places and tried just about every place with a 4.3 or higher. I make note of pizza places I pass on the street that I haven't been to and look them up to see if they call out to me. I don't know how many pizza places I've been to, but I'd be surprised if it weren't in the triple-digits.

After all that time and all that pizza, Pulcinella falls squarely among a small handful of all-time favorites. The crust is absolutely bursting with character in a world where crusts are often a bit of a throwaway part of the pizza. Its texture is toothsome but never dry. The flavor of the wheat and oil mingle with the char from the oven in a way that jumps out at the taste buds more than at almost any other pizza place I've tried. The majority of heavily hyped / famous / trendy pizza places I've been to still don't nail the crust (cough, Mozza, cough) the way Pulcinella does.

At many places, pepperoni is pepperoni is pepperoni, and the same principle tends to hold true with the other toppings as well. If I had to blind-taste the pepperoni from most pizza places, I wouldn't be able to place many of them with confidence, but I'm confident I could pick Pulcinella's meats and cheeses out of a lineup blindfolded. The character of each is unlike what I've had at the vast majority of pizza places, and in a good way. Pizza toppings, even organic fancy ones, tend to be a bit standard-issue in their flavor profile. Here, everything tastes memorably unique. This principle extends to just about everything at Pulcinella. The Caesar is perfectly balanced between tangy, peppery, and funky. The chili oil is pungent and a little funky and straddles the line between bright and resinous, and so on.

I know that some would say I'm overselling Pulcinella. One person's all-timer can be another person's "meh" when two people of very different tastes share opinions, and this is no exception. There are no exceptions to that rule. I'm sticking to my guns here though. My answer to most versions of the question, "but what about [other trendy/hyped/well-reviewed Seattle pizza place]?" is "Pulcinella's better." And in the small number of cases where it's not, the answer is "I...

So I will sound like a big fat nerd in this whole review but I don't care, I'm in love!! 😍 We went here on a whim based on good reviews and I'm so so glad we did. Drove straight from the airport after flying in from Pittsburgh, and were very hungry and tired. Everything about this experience was pleasant and refreshing. We were greeted and seated immediately by very friendly people. We ordered an eggplant appetizer, Caesar salad, arugula salad, and a margarita pizza. All was beyond excellent. Idk what the heck they do but the seasoning for everything was absolutely perfect. And it tasted like it was made with love honestly. The pizza dough/crust was chewy and crunchy in all the right ways. The sauce is simple but has these complex undertones. The dressing for the Caesar was excellent and the greens were crispy and fresh. The cheese, oh my gosh, the cheese just melted in your mouth. There was a buttery smoothness about the pizza, it was pretty fantastic. And everything was plated and presented beautifully. I am extremely picky and I love food but a lot of times things are just a little off. But Pizzeria Pulcinella way exceeded our hopes. It was a wonderful and unexpected treat. Our server was super sweet and helpful and the decor and atmosphere is cozy and inviting but refined and classic. The bathroom was adorable with cool old pictures and it was just very clean everywhere. I have to come into Seattle once a month for treatment at University of Washington and it's been hard to navigate the food scene. We liked this place so much, we came back two days later before we had to leave town. This time we tried another pizza which was like a supreme pizza, we got the margarita again, and this time a caprese salad to share. It was all so delicious and as good as the first time. My son made it his mission to consume as much of our leftovers at the hotel before our flight back. We even packed the pizza he couldn't finish in our suitcase so we wouldn't leave any behind. That's how good it was! Feel super lucky to have found this gem, and though I'd rather keep it all to myself, I know they deserve the good reviews! They are working hard out there! I will be back every time I'm in town for sure. 10/10 would recommend!! (Also please forgive my poor quality photos! They definitely don't do this place justice!)

Edit: so it’s been 2 years since I wrote this and I still think about this pizza at least once a week. And it’s the standard that I hold all other...