Vera's Pizza and Bar — Restaurant in Seattle

We finally had a chance to go to Vera's and man, this place is AMAZING! This use to be a diner and recently re-opened, and for the better.

Massive Pro's 21 and over only nice selection of beers and booze options The pizza is, flat out, the best NY style pizza we've had since we moved to the West (Best) Coast. Frankly it's pretty much the best pizza we've had in Ballard.

The overall vibe ruled, killer paintings of Prince, Nas, Sade, Outkast and more line the walls. Pinball machines in the back (woo!) and the chill lighting really made us not want to leave. Oh yeah, and the music was fantastic! Space wise it's large and plenty of room for 2 people and larger groups. The time we went there was a large party of 10-12 and all looked to be having a great time.

And now...the pizza. They have a nice range of pies to pick from, or go with a slice. There's also a DIY option for those who want to roll the bones on coming up with a good combo. We went with the caramelized mushroom pizza that was under "White". Expecting something rich and/or some actual white sauce we were pleasantly surprised when it came out and had no sauce, just some olive oil as the base. Pizza was expertly dressed, a great balance of mushrooms, cheese and spinach, with NO extra moisture from the 'shrooms or the spinach. The crust....hoo boy was that great. Thin, slightly yeasty (but not pronounced) with just the right amount of give to it, plus a crispy edge. One thing I personally never eat are the crusts from pizza...until now. I couldn't stop eating this!

As a side note, the pizza the next day, in the oven, was almost better than in the restaurant...and yes, I ate the crust on day 2!

This could easily become a weekly place to hit up and chill out at, can't wait to go...

Came here for the first time and one of the staff was very rude to me. As my group was leaving, we didn’t know where to bus the empty glass and can as there wasn’t a clear bus bin, so I took a half-empty can and an empty glass to the bar. Bartender smiled at me, so I assumed this was the right way to bus. As we walked out, a man by the dj booth called out “you can take that over there.” I asked for clarification twice, but he just repeated himself until I finally put together that he wanted me to bring the drinks somewhere else. I brought them over to the dj booth where I then saw a tray, and assumed that’s where they went. He watched me in silence, offering no further instruction, and then another patron helped put the can in the trash. I thought that took care of things, so turned to leave. He yelled “yea, thanks a lot for nothing” at me as I left, which soured the experience for me. I would have been happy to bus, but needed a little more instruction than “take that over there” and watching me be confused. In the future, I would ask that you have grace for people who may need a little more help — I really wasn’t trying to make anyone’s life harder and I think this could have been a positive interaction with a little more patience and...

After wandering the lovely semi foo-foo Ballard Ave on a Saturday night, looking for the right comfortable stool to perch and have a no nonsense high quality piece of Pizza I had all but given up. Until I didn't stumble but simply walked into Vera's.

There was no ticker tape or lecturn stationed by a perfumed young thing asking me "How many?" but there was an immediate, unvarnished and sincere welcome; this WAS the place to get a slice that I was looking for.

Ample space inside, plenty of seating for this time of night, around 10ish. (Note that after bar let out this place might be quite busy for the last part of a weekend munch need). Video games? No pinball? Yes. Skee Ball? Yes. Medium-large sized hand panted interpretations of icon 1980s & 1990s album covers all over the walls? Yes.

I skipped one called the Tom Selleck that looked worth trying but the slice, i did get, the pepperoni, was great. Oily but the oil was quality. Crisp was excellent. Very worth trying... On the seattle scale I give the slice an 8.5.

I'll be at Vera's again soon. If you like a relaxed well maintained places with very good slices you might...