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Big Mario's Pizza
Big Mario's Pizza opened its Capitol Hill location in 2010, backed by a group of Seattle hospitality figures including Jason Lajuenesse, Mike McConnell, David Meinert, Jordan Neff, and Mario Vellotti — a genuine cross-section of local restaurant and bar operators rather than a single chef-founder, which shows up in how confidently the concept blends a real pizza program with an unapologetic bar-food attitude. The pizza is built in the New York style — big, foldable slices sold both individually and as whole pies, the kind of format built for late-night orders and a fast in-and-out counter rather than a sit-down dinner. Thrillist summed up the vibe directly, noting there aren't many places in Seattle where a customer can "slug an Olde English 40 and bask in the glory of true New York-style pizza" — a description that captures both the pizza's quality and the restaurant's deliberately dive-y, no-pretension setting. Beyond the standard menu, Big Mario's has built a reputation for creative specials that push past a typical New York slice shop — macaroni and cheese pizza and rotating seasonal offerings keep regulars checking back for something beyond the reliable classic slice. The concept expanded from that original 2010 Capitol Hill location to Lower Queen Anne in 2015 and Fremont in 2017, growing into a small but well-regarded local chain without losing the late-night, cheap-beer-and-a-slice identity that defined the original. For a Seattle pizza list, Big Mario's is the essential "real New York slice, dive-bar attitude" entry — big, foldable, by-the-slice pizza built by a team of Seattle hospitality veterans, served in a setting built for a cheap beer and a late night rather than a quiet dinner.
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Delancey
Delancey opened in 2009 in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, founded by chef Brandon Pettit and co-owner Molly Wizenberg — former spouses who built the restaurant together and have continued running it jointly since. Wizenberg's popular food blog played a direct role in the restaurant's creation and early following, giving Delancey a built-in audience of readers curious to taste what she'd been writing about long before most Seattle diners had heard of the place. The restaurant is a genuine wood-fired pizzeria specializing in a Brooklyn-style pie — tomato sauce, mozzarella, and grana as the base, built up with toppings like bacon, basil, mushrooms, fennel pork sausage, and Kalamata olives. That Brooklyn-leaning style sets Delancey apart from both the Neapolitan-certified pizzerias and the deep-dish transplants elsewhere on this list, occupying its own distinct lane within Seattle's pizza scene. Delancey's reputation has traveled well beyond Ballard: the restaurant has picked up acclaim from Bon Appétit, The New York Times, and USA Today, a level of national food-press attention that's genuinely rare for a single-location neighborhood pizzeria without any expansion plans of its own. In 2011, the Pettit-Wizenberg team added a pantry space next door, extending Delancey's offerings and giving the concept room to grow slightly without diluting the original pizzeria's identity or seating. That restraint — expanding sideways into a complementary concept rather than opening additional pizzeria locations — has helped keep Delancey feeling like a genuinely personal restaurant rather than a scaling brand, even fifteen-plus years after its blog-fueled opening. For a Seattle pizza list, Delancey is the essential "the pizzeria a food blog built" entry — a Brooklyn-style, wood-fired Ballard original from a husband-and-wife team, still earning national press more than fifteen years after opening on the strength of Wizenberg's original readership and Pettit's pizza.
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