Ravi R.
Yelp
Death Spiral Complete
We used to love this place. When we moved to Seattle in 2016, we ate here all the time. We loved it, our kids loved it, the food was great, the service was great - it was a fun night out for all. We started going to Frelard because it was a little closer to our house, and that place was great too - with some fun outdoor seating. This was our go-to option for a pizza night out, or ordering delivery for years.
The the pandemic hit. This place suffered the same as every other restaurant in the country. The problem is that they never really recovered. The quality went way down and staff turnover was pretty high. We tried for *years* to give them a chance to recover. When our delivery pizza was bad, we made excuses for them and said it must have been a busy Friday night, or that we should have gone there in person. Going in person didn't help - it was just as bad. We kept going anyway hoping they would recover. Our final visit to Frelard was so bad we left 2 pizzas to be thrown away, and Frelard shut down not long after that.
Ballard Pizza Company recently moved to a new location, and we thought it was time to give the another chance. Surely they would put some effort in to make the food good a new location. Nope. It was awful. The cheese was bad, the sauce was bland, and the crust was simultaneously burnt and soggy. How is that even possible?
I was really at a loss trying to understand how the pizza had become so bad. Ethan Stowell is an experienced restauranteur who knows how to run a restaurant that makes good food. What has gone wrong here? Then I read a McSweeny's piece about your local mediocre pizzeria, and it explained a lot. Go search for that article and read it. Also, take a look around at the space. It has a horrible sports bar vibe with the expected clientele. I guess if you are there to get drunk you can choke down the pizza.
After this last visit, half of our family swore we would never eat there again. Someone from the other half decided to order from them anyway. They were warned: "We can't stop you if you want to ruin your dinner, but we are eating something else." The order arrived and there were errors - no shocker. And it was as bad as expected. There was one redeeming quality to the order - it came with pizza box and big paper bag that we could use for our compost.