MOTO Pizza West Seattle
Pizza restaurant · Genesee ·
Detroit-style pizza with Filipino influences & unique soft serve
Detroit-style pizza with Filipino influences & unique soft serve
"This tiny house in West Seattle that happens to look like the one from Up does just two things, but executes them extremely well: thick, rectangular Detroit-style pies and flavor-twisted soft serve piped inside cinnamon-dusted Transylvanian pastry cones. You’ll find pizzas here made with a 100-year-old sourdough starter (her name is Betty), and topped with everything from Filipino pork belly, sausage, and calamansi lime sauce to deconstructed clam chowder ingredients. It’s all excellent, down to every last crunch of crispy pepperoni edge and frizzled cheese laced along the crust’s hulking walls. And while there used to be a multi-month waitlist to get a box, same-day and next-day orders are typically available now. Food Rundown Mr. Pig The Mr. Pig is topped with Filipino pork belly and sausage, but it's really all about the trio of tasty sauces. There's the classic tomato, a tangy calamansi lime chimichurri (blended with pineapple, parsley, cilantro, and red wine), and Moto's take on banana ketchup, which combines banana, sugar, vinegar, onion, garlic, and breadcrumbs. The generous splash of green sauce adds a bright suckerpunch that acts as an ideal bridge between the lechon and sweet Detroit-style tomato sauce. It's our favorite pie in the house. Kissd If you're partial to a pizza topped simply with cheese, tomato, and meat, the Kissd is a spectacular way to go. Drizzled with practically an urban beehive's worth of honey, it flawlessly sweetens up the pepperoni spice and the crispy mozzarella skirt while simultaneously flirting with the fermented tang of the sourdough. Harlem Chop Cheese This pie is a tribute to the chopped cheese, a sandwich that originated in New York City and consists of ground beef, lettuce, tomato, onion, seasonings, and american cheese smashed into a hero roll. Moto's version is a plain cheese pie, but topped with crumbled hamburger, slices of yellow american, and caramelized onion. Despite the cheese-on-cheese action happening, it's not heavy at all. If you're a chopped cheese (or cheeseburger) fan, you can feel great about ordering this. Moto Pipe Cone Ice cream is objectively the best dessert to consume post-pizza, and if you're grabbing your pies for takeout, dessert will have to come first, because frozen stuff melts. If you're not familiar with flavor burst soft serve, that's probably because Moto is the only place in Seattle where we've seen it. Essentially, imagine a regular soft serve machine, with artificial syrups pumped into the ridges, causing, well, bursts of flavor. You get it now. Anyway, there's nothing quite like creamy cold vanilla with a karate chop of fictional blue raspberry essence. Ask Lee (the owner) to top yours with his homemade chili crisp—it's spicy, tingly, loaded with crispy garlic chips, and works surprisingly well as a topping." - Aimee Rizzo
"Moto became famous a while back because there used to be a months-long waiting list for preorders. But the West Seattle pizzeria expanded into Belltown and Edmonds and finally are making enough to keep up with the rapacious demand. You can get a Moto pizza the same day you order it now, or even walk in and get a pizza. So see what all the fuss is about: The crust is thick and crispy, and the toppings often include Filipino ingredients. The sweet-savory combo of pork belly and calamansi lime sauce on the Mr. Pig is not to be missed." - Jade Yamazaki Stewart, Meg van Huygen, Harry Cheadle
"Moto’s Detroit-style odes to caramelized cheese swiftly became legendary when owner Lee Kindell started selling them out of a whimsical urban cottage in 2021. Like, order-your-pizza-two-months-in-advance legendary. Now that the West Seattle pizzeria has expanded to Belltown, Edmonds, and T-Mobile Park, it’s much easier to come by, and so is the accompanying vanilla soft serve, with ripples of creative flavors like green apple and black cherry. The “Moto cones” are the main sweet attraction: chewy pastry reminiscent of churros crusted in gummy bears, Fruity Pebbles, and other playful fixings." - Sophie Grossman, Eater Staff
"If you're not familiar with flavor burst soft serve, that's probably because Moto—a Detroit-style pizza shop in West Seattle—is the only place in town where we've seen it (aside from their outpost at T-Mobile Park). Imagine a regular soft serve machine, with flavored syrups pumped into the ridges, causing, well, bursts of flavor. You get it now. Anyway, there's nothing quite like creamy cold vanilla with a karate chop of artificial blue raspberry essence. Ask Lee (the owner) to top yours with his homemade chili crisp—it's spicy, tingly, loaded with crispy garlic chips, and works surprisingly well as a topping." - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley
"This tiny house in that happens to look like the one from Up does just two things, but executes them extremely well: thick, rectangular Detroit-style pies and flavor-twisted soft serve piped inside cinnamon-dusted Transylvanian pastry cones. You’ll find pizzas here made with a 100-year-old sourdough starter (her name is Betty), and topped with combinations like Filipino pork belly, sausage, and calamansi lime sauce, or deconstructed clam chowder ingredients. It’s all excellent, down to every last crunch of pepperoni edge and frizzled cheese laced along the crust’s hulking walls. And while there normally is a multi-month waitlist to get a box, they now accept walk-ins, too." - aimee rizzo, kayla sager riley, gabe guarente
