There are quite a few bars in Seattle that also serve pizza, but Dino’s is our favorite spot to get a pie and a brown liquor cocktail. Unlike the “New York-Style” pizzerias in Seattle that can’t keep their promises, Dino’s Tomato Pie actually delivers. (Although unfortunately no, not that kind of delivery.)
This place is run by the same people behind Delancey - the minimalist (borderline boring) pizza spot in Ballard - but Dino’s is pretty much its opposite. Starting with the website, which is covered in flashing graphics and rainbow lettering and many exclamation points, Dino’s feels like a place you’d find in New Jersey, not Capitol Hill. Aside from the many red neon signs, the space is dark, the bar is long, the booths are big - and, most importantly - the pizza is good. There are two kinds here - round, thin-crust ones, and what you’re really here for: thick-crust Sicilian pizzas. Chewy on the inside, crisp to the point of being nearly-carcinogenic on the outside, these square pies might make you rethink everything you thought about thick-crusted pizza.
If you can brave the stupidly disorganized line (there’s no host, so on a weekend, getting a table is like getting a flat screen TV at Walmart on Black Friday), come with friends and grab a huge booth in the casino-like darkness. A hot salami Sicilian pie with some Long Island iced teas on tap is the perfect kickoff to a Cap Hill night out.
