Zaw Artisan Pizza

I used to be a really big fan of Zaw. We ordered almost weekly from the old Capitol Hill location and then continued when we moved to West Seattle and they opened a location over there. We moved back to Captiol Hill recently and were sad to see the location over here had closed, so we started ordering from South Lake Union. I kid you not, every single time I’ve ordered from this location I have had a bad experience. Every time time I get a pizza with arugula it’s either completely old and wilted or they forget to bring it with the delivery. I also always have issues with the salads, I’ve found bugs in the lettuce multiple times and last time I ordered a Caesar the dressing was broken and they put a bunch of wilted mixed greens in the box instead of romaine. The pizzas have really gone down hill too, the crust is completely «dead» with no rise and no flavor. They call almost raw, super thickly sliced onions «caramelized». Overall, there’s really nothing there I’d spend my money on anymore, which is sad because there’s nowhere else to get «wholesome» pizza. They really need to hire people who care or this place is going to fail.

This place is not the same since they moved off Capitol Hill. The SLU location claims they still deliver to Capitol Hill, but when the delivery guy came he was quite rude and reprimanded me for being «out of the delivery zone.» Zaw used to be a great option when I wanted pizza and salad, plus they deliver wine. However, I think I will stick to places that deliver a cooked pizza and pick up my wine at QFC.

Is this pizza? If so, it’s is unlike any pizza I’ve ever had. The crust is very thin without any flavor. It’s almost like making pizza on top of a thick tortilla. I guess flavorless is a good thing because sometimes whole wheat crusts can have a very strong taste. I don’t understand why the crust is so thin, did they forget to add yeast?
It is also oddly tasteless and super salty. I don’t understand why this company is still in business. Maybe the regular crust is better or maybe they accidentally gave me the gluten free crust? I like the fresh veggies on top, I never thought of putting fresh zucchini and eggplant on pizza.
I like being able to order online, I just don’t understand why it took 45 minutes for them to sprinkle some sauce and toppings on dough.

No gloves when serving ice cream is disgusting, as the employee’s hand actually touched the cream in the tub. I was too taken aback to even say anything to him. Shocking lack of sanitary concern.
Other note, they have no separate prep stations or places to isolate gluten free items. They literally make them on the exact same surface that contains all the gluten-​full items, and they toss dough 2 feet from the station where the food is made. If you have Celiac disease or an actual gluten intolerance, DO NOT EAT HERE. It is not gluten free, despite their advertising.
There is also a strong stench of marijuana every time I have stopped by to grab a soda (As I do not eat the food here anymore.)

I was so excited about Zaw Pizza because I am allergic to gluten and have really been missing being able to pick up a pizza and enjoy a quiet night. Their menu sounded great, they had great combinations, and great sounding deals. I’m used to paying more for food as I require specific ingredients, so I wasn’t surprised at their pricing… it sounded reasonable to me.
I ordered the Pig n’ Pear: prosciutto, pears, Gorgonzola, mozzarella, and olive oil on a gluten-​free crust. Sounded like an easy-​win to me! Unfortunately, it tasted like I was eating flavorless toppings on a crispy cracker. It wasn’t filling, there was very little flavor, and I wanted pizza… not a giant cracker. So sad. I really had high hopes for making this my new go-​to Friday stop. I will have to keep looking.

Sad to say their delivery is awful. I don’t know who they are kidding with their hour delivery window — since they moved, I have not received my pizza in under an hour and a half. I frequently have to call, to which I get a confused person.
Why did I try this pizza delivery 4+ times? Because it is DELICIOUS (and they deliver wine). 5^th time however? Well… Sitting here 2 hours later, unable to get through on the phone (just wanting to inquire if they lost/​forgot my order).
It is so sad to say goodbye to this place, it truly had awesome potential.

This is for the Starfire location.
This is the WORST pizza I have ever had! The service is awful the staff are rude! Playing new age music loud you cannot hear each other too interested in serving beer. Pizza was so dry like it has been sitting there for hours and hours. Sending it through a 5 second warmer does not heat it. You can not even cut through the cheese now that is bad. We will never be back and can not wait to get out of here now.

these guys make great pizza (and I would continue ordering again), but can’t run a company to help themselves.
²⁄₃ deliveries were cancled due to lack of driver capacity, «manager» put me on the do not call list after I pointed out that my $ 60+ would have paid for a driver for the two nights…
Good thing this guy does not work for us, if i had witnessed that from one of our team members I would have fired them on the spot for amazingly shitty customer service.
Frankly, order from anyone else if you actually want it to be delivered.
John

I was looking forward to a ZAW pizza because I thought it would be different from so many others. I ordered their Marg & Rita pizza which was disappointing. There were not many tomatoes, basil was scarce, and the roasted garlic hard to find. The pictures on their on-​line menu made me salivate with anticipation. Unfortunately, the product didn’t compare favorably. I’ll probably go back to ordering delivery pizza which is more ample for about the same amount of money.

Wanted something to grab on the way home for hanging out with friends. This pizza place was perfect!
It took just a few minutes to prepare. You take it home and in about 15 minutes, you have the whole kitchen smelling delicious.
The grilled veggie we had was good. Not great. And it cost nearly $ 20, which seemed a little too much considering the lack of meat on the pizza pie.
I’d definitely recommend if you are in a pinch for dinner and want something easy.

This has to be THE BEST take home to bake pizza… Stopped in on my way home and decided to get a pizza for dinner later that day… it was after lunch and all they were selling was already baked by the slice. The guy was super nice and made me a pizza to take home… when they say artisan style, they truly are. It was picture perfect like something out of a high end gourmet magazine and tasted fantastic… definitely will go back!!!

I have been ordering Zaw for years and have never encountered a more mismanaged operation. They are consistently out of everything, mix up orders, etc. I have been able to overlook this until tonight. First I tried to pick up a pizza from the mercer island location but they were out of red sauce. Out of red sauce. A pizza place. At 5 pm. On a Friday. Then I ordered one from the Yale location and they said it would be delivered. It never was. After several months of ordering delivery from this location we were told they wouldn’t deliver to our address but they didn’t say this when we ordered and didn’t bother to call to let us know they weren’t fulfilling the order. After waiting for two hours for this pizza before getting someone on the phone who could explain, I have to say they have finally lost me as a customer. It’s almost like they are determined to serve disappointment rather than pizza. Well no more for me — disappointment can be bought much cheaper elsewhere. Somewhere with red sauce in supply.

This review is specifically for their delivery option. I’ve picked up pizza in-​store and everything was just fine. (And it’s been 5 years since I left anyone a one-​star review).
Last Saturday I called to order a medium pizza and a 12″ gluten free pizza, each with different toppings. The guy that took my order was one of the most frustrating people I’ve ever dealt with on the phone. There was no background noise on his end or mine, yet I had to repeat my name, address, phone number, credit card number/​expiration — everything at least 3 times. Every time he would repeat it back to me he would get it wrong. Sounds like a minor annoyance but the whole order process took about 4 times longer than necessary and when I hung up I was really not confident we’d ever see the pizza. To be honest the guy seemed like he had to have been high or half asleep to have that hard a time taking an order. He said it would be an hour before delivery. Considering it’s bake-​at-​home pizza that seemed like a really long time but okay.
An hour and ten minutes later I called to see where our pizza was. Same guy answered and asked me twice, «It hasn’t been delivered?» Why else would I be calling? Yep pretty sure there is no pizza in my house. Finally he had the delivery girl call me (she was very friendly) and sure enough she had received the wrong address. (The address I repeated 3 times originally). She wasn’t too far away but it still took another 15 minutes for her to arrive. The pizza order was wrong too. The medium sized pizza was gluten free (and had half slid off the cardboard it was supposed to be sitting on), and the personal sized pizza was not gluten free crust. We asked if they could take any discount off the pizza considering it was really late and the order wasn’t right. No discount. It seems the only information the guy was capable of taking down correctly was the payment info because we were definitely charged the full amount.
Zaw is now the last place I would order delivery pizza from. Don’t bother, you could go to the store, buy ingredients, and make one from scratch in less time.

Artisanal, fresh, nitrite free ingredients and none of the work, YAY!!! Arugula is my fav :). Although the Tailgate with caramelized onions is a damn close second

Artisan should not be anywhere near describing this pizza. After ordering two pizzas, one Arugula Pizza and one Cook Out I was excited to taste this so called artisan craft. What showed up at my door looked like a 5 year old’s master creation. My pizza was sans chicken even though that was the main ingredient, same goes for the Arugula Pizza showing up sans arugula. After calling and having them deliver another with all the ingredients I will say it was nice of them to comp us a cookie, because that was the only good thing that came out of $ 40 and an hour wait time. I would not recommend this over priced, horribly made pizza to my worst enemy. Skip the wait, walk to Safeway and buy a frozen pizza. You’ll thank me.

If you are in the mood for a filling pizza with a lot of flavor I would suggest the Hunter Gatherer or the Cowardly Apricot. If you are looking for something a little lighter, I would recommend the Pig and Pear or the Arugula Patch. These are my favorite of the varieties offered. I also recommend ordering a salad. At most pizza joints the salads offered are an after thought. At Zaw the salads are fresh and well prepared. I particularly enjoy the Perfect Pear. The pear and gorgonzola really compliment each other. I would also suggest taking advantage of the Value Combo where you get a large pizza, a salad and your choice of a six pack/​bottle of wine for $ 30.

LOVE the gluten free take n bake. Its also corn free, and potato free! Its so hard to find something without my allergies, and this is perfection.

Update: changing my rating from 5 to 3. I still recommend trying them out, but they seem a bit inconsistent.
Organic thin crust pizza! Absolutely delicious. I had my doubts that a take-​n-​bake pizza place would be anything great, but was curious do to the positive Unilocal reviews.
Baking the pizza is pretty easy and one advantage of baking your own is you can control how crispy you want it (or soft). The crust is tasty and the sauce has a lot of tomato and basil flavor.

I love this little place. It’s a great go-​to when you wanna grab a pizza but aren’t in the mood for the classic, ultra greasy, gut bomb american version. Zaw is the more artisanal cousin in the pizza realm.
You place your order online and can choose from their signatures or choose to build your own. They’ve got a few great combo deals. The one I usually choose includes a pizza, a salad and a bottle of wine for about $ 30. They add all the toppings you’ve selected to your choice of crust – including gluten free or whole wheat – and you take it home and bake it. And, don’t pass up the bake your own cookies for dessert.
They have a handful of good wines and beer and I will admit that I’ve dropped in more than a few times just to grab a bottle (and they’ve assured me that a bunch of my neighbors do the same).

I sometimes like my pizza pre-​cooked and sometimes I like it bake-​at-​home.
I always want my pizza to contain good (organic, local, nutritious) products and I often want it to be interesting and a fun new combination of toppings.
Rarely do I ever want to put that pizza together, however, so for those bake-​at-​home times I love Zaw!
We came in on a Friday night and spent a good long while looking through the menu. We wanted pesto instead of cheese (or fake cheese) and I’m pretty sure that gluten-​free was a top priority. Thankfully those were all options! It got really busy and it took a while for us to get the pizza, but the employees were super helpful with the menu/​suggestions and super nice. (There were 2 of them. We mostly just interacted with the cashier girl with the quote tattoos on her arms.)
As we waited, we enjoyed some conversation and checking out the local beer, wine and craft soda options they had available in their shop. We also rather enjoyed watching the neighborhood residents (and their friends) come by to pick up their pizzas.
The pizzas themselves were quite delicious and not like any pizzas we’ve had before (in ways of toppings). Happiness!
The one lesson we learned was to not leave a pizza in the fridge and skip town for a couple of days! We got full after the first pizza, so the second one ended up going in the fridge. By the time I returned to it a couple days later, the pizza was a little soft. It was still delicious… it just took some extra work to get it in the oven without losing it to the oven!

Zaw is basically a more expensive, fresher version of Papa Murphy’s.
My friend and I went here last night and ordered the ‘shroom fest with no onions. We waited about twenty minutes for the girl to make the pizza for us, and then we still had to go home and bake it.
After the pizza was finally ready, it was just alright. It tasted like a typical mushroom pizza — nothing too special. I liked how crispy the crust was, but crispy crust makes the pizza less substantial. We ordered the 14″ pizza, and after we split it, I was still hungry.
Not much value here for the price. If I want bake it at home pizza in the future, I’ll probably just get one from Whole Foods.

Pizza, I love you! I especially love you when you’re creative. Forget the meat-​lovers and the plain cheeses, Zaw makes you oh so pretty!
Apart from the local and fresh ingredients that make these pizzas so special, I love the creativity that goes into their menus as well. Not only are Zaw’s pizzas different from most around town (using toppings like fruit, goat cheese, bleu cheese, spinach, pine nuts, etc) they also give you wine and beer pairings in case you’re ordering pizza for a group of folks or a party! So handy!
My only suggestion here is that you pre-​heat your oven and order BEFORE you’re too hungry. I always wait till I’m starving and then I have to sit around for the pizza to cook. Again — a fantastic idea for a party because you can cook the pizza to be ready for your guests. Plus — it looks so fresh you can lie and say it’s homemade… tee hee!