Chase Lounge Is Deemed 'Awkward and Slightly Off'

Welcome back to Week in Reviews. Seattle's food critics recently visited Chase Lounge and a parade of pizzerias. Here's what they had to say:

BALLARD—Seattle Weekly's Nicole Sprinkle shreds young seafood spot Chase Lounge, calling everything, from decor to service to food, "awkward and slightly off" and recommending an entire menu revamp:

"The ultimate fail was the cioppino, a tomato-based seafood stew with Italian-American roots that originated in San Francisco. In a good one, the broth is redolent of the myriad flavors that come from the seafood that inhabit it—typically mussels, shrimp, clams, and fish—along with tomato, onions, and herbs. This poor reproduction was more like a jar of bottled tomato sauce dumped into a bowl to which was added some overcooked mussels, shrimp, and salmon."

CAPITOL HILL—For The Stranger, Rich Smith bravely taste-tests five pizzerias that have opened in an eight-block radius within the past year. He's blasé about Pizzeria 88 (the mozzarella was "joyless and rubbery," the end crust "left a powdery finish" in his mouth), Ian's ("Both pies were decidedly average but forgettable"), and Meltdown Pizza ("a grease-bottomed nothing slice of blahness"). Sizzle Pie fares better (it's "good, and its wild ingredients are wild without trying too hard"), but the round pizza at Dino's Tomato Pie comes out squarely on top:

"Dino's is the best of Capitol Hill's new pizzerias, and it serves what is technically the best round pie on the Hill. But those who agree that pizza is for the people would do just as well to walk up to Hot Mama's or Big Mario's and grab themselves a slice to eat out in the open air. The most valuable service these new pizzerias offer the neighborhood is the possibility of shorter lines at two places Capitol Hill already loves."