Vivo 53

Loved the location. With the windows open, the fresh breeze is amazing. The hosts however didn’t do a good job of being authentic with their greeting. Fake impressions, you can smell their hatred lol

Great food, amazing pizza, great atmosphere and managed by an awesome woman.
We’ve eaten here many times and only once have we walked away slightly disappointed due to poor service from a waiter. The management clearly cares about customer service here and they couldn’t have handled it better. We have returned many times since.
The pizza is amazing. Classic Neapolitan pizza that’s not super heavy or difficult to eat. We also love the chocolate soufflé here. It’s Italian so don’t expect a typical French soufflé. It has a little more of a cake-​like texture to it. Either way, it’s chocolate and it’s delicious so don’t ask questions.
The atmosphere is nice. It is dimly lit and warm and the heat of the pizza oven fills the open space. On warmer evenings, the front windows are rolled up for a semi-​outdoor eating experience.
Waits have never really been an issue here, but Vivo does tend to fill their seats. It may be possible to catch a server on a bad day, but otherwise everyone is awesome, friendly and attentive.
If you’re hungry in Bellevue, eat there!

Update: I’ve now gone back for many lunches and dinners and most recently, their brunch! The brunch was delicious and they offer bottomless mimosas (note: they take about 5 – 7 minutes to refill). We got the salmon pizza & chicken and waffles. Great pizza but we didn’t realize it had roe — my suggestion would be to order without it. Waffle with the best butter ever, and fantastic crispy greasy chicken. Strong refreshing mimosas.
IMO, service is hit or miss depending on the server but overall good quality and taste.
Previous review:
My new favorite restaurant in town. Their bartender Jack is fantastic and can whip up amazing cocktails if you tell him what spirit you’re in the mood for. I also love their food. The chickpea dish is my favorite, followed by the bolo and spicy sausage pizza. Their salads are great too. I’ve tried all of them and like the white salad the best. I’ve been a handful of times now and service has generally been spot-​on. Prompt and friendly.

Gorgeous open air dining, appropriately attentive staff, entrees — meh.
Came in because of the Unilocal photos and my partner wanted Italian. Both the seared cauliflower in yogurt sauce and rigatoni were just not interesting. Ok, but not better than that. There were only 5 entrees on the menu so maybe the focus is pizza and they do a better job with that.
After so much great food on this trip, Vivo was a let down.

On a recent trip to Bellevue I had the pleasure of having happy hour at Vivo 53. I started with a drink called Dr. Manlove and I definitely had a lot of heart-​y feelings for it. Made with rye, combier peche, bigallet China-​China, orange bitters, and Yulupa Brut 13 it was refreshing and delicious. I would be happy to drink one of these every day.
We also had some shared bites and the pizza is definitely excellent, although I don’t really have any complaints about any of the food we tried. The service was kind, the prices were reasonable — I can’t see any reason why I wouldn’t head back here again if I found myself in the area!

So, it’s pizza… it just happens to be really good pizza. We came for lunch and the food and the service was excellent. My wife and I both enjoyed our food but our waiter went above and beyond.
My wife spilled her dark beer on her white shorts. Our waiter saw this and helped her clean it up. Knowing that my wife was visibly upset that her white pants are now brown, he brought her another beer on the house. He didn’t have to do that but it definitely helped calm her down.
Next time I am in Seattle, I will definitely come here.

I salute to any restaurant the offers bone marrow.
Although the clam juice was pure oil not flavorful
Brussels sprouts was a winner but honestly carnivals just didn’t expect vegetarian food can even taste good.
bottom line why don’t they have soup?

Do this: Order the crispy prosciutto pizza, special request the garlic butter scallion sauce (aka the staff favorite «Crack Sauce») to drizzle over everything (and I mean everything), squeeze lemon on the seared cauliflower, get Aliciasaurus as your server, have the orange cake for dessert then Repeat. Has a swanky vibe but a hearthy warm atmosphere at the same time, and we and another couple had basically the entire restaurant to ourselves on a Tuesday night at 9. Don’t know if you want a place with a huge crowd, this isn’t that place at least on a Tuesday, but great for privacy, tasty food, and friendly service.

Food is pretty good, we ordered mushroom pizza and ragu pasta. Loving the pizza crust — remain crispy underneath the sauce.
Don’t like the service: 1) we stepped into the place trying to be seated. Girl at the door literally asked us «how can i help you?»… Well, we are here to eat so please take us to a table. 2) server kept coming back taking plates away, adding water, asking if we wanna desert. I appreciate the attentiveness, but please don’t do it too much. Dinner conversation constantly got interrupted…

Nice restaurant for a spot of lunch. Came here on a Sunday afternoon and the restaurant was really accommodating to our drop-​in party of eight.
Food:
Pizza — maybe overly baked as a one-​off day.
Croque Madame — where’s the bechamel sauce? Otherwise it’s a pretty tasty sandwich, can’t go wrong with ham, cheese & egg. The sandwich is also served with delightfully skinny shoestring fries.
Service: Accommodating.
Ambience: Upscale-​casual.

Bf and I went here for dinner couple months ago. Love the interior and simple yet industrial chic décor, the chandeliers, and the wood fire oven as the center of the restaurant. Pizza was good — we had two kinds ! And my fettuccine bolognese was so fabulous ! Tasted so authentic! The Burratta appetizer was good as well although a bit overpriced I believe. The Bartender came over to us and discussed drink options which was cool. Fully stocked bar! Service was very good! It’s a different vibe and new choice for food in Bellevue. I like it!

Came here on a whim with 3 other people for an easy Thursday night pizza dinner. Heard it was pretty new in town, so we decided to try it since I was craving pizza! Did not look incredibly busy, but I suppose we were the only party of four that had to wait about 15 – 20 minutes! Everyone else who came in were couples so they were seated quickly. It was ok bc it gave us time to chit chat. The hostess was super nice.
We finally got seated and decided to order 3 pizzas to share. They are about 14 inches in diameter and are sliced into four slices. We ordered the margherita, salumi, and the meat paradiso. First of all, it did come out pretty hot. But I think it was so hot that when a friend grabbed a slice of the meat paradiso, the toppings slid off the pizza slice! Opps. All of the pizzas were like that– when you fold them over, the toppings kinda just slide out. Maybe that’s what we get for tryna eat it NY style with the sauces on these pizzas. haha
The margherita was tasty but I wish there was more mozzarella! The meat paradiso was surprisingly good (I’m not a huge meat pizza type of person) and the salumi was good bc it was crispy (who doesn’t love fried!?).
It was a good amount of food for our party of four. We thought we might order more, but ended up being quite satiated by the end of our meal that we didn’t go for dessert! But next time, I would like to try their soufflé and return for that and happy hour!

Came here for the tailend of happy hour, which offered a handful of plates for a few dollars off. I was eyeing the spicy sausage pizza and clams, so ordered them with a few minutes to spare while I waited for my friend. The bartender was very kind in letting us order a few minutes past as well as made us some great drinks at HH prices!
Food-​wise, I thought everything was pretty good. The pizza was a bit oily and the peppers were a little more sour than I expected, but it was enjoyed nonetheless. The clams came at a fair portion size and the broth was finished with the bread that accompanied it. The rigatoni was my favorite I think — it was truly an ooey gooey comfort food — had a flavorful cheesy/​tomato sauce and the pasta was al dente as it should be. and the fried brussel sprouts were great — again, they were a little oily, but fun to eat with the almonds and had a good blend of taste and texture to it.
Definitely appreciate having more choices for Happy hour places in Bellevue. Look forward to trying some new items here!

Being the directionally challenged person I am, I was relieved to see that Vivo is literally right next to Bellevue Square and you cannot miss the sign when you are about to turn into the parking garage, another plus because I do not like to find street parking! I love the ambiance of it and the lighting was perfect for me. I came here for dinner on a weekday with some of my other friends because we didn’t have time to meet over the holidays to exchange gifts, so it wasn’t really busy.
I was more in the mood for pasta so I ordered the signature Vivo Rigatoni with chicken. It was really cheesy and the noodles and chicken were cooked perfectly! I also decided to order the Amaro sour. I must say I had no idea you can put egg whites in a drink, it was pretty good! It had an interesting taste but I really liked it, the egg whites added a little bit of creaminess to the drink. For dessert I got the chocolate soufflé, already hot once it’s placed on the table and really good once you add the heavy cream inside! I was already getting full so I couldn’t finish it, and at some point it started to taste spicy… Weird. Still very delicious though!
Our waitress was super nice and helpful. I really wish I remembered her name, she checked up on us a good number of times, suggested some meals, and was patient with us as we kept chatting away. It is a little bit on the pricey side but this one time experience definitely makes me want to come back here! I want to try their pizzas next time.

Visited Vino 53 with a friend for happy hour. The restaurant is has an open feel and is beautifully decorated with the large pizza oven the as the centerpiece. Awesome to see the pizzas being made in front of you.
The waitress said the restaurant got the name from 53 attempts to create the dough recipe and that all the ingredients are sourced locally. Those attempts seemed to have paid off as the pizza is excellent with crunchy, yet still chewy inside, crust and nicely spiced sausage and red pepper. The chopped salad was pretty standard, but at $ 11, I’m not sure if it can be consider a happy hour «deal». Paired with a glass of wine, happy hour was about $ 30 a piece. Next time I’ll skip the salad as the pizza is definitely large enough for a meal.
Happy to have Vino 53 in the neighborhood and a nicer sit down pizza option over Pagliacci or Mod in Bellevue.

A ok!
Like ~ the décor, brightness, brick oven churning out those wood fire pizzas!
Ambiance of low key comfort and some warmth.
Dislike ~ food, slow service and so on.
Came here for a quick lunch meeting post lunch rush. They are on open table but they don’t take reservations for lunch. I was a little worried but the place was next to empty. Maybe one table occupied in the bar and about three or four tables in the dining room.
Hostess offered me a table in the bar but we ended up taking the booth. The menu looks good as I’ve checked before choosing this place. I needed some protein and I know my company would want some pasta. We ended up antipasti and paninis.
Antipasti ~ chicken meatballs with arugula on top. These are the tiniest meatballs I’ve ever seen! Half my family is Italians and they live in Italy to this day. And I get to see them a few times a year. Meatballs are a big deal. But these were no way close to being Italian or tasty for that matter. First: it was lukewarm! And it wasn’t meatballs. It was cheese stuffed meatballs. Had I know, I wouldn’t have chose this!
Panini ~ on the smaller side. Looked prettier.
Cappucino ~ this was the funny part. I can have a good cup of cappucino any given time and I do. But this also made me chuckle at our waiter. He brought it to me with cream and sugar. It wasn’t a drip coffee! It already have foam! Aka milk?!
Overall, my lunch meeting was great but everything else fell short. Such a pretty spot with potential. Slow service and lukewarm/​a ok food brings 2 ½ stars for this place.

I got the Vivo Truffle Fettuccine. and the Crispy Prosciutto when I came here with another friend. Our server had recommended the Vivo Truffle Fettuccine and said it is his favorite thing on the menu. When the fettuccine came, the portion size was modest but it tasted fine. The pizza was also good, though I had hoped for a little bit more green on the topping .
Our server told us that the place is called Vivo 53 because it took them 53 times to perfect the pizza dough. I didn’t think much of the crust when I had the pizza. Although I did end up taking two slices home and hitting them up in the oven the next day. I thoroughly appreciated the texture of the reheated pizza crust and how crispy and delightful it was (maybe a little bit too crispy since I nearly burnt it).
This is a good addition to the area. I enjoyed their simple menu though I took forward to see how they will update the menu based on the season. The pizza has great reheat value, though given that they are not very big, most people probably won’t get to experience it. But it’s a wonderful place with decent tasting food for someone who wants portion control and not overeat.

I had their pizza, and coming from the east coast, I have some bombdiggity pizza joints to choose from. I wasn’t a fan of their crust, the toppings were decent but not a standout.
They did have a delicious appetizer dish with fresh mozzarella (burrata), that was a dish to die for, I would come back for that dish any day. A friend had ordered the lasagna and said it tasted pretty delicious, it certainly looked really delicious!
Parking is pretty easy. Lots of things to do before and after the meal around Bellevue.

Vivo 53 c’est un restaurant Italien, vous me direz encore un restaurant italien avec ses pizzas classiques et ses pates, sauf que la on a vraiment de bons produits avec des plats de pates élaborés avec de bons assaisonnements et comble du luxe, les pates sont parfaitement cuites «al dente», c’était vraiment bon et en bonne quantité.
J’ai été moins convaincus par les desserts, le gâteau à l’orange était trop sucré (à mon avis)
L’ambiance du restaurant est feutrée et la décor est vraiment réussie avec une fiat 500 peinte sur un des murs, très sympa. On voit les différents bars ou la cuisine est faite, ils ont un beau four à pizza.
En tout cas une bonne adresse à Bellevue et le service était efficace rapide et souriant

This is by far my favorite artisan pizza and happy hour so far! Came here around 2:30pm, sat and chatted till 3pm for the happy hour. Turned out, one of our gf’s ID expired a few days ago so we could not sit in the bar, which was the only place that they offer happy hour. But, they were super nice and let us have happy hour in the main dining area.
The interior design of this place is modern and stylish. We could see the kitchen and the oven from the dining area. The place definitely looks brand new, sparkling everywhere!
I had the margherita pizza which was super delicious. The sauce was light, the mozerella was sweet and creamy, topped with fresh aromatic basil. My friends had the spicy sausage pizza, which was also pretty darn delicious. The spiciness really gives it a kick! Oh yeah, and their stir fry brussels sprout drizzled with olive oil and fried garlic! Can bruseels sprouts even taste this good! Most memorable dish for sure!
I think the price here is better than serious pie, although they do not have as large a selection than serious pie, I would definitely recommend all the pizza enthusiasts out there to try this place out.

When I found that this place came to Bellevue, I was excited. Vivo 53 came from Texas and they are quite popular there. So decided to come here and give it a try. To my surprise its not that busy. So sat down ordered the bone marrow and it was quite salty. I love bone marrow but not that salty. Also ordered the Crispy Prosciutto and that was delicious. I also got a pasta, the vivo truffle fettuccine. Well the pasta was not that great. Portion wise is a bit small but the price is reasonable for the portion size. Yes they have a tavern oven.
I would say the best part is their pizza. I did have one issue the restaurant is a bit cold on a winter day. The food turned cold too fast
As well the wait for the food was a bit too long especially I was dining in at 2 pm when there were about 3 or 4 tables max including mine. So not sure how they could take so long to bring the food out.
I did like the fact that they have free internet.
As well service is great. The waitress was really friendly.
Service 5 stars
Food 3 stars
Ambiance 4