I happened upon Mioposto Caffè e Pizzeria totally by chance while I was up and about and passing through the neighborhood of Mount Baker.
It all started while I was driving along the Lake Washington Blvd just to the south of I-5. After a bit of driving I decided I had gone far enough south and it was time to turn and go back the way I had originally come. There was this turn off just ahead and to my right that looked perfect for this so I made a right and immediately started looking for a good turn around spot.
Now to the left were some really nice houses while to my right was a really nice park… and just ahead was a small clump of shops and restaurants. The area looked very pleasant… a sign welcomed me to the Mount Baker neighborhood. This is where I found Mioposto Caffè e Pizzeria(i.e caffè & Pizzeria). right at the corner.
What initially made me sit up and take notice was that the signage of Mioposto looked more like what I would expect of a proper ‘authentic’ Italian pizzeria. Even the name Mioposto which means “My place” looked very Italian to me. Then, to make matters even better, the signage also mentioned that Mioposto also served espresso drinks… this is what really got me excited because I thought that they must indeed serve the real Italian style espresso since the place sounded very Italian. So I made a mental note to come back in a few days since at the moment I was not really in need of espresso.
And come back I did. Now right off the bat there were some things that I liked about the Mioposto and one really important, thing that I didn’t like about the place.
First, what I liked about Mioposto was that the atmosphere, though a little loud was great. Lots of the neighborhood people stopped by for a pizza dinner, some for espresso… and the food was good. The staff were great and fun to talk too…. and didn’t frown on me taking pictures of the place. That was what I liked about the place.
On the other hand, I didn’t like that they served Caffè Vita coffee. This might sound weird but let me explain further. Like I had mentioned in my long winded preamble, when I first saw Mioposto Caffè e Pizzeria, I was thinking wow! this looks like a great authentic Italian pizzeria… then when I saw that they served espresso, I thought they should be having some really great Italian style espresso. But unfortunately they don’t. Mind you, there are plenty of roasting companies here in Seattle that specialize in Italian roasts.
Some of these roasters include Caffè Umbria, Caffè D’arte (my favorite Italian style coffee) or even the Starbucks owned Torrefazione Italia. But Caffè Vita is certainly not one that I would consider to be Italian style. Now hear me out. I am not saying Caffè Vita is bad coffee, not at all. All I am saying is that I really think if Mioposto were to use a proper Italian style roast(er), that would certainly go a long way to making their espresso offerings much more inline with their business and the overall customer experience.
That being said, I will go back again… for pizza… and espresso.. but I will also let them know that maybe they should consider their coffee in light of the fact that they are a pizzeria.
