Restaurant Review: Spiro's Pizza & Pasta

Spiro’s Pizza & Pasta

18411 Aurora Ave N

Shoreline WA 98133

(206) 546-2900

‘Spiro’ is a Latin word for respiration, in this case quite apt for a place that lives, breathes, and eats pizza/pasta.

This Shoreline institution has been present for almost 30 years, next to but not overshadowed by Fred, as in Fred Meyer. 

It is a family-owned and family-run restaurant, namely the very Greek Voltsis family. This is your down-home basic pizza & pasta joint, serving Greek-Italian comfort food - no kale, quinoa or arugula here! 

You have expectations, and they will fulfill most if not all of them, that is delicious and satisfying. They have a basic salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mozzarella, olives, that you can tweak with onions, feta, Greek olives, antipasto, chicken, spinach, and pepperoncini. 

Let’s start with the pizzas – all you really need are the specials – either House or Vangellis, which are a good mix of meats, veg, and cheese, and a garden special for the vegetarians. 

Then you need to know pizza numbers, namely 2, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 19, 22, 24 – essentially cheese, Greek veg, Italian sausage, Hawaiian, Hawaiian plus, pepperoni, meat-lovers (aka The Blake Snell), Canadian-Greek, and pep-sau, with likely sprinkles of feta/mozzarella. 

For your pasta, you have spaghetti, penne, cheese tortellini, lasagna, fettuccini, to be accompanied by meat sauce, marinara, alfredo, pesto (or any combination thereof), ricotta, butter, mizithra, with optional addition of chicken or sausage, and extra feta/mozzarella always an option. 

The red, white & green Brent’s Special combo is a popular favorite. 

For balance, there are a variety of eleven vegetables used in the pizzas/pastas. Calzones are essentially a stuffed turnover, available with any two pizza ingredients named above. 

Why you would come to a pizza/pasta joint for a sub is beyond me, but for you outliers, there are mozzarella sandwiches with pepperoni, salami, meatball, Canadian bacon, meat-lovers, and vegetables. 

Seafood? Fuhgeddaboudit! After this feast, it seems redundant to suggest cake and ice-cream, which they will serve, if asked nicely. 

Their ace is a large banquet room available for meetings, parties, large groups, etc. They serve it hot, fast and good, a regular community gathering place, where they treat you like family. Opa!

--TCA