Value and pizza should be synonymous. This seems like something Seattle’s in danger of forgetting as the gourmet pizza trend rockets toward its zenith. Well, Talarico’s understands the principle: these pizza slices are cheap and the size of a kite.

The pies have dumb names but are reasonably well assembled: the “South Street” has slices of sausage and crumbles of additional sausage with the usual mozzarella and a thin but sweet tomato sauce. The “Oglio D’avio” has soft pockets of melted goat cheese within the mozzarella and marinara base, and this slice is topped with a gigantic bale of arugula. The half Caesar salad is almost an entire head of romaine with a garlicky Caesar dressing and generous shaved curlicues of real Reggiano cheese. All of it is just fine, a bit above average, but not much. In appearance, Talarico’s pizza is somewhere between New York pizza and Domino’s.

This place looks pretty cool—with its dark wooden panels, intricate carvings, and high, leather-backed booths—and if you get out of here before 9pm, you might feel that way for the whole evening. After that, however, it turns into a frat party, when a DJ comes in to “perform.” No matter who’s hanging out around the fireplace that dominates the center of the room, it can all start to seem a bit much—Talarico’s is a pizzeria in West Seattle, not an Aspen chalet.