(Image: Amante Pizza and Pasta)
Capitol Hill’s Amante Pizza and Pasta has closed taking its relatively affordable pies and memories of its notorious flashing E Olive Way sign with it.
CHS reported here on the 2018 closure of the E Olive Way Amante to make way for an overhaul for a new pot shop.
It turned out, the restaurant’s outsized flashing electronic sign was also shut down and removed. Cannabis retailer Reef opened in the building later that year with downstairs neighbor La Rue Creperie and Espresso joining the mix in 2020.
The Amante brand would resurface on North Capitol Hill down near The Roanoke where owner Zhivko Momchev converted the former Padrino’s into a new pizza kitchen and counter and restarted Amante’s delivery-focused business as a cheaper alternative to Pagliacci.
We tried to reach out to Momchev to ask more about the closure but contact information provided for the company operating the Capitol Hill Amante franchise location was inaccurate in state records. Amante has operated here under a long list of limited liability corporations as the business appears to have frequently changed hands over the years. Amante franchise locations elsewhere in the region including Kirkland and Renton remain open and appear to be held under separate ownership.
Something about the franchise’s signage seems to lend itself to comedy bits. According to federal records, Amante once tried to trademark the slogan “CUORE DELL AMANTE” meaning “heart of a lover” but filed for “COURE DELL AMANTE” instead. The slogan still appears on Amantes signage above the North Capitol Hill restaurant.
The rest of the 10th Ave E space, meanwhile, is being been emptied out and a “for lease” sign — paper and not flashing — has gone up.
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This is the worst news I’ve ever read in my life. Was it probably a drug front? Yes. At the Olive location did I see a rat run across the dining room? Yes. Were the windows boarded up a year and a half after the wave of protests? Yes. But they had the best buffalo chicken pizza I’ve ever had and any of their pizzas were the perfect greasy, chewy, cheesy end to a night out on the hill.
🙄MG. That location has been closed more than 3 years. Seems like you’re not really gonna miss it.
…I’ve still been ordering from the 10th Ave location smartass.
Is it not called Padrino’s? I’m confused.
It was taken over by Amante a few years ago, but still operated under both names and menus. Their sign said Amante’s, though.
So many late nights at 3am where this was the only option. I’d get a few bites in and have to stop because the pizza was so bad telling myself I’ll never est there again only to get drunk and do it all over again months later. Saying that their meat lovers pizza was loaded with toppings
I love pizza.
I’m so sorry to hear this. I loved their calzones and dinner salads especially, and they have been my neighborhood mainstay during Covid.
With Pagliacci kitty korner and Amante’s pizza quality the way it was, I couldn’t see much of a future for them down Roanoke way. I never want any local business to close, front or not, but hopefully this will let something new and delicious in down there.