An 11-inch pizza with white sauce and vegetables from MOD Pizza is $8.27. (Andrea Brown/The Herald)

An 11-inch pizza with white sauce and vegetables from MOD Pizza is $8.27. (Andrea Brown/The Herald)

Mukilteo’s MOD Pizza offers a hip-hot-hasty delish pie

Get an affordable pizza your way piping hot out of the oven.

It was a blustery Christmas Eve and my son Quinn and I had just completed our annual last-minute gift-buying frenzy when we pulled into the Mukilteo QFC to pick up a few things for dinner.

That’s when I saw something merry and bright out of the corner of my eye: a MOD Pizza sign.

It was like an early gift from Santa. Pizza was exactly the hot buzz we needed.

Peppy music greeted us from the outside speakers as we hustled in from the cold. Inside we were greeted warmly by not one, not two, but three pizza artists behind the counter.

MOD Pizza has been busy since it opened in November, but we hit it at a good time. There were only a few diners inside. Pizza isn’t exactly a Christmas Eve dinner tradition.

I had been wanting to go back to MOD Pizza since I wrote a review in June 2016 about the Lynnwood location. At that time, I went to buy pizzas for a newsroom meeting with about 20 people. I had never been to a MOD, where the biggest pizza is 11 inches, cut in four slices. So I ordered 14 of them. That’s right — 14! By the time I got to the newsroom 25 minutes later, the pizzas were cold. Readers took me to task for it and rightfully so. They said I should try it again. And do it proper. Basically, they said: Go there. Choose your ingredients. Eat it hot.

It’s that simple.

MOD stands for “made on demand.” It’s based on Chipotle or Subway-style customization that lets people order at the counter and select the ingredients on their crust.

Go down the line and choose the sauce (red, white, pesto, garlic, ranch, olive oil), meat (pork, beef, chicken, anchovies), cheese (feta, ricotta, dairy-free) and veggie (the usual things, plus kale, artichokes, broccoli and cauliflower).

You watch it being done, so you can ask for a little more of this and a little less of that. Or a lot. They will pile on whatever you want. For real.

The pie is then put in the oven. It’s hip, hot and hasty.

According to the website, MOD Pizza was founded in 2008 by Scott and Ally Svenson in Seattle. Inspired by their search for quick, affordable, wholesome options for their growing family, they came up with a way of doing pizza so everyone could get exactly what they wanted.

Yep, the husband and wife were onto something. There are now MOD Pizzas in more than 20 states and the U.K. There are more than 40 MOD Pizzas in Washington.

An 11-inch pizza or entree salad is $8.27. A mini-MOD or salad is $5.27. A mega-MOD with double crusts or family-sized salad is $11.27. A pizza salad, where you create your own salad on a warm crust, is $10.27.

Signature pies include Lucy Sunshine, with mozzarella, parmesan, artichokes, garlic and dollops of red sauce; Calexico, with Gorgonzola, chicken, jalapenos and hot buffalo sauce; and Dominic, with white sauce, basil, asiago, red onions, tomatoes and sausage.

Mukilteo already has good pizza, such as Lombardo’s Pizzeria, Spiro’s Pizza & Pasta and Brooklyn Bros. Pizzeria. A town can never have enough pizza, right?

I asked an expert, New York native Tom Sacco. New Yorkers are pizza snobs. Sacco is a big fan of Brooklyn Bros., and since he lives between Everett and Mukilteo, he goes to both locations.

He said MOD comes in second place.

“I love MOD Pizza,” he said. “The pizza is fresh, it’s good, it’s crisp. The guys and women who are there are energetic. They believe in it and that just carries through.”

He and his wife like to take their grandchildren there, and everybody gets what they want.

For himself, he orders a pizza with onions, sausage and anchovies. He eats it there dripping hot, always with a cold beer. “Even if it’s 11 in the morning,” he said. Draft beer is $4.97 a glass and $11.27 for a pitcher.

I left the ordering on our MOD visit to Quinn. He’s a vegetarian, so I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about anchovies on the pie.

He chose the Dominic, with mushrooms substituted for sausage; the Kane (sans pepperoni) with red sauce, mozzarella, Gorgonzola, sweet hot peppers, spinach and red onion; and something with pesto and veggies, dribbled with balsamic vinegar.

The large casual dining room has metal stools and duct work overhead as a design accent. It’s a sleek, bright, fun place, but we had hungry family members waiting at home. We zipped over to QFC for a few things, including beer, and were back in time to bring hot pies home, much to the delight of my husband and daughter.

We each got a piece of each pie. The crust was crunchy, not doughy, with a nice blend of toppings.

My only complaint about MOD Pizza: It’s so good there wasn’t any left over. Not even a sliver to leave for Santa.

Andrea Brown: 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @reporterbrown.

What: MOD Pizza

Where: 11700 Mukilteo Speedway, Mukilteo; 425-553-2605; www.modpizza.com/locations/mukilteo.

When: 10:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Life

What’s Up columnist Andrea Brown with a selection of black and white glossy promotional photos on Wednesday, June 18, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Free celeb photos! Dig into The Herald’s Hollywood time capsule

John Wayne, Travolta, Golden Girls and hundreds more B&W glossies are up for grabs at August pop-up.

Rodney Ho / Atlanta Journal-Constitution / Tribune News Service
The Barenaked Ladies play Chateau Ste. Michelle in Woodinville on Friday.
Coming events in Snohomish County

Send calendar submissions for print and online to features@heraldnet.com. To ensure your… Continue reading

Edmonds announces summer concert lineup

The Edmonds Arts Commission is hosting 20 shows from July 8 to Aug. 24, featuring a range of music styles from across the Puget Sound region.

Big Bend Photo Provided By Ford Media
2025 Ford Bronco Sport Big Bend Increases Off-Road Capability

Mountain Loop Highway Was No Match For Bronco

Cascadia College Earth and Environmental Sciences Professor Midori Sakura looks in the surrounding trees for wildlife at the North Creek Wetlands on Wednesday, June 4, 2025 in Bothell, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Cascadia College ecology students teach about the importance of wetlands

To wrap up the term, students took family and friends on a guided tour of the North Creek wetlands.

Mustang Convertible Photo Provided By Ford Media Center
Ford’s 2024 Ford Mustang Convertible Revives The Past

Iconic Sports Car Re-Introduced To Wow Masses

Kim Crane talks about a handful of origami items on display inside her showroom on Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Crease is the word: Origami fans flock to online paper store

Kim’s Crane in Snohomish has been supplying paper crafters with paper, books and kits since 1995.

The 2025 Nissan Murano midsize SUV has two rows of seats and a five-passenger capacity. (Photo provided by Nissan)
2025 Nissan Murano is a whole new machine

A total redesign introduces the fourth generation of this elegant midsize SUV.

A woman flips through a book at the Good Cheer Thrift Store in Langley. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Pop some tags at Good Cheer Thrift Store in Langley

$20 buys an outfit, a unicycle — or a little Macklemore magic. Sales support the food bank.

The Mukilteo Boulevard Homer on Monday, May 12, 2025 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
‘Homer Hedge’: A Simpsons meme takes root in Everett — D’oh!

Homer has been lurking in the bushes on West Mukilteo Boulevard since 2023. Stop by for a selfie.

Sarah and Cole Rinehardt, owners of In The Shadow Brewing, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025 in Arlington, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In The Shadow Brewing: From backyard brews to downtown cheers

Everything seems to have fallen into place at the new taproom location in downtown Arlington

Bar manager Faith Britton pours a beer for a customer at the Madison Avenue Pub in Everett. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burgers, brews and blues: Madison Avenue Pub has it all

Enjoy half-price burgers on Tuesday, prime rib specials and live music at the Everett mainstay.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.