By 7:30 on the Thursday morning before its last shift, The Independent Pizzeria announced it had already sold out. That included the tiramisu, which would not be restocked for the final day. KIRO 7 reported the sellout along with the closing itself. Friday, October 16, was the end of nearly 17 years at 4235 E Madison St.
The pies were always hard to get. Seattle Met's Friday Feed put it plainly: "The restaurant's popularity and limited production combined to make them always hard to get," and the last days would be "nearly impossible to nab." So the pizza is gone, and it was scarce even when it was here. The corner is another story. The Indie's owners spent their last weeks handing the space to a new restaurant owner, and they plan to share more about it this Sunday.
A handoff already in motion
Tom Siegel and Tora Hennessey opened the restaurant in April 2010. According to KIRO 7, Siegel is a New York native who taught himself to make pizza and worked out the dough in his home oven before they opened. Their reason for closing is the most ordinary one there is. The restaurant's own website now opens with a headline that reads "The Indie has retired."
Hennessey announced the closing on Instagram on October 8, and her post, as KIRO 7 quoted it, talked about the next tenant as much as the farewell:
"In the meantime, we're going to be working on handing the space off to the new owner. We're really excited about her. You guys are going to love her, and we just think this next chapter is going to be a great, beautiful addition to this community."
The restaurant's website goes a step further. It says "the next restaurant moving into this location" will be "a beautiful addition to the loyal community that has supported us over the years," and it gives a date: "We will share more on our Instagram on November 1."
So here is what's public as of today. A new owner exists. The departing owners are handing the space to her directly and are enthusiastic about her. She is opening a restaurant, not a retail shop or an office. Her name, her concept and her opening date have not been announced. Anyone who tells you otherwise before Sunday is guessing.
The block the Indie anchored
The fact that 4235 is staying a restaurant matters because of what surrounds it. That stretch of East Madison, a short walk up from the beach, is about as close to a restaurant row as Madison Park gets, and the Indie sat right in the middle of it.
- Cactus, 4220 East Madison. A full-service restaurant with a seasonal menu, Ancho Short Rib & Grits among the dishes, plus pickup, delivery and weekend brunch. Its location page lists service until 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
- McGilvra's Bar & Restaurant, 4234 East Madison St. Pub food, burgers, and Taco Tuesday every week.
- The former Independent Pizzeria, 4235 E Madison St. Dark for now, with a new restaurant on the way.
Going by street numbers, McGilvra's and the Indie face each other across Madison, and Cactus is a few doors down. A pub, a full-service dinner spot and a small pizzeria together cover most of the reasons someone walks to dinner on a weeknight. Take one away without a replacement and the block gets thinner. With a new restaurant already headed for the space, this corner isn't facing an open-ended vacancy.
A few other spots are close enough to count. Bamboo Thai at 1841 42nd Ave E serves Thai noodles and curries, and its website lists lunch and dinner daily. Madison Kitchen at 4122 East Madison St marks itself "OPEN" on its website, lists 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, and takes online orders. That covers the daytime crowd, not dinner. Neither page carries a date, so check before you walk over.
Pizza night now means heading west on Madison
For anyone who ordered from the Indie, this is the practical change. As far as current listings show, no dedicated pizzeria is left in the Madison Park business district. The nearest options are in Madison Valley, closer to the Arboretum end of East Madison.
| Option | Address | What it is | Listed hours this fall |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pagliacci Pizza, Madison | 3015 E Madison St | Pizzeria with dine-in seating | 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday |
| PCC Madison Valley | 2925 E Madison St | New grocery with a prepared-food deli and pizza program | Grocery hours; opened October 14, 2026 |
| Cafe Flora | 2901 E Madison St | Sit-down dinner restaurant | Open until 9 p.m., Monday through Friday |
Each one fills a different part of the old Indie habit. Pagliacci is the one-for-one swap when you want pizza and want someone else to make it. Its Madison location keeps the longest weeknight hours of the three, according to its official page.
PCC fits the after-work, pick-something-up evening. The co-op opened its 17th store at 2925 E Madison on October 14. PCC's announcement lists in-house sushi, pizza and deli meals alongside groceries. That makes it a grocery-run version of pizza night, not a sit-down replacement. Capitol Hill Seattle Blog has the story of how the store came together.
Cafe Flora is for nights when the point was sitting down somewhere small and familiar more than the pizza itself. Its fall hours run until 9 p.m. on weeknights.
Timing is the one thing all three have in common. From Madison Park, each is a drive or a bus ride, not a stroll. King County Metro's Route 11 runs Madison Park to Madison Valley to Capitol Hill to downtown, on a timetable in effect from August 29, 2026 through March 26, 2027. If you want dinner without the car, that's the route. Restaurant hours change, especially as fall turns into winter, so check the restaurant's own page before you go.
What to watch for on November 1
The update will come from the restaurant's Instagram account, @independentpizzeria, the same account Hennessey used to announce the closing. The owners have promised to "share more." They haven't said whether that means a name, a concept, an opening date, or all three. KIRO 7 reported that details would follow once the transition was finalized.
A few useful questions once the update is out:
- Does the new place serve dinner on weeknights? That's the slot the Indie filled on this block, next to Cactus's dinner service and McGilvra's pub hours.
- Is it a full menu or a counter? The Indie's small production was part of why its pizza was so hard to get. A new tenant could run that same small room very differently.
- When does it open? That decides how long the Madison Valley detour lasts.
Until then, the owners have left one last note on their website. Tom plans to spend retirement meditating, relaxing, cooking dinner, and eventually caring for two future dogs he has already named Lady Beefstix and Lady Bortus. Tora plans to get back to her oil paintings. Their sign-off to the neighborhood: "Remember to be kind. It costs nothing."
At Exact Home Team, we keep track of what opens and closes on East Madison because it shapes daily life on the streets around it. If you'd like to talk about what a change on your block means for your own plans, Let's Get Started.
