The Most Flavorful Italian in Cleveland

Luigi's Restaurant

★★★★☆ 3.8 (807) • $$

"Darkness covered the land until a glowing neon moustache emerged from the foggy avenue. I shook off the coat my ex wife gave me (it's seen better days) and asked for a booth. I ordered fourteen pizzas. One for everyone on that hockey team she cheated on me with. Thank god there's not a lot of hockey in Ohio. I guess you could say I was feeling sorry for myself. Maybe this marked the beginning of a new life. Luigi and me. I bumped into a girl named Silvia at the ATM (it's cash only) and I made a joke about wishing I'd been named Benjamin so that when people sing that song it's all about the Benjamins I could say something like "hey that's me you're talking about!" or something like that. I think she thought I was pretty funny though she didn't laugh."

The Brick Oven Bistro

★★★★★ 4.6 (539) • $$

"We stopped here for dinner after a day at Cedar Point Shores. It was delicious! My husband and I chose a pizza with eggplant as a main topping. Kiddo got a calzone and had no complaints! The restaurant had some call ins the evening we went, so the owner was bussing tables, and getting boxes. Nice to see someone so involved in their establishment! We will return when we're in the area in the future!"

Casa La Luna

★★★★☆ 4.3 (492) • $$$

"When out of towners ask for Italian restaurant recommendations I send them here. My go to. Top 2 lobster ravioli in the city (and it's not 2). Service is always a 10. Great atmosphere for a date night, birthday dinner or evening with friends. I love the enclosed outdoor patio seating in the summer. Valet parking only."

Il Rione

★★★★★ 4.7 (394) • $$

"If pizza was the last meal before the drones took us out, id ask the drone to first have piece of the Speck pie before annihilating us! The best pizza in Ohio. Even an alien would have mercy on us!"

Dante

★★★★☆ 4.1 (449) • $$$

"Went for the 5 course meal (gluten free) with wine pairing. Decent, but nothing amazing. Smoked salmon appetizer was the highlight. Pork cheek mushroom risotto was not - flooded with oil (why?) and risotto was undercooked. Pointed the oil out to the busboy but received no response. Also, meal was not fully gluten free as I was having issues when I returned home that lasted through the night!!! Wine pairings were also poor.Update- received a wonderful call from manager. We went through each course to confirm they were GF. Nothing resulted from the discussion, but I appreciated the call. Raised my review accordingly"

3 Palms Pizzeria - Hudson

★★★★☆ 4 (393) • $$

"Very convenient location, free street parking. The restaurant is adorable, open concept and very industrial. The food was very good, you could tell they used fresh ingredients. Our service was very good, even with the heavy tourist traffic from solar eclipse!"

Mama Santa's

★★★★☆ 3.5 (487) • $$

"Alrighty, well for one we didn't wait much for a table. Waiter was not at all attentive for a place that wasn't busy. Food was a solid 8.5/10, it did taste homemade but one of our dishes was wrong. They do bring out the pizza first before the dinner dishes but we were aware of that. Refills are not free! Over all, cleanish place. FYI: We were a party of 7 and we were charged a 20% gratitude tip. SO DONT TIP CASH."

Trattoria on the Hill

★★★★☆ 3.8 (375) • $$

"Awesome meal this night in Little Italy! We had dinner at Trattoria Roman Gardens (On the Hill) and it didn't disappoint! We had eaten here once before and had it in our list to revisit.Service was perfect, and love that atmosphere. We ate inside this time. I had Pesto Cavatelli, and Chris had the Veal Piccata. Both delicious and really enjoyed the bruschetta loaded with garlic and fresh tomato and basil.Now one of my personal places to eat in CLE!"

Vero Pizza Napoletana

★★★★☆ 4.2 (303) • $$

"Ceased salad is a must have. Very light but tastes great and pizza selection is great. Pizza isn't too cheesy or doughy and overall experience was great. Good service and lighting inside is great. Lots of seating and they take walk ins but definitely get reservation for holidays or weekends!"

Pepper's Italian Restaurant

★★★★☆ 4 (321) • $$

"I just had a wonderful meal at Peppers.I drove into Cleveland this evening from Chicago and was starving and it showed this place was only a 2 minute walk from the Airbnb where I was staying.Ive had a lot of bad luck with restaurants while traveling so I was dubious.What a pleasant surprise, the entire staff was super friendly, my server Katy was upbeat and efficient and the food was delicious along with huge portions. In fact the entrees are enough for two meals! I had the chicken marsala, with a side salad and a beer and everything was excellent.Wish I were staying longer so I could eat there again."

Crust

★★★★☆ 4.2 (290) • $$

"A place in Cleveland that serves slices, huzzah! They were a very reasonable price, with a dollar extra for toppings, and I liked that the slice was served on a giant wooden slab. The restaurant was pretty empty, but I can see how it would get busy on nights and weekends, especially with the attached bar.The pizza itself was a little doughy and low on the sauce for me. But for the friendly service and the act of serving slices (again, !!!), I'd round Crust up to 4 stars."

Crostatas Rustic Pizza

★★★★☆ 4.3 (272) • $$

"The caprese salad looked delish. Generous amount of mozzarella but sadly the tomatoes were not great ... needed more time. They were so hard it was hard to cut. We shared a mushroom pizza from wood oven. It was delish. Some fancy tomato sauce that wasnt as tart or acidic.The reason for coming is the cannoli... perfect and very crispy shell.The place is very cute if I lived closer I'd come here alot."

Mario Fazios

★★★★★ 4.5 (231) • $$

"I really couldn't ask for a better experience. The food is excellent. The ambiance is super friendly with a nice family-style vibe. The owner makes you feel right at home. We will be back!"

Basil Pizza & Wine Bar

★★★★☆ 4.2 (262) • $$

"I LOVE this restaurant. It has an amazing wine selection, great appetizers (the whipped feta dip is to die for and the charcuterie board is fantastic), fantastic salads (the strawberry salad. . OMG) and wonderful pizzas! (KEVIN BACON!) They also happen to have the best patio in the area. It is well shaded and covered from the sun but has a fantastic breeze that hits just right. The patio is well decorated and looks lovely. That being said, I am not really a fan of their brunch. I got crab benedict and for as much as I paid for it, I got practically hard boiled eggs instead of poached. It was awful. I had to send back the eggs and the rest of the food was cold by the time I got the eggs back."

Matteo's Casual Italian

★★★★☆ 4 (277) • $$

"Finally got in for dinner since the new owners took over..felt super festive! Food was fantastic, had the grouper and risotto. Perfectly done..Loved the appetizer beforehand as well, bruschetta was so good, could have made EE it mmy meal!Love the vibe!"

Danny Boys

★★★★☆ 4.2 (245) • $$

"Pizzas were both delicious! Highly recommend the Shroom and sausage pizza with big chunks of mushroom and sausage with basil and dollops of fresh mozzarella. Outstanding! The zucchini fries were also crispy, flavorful and dipped in ranch was superb! Italian margaritas has just the right amount of pepperoni and sausage. Some of the best pizza I've had."

Maxi's

★★★★☆ 3.9 (284) • $$

"They put garlic on almost everything, and enough to kill a vampire.5 stars. PS: The cool back patio feels like a nice Italian secret garden."

Guarino's Restaurant

★★★★☆ 3.6 (322) • $$

"We REALLY liked this place. Completely unpretentious...a good thing. Even though we were in ASTROS gear, lol, we were greeted well and the service was super friendly. Really enjoyed the Food...my son-in-law especially liked the Lasagna and the Veal Parmigiana I got was great. The pasta was nicely cooked.Honestly, it felt very home-like (my wife and I are both Italian, so we feel we have some knowledge of the cuisine). Overall, we definitely will come back when we come back to Cleveland!"

Flour Italian Kitchen

★★★★☆ 3.7 (303) • $$$

"Deciding to venture out of our Hamlet and explore other places to celebrate occasions we happened to have different by this place a few times and given that it was busy almost constantly so much that they had to have valet parking I thought was a good sign. It was not. For my wife's birthday we decided to visit Flour kitchen. We wisely made a reservation and showed up on time. We were able to find a parking spot and therefore did not take advantage of the valet. They were a few hostesses and one of them saw us to our table.While we were promised that a server would be right with us, they were not. For a long time. Almost to the point where you have to awkwardly start waving your hands in desperation to try to get someone to pay attention to you. As it was my wife's birthday we decided to bring a small chocolate cake to celebrate with after since we were unclear whether or not they had any desserts. We did not see any so that was probably a good call. When we finally got somebody to show up to our table she seemed more annoyed than anything. Which is the perfect attitude you want when approaching a table. I ordered a bottle of Pellegrino while my wife got a martini and my son got a Coke. Fortunately we were brought some bread because it would be a while until we saw our server again. When she did come back my son ordered the ribeye steak. I got the chicken parmesan and my wife got the salmon. It didn't take forever for the food to come out. In fact our server did not come back and check on us but the highlight of our meal was the high school kid who was the food runner as he was able to go back and grab a steak knife and a missing condiment. The kid was actually pretty cool and polite. While my son enjoyed the ribeye he destroyed it. My chicken parmesan was unremarkable at best. Pasta was cooked fine and the chicken was pretty greasy. My wife didn't really care for her salmon. What I wanted to do was bring in the chocolate cake and have a little birthday celebration with my wife and son but again our server was nowhere to be found. When she finally did show up we put the whole chocolate cake idea on the back burner and just wanted to leave. The bill was well over a hundred bucks and I couldn't wait to get out of there. I don't know what all the talk about this place was but it certainly did not live up to any of my expectations. We ended up going home and celebrating the rest of her birthday with the chocolate cake in the house. I don't expect to return to this place."

Geraci's Restaurant

★★★☆☆ 3.4 (350) • $$

"The question was asked: Want to meet for pizza? There could only be one answer! Geraci's in its original location in University Heights. This place has been my family's go-to restaurant FOREVER. My friend ordered the small pizza with mushrooms. I got my standby: small pizza with onions and green peppers. Then we waited a LONG TIME for our order. The pizzas were lukewarm, not piping hot. They still tasted good, but we had craved the best and only got good. Hope the service will be better next time."

Pastina Rustic Italian

★★★★☆ 3.8 (280) • $$

"I'm baffled that the rating is below a 4, honestly. Pastina is a standby for my family - on par with our family's Italian place :)You pay a little* more here for homemade pasta, sauces and pizza. The portions are PORTIONS. This isn't a dump a box of pasta on a platter type of place. The dishes are well thought out, delicious and the specials are pretty rad. We have ordered a ton of things we loved: bruschetta, pasta diablo, mushroom pizza, beet salad and more. We've had a few different servers and have ate at the bar as well. Once, we came in without a reservation and the manager/hostess met us halfway- we ate and drank and made a deal to leave before the rush. And we were not rushed at all. I loved the willingness to compromise when it's super simple to make a reservation online, I just failed to do so. The restaurant itself expanded and has a beautiful fireplace, booths, standard tables, etc. Pretty flexible. Pastina is solid anyway you slice it and I love that it's so close to home. Great local spot."

Delmonico's Steakhouse

★★★★☆ 3.8 (261) • $$$

"I had a chance to go to this restaurant recently and 5 stars wasn't enough. The food came out and it was wonderful. The calamari came out and it was a little under done for my taste, the manager came out with a fresh crispy batch and it was amazing. Our server was sensational I had the Chicken Marsala and it was PERFECT! Also had the lobster tail with melted butter, I did add some salt and pepper to both the butter for the bread and the butter, but I guess that personal preference because they were both pretty bland, but other than that, drinks were great, food was great, the outside seating was really nice, when the sun goes down they have this lavender/purple like that creates a really nice ambiance outside.Highly recommended and would go again, but make sure that your pockets are heavy, when the tab comes it's not for the weak lol"

Stancato's Italian Restaurant

★★★★☆ 3.8 (260) • $$

"Espresso martini was fantastic. Chicken parm was as well! Even the rolls at the beginning were great. The server was attentive but not overbearing. Definitely will be back"

Station Square Ristorante

★★★★☆ 3.9 (217) • $$

"We attended a special event on the patio here. Beautiful potted herbs surround the railing. Comfortable seating and fairly quiet outside. Buffet was fantastic. Included smoked ribs, brisket, pulled pork, chicken, salmon, collard greens and Mac n cheese (truffle) and garlic mashed. All was very tasty but the brisket was a stand out favorite. Easy and full bar service. Attentive old world type service. There was a band inside and a good crowd at the bar. Easy parking and right off the highway."

D'Agnese's at White Pond Akron

★★★★☆ 4 (205) • $$

"We were able to get in without a reservation. I might suggest making one as they were fairly busy on Saturday night. We sat in the lounge area which was very comfortable and we had sports on the TV's! I started with a roasted beet salad which was truly amazing. In my world anything with beets is worthy. My entree was gluten free pasta with marinara and sausage. Excellent sauce. I accompanied this with a Peach Basil Sangria. I loved the fresh fruit in the drink which of course included peaches."

Mama Catena Vino e’ Cucina

★★★★★ 4.5 (159) • $$

"Food was excellent and so authentic Italian-American. Service was very good and we got to meet Mama. We will be back,"

Danny Boy's Pizza

★★★★☆ 3.8 (217) • $$

"I'm originally from Chicago and tried their Chicago style pizza and it was amazing. Their pizza is well prepared and taste great. Definitely coming back."

Eddie's Pizzeria Cerino

★★★★☆ 4 (193) • $$

"If you want very good service, delicious food, nice prices and wonderful atmosphere come to Eddie's Pizzeria Cerino. It's more like a very nice Italian restaurant. We had twelve in our party for lunch, and Eddie's was recommended. This is a gem at the end of a shopping strip with lots of parking. Ask for server, Danielle. She was on her "A" game, everything went properly. Charlie, the manager, spoke to us, which was very nice. The menu included lots of pizzas (ask for GF) and all the Italian dishes and salads. You'll find your favorite here. In Seven Hills, close to Parma."

Mi Scuzi Ristorante Italiano

★★★★☆ 4 (182) • $$$

"This is our favorite Italian restaurant! Every dish is skillfully crafted ... each sauce, pasta choice, protein ... always the BEST!Ambiance is magical! Can't wait to try the new location, opening soon!!"

Aldo's Restaurant

★★★★☆ 4.2 (160) • $$

"A Westside gem! The food is amazing, the service is astonishing, and the interior is beautiful & romantic."

Etna Restaurant & Wine Bar

★★★★☆ 4.1 (167) • $$$

"Overall 9.6/10My personal favorite restaurant in Little Italy. Not in the "Heart" of little Italy as it's on the edge, this restaurant has some of the best food I have had in Cleveland. Ive been here multiple times and it has never disappointed in any aspect. I would also call the restaurant in advance for a reservation.Food: All the food here is amazing. From the roasted duck which had crispy skin and a juicy inside, seasoned to perfection to the amazing seafood risotto that was so filling and fresh. The food just doesn't miss. I have had their sautéed calamari which is wonderful with the bread they give complementary. Everything tastes so fresh and flavorful. The portion size is great and leaves you filled and it comes at respectable prices. Service: Amazing service. The restaurant is on the smaller size so seating is limited, but because of that you pretty much have attentive staff open to helping you at all times. In addition to the restaurant being smaller, the setting is much more intimate as it has dimmed lights and a bar on the side. The staff is kind and very informative of the menu and special too. Overall: I would come here everyday if I could. One or the best restaurants in Cleveland from my experience. I would come here for special occasions/ dates or if you're craving amazing food."

Abo's Grill

★★★★☆ 4 (173) • $$

"Classic Italian food and great service. Every dish was a hit. Good value too. We will be back!"

Michaelangelo's

★★★★☆ 4 (163) • $$$

"Michaelangelo's has a parking lot on a snow night that was a plus. The restaurant is lovely and has two patios for warm weather dining. The eggplant terrine is a miniature eggplant parmigiana was very good. The osso bucco over risotto was among the best I have had. The veal scallopini with risotto cake was spectacular. The homemade gelato and cookies were a nice way to end our meal. There is a nice wine list. The service is a team approach and very helpful. We plan on going back with friends."

Giovannis Ristorante

★★★★☆ 4 (161) • $$$

"I picked out Giovanni's for my birthday because as a Leo I like my vibes luxurious and classy. I discovered this bar tucked away in an unassuming office building several months ago, and wanted to revisit!I can't really tell if the restaurant is big or small, but it was without a doubt a full house this evening, a Thursday! We had reservations.Service was outstanding and personal yet professional and I thoroughly enjoyed a glass of bubbly! The beet salad was outstanding!! I got the Cappellini without anchovy oil for my entree and that was also flavorful. I appreciate the ice cream for dessert from The House and the other guests started singing to me! Happiest and kindest customers I've been around in awhile. The table next to us gifted a bananas foster and what a treat that was!!! They make for you in the dining room! Can't wait for next time, thank you for having us!"

Tomori's Pizza & Subs

★★★★☆ 4.4 (132) • $$

"Ordered La Napoletana pizza, Tuscany pizza and vodka pasta. My family and I dined it, everything was delicious, the owner was very kind and helped us with recommendations as it was our first time. My personal favorite was the pasta! You can tell the staff works hard and makes everything fresh, will recommend to my friends:)"