St. Mary's Romanian Orthodox Cathedral — Attraction in Cleveland

St. Mary’s Orthodox Cathedral is one of the most welcoming places I’ve ever been. The people there are genuinely some of the kindest you’ll meet. Everyone is warm, friendly, and it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time there—they make you feel like you’ve been part of the community forever.

Their fish fry is incredible. The food is always hot, crispy, and delicious. You can tell everything is made with care, and it’s definitely something you should try at least once (and probably keep coming back for).

The church festival they host in August is amazing. They have live Romanian music and dancing, freshly grilled food, and homemade fries that are honestly so good. There’s a big indoor seating area and an outdoor space too, so you can hang out wherever you’re comfortable. They also have fun games for kids, drinks, and inside there’s an entire area filled with desserts and pastries. The selection is huge and everything tastes homemade and really, really good. They even make fresh elephant ears, and they’re fantastic—warm, sugary, and straight from the fryer. I honestly wish they had these festivals every month. They’re that good.

I’ve also ordered their Mammaliga, stuffed cabbage, pike, fried shrimp, cabbage noodles, Chicken Stew, and Mititei (a garlicky sausage/burger), and I highly recommend all of them. Each one is full of flavor and clearly made from scratch. It...

We attended the festival today. A big let down. Quite disappointing. Desserts tasted like they were from Giant Eagle. The Tarimasu was still frozen. The food line was uncoordinated. Got passed up twice by server. Ordered the $10 Chicken Paprikash and got one spoon scoop as a side. Pointed it out and another worker corrected it. The meal had very dry chicken and the dumplings were mush like liquid. Could hardly finish the tough smoked sausage. Waited 45 minutes in line for apricot elephant ears only to be told we had to wait another 30 to 45 minutes. They only had 3 cheese ones left. Really? Couldnt let us know? The rest of the long line of people probably got p##### too. Very bad experience for first time at this festival. We are not going back. We should have gone to the...

i came here with my boyfriend while we were visiting from canada. we wanted to see the inside of the church but we didn’t think we would be allowed to.. but surprisingly we were! mihaela took us on an amazing tour of not only the church but the little museum inside as well. she was extremely friendly and knowledgeable. i’m romanian and it’s so amazing to see such a huge sense of community still alive today :) we were going to return the next day to buy some items from the gift shop but unfortunately we didn’t have time. i will most definitely be visiting this church next time we are...