Il Rione — Restaurant in Cleveland

I have been here multiple times in the past and the food and experience were great. It has been a while since I'd last gone, so I thought I'd try it again. The first time I called around 7 on a Friday night. It took a couple calls to get through. They were friendly when talking, but said it would take an hour for the pizza, so 8. I said that was fine and placed an order for two pies. Within 5 minutes of ordering, I got a text saying it would now be 8:45 and asking if I was ok with that. I texted back and called multiple times, without any response. Finally after the 3rd or 4th call, they answered. They said they were super busy and would do their best to talk to the kitchen. We ended up going around 845 to pick them up and they were just coming out of the oven, so at least they were fresh, but still wild for almost 2 hours for a pizza. At this point, I was still banking on the fact that the pizzas would be worth the wait. We had an 8 minute drive, so I know they weren't fresh out of the oven when eating, but overall they did not seem to live up to my prior experiences with il rione. I have had the speck pizza before, and this time it was very lacking in toppings with some pieces not even having any meat, and maybe 2 - 3 crumbs of pistachio per piece. Last time I had it they were loaded with speck and plenty of toppings. I'm wondering if they were in a rush because of how busy they were or just stingy on the toppings? Especially with a $23 pizza. Anyway, considering the wait, service, and food quality, I can't recommend at this time. Maybe go when...

A slice of this pizza when it’s set down on the table, thin and bubbly, is a thing of beauty. Truly mind-blowing and one of the best slices I’ve had in my life. The dough is flavorful, seasoned perfectly, so even the crust is a joy to eat. One of those food moments that brings a tear to the eye.

A review seems less useful without some criticism though, so: The meat slices on the speck pizza are laid across the entire slice, which ends up being sucked down with the first bite since it’s a cured meat, not going to give way to being easily cut with your teeth. It would be a more uniform bite to slice it up, but not as visually beautiful or easily prepared. So, I guess that’s the trade off.

The dining area was intensely smoky. Like, could-have had-a-laser-light-show-in-there smoky. It personally didn’t bother me, kind of charming actually, but I could see that being a negative for diners.

The part that did bother me was being told 30-45 minutes when I put my name and cellphone in and then being called 7 minutes later. Normally, this would be a good thing, but I had gone across the street to burn 30 minutes at Stone Mad and had put an appetizer order in. The caller was not sympathetic to my predicament. So, that part was kind of a bummer. Maybe it’s difficult to just bump someone down a waitlist like I had asked? I don’t know how their system is set up.

Anyway, the food was revelatory, the server was prompt. This is a strong, strong 5-star...

We went at the WRONG time, lol. This place is SUPER BUSY on a Friday night at 6pm! So we KNEW we'd be in for a treat. We asked the hostess if they would do a take out order being so busy. She said yes and directed me to to another lady doing orders. The place was packed, so I wasn't really able to take in the decor. The person that took our order was also super friendly. Both ladies let me know that it would be an hour wait for a pizza and we were fine with that. She let us know the tike to return is printed in the receipt. We ordered a margaritas pizza with pepperoni.

This place has authentic NY style pizza! Big, foldable and flavor filled. The sauce was tasty with a little heat. The only part that ruined the experience was the crust. Our crust was burnt on the bottom and some along the top. Those areas that were heavily burnt tasted literally of ash and were inedible. That left us with maybe 2 slices that we could actually eat. The rest of the $29 pizza we could only eat the cheese and pepperoni off of. That was definitely a disappointment.

I'm thinking we received a burnt pizza because of how busy they were. I would have rather them told me they don't do takeout bc it's too busy, rather than pay 30 bucks for a burnt crust pizza that pretty much wasn't edible.

Will we come back to try them again? ABSOLUTELY and hopefully we can figure out what night is slower, so we can get a better...