Il Rione

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 Cleveland pizza shop.