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Heads up - they don't take Credit Cards!
But ... it's worth popping over to the ATM. I love when a mom & pop style restaurant can compete with the plain chains that are taking over the world. This one truly does - order anything on the menu...it'll be good.
People in the heights go freaking crazy for this place. I have to say, I never really understood the draw. The food is good. The service is usually okay (I don't blame the wait staff...this place is ALWAYS swamped). It is a family type place so there are usually a lot of little kids running about and babies crying. That usually makes everyone tense.
I just don't think it is worth going out of your way for.
Downside:
Cash only.
It is in a strip mall on a busy street so the traffic always makes me tense.
Lots of kids. (I guess that is a bonus if you have kids).
Geraci's is one of my favorite restaurants in Cleveland.
* I love their homemade "House" salad dressing
* I love their fried mozzarella appetizer
* I love their pizza - IT IS THE BEST!!
*I love their angel hair pasta and marinara sauce
* I love how you can watch the staff toss the pizza's in the air as they make them
* I love the family friendly atmosphere
* I love how friendly the staff are
I* love their desserts. Mmmmmmm Spingi!!
The ONLY thing I do not like is having to wait for a table!! Geraci's is a wonderful little place and they are popular and often have a wait. They have some seating to wait, otherwise you have to hang around outside. Do not get me wrong, it is worth the wait, but if you are REALLY hungry or in a hurry, you may have to go at an "off" time or come back when you can wait.
I don't think I have ever had anything here but the pepperoni pizza, but it is the best pepperoni pizza I have ever had. The pepperonis are thick cut and delicious. The sauce is amazing. Yet another reason to move back to Cleveland.
It's 4th of July and a beautiful night on the east side - people should be grillin' out, right? Where were they? Geraci's.
This was my first time here, and as soon as I walked in, I felt like I was in a pizza joint in NYC. Cozy, narrow dining room with brick arched windows overlooking the kitchen where the pizza masters are hand-tossing the dough. Took a quick glance around - saw a group of 20-somethings getting their pizza/wine on before heading out for fireworks, a family, an older couple and perhaps, a couple still in that "getting to know you" stage.
Service was great, starting with who we now realize was the owner greeting us in the parking lot as we locked up the car and headed toward the entrance. Started with calamari. Calamari was so tender and lightly breaded. Sauce was GREAT - big chunks of tomato and sweet, but with the right amount of acidity. Got a large pepperoni, sausage and mushroom pizza (see photo). Pepperoni was clearly homemade and nice thick slices. Sausage - also homemade and perfect amount of seasoning (not too heavy on the fennel). Crust was divine - not too thin, not too thick. And, again ... that sauce! I'm usually quick to toss the parm cheese/pepper flakes on my slice, but no need with Geraci's pizza. Savor the fresh Italian flavors.
Yup, got dessert, too. They always have tiramisu, but opted for strawberry cheesecake. Sadly, server came back and said they were out, but instead they had some chocolate cake monstrosity - I got that. Maybe she misunderstood I only wanted one slice - she brought out this slice that could've fed a small nation! It was so moist and so packed with intense chocolate flavor. Seriously, some of the best chocolate cake I've had and wouldn't expect to find it at a pizza joint.
We'd been warned about the parking situation. Luckily, we didn't run into this since it was a holiday, but I can see how it might pose a challenge. Parking lot is one of those one-way, narrow lots. As Tim Gunn would say, make it work - the pizza's worth it!
I should add, the menu selection is extensive. Pizza, pasta, chicken, veal ... We'll be back. I was eyeing the woman's dish next to me that had this giant meatball. I want that.
Oh, they don't accept credit cards, so come prepared with cash!
eh....like most drugs it was really good the first time but has yet to match that first experience. Still pretty decent though. Not really stoked at the usual array of screaming kids and I'm pretty sure they don't accept credit either so they obviously didn't get the memo about it being the 21st century.
Wow. People are very picky about their pizza. I'm usually so hungry (due to my chipmunk metabolism) that i will wolf down just about anything thrown in front of me. Good quality for a food review. But i do remember thinking this pie was above the ordinary. I"m all about the vibe, though. Here, it was a very "mob bosses in track suits planning a hit" vibe. As an I-talian, that kind of scene always reminds me of my childhood. Old people gesturing wildly with their hands and speaking some dialect only fifty people even knew back in the old country. Playing boring card games and drinking cognac their cousin bought at the duty free the last time he came to America to play boring card games. Listening to music that wasn't quite opera or folk...folkera? Anyhow, I like most mom and pop Italian spots. No chains (olive compost heap garden) for me. Mama Santa' s in little Italy comes to mind, too. Anyplace that has a menu featuring a map of the motherland and the town where the restaurant' s founders came from is always good eatin'. If i lived closer, i' d probably go more often. If you do live close, go now.
Great Service.
Ordered appetizers and a small salad; both came and were traditional, but enjoyable; garlic bread w/ mozzarella and a small salad
For the meal, had the Linguini Carbonera. Was a very nice tasting dish, although would have liked a bit meatier element to the bacon. A lot of peas (a bit too much)
Friends got the BBQ Chicken Pizza, which I hardly consider a true test of a pizza, but they love. They really enjoyed it, I had one slice and thought it fell apart a bit too easy, but I defer more to their judgement. A friend called in to get a togo white pizza, which I had a slice of back home and really enjoyed.
Overall, the only downside is the price. $18 for a pie seems a bit steep in these economic times, and when they are as sparse as our BBQ Chicken Pizza was, it makes paying the check a bit more questionable. I think a convincing another trip here, with more of a traditional pizza order on my part could get me up to a 5 star if the pizza lives up to the price, but for now, I'll stick with the 4.
Geraci's
This is a great small restaurant located near Warrensville and close to the JCU campus. Do not let the strip mall location of this place fool you, the food is on par. The great thing about this place is the fact that the kitchen is surrounded by glass so you can watch the cooks throwing the pizza dough. The salads at this place were very fresh, and I always had the spinach ravioli (hand rolled / hand cut) for my entrée. A quick story and side note with respect to this place. I got a date with this girl on like a Wednesday of the week for that Saturday night. My buddy who lived down the hall from me in Sutowski said that I could borrow his BMW for that night. Now while this was a BMW, it was a 1983 with over 200,000 miles on it. This ride looked every bit of having been parked outside for twenty consecutive Cleveland winters. I picked this girl up and we went to Geraci's. We had a great time and I actually gave this girl her first kiss by the old Saint Ignatius statue that night. Why I can never forget this night is because of what happened to that BMW a week later. My buddy was racing down some country road at about 90 to 100 miles per hour when he hit some uneven freight train tracks and flew about 100 yards into a corn field and rolled the car. He was uninjured (somehow) and was taken to the hospital for observation and was subsequently discharged. About a week goes by and my buddy is calling the state police like every 10 minutes to check on the status of his ride. Keep in mind the first responders had to use the jaws of life to extricate my buddy, so to a sane person, the "status" of his ride was really a foregone conclusion. My buddy never gets a return phone call from the state police just a mail package from the state police containing the steering wheel of his car. My buddy started to laugh...then cry.
As a bambino, Shatangi was afraid of pizza because of how it looked. Geraci's was the place to take family from out of town to entertain. The Pizza dude used to hand toss the dough as a special show for the kids (me included). A NE Ohio staple, Pizza pie at it's best.
Shatangi told you
There are three kinds of pizza joints in this world:
1) Great Pizza - the make your mouth water you're craving it, its so good kind.
2) Good Pizza - it will do in pinch. Most likely they deliver.
3) Don't eat this pizza - do not under any circumstance eat this pizza, it does bad things to your tastebuds as well as your digestive system.
Geraci's, without a doubt, falls into category number 1 - in fact, its my number one of the number 1s. Don't be duped, there are other good pizza joints in the Cleve, but this is far and away the best. Let us explore:
What makes a good pizza? Two things (Barring serving temperature - which is a personal preference - and Geraci's is excellent at any serving temperature.):
The Sauce (yeah, that's right, capital "S"auce.) and the crust.
The rest, well, honestly, are just toppings. (And Geraci's toppings are AMAZING. Try the italian sausage or the handcut pepperoni - its the real deal, and its perfect in flavor.)
I've never had a pizza sauce I enjoy more, its slightly sweet and has a very nice tang to it. The crust hits the chew/crustiness ratio perfectly providing the perfect platform for sauce and toppings. You just can't go wrong here. In fact, the crust and sauce are so good that its tempting to order a pie without any other toppings!
My only ding on Geraci's is that it doesn't take credit cards; where are we, like Italy in 1955 where an old Italian grandma is making stuff in the kitchen? Actually, the way this stuff tastes, I just might believe that.....(bring cash or check, but there are a few banks just around the corner should you forget).
I have been looking for a good local pizza place for a while, and Geraci's is definitely good. It's a bit pricey ($17 for a large pizza about 14 inches across) but it is some of the best. It had a nice chewy crust, tangy sauce and generous cheese. They also have very thick, handcut pepperoni that is much better than those thin, round slices you get on most pizzas.
One warning, they do not take credit cards! Not sure why but I'm glad I stopped at the bank because I did not anticipate how expensive this pizza would be.
I did get takeout, but apparently you can also dine in.
Geraci's offers, as far as I can see, the best traditional pizza in Cleveland and undoubtedly in Ohio. I can't say that it is the best pizza I have ever had, but it certainly is among some of the better local pizzerias I have been to.
As others have said, the sauce is incredibly good. The dough is fresh and properly cooked. I wouldn't suggest straying away from getting a traditional pepperoni pizza. This is what they do best, and it is damn good.
The first time I went there, I ordered a custom pesto pizza. Unfortunately, it did not turn out quite as lovely as a pepperoni pizza. It had a fishy taste and almost all of the bacon pieces had completely turned to char; I ended up returning it. I decided to give Geraci's another shot and went back for a large pepperoni. I was again impressed with the pepperoni pizza.
I cannot comment on the quality of other items offered at Geraci's, but I can say that as far as a traditional pizza goes, Geraci's does a fine job.
I thought there were no truly great pizza joints in Cleveland metro until an older gentleman I work with told me about Geraci's. So we (the family) tried it, and there's no going back. My opinion of all other pizza restaurants in Cleveland just went down a notch. It just so good, so so good. Slightly sweet sauce, slightly spicy and blackened pepperoni, perfect traditional crust. The real thing. I thought about giving Geraci's four stars because rarely, from time to time, there will be a slight inconsistency in quality. But no, 5 stars it is. I keep going back to this place and spending my money there time after time after time, and that speaks volumes.
A throwback to my favorite pizza joint in all of Ohio. This place knows what they are doing and boy do they do it right!! One of my all time favorite activities is going to Geraci's with my brother and sister and chowing down on a well done pepperoni pizza - divinity!
The pizza here is absolutely delicious. Some of the other dishes are very good too, but I would go mostly for the pizza. Good service, nice local family-owned restaurant. Really enjoy it!
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