If this is the first time you’re hearing about Campus Pollyeyes then you or a loved one did not attend Bowling Green State University. Since its inception in 1978, the beloved Italian eatery has been a must-eat for students, locals and alumni, who come for the salads, subs and pizzas but stay for the famous stuffed breadsticks.
Only recently did the 45-year-old brand begin to expand, with locations popping up in Findlay and Toledo. A fourth, located in Little Italy (12308 Mayfield Rd., 216-532-2160), opens Monday. What do all of these locations have in common? A large base of BGSU alumni.
“When I went to Bowling Green I noticed that just about everybody in my class, and my coworkers at Campus Pollyeyes, were all from the Greater Cleveland area,” says local owner Lucas Smith. “The BGSU alumni group in Cleveland has 70,000 members.”
Smith and partner Michael Melendez began working on this project in 2021, when they secured the rights to the Cleveland shop. Smith put himself through undergrad and grad school by working at Campus Pollyeyes. In fact, he specifically went to business school to prepare for future ownership.
While the Bowling Green restaurant is full-service, the Cleveland location is more of an “express,” with an abridged menu and fast-casual service model. The attractive space seats about 50 guests comfortably at tables, window-facing counters and soft seating areas.
Dough is made fresh daily, slow-fermented overnight and then baked into breadsticks, pizzas and calzones. Pizzas come in three varieties: thin crust, pan-style and screen-style, which is described as a thicker, round pie. Guests can build their own or select from a list of specialty pies, including “white” pizzas. Calzones come stuffed with sauce, ricotta, mozzarella and colby cheeses. The kitchen also offers a selection of subs.
Those “world famous” breadsticks come stuffed with cheese and a choice of add-ons such as sausage, ham, olives, pepperoni and a dozen others. Dipping sauces include pizza sauce, Buffalo sauce, jalapeno cheese sauce and BBQ.
The owners point out that Little Italy isn’t a college campus, but it is a hospital campus. And as such they are going after lunch business in an area with few daytime options. To start, however, Campus Pollyeyes will be dinner only, with lunches joining in a few weeks.
As for the odd name: the founding family opened Pagliai’s Pizza in Bowling Green in 1967. To distinguish the “new” eatery from the original, they called it Pollyeyes, an American riff on the Italian Pagliai’s.
This article appears in Feb 22 – Mar 7, 2023.
