41 Essential Suburban Cleveland Restaurants to Add to Your Dining Calendar
The city proper may have some the best restaurants overall but the suburbs aren't far behind. In fact, in the suburbs of Cleveland, there's variety and quality if you know where to you look. There's Ethiopian and vegetarian, pizza, Indian and Thai, white tablecloth Italian, Greek, Turkish, French, modern American and much more. These are the 41 essential suburban Cleveland restaurants right now.
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12421 Cedar Rd., Cleveland Heights
It might just be pizza to us, but to owner Marc-Aurele Buholzer, it's a way of life. First you make the dough, then you stoke the fire, and finally you feed the neighborhood. There's only so much of that naturally leavened dough to go around, so admiring diners know to get here early to secure one or three of those fly pies. They exit the wood-burner with a textbook puffy, chewy, tender crust spotted like a leopard with slightly bitter bits of char.
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12906 Madison Ave., Lakewood, 287 Crocker Park Blvd., Westlake and 3941 Erie St. 2nd Level, Willoughby
If you’ve never had an arepa before, you need to head to Barroco ASAP. Arepas, which hail from Colombia and Venezuela, are grilled white tortilla’s stuffed with a variety of ingredients. The ‘La Gringa’, stuffed with braised beef, feta cheese, avocado, chimichurri, greens and mozzarella, and the ‘Buffalo Chicken’ arepa are two of our absolute favorites. Barrocco also has fantastic live Latin music three nights a week.
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1315 Pearl Rd, Brunswick; 19565 Detroit Rd, Rocky River,
2021 was been a big year for Ohio Pie Co., which opened its second location in Rocky River and unveiled a newly expanded operation in the OG down in Brunswick.The purveyors of Ohio-style pie debuted a new, expanded dining room, sure to be a welcome sight for travelers near and far who drop by the southern suburb for a bite of some of Northeast Ohio's best pizza. Previously offering super limited seating and doing mostly take-out business, the dining room seats plenty and comes with even more artwork from partner and local artist Aaron Sechrist with help from Cleveland Mural and Paint, and a new front window sign from Old Soul Sign.
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621 E. 185th St., Euclid
This beloved Jamaican spot, which recently opened a second location in Old Brooklyn in addition to their original Euclid location, achieves an ideal balance between authentic and unique when it comes to their tasty cuisine. Irie offers diners heaping plates of fiery jerk chicken, supple braised oxtails and sweet shrimp curry alongside the customary warm cabbage slaw, rice and beans and much more.
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555 Main St., Vermilion
Nestled on the banks of the Vermilion River, this quaint French restaurant reminds us of why we might never need to visit France. Or, why we need to. `While it’s a bit of a hike out to Vermilion, this is dining and views at its finest and well worth the trip.
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27337 Detroit Rd., Westlake
It’s hard to recommend just one dish on this ever-changing menu of Italian cuisine because the menu changes so often on the whim of chef/owner Carmella Fragassi and what she finds fresh at the market. Seasonal and local is the theme here at this authentic Westlake restaurant that is so authentic, you might think you’re in Italy if you didn’t know any better.
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87 West St., Chagrin Falls
With Jojo’s Bar, Chagrin Falls finally gets the restaurant it deserves. For his latest opus, restaurateur Rick Doody appears to have plucked all the best nuggets from his portfolio of restaurants, which includes 17 River Grille, Cedar Creek Grille and Bar Italia. Those pearls are polished for a more critical audience and presented with New York swagger in a drama-filled space. Rather than go one route or the other, the serial restaurateur opted to marry the timeless appeal of an elevated Italian trattoria with the flair of a classic American chophouse. Once again, Doody has partnered with designer (and wife) Wendy Berry to create a cohesive interior dripping with good taste.
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120 Front St., Berea, 7305 Broadview Rd., Seven Hills and 27321 Wolf Rd., Bay Village
Heather Doeberling and Emily Moes made such a splash with their popular food truck Boca Loca that they opened a Berea-based brick-and-mortar operation of the same name a couple years later. They parlayed those early successes into Boss ChicknBeer, a fried chicken and beer joint which they opened in 2018, also in Berea. Just four years later, they already have three locations, adding Seven Hills and Bay Village to their repertoire and don’t be surprised to see more open in the coming years. It’s that good.
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1100 West Royalton Rd., Broadview Heights
Head out to Broadview Heights and you won’t be disappointed. Italian food lovers swear by this place and it’s easy to see why. The Shrimp D’Agnese’s and the eggplant parmesan are real standouts here.
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2266 Warrensville Center Rd., University Heights, 29425 Chagrin Blvd., Pepper Pike and 6687 Wilson Mills Blvd., Mayfield Village
The thick-cut pepperoni (we recommend ordering double-pepperoni) on their pizzas are the stars of the show at this mom and pop Italian restaurant that’s been a family business for over 60 years, opening in 1956.. Don’t let that stop you from exploring the rest of the traditional Italian menu, with other staples like spaghetti and homemade meat sauce and eggplant parmesan. Now, you can try their delicious offerings at three locations, one in Pepper Pike and one in Mayfield Heights in addition to their original home in University Heights.
