Credit: Emanuel Wallace
Polpetta, the meatball-themed eatery that began life in the tiny kitchen of Porco Lounge and graduated, last year, to a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Rocky River, has closed.

“We made the tough decision,” says partner Stefan Was. “There was no way that we could keep this thing alive.”

While flexible, fun and delicious – with stellar cocktails to boot – the restaurant struggled to earn a regular following on Cleveland’s west side. Management tried adding lunch service and introducing new entrees, but being tucked deep into a shopping plaza proved an insurmountable obstacle.

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This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2020.

For 25 years, Douglas Trattner has worked as a full-time freelance writer, editor and author. His work as co-author on Michael Symon's cookbooks have earned him four New York Times Best-Selling Author honors, while his longstanding role as Scene dining editor has garnered awards of its own.

21 replies on “Meatball-Themed Polpetta in Rocky River is Closed”

  1. That’s why if you have a unique restaurant idea you open up in Ohio City, Tremont, Gordon Square or Downtown….not Rocky River. I always wanted to try that place but I would never want to travel all the way to Rocky River to have dinner. Suburbs are for Applebees and Golden Corral, not innovative restaurant ideas. Open that place in Michael Symon’s abandoned Tremont building and I bet it would take off.

  2. You should have opened in Lakewood. Ricky River doesn’t support their businesses that same way. Look at the success of LBM, another Porco alum

  3. The location was a poor choice; below “street level” is never a good idea. They would have done much better across the street in a high traffic plaza.

  4. Please move over to Lakewood, maybe take over Lindey’s Lake House. I’m gonna miss this place.

  5. Sorry to read this, my wife and I discovered this place just before the holidays and I was looking forward to going back.

  6. You all cant blame location only! If you only eat in certain neighborhoods you are shallow minded & scared to try something new. I know all sorts of hidden treasures all over north east Ohio, they are good because they earned it, good food, good service, decent value, clean & not crazy inside. This place was only ok. I went only once. You all stay in your little communities to eat, the wait will be shorter elsewhere for us real foodies.

  7. waterdog596 you are a moron. how does being surrounded by so many amazing restaurants that you don’t have to travel more than 2 miles ever to have a great meal and don’t have to worry about going to the same restaurant twice make you “small minded”? People from Rocky River travel into the city to go to dinner every day but people in the city don’t travel to Rocky River to eat. This isn’t rocket science.

    It’s also interesting that they had so much success at Porcos that they decided to open a full service restaurant….the one important fact is Porcos is in the city. The base of people that supported their restaurant idea were not in Rocky River or any other suburb.

  8. I didn’t know “POLPETTAS” was a meatball themed restaurant!! NO matter how cute your name could be, for f*@ks sake just name your completely new restaurant something that actually describes what you are trying to get people to come in & eat. Dammit, I would have loved to go there…if I knew about it

  9. The comment that suburbs are for Applesbees is laughable. Yes, because everyone that lives in a “suburb” deserves only reheated frozen food from a chain. I don’t even live in River and think that is absurd. You are a complete idiot and part of the reason this place did not survive because you need to be in the “trendy” part of Cleveland to enjoy a nice dinner.

    Not everyone lives in Ohio City/Tremont on top of one another in a studio apartment for 1200/month. People in the SURROUNDING cities of Cleveland need and should have unique resturaunt options just like anyone else.

  10. … @Erich Zomboryzsendovics Polpetta literally means “meatball” in Italian. Should it have been called Meatballs “R” Us?

  11. Would a line from that ac/dc song work for a name? – “Dirty Big Balls”

    Subtext could be “We’ve got the biggest balls of them all!”.

  12. Hey Karl,its just an opinion, I didnt say anything bad, just ok. I live in Old Brooklyn, & hang out at 2 of the three areas you mention, shit I love Crust Pizza, Sanato’s, Barrio, Sokolowski’s, Rowley Inn, to mention some the best. Sokolowskis been there since early 1920s or 1930s, they are in a very hard place to get too & no advertising. For the amount I eat out , I mix it up, I like some places better than others & that place was ok. Guidos out in Chesterland has (im laughing as I type) the meatballs around!!!!

  13. Lakewood living try reading my comment again shit for brains. I never said people that life in the burbs deserve reheated garbage, I said if you want to start a new restaurant concept that hasn’t been done before you will probably have more success in the city where these things are done on a regular basis and people from all over northeast Ohio go to to dine. People don’t seek out Rocky River for new dining concepts so you probability of success will be low. I honestly believe this place would have been very successful in any of those neighborhoods but a burb where Burntwood is really cool probably won’t have the population to support it

  14. Actually it’s nice to see Italian tomato sauce again not smothered in cheese. I would have loved that meal in the picture.

  16. Wow Karl. you sound delightful and like you are really capable of stringing intelligent thoughts together. Your sentiment literally said “Suburbs are for Applebees and Golden Corral”, which was clearly a derogatory dig at people who live in suburbs because those places have a lower quality of food than unique restaurants. Perhaps you should re-read your own comment and I stand by my original statement that you are in fact an idiot.

  18. Don’t blame the location. It’s sad to see a place of business close. They had a great concept but they were WAY overpriced.

  19. It felt like they didn’t know what the restaurant was supposed to be. It was packed when it first opened – the meatballs/sauce/toppings were good enough, they had a great bourbon list. It was just…strange in there. Dick puns all over the menu and it was decorated mostly like “generic Italian place”. Their most recent menu was essentially a typical Italian menu, with the meatballs as seemingly an afterthought. They lost who they were, fell back on being a basic Italian restaurant, and no one needs another one of those. It’s unfortunate, but I’m not surprised.

  20. Sorry to hear this but you tried, the problem usually with businesses that fail , are not that they are bad,,just a little mismanaged, need to always try different things ,if one thing doesn’t work ,try something else . Always make sure you set aside a budget every month for advertising . Been in this business for 23 years . Had to make many changes over the years , but that’s how you survive. Good luck in the future

  21. Greater Cleveland’s population continues to stagnate…or shrink.
    Too many restaurants, not enough foodies to keep them all alive.
    The days of a restaurant equaling a license to print money are over.

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