Well, folks, I have quietly moved out of Cuyahoga Falls and a couple hundred miles across Ohio to the Cincinnati area. Nevertheless, I have a lot of love for the city and will miss living there. During my ten years living in the Falls, my twin girls were born, and I often think that people become really attached to the cities where they start families. Maybe because of this attachment, I also got politically involved (also probably in part because I was appalled by what was occurring on the national political stage). I volunteered to help with the election and re-election efforts of city and county officials (and beyond), ran for school board myself, and I was later appointed when my opponent (who’d won the election) resigned. I decided not to seek re-election to the seat and moved on, working for the then Clerk of the Summit County Court of Common Pleas and then the Summit County ADM Board. I even served a year term as the President of the Cuyahoga Falls Democratic Club. In 2023, however, tragedy struck my family, and this precipitated my return to the Cincinnati area, where I had grown up.
After spending my last year in Cuyahoga Falls (somewhat ironically) as a former school board member working as a building substitute in one of the district’s schools, I fell in love with working with kids in the elementary school setting. So that’s what I’m doing now, and it affords me time off for holidays, summers, etc. During these times, my kids visit their family in the Cleveland area, so myself and my fiancé end up with time to hang out just the two of us, and we often end up doing so in Cuyahoga Falls. Since June of last year, in fact, we have come to town and visited HiHO Brewing Co., Missing Mountain Brewing Co., Iron Ink Tattoo, Tiki Underground, El Papa Mexican Kitchen (in its new home on State Road), the Jenks Building, and, most recently, Oak + Olive, the hidden speakeasy accessed through a decoy Coke machine in Mattioli’s Pizza Shop (1846 Front St. Suite G).
Of course, Fallsites (is that what they’re called?) are no strangers to the speakeasy vibe with the presence of both The Watson Speakeasy next door to Oak + Olive and the speakeasy inside The Workz, though the former is like Oak + Olive in that it has the “secret” vibe. The Watson has bonkers cocktails and shares a very similar ambiance with Oak + Olive, which is really no surprise since it is owned and operated by the Testa Dining Group, which also owns The Watson, the Northside Speakeasy, Butcher and Sprout, Mattioli’s Pizza, and more. Oak + Olive has great drinks as well, but I didn’t go for the drinks…
With all of the Italian heritage in Northeast Ohio, you really can’t go wrong with Italian food if you’re headed out for a date night. When it comes to Italian food in Cuyahoga Falls (if not in Northeast Ohio in general), let’s just say I know a guy. It was this guy who told me that I had to try the pizza at Mattioli’s. Why? Well, according to my contact, the restaurant had ideas on how it would approach its pizza, until his Italian immigrant cousin came over and showed them how to make their pizza the pizza in Cuyahoga Falls, and I must say, that is exactly what they did.
When it comes to pizza, I am in the woodfired camp. Mattioli’s is just that, and their product is a balanced bit of perfection that could only come from the old world. Now, mind you, I have never been to Italy, but here stateside we are lucky to have some amazing pizza, and Mattioli’s stands as one of the best, at least in Ohio. I generally go for a margherita—tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and fresh basil. I prefer mine with tomato sauce as opposed to the type with garlic, olive oil, and fresh tomatoes only, and Mattioli’s does have sauce on theirs. There honestly just isn’t much more to say. It’s a simple recipe cooked in the best way, and it’s fantastic.
If I could offer a couple of critiques, it would really come down to the ambience and the flow of the restaurant. First of all, there is a speakeasy literally next door to Oak + Olive, so the “hidden” gimmick is unnecessary and awkward. We walked in wanting to sample what we had been told was one of the best pizzas in Cuyahoga Falls and beyond, only to find a pizza shop that looked like it was pick-up only. When we asked if there was a dining room, they simply pointed to the Coke machine and gave us instructions on how to get in. Not only does this negate the speakeasy concept, but it forces the idea in a way that must really annoy the employees who work there. Just imagine: every time someone walks into the restaurant where you work, you have to give them instructions on how to get into the dining room, which the ownership has hidden on purpose. A speakeasy makes sense for a bar with fancy drinks—which again, Oak + Olive does have—but as a dining room for your boutique pizza shop, it doesn’t make a ton of sense.
What’s more, we waited 90 minutes for a seat. We really wanted to try the pizza, so we put in our name, gave our phone number, and went off to have a drink at Tiki Underground and browse the Jenks Building. When we got back to the restaurant, having received a text that our table was ready, we learned that by “table” they meant seats at the bar. I couldn’t help but wonder on which planet putting one’s name on a restaurant’s waiting list meant you were waiting for bar seats. We kindly explained that we had thought we were waiting for an actual table, and were then forced to wait another 20 minutes. Once inside, we were seated at what amounted to a coffee table with chairs on wheels and one teeny-tiny lamp that barely provided enough light to see the food—I actually struggled to get bites of my salad (due to the lights, not the drinks). We had also ordered the bruschetta, which was very small and served on crunchy-style “crostini,” and a salad that was missing at least two of the advertised ingredients (it was still very good).
Now, like art, restaurant decor and ambience is subjective, but it just feels as if a superb gem of a pizza shop has been shoehorned into a waspy speakeasy concept for no particular reason. I’m not big on the rustic-style decor myself, but Hudson’s Three Palms does a better job on this front, with its upcycled industrial vibe and bakery counter alongside an open air kitchen just behind the bar. Oak + Olive would fare better if it just became Mattioli’s and let the product speak for itself. There are enough speakeasies and dimly-lit charcuterie places—one need not combine the ideas with an otherwise stellar offering that easily stands on its own.
But, you know, that’s just like, uh, my opinion, man.
