When asked what she thought of the DiCarlo’s pizza we picked up on March 14th to eat at home as the pandemic loomed, my five-year-old daughter said it was “so good” and then “I would eat this all day if I could.” Granted, pleasing a kid with pizza is not difficult, and this particular kid is no exception, but DiCarlo’s is, as the title of this review indicates, unique in the pizza world—or at least the pizza world of the Cuyahoga Falls area
The newest addition to a pizza chain that originated in Steubenville, Ohio in 1945, DiCarlo’s of Cuyahoga Falls—ahem, Akron—made use of a building that had for years served as an auto sales and service lot across from Circle K on Portage Trail Extension West before sitting empty for quite some time. The result is a surprisingly modern pizza shop with neon lights and a cool factor that is, if nothing else, an improvement over another car lot or service shop. Ironically, though, parking is a bit confusing—particularly when the restaurant is really busy—because it ends up cramped and isn’t marked very well. On top of that, entering the lobby immediately pins customers between the cashier’s station and the entrance, where upon our visit a somewhat curmudgeonly older man glared at us to place our order.
The ordering itself is relatively easy, but a few explanations are in order. First, DiCarlo’s only offers cheese or pepperoni pizza in multiples of two slices up to 24. They do offer sides of banana peppers as well as their homemade sauce, the latter of which would perfectly accompany their other offering, pepperoni rolls. For beverages, DiCarlo’s offers Dad’s Root Beer products in bottles. Customers can order take and bake pizzas as well, though that may be slightly confusing because the cheese and pepperoni is served on the sideper the unique way the pizza is cooked.
DiCarlo’s boasts that it is “Steubenville Style” pizza, which can be described as a square-shaped, crispy-on-the-outside, fluffy-on-the-inside pizza. The dough is made fresh daily in a certain amount, and, once it’s gone, that’s it for the day. The dough is stretched onto a square pan, topped with sauce, and baked, then topped with a little more sauce and a slight amount of provolone cheese. The pizza is then baked a little longer, removed from the oven, and topped with more cheese and pepperoni, which melts just from the heat of the pizza fresh from the oven. The result is a pizza that is unlike any that could be found at any large chain, but its uniqueness is inherent in its simplicity—it is the sort of pizza you might make at home when you muster up the courage to make your own sauce and dough and use a cookie sheet to bake on.
Standard descriptions of crust simply don’t work for describing this pizza. It is baked on a shallow pan, yet it almost seems like deep-dish—”medium-dish” might be a better way to put it. Also, pan pizzas from chains are usually cooked in a deep pan with oil, resulting in a crispy bottom and sides, but this means they are essentially fried, ending up greasy and heavy. DiCarlo’s, on the other hand, is not greasy at all—my wife routinely sops the grease off pizza before eating, but barely anything could be soaked up from the DiCarlo’s slices. Still, the pizza is anything but dry, and it is well-balanced with the crispiness of the outer crust and the fluffiness of the crust under the sauce and cheese, plus the crispiness remained even after a while in the box and overnight in the refrigerator. The sauce, meanwhile, differs from typical large-chain pizza in that it is savory instead of sweet, something I have only found before in the Falls at Tim’s Pizza. So, if you like your tomato sauce to be saltier than it is sweet, DiCarlo’s is for you. As for the cheese, provolone isa solid choice for pizza, but if you’ve ever taken a bite of a slice of pizza and pulled all the cheese off with that one bite, you’ll be happy to know that the DiCarlo’s seemingly strange way of adding cheese prevents this problem completely because the cheese doesn’t melt into a single mass during cooking.
Finally, DiCarlo’s pizza is very filling. I’m the kind of guy who can straight-up embarrass myself with how much pizza I can eat, but I started to slow down after two slices of DiCarlo’s, finishing four, all told. Four slices would run you $7 to-go at DiCarlo’s, but we got 16 slices total for $20 to feed a family of four, with plenty left over.
All in all, DiCarlo’s is a welcome addition to area pizza offerings because it is so unique, but it is not just that it is unique for the sake of being unique, but that it is a little slice of Ohio history and culture at the same time—not to mention tasty!
DiCarlo’s is available for takeout, or you can order and eat onsite in their small dining room. Order online at https://www.dicarlospizza.com.
