Crostatas Rustic Pizza

Great restaurant! Lovely ambiance. Amazing pizza and appetizers. Best tiramisu in all of Cleveland. (Maybe the entire state!) I’ve never had a bad experience there. Servers are nice. Food is great.

OMG. The worst service ever. We ordered an appetizer and it took 40 minutes. My husband ordered the Margareta pizza and I ordered the Cavetelli and meatballs. My husband’s pizza was served 10 minutes before my meal. My dinner was shy 1 meatball. Once I was finished, they brought 2 more. The pizza was doughy and everything was under seasoned. My husband ordered a second beer and the waitress brought a different kind. Overall it was a really disappointing dinner.

I never go out for Italian food unless it’s truly Italian. Well my friends, this is truly Italian food… and I can vouch for it being that I recently spent almost 2 weeks eating myself silly through Italy with my husband.
The pizzas are made in a pizza oven and are very tasty. Crispy, yet chewy thin crust with a homemade tomato sauce made from San Marzano tomatoes (we asked) and fresh mozarella cheese. What could be better?
The salads are huge (big enough for 2 and then some) and the few pastas on their menu are all homemade– watch them roll it in the kitchen behind the register. The ravioli is to die for amazing. Meatballs are very good as well, and not as rich as I expected.
If you are searching for some true Italian food, check this place out. You’ll be happy you did. Just remember you are still in Cleveland (not Italy) and bring a coat it’s chilly in there… brrr!

Where do I start? First of all, we found this place through the owner of a pizza place, Pauly G’s, in Brooklyn, NY… we have been going here, and bringing all of our friends for the past 2 years… now that we live be in FL and cannot come often, we find an opportunity to re-​visit every time we are in town… their risotto balls and antipasto misto are the best… their home made spumoni is OUTSTANDING… everything in between is TOP NOTCH!
Always great service, outstanding food and good value!

Fantastic pizza and panini. Had the Nutella calzone for dessert… It was Awesome!
Everything was homemade and worth every dollar.

It was OK. The pizza was a little sparse and floppy. The flavor was fine but not something to rave about. Might give it another go given the strong reviews by everyone else but I just wasn’t blown away

Went here for dinner with my husband and it was fantastic! We got the stuffed banana peppers and the Italian sausage pizza and were in heaven! It was just like the pizza i used to get in Europe. Nice thin crust and full of fresh ingredients. If you want great pizza go here!

Honestly it’s something about the pizza that’s very good. I was very skeptical of this place because I’m always eating the American style pizza. Boy was I wrong. The pizza was very good and it just tasted authentic. Service could be a little slow but so can other restaurants. The Nutella calzone was delicious to top of the day. I would definitely eat here again.

My brother used to live in Italy, and I visited him there a couple of times several years ago when I was less experienced with the world of food. Before going, some uncultured Americans told me (paraphrasing) «pizza might come from Italy, but the pizza there is plain and terrible». Americans are obviously used to the «everythingbutthekitchensink» pies that Pizza Hut and Papa John’s have brainwashed us to think is good pizza. Sadly, I was a brainwashee and when I went to Napoli, I ignored their pizza. Blasphemy! I mean, for real? What dummy goes to Napoli and doesn’t have pizza? This dummy, apparently! The pizzas at Crostatas look exactly like they did in Napoli. So glad, because now I can make up for my sins.
I asked our server what the difference was between the regular margherita and margherita DOC. Was told that the DOC is made with buffalo mozzarella and was much creamier and smoother. Sold! Also tried the funghi and the alba pizzas. The margherita simply had San Marzano tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella, basil and evoo. The funghi, same, but with shrooms minus the basil. Alba had capocollo ham, arugula, fried egg. Such deliciousness in the simplicity of the Neapolitan pizza.
For dessert, we opted for some spumoni and… get this… Nutella calzone. Whuuuut??? Yes!
This was a pizza only visit, but along with the other pizzas we didn’t get to try yet, they also have very interesting entrees on their menu that are worth repeat visits to sample.

Fresh ingredients, and creative choices make this place a winner.
My friends loved the large Chicken Caesar Salad. I like the pizzas.
Service can be slightly slow — usually (and strangely) after the food is delivered.
Tea is not good and tastes like it’s off a gun even though it’s brewed.

This place clearly tries to serve very authentic Italian food. But I don’t think they succeed in everything. My experience from traveling in Italy a few times is you always come out completely full out of a restaurant. This isn’t the case with Crostatas. I went with my husband and we ordered 2 dishes, which is what we normally get when we go out. We actually went to get more food after we left the place. The portions were small and didn’t have much to them.
I did enjoy the pizza, it had the authentic thin crust and good cheese but it was more of an appetizer portion rather than an entrée size pizza.
I would recommend this place if you want to try some good Italian food but be prepared to either order a lot (and they’re not cheap!) or don’t go on a completely empty stomach.

Fantastic. I’ve had their chicken sandwich, pizzas and wedding soup. Some of the best authentic Italian food on this side of Cleveland. The location is beautiful and the staff is great. Make sure you ask for bread and oil too!

We took my husband’s dad out for his 76^th birthday here. Our waitress was Montana. Our 14 year old daughter gave her grandfather a bag of Lay’s potato chips since he eats tons of them. (He got lots of other gifts too.) Our waitress noticed the chips and said, «Oh you got laid.» Our daughter was really embarrassed and my husband and I were stunned. The only bright side was that my father in law doesn’t hear all that well and missed the comment. That was the single most inappropriate thing a waitress has ever said in front of me.
I’d add that we sat there with empty drinks for a long time before having to call over Montana to get refills. We also had so many empty plates on our table at one point that since we had no room we stacked a couple on an empty chair to make room. Their A/​C wasn’t working that night and people were complaining but what I can say is that there are things that can be helped and some that are beyond your control. The A/​C was beyond their control. The service issue was not.
We’d planned to bring in a friend’s daughter soon when she is training at Progressive. We will not be doing that now. Their food is quite good but that experience was really something I will not soon forget.
btw I didn’t plan to post this here because it wasn’t a food issue but I contacted them privately with no response so they either don’t care or they don’t read their messages.

Trying to get them to name a salad I request all the time not on the menu. Arugula with Grilled Chicken. Help me out Montana!
The Eaton: Arugula with Grilled Chicken

Great gem of a restaurant. Usually head there once a month. Service always very friendly and italian food prepared great!

Absolutely amazing! Everything was fresh and homemade. By far the best Italian food in NEO, little Italy has nothing on this place. In the words of terminator I’ll be back!!!

I moved away 20 years ago and crave authentic, Italian food. I kept seeing posts on facebook about Crostatas and couldn’t wait to try it next time I was in town! My daughter and I started with a caprese salad and fried zucchine. The salad was fresh, well seasoned and loved the splashes of sweet balsamic. The zucchine was crisply adorned with Panko breading and came with this to-​die-​for dipping sauce we were told was a blend of mayo, horseradish and evoo… yum! Next we enjoyed some cheese ravioli and cavatelli. The pasta was just like Grandma used to make and the sauce had just a hint of sweetness. Delizioso! We decided to take some of everything home, along with a sausage pizza to go so we could save room for dessert. Wow! It was tough to decide, but we went with the cannoli and vanilla bean gelato. See the food porn pictures I posted, as I know your mouth is already watering! And I was flattered when my daughter said the server, Montana, reminded her of me because she was so friendly! It was more than I would’ve normally spent on lunch, but we got a lot of food and it was so worth it! And by the way, I also heard our server remember someone’s beverage of choice and they hadn’t been in for months! I miss home. The only bad thing about sharing our experience is that I’m sure there’ll be a wait next time!

This is the place to go for Italian food. We had the much acclaimed Margherita D.O.C. Pizza, and shared the arancini, grilled eggplant, and stuffed peppers. The pizza was probably the best I’ve ever had — the crust is perfect. The tomatoes are perfect. The buffalo mozzarella is perfect. You get the picture. It was really light for a pizza. The arancini was delicious and not too heavy. The eggplant was super thin and perfectly grilled. The stuffed peppers were fine — this is never an item I’m particularly fond of. My one complaint would be the tiramisu — it was not especially tasty and was previously frozen. There was a thin layer of ice remaining. Skip that and have a perfect meal!

I didn’t eat here today. I ate at another joint which claims to offer pizza di Napoli. It doesn’t compare. Instead of writing bad reviews about those «other places», I decided to impart my 7 years worth of dining experience at crostatas to you.
A little bit of background: my SO was born in Rome, Italy. My father in law and the whole family is from Napoli, Italy. We’ve been given plenty lectures on what makes a real authentic Neapolitan pizza. And roman cuisine in general.
I saw a few previous not-​so-​happy Unilocal reviews. Let me tell you. Here’s what to order for two people:
For your protein and vegetable, get either
1. INSALATA BISTECCA: salty & sour, lean
it’s a big plate, with lots of arugula, well seasoned with lemon and salt. The beef is tender, very reasonable portion for two, not greasy at all. Occasionally this dish would come out a bit too salty for me. If you are sensitive to salt, tell your server to reduce salt.
OR
2. COSTOLETTA di MAIALE: meaty, sweet, substantial
Organically, locally raised hogs for your dining pleasure. 2 or 3 pieces thinly pounded, very tender pork chops. Because it’s breaded, the calories will be higher than the bistecca. I used to tell them to NOT to bread my pork chops, but honestly, the breaded version goes well with the romaine and balsamic dressing. They use quality balsamic vinegar. It’s sweet not sour at all. Lots of romaine.
For your carbohydrate and dairy, get
MARGHERITTA D.O.C: milky, sweet, chewy yet crispy. Like a dream. You won’t want it to stop.
this is the default flavor of Neapolitan pizza. When you go to a new pizzeria, you want to see whether they know what they’re doing, order this flavor. We’ve tried all flavors on the menu. In the end we always go back to doc.
At crostatas, the cheese has a good balance with the tomato sauce. I want to describe it as «milky yet sweet». The reason: To be a certified Neapolitan pizza place, you must adhere to strict ingredient requirements. These two ingredients are most popular /​beloved by most chefs, which is what crostatas used in margheritta doc:
A. San Marzano Tomatoes: a type of plum tomato that’s sweet and low in acidity (compared to Roma tomato for example). If you use an acidic tomato sauce, your pizza will taste acidic… then you’ll try to compensate with sugar… hence some not-​so-​great margheritta pizza you’ve had in the past.
B. Mozzarella Di Bufala: it’s trademarked. The milk must come from buffalo raised in Campana region. Buffalo milk has twice as much fat as cow milk. Hence the intense milky flavor.
The dough is chewy, yet the crust is crispy. pizza here gives me an impression that it must come from some «thousand-​years mother dough». The other places’s dough feels a bit «juvenile», portion not as substantial yet more expensive.
You don’t need 100 ingredients as toppings for it to be a good pizza. Simple but good ingredients on the right dough, so classy, so warm, so good.
OR
Pesto
Pesto with shrimp
Dessert: spumoni or tiramisu. Get an espresso. Helps with digestion. So claimed the Italians.
Order the above dishes. You will want to give them 5 stars.

The wife and I stopped by because we saw it featured on New Day Cleveland. We are super glad we did. She had the homemade cavatelli with meatballs. She said it was the best ever. I had the one of the specials, the 28oz Steak. Omg both of us had great food and service.
The we had the homemade desert.
It was very good and light it was the Napoleon Limone.