J Pistone Market & Gathering Place

Joan assisted me in delivering a welcome basket for some friends moving into their new Shaker Heights home. The food was amazing and Joan delivered a wonderful surprise. Thank YOU!

This is one of my favorite little bistros. It’s located in the heart of Shaker Heights and the food is never disappointing. They have soups, sandwiches, side dishes and desserts. Everything that I’ve ever tried from the eggplant rotini to the asparagus frittata has been absolutely wonderful. They have a great wine selection to purchase by the bottle and they also offer catering. This is a spot that I like to go to for lunch with a good book and relax. The staff is friendly and the food is great.

Joanie and crew do great take out catering and lunch service. Worth a visit. Closed Sunday.

You are sure to enjoy the super yummy food, the great fun outdoorsy café atmosphere and the variety of choices on their menu. This is a must come back to, tell your friends all about it kind of place. :-)

Great service and creative menu items! Get the lobster bisque and I enjoyed the chicken Brie panini too! Crowded parking lot at lunch but spacious market with lots of tables and patio seating.

I have only tried their decadent desserts so far and they are delicious! The hubby’s fav is the brownie pillow ($ 2) Basically a brownie baked into a chocolate chip cookie. Mine is the opera cake ($ 4) Honestly, I buy cheap wine at the grocery store so I haven’t tried out their well sized wine selection nor have I tried their prepared foods yet. But they look delicious!

Never order anything that requires any thinking or coordination — — — — -any time a problem occurs, its your fault and every jump ball goes to them, expensive and dismal service

I recently went to a party that was catered by J. Pistone. I had never heard of the place and was so amazed at how good the food was! Everything was delicious and the catering staff was great.

Recently had a delicious lunch here! Many, many vegetarian items (I had the quinoa wrap — it was wonderful). Great atmosphere, outdoor café and oh my, the desserts! This is a great spot for a casual lunch. Super convenient to Thornton Park to get a take out picnic before taking a dip in the pool!

This is our favorite stop to visit in Shaker.
Excellent food and great employees.
Love it.

LOVE this place — one of the best local eateries in Shaker. We’ve also used them for catering special events at our home and they do an outstanding, professional and delicious job. Love to come to their restaurant for lunch or a quick coffee with a friend. I also order quite a lot of their prepared foods to take home for dinner. Some have said it’s a bit expensive — it is not cheap, but the food is high-​quality, very good and their bakery items are to die for. When I go to heaven (which is questionable), I want to be greeted by St. Peter holding a J. Pistone carrot cake.

I can’t believe it took me so long to discover J Pistone. My boyfriend and I have gotten into a habit of stopping here on the way home from the gym to grab a healthy, not too heavy, but delicious lunch!
It’s great because you can order at the counter – either one of the day’s specials, including delicious soups and rotating sandwiches/​wraps, pre-​made food (my boyfriend loves the apricot chicken and the marinated salmon with roasted veggies on the side), or one of the sandwiches/​wraps or salads from the menu. I’ve tried most of the sandwiches and wraps at this point, and one of my favorite things is that each one comes with a different, small side salad, usually with a grain like quinoa or barley as the base.
After you eat, you bring your number to the cashier and pay. This has been great for us as we are often quite hungry just having come from working out! The whole process is streamlined, the staff/​cooks are friendly, and it’s a light-​filled, cheery place to eat. That’s the «gathering» part – the small «market» is fun as well! They have a selection of wines, beers, and specialty food items.
Also, the desserts look delicious and there is a free muffin offer on Unilocal when you check in for the first time!
My only complaints aren’t even real complaints, just suggestions for J Pistone. It would be nice to see a bigger selection of specialty food items, more like Southport Grocery in Chicago. There is space to have more! Also, some of the food portions could be a bit bigger, but then again, this is the perfect place to fuel up after those workouts and not feel TOO full afterward.
If you live in or drive through Shaker Heights regularly, you should be a regular at this place!

Wonderful place! Quaint with a friendly staff. Lots of options for food and drink. I had a pesto pistachio salmon with veggie side. EXCELLENT!

Great wraps and salads. Like the beverage selection including many different kinds of pop like orange cream soda

I tried the lobster bisque based on another Unilocalers recommendation, it was a savory sensation. I actually wish I would’ve bought some to take home. Bummer. I also tried the Greek Village Salad, it was very fresh and delightful. It’s a cute little market, a bunch of products to browse while your waiting for your food. They have a huge selection of delicious looking prepared salads, side dishes, and entrée items. They also have sandwiches, which sounded awesome, especially the turkey Reuben. Yum!
They have a great wine collection and a large array of pastries. From checking in I received a free zucchini and carrot muffin, which for me was very moist, but a bit too oily for my liking.
Overall, J Pistrone’s is a great lunch spot, a bit pricy, but a lot of fresh items to choose from. If I lived in the area, I would definitely frequent this place.

Great lunch spot with a good wine selection.

Cute little restaurant in the middle of Shaker heights. I met someone here for a business lunch. The atmosphere is a little — borrowing the word from another reviewer – frumpy. It could be so much better but instead it just feels like a gigantic room with awkward tables.
The food – for the most part– is pretty good. I got a wrap and they made it fresh and didn’t skimp on ingredients. The side pasta dish was a little odd (tasted like it was tossed in a pre-​made peanut sauce with sea same seeds).
The employees were incredibly hospitable– you can tell that it’s a very community friendly lunch place.

J Pistone is in my neighborhood, and all the better for it. I am serously shocked by the lack of eateries in Shaker proper. So there’s a handful of chain casual places on Van Aken and on Chagrin, but where are the charming bistros and cafes that one would expect? There’s certainly enough rich to support them.
Anway, Pistone’s salads and sandwiches are quite good. I love the salad with julienned zuchini and fresh corn. Likewise, the panini are fresh and tasty.
The atmos? A little awkward, a little frumpy — but who cares — it’s more of a neighborhood hangout. The wine selction is nice if you’re in a pinch for dinner and need a nicer bottle. I was thrilled to see vin santo, but the price for a ½ bottle was redic. overinflated.

Love this place. The food and staff are great.
Also just learned that on Saturday’s after 4pm, the most food is 25% off.
This will be my regular Saturday evening stop

I wasn’t ENTIRELY impressed with this place…
Until I ate my lemon curd cookie at home later that night.
But, let me rewind and start from the beginning. A friend and I wanted to try out lunch in her new neighborhood and she said she had been eyeballing this place for awhile. I consulted Unilocal,of course, and headed over after work. When we got there, we were starving (Google maps doesn’t give the BEST directions =/​) and overwhelmed by the variety of tasty options. We asked the man behind the counter for suggestions; at this point, my brain was slowing down in great need of sustenance. I got a chipotle turkey wrap or something like that and it was ok. A little bland for the price, but still yummy. The little dabble of cabbage salad that came with it was superb – I kind of want the recipe (I love cabbage!). When we were done eating, we had been thinking about the desserts for awhile at this point and really wanted some, but couldn’t cram it in our stomachs, so we got them to go.
Upon texting each other later, we found that the desserts were more impressive than the lunch foods. Or at least that’s how I feel. I adore lemon desserts and this lemon curd cookie changed me. I can’t handle lemon bars anymore. Lemon curd cookies from J Pistone are the way to go!
The atmosphere here is unusual and fun. The tiny little dining area makes you feel like you’re in a tiny café, but then you look the other direction and there’s a wall of wine and scone mixes! Strangely cute!