Fanucce’s Italian Imports and Pizzeria

Best Italian food in the Cleveland area (outside of Little Italy). Great chicken and veal parmigiana subs. The sauce is authentic, homemade perfection.

Went here with reservations for a party of 8 on Saturday. Definitely make reservations as there are few tables that seat more than 4.
The bread is a must-​have. Soft and a glaze of garlic and butter, just right. Wine is fairly priced, even a little better than most Italian restaurants. I had the sausage and vodka penne dish which was excellent. The veal parm was a huge portion.
Service was good. Had to wait a bit in water, but all other areas were attended to promptly and correctly.

I know you’re salty because your food tastes like it, chefs are creepy and sweaty mixed with frump and seems very unsanitary, waitress is a huge snail yet there is no escargot on the menu? everything sucks. looks so dirty i swear i sat in the chair and dust flew up. if I could give zero stars I would, 1 even seems to be too much. Party of four wishes we would’ve went to our regular Ballentines spot for a steak and fries.

Good food and very friendly staff. Quaint little Italian place in downtown Willoughby.

Best true Italian food I’ve had in Ohio! Everything was fresh, made to order and served with passion for food. Totally recommend for families or romantic get away

Had the fish it was delicious– good list of Lenten specials the wait staff was very kind and attentive

We do carry out but I like going here during the Christmas holiday. Downtown Willoughby is gorgeously decorated and Fanucce’s is warm and cozy inside. We’ve gone there on a Friday night and fortunate to have an accordionist entertain up with wonderful godfather type music. As mentioned in previous posts I’m not a fan of pizza but this stuff does get my salivary glands working overtime. Tastes better eating in then out — maybe the music & atmosphere. Good appetizers like smelt — different. Family owned authentic Italian.

The best pizza around! Family run business that does an awesome job. Keep up the good work.

The pizza is the best I have found in Ohio so far. It’s the closest thing we can find to NJ style pie. The chicken parm is wonderful. The portions are huge. The service can be iffy but the food more than makes up for it!

I had the house red wine and veal parmesan.
I liked the ambiance. There was an old wood floor with a galley set-​up with tables on both sides of the isle.
The house red was smooth with an easy finish for just $ 5.00 a glass.
The small house salad that came with my meal was crisp with a very tasty italian dressing. The dinner roll’s didn’t appeal to me as they looked like they had not finished baking but I did bite into one and the spread on top tasted very good (garlic butter with herbs).
The main meal was a very large portion of veal that I thought was pretty good. The veal was cut to a nice thickness and had a good tasting breading. There was a lot of cheese on top. The sauce was a nice texture and very good tasting tomatoe. Everything was seved hot.
Waitress was pretty good up until I asked for my receipt… she didn’t say anything, just looked annoyed as she went to write up a new ticket. I travel a lot so I need to keep my receipts. When I paid with my credit card the original bill was taken away and replaced wth a small receipt I guess I was asking for something out of the norm but why do restaurants like to not give you a full receipt anymore. I like to know what I ordered with the breakdown of the prices. The veal parmesan cost $ 16.95; I’d say it was worth it.

I love this place! We usually get food from here 3 times a month. I like supporting this family run business. You are surrounded by a heavenly aroma as soon as you enter the restaurant. The food is delicious. I’ve tried many things there, and haven’t found anything I don’t like. My personal fave is the flatbread salad. My husband likes the subs. Sometimes there is an accordion player there on the weekends which really sets the mood. You can easily imagine you are dining in a quaint café in Italy.

I always like the food. Very large portions at a great price. Very good wedding soup, Veal Parmigiano, and Linguine with Clam Sauce.
This place is a great place for large portions of great tasting authentic Italian food at a fair price.
The location in Downtown Willoughby is great because the public lot at the old court house is a half block away. Much better location than many of the other restaurants in downtown section.

I stopped by with 3 friends on a beautiful Saturday night around 6. We were seated right away. This place isn’t much on «looks» but their Chicken Parm makes up for it. Only $ 12.99 for a GIGANTIC piece of chicken on about a pound of penne pasta. I can make about two more meals out of my leftovers. Nothing really spectacular here, but not bad either.

I will not return to Fanucce’s after our last visit. The person preparing the dough with their bare hands also handled the money over and over again. Without washing their hands or using gloves. Yuck! People who came into the restaurant to pick up take out were routinely ignored as they stood their waiting to be acknowledged even though a Fanucce employee was 3 or 4 feet away. I ordered a ceasar salad with extra croutons and every croûton was inedible as it was burned almost black. I had a salad, my partner has pasta and my two little ones had a small cheese pizza and the bill came to well over $ 40. We won’t return..

So this Italian Deli and Pizzeria is a nice little hidden gem of homemade cooking amongst the slightly more commercialized restaurants in the surrounding area. I’ve gone many times for lunch and always leave very happy. You may ask why only 4 stars if I’m always so happy? Well to be honest, I’m hooked on the Veal Parmesan sandwich to the point that I can’t order anything else so I can’t really speak for much else beyond that.
I have tried their pizza, pretty good but nothing out of this world. And their deli meats and cheeses are also excellent. The only other item I’ve tried for an appetizer is their hot banana peppers stuffed with sausage. So first about them. You get three huge banana peppers overstuffed with sausage covered with cheese and a tasty marinara sauce. I find them outstanding for many reasons. First they are overstuffed. Who doesn’t like overstuffed everything? Unless of course it is you in your pants. The peppers have just the right spice level, a nice kick but the spice doesn’t overpower everything else.
Now onto the Veal Parmesan sandwich. While I highly recommend trying this sandwich I suggest either bringing a friend to lunch or planning on having left overs. While at $ 9.99 for a sandwich you might think it is expensive, but the veal, served open face is larger than dinner plate. Fanucce’s clearly takes pride in the quality of their food as it is pounded nice and thin which makes for a great balance in crispness. I enjoy eating the thing with just a knife and fork with the sauce on the side and just dipping into the side of sauce. But if you want to be adventurous you can try and close it up eating it sandwich style. If you are able to figure out how to do that please let me know, it looks next to impossible.
While this is no gourmet restaurant it is a nice cozy spot to grab some great homemade food like mom used to make. That is of course if your mom was Italian.

Small place, but it works. Everything is made right there in front of you by the family staff, and the food is excellent. Pizza, ravioli, Marsala, everything
Catering menu is affordable and works great too!

Well. Since we never actually got table service I won’t be able to provide much of a real review of Fanucce’s. I was also considering checking off «No» under the tips section when they asked if there was table service. That’s pretty bad. The place was packed. If they would have known that 3 Unilocalers would give them a bad review, I’m sure they would have chosen a different table to completely ignore.
There was a guy who was manning the pizza oven, or pretending to, that almost didn’t even let us sit at the only empty table in the joint because he «had a reservation coming in.» I feel bad for the people that actually reserved a table there. I think there was only one waitress for the whole place. She didn’t even look at us. I’m sure that other customers were much more satisfied than we were… but they weren’t being ignored.
I agree with fellow Unilocaler’s M. and M. on all counts. I want to believe that this place could actually be good. This is why it gets 2 stars. I have hope.
The place kinda reminds me of Lady and the Tramp. I could picture Lady and Tramp sitting there sharing meatballs and spaghetts and being all cute and stuff. So what the hell, Fanucce’s? Get your act together!

Fanucce’s, you did a bad, bad thing.
Fanucce’s is a neighborhood Pizzeria in the heart of downtown Willoughby on Erie Street. At first glance, this restaurant seems destined for success: great location to take advantage of the resurgence of downtown Willoughby, complimentary valet parking, an alfresco approach to dining with outdoor tables and chairs flanking Erie Street, smells of freshly baked pizza permeating the air. How could you possibly go wrong?
Well for one, it would help if the staff noticed you. It was Fanucce’s that three local Unilocalsters decided to meet up this past Saturday evening. I was the first there at 7:30pm and even though the place did not yet see it’s Saturday night rush, I had to hover by the cash register to ask for a menu and drink as the waitress never came over to my table. The giant sloth behind the counter didn’t even get up to acknowledge me. Instead, his ass glued to a seat, scooted himself up to the counter and handed me one of their finest selections: a Vortex infused Miller Lite. I told the sloth that I’d be expecting 2 more in a bit and to warm up the oven in anticipation.
When the rest of the crew showed up, we moved the party of 3 into the dining room as the rain washed us out from sitting outside. The sloth, before a little resistance almost didn’t allow us to sit. He said he was expecting a table of 4 and we were sitting in the last seat in the house. Hey sloth, remember us? We were here first!
Once seated, we hovered at the cash register and begged for another round. The sloth seemed bothered. After two more beers were swilled, we started to grow hungry for pizza, an appetizer, a crumb, anything! Yet we waited and waited some more. Through the entire time we were there, no one acknowledged us. Well, almost no one. At one point, an old timer behind the pizza oven walked by us, complaining about how he should’ve remained retired and to that I say, I certainly agree Sir! Go back to the tiny community in Florida with the rest of the geriatrics, because you’re certainly not doing anyone any favors here!
After we finally gave up, it was even a struggle to pay. We never got a tab because we had no waitress. The sloth behind the counter had no running count of beers we drank either. If it wasn’t early in the night, if I only had a few more Vortex infused beverages and my courage was a bit higher, I would’ve really lit into the sloth and told the rest of the crew at Fanucce’s how I really felt about the place, but I took the higher road… and instead let them have it in form of a nasty Unilocal review.

I totally back up Matt on everything he said in his review. However, i see the potential for a cute neighborhood joint to get past its stumbling infant ways and learn to walk. As the only Willoughby eatery with seating actually on the sidewalk and not just a parking lot patio, it really captured my imagination. We sat there in the rain (bromance?) waiting for the lovely Miss S, who came strolling up with an umbrella. It was so cute, like a scene from a movie. Maybe i’m just a romantic, but little things like that make my life fun. If someone else could have a moment like that in this crappy Walmart-​chicken strip-​WGAR-​Fartbook-​fake bullshit society, then the poor service is a minor thing. Sure, i would have liked to have eaten SOMETHING, but i have not written it off completely.
I will try to get served there if it’s the last thing i do.