For more than four decades, Ohio City Pizzeria has served exceptional pizza in the heart of Cleveland. Now, under the passionate care of the West Side Catholic Center, we are back and better than ever, providing a delicious food option and a social good to the Ohio City neighborhood.
As a nonprofit LLC, Ohio City Pizzeria is proud to offer great food, great drinks and great service for a great cause. Quality, traditional, Italian recipes served in a warm and welcoming neighborhood restaurant.
In conjunction with the Workforce Development Program and Culinary Academy at the West Side Catholic Center, Ohio City Pizzeria serves as a pathway for employment for program graduates and members of our community.
Under the supervision of the OCP – General Manager and in direct communication with the Kitchen Manager, the Lead Prep Cook is responsible for ensuring that all necessary essential prep is completed each day. Specifically, but not limited to, the pizza dough, pasta and pizza sauces, and cookies/desserts. Addresses marketing, promotion and planning specific to events.. Performs other duties of a similar nature as may be required.
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Under the supervision of the OCP – General Manager, the line cook is responsible for preparation and execution of the menu. Performs other duties of a similar nature as may be required.
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Under the supervision of the OCP – General Manager, Lead Server is responsible for executing a memorable guest experience from the moment of arrival to their departure. Performs other duties of a similar nature as may be required.
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Ohio City Pizzeria believes food should nourish the body and feed the soul. We carefully source, prepare and cook all our ingredients, choosing locally and organically whenever possible… and always thinking about our rich Italian heritage.
We offer and lovingly prepare a complete and thoughtful menu for lunch, dinner and after hours, including appetizers, pizzas, pastas, entrees, salads, desserts and a full bar.
Dinner
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Ohio City Pizzeria is dedicated to the community – not just our restaurant patrons, but all throughout the city who need special support. Through our unique ownership by the West Side Catholic Center, we are able to provide on-the-job training for those seeking essential work skills, employment for program graduates, and serve as a source of funding to help the Center fulfill its mission: to serve people in need of food, clothing, shelter, advocacy and a path to self-sufficiency.
back to the topOn a rotating basis we will feature a member of our community who has been actively engaged in helping to combat homelessness and support those in need. These heroes to the community we serve will be featured on our website as well as inside Ohio City Pizzeria.
Written by neighbor Paula Kampf in loving memory of Jean Merriman
Jean and Bill Merriman came to the near west side of Cleveland fifty years ago, drawn by the spirit of the community and its desire to care for the needy and for one another. This neighborhood had a huge number of people, then, who were putting their selfless ideals into action to create a more just society, which drew them here individually—and then they met. They’ve raised their two sons here and are proud of their five grandchildren as well. For some time, Jean Merriman worked at the West Side Catholic Center, in fact.
“There is still work to be done,” Bill recently noted. “”Poverty” and its effects is rampant on every street, among the lives of all people, no less than it was 50 years ago. Continuing the task will require a desire for change, and widespread support from all. Widespread support would be on two levels. The call to be an inclusive community would broaden the appreciation for efforts and opportunities for those who are housing blessed to encounter and become engaged with those who are housing challenged, the lives of both being enriched. And as the City, County, and State continue to provide incentives to developers, there needs to be a truly affordable housing component in every new development that is receiving public subsidy.”
The Merrimans, a deacon couple at St Patrick Church on Bridge Avenue, include the Metanoia Project, Care Alliance outreach, the West Side Catholic Center, St Herman’s, and the program resources at St Paul’s UCC, St. Malachi’s and St Patrick’s among the institutions that they consider to be pivotally important in serving the homeless population of Cleveland. As described by Bill, they’ve also committed deeply to a very personal and individualized approach, “…in that we have provided housing assistance, over the past 48 years, to individuals who were without a place to live. This included some sheltering of a limited number of individuals in our own home, as well as providing more permanent housing to a fairly limited number of post-shelter individuals, as well as to a few people who were marginalized because of emotional or psychiatric challenges.
“In addition, we have been supportive of organizations providing housing assistance and other services to the homeless. We were a part of Near West Housing Partners, a co-partner, when the former Travel Lodge was acquired by the Sisters of St Joseph, to establish Woman’s Transitional Housing (now STEPS). We have been advocates of service to the homeless at St. Patrick Church, supporting Community Meals Program there, which not only involves our own parishioners, but as many as 25 or 30 other parishes, schools, and organizations.”
Among the many “ripples” of what they’ve provided is decades of housing for the Jesuit Volunteers Corps—creating space for young college graduates to invest in service in the neighborhood for one year. The impact of these young adults ripples out across the people they serve—and has compelled many of the JVs to remain in Cleveland and/or remain in service among the homeless in other places across the country for several generations now.
“A nation, city, and neighborhood is only as strong and healthy as its community members who are most in need. This sense of community is radically inclusive, rather than exclusive, ever widening the circle of human dignity, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness, in a spirit of compassionate commitment, to those who are marginalized,” Bill proclaims.
