Albert T.
Yelp
I've driven past Vero probably 20+ times, but never set foot inside the establishment due to the intimidating lines I would always see forming outside. It's been on my try list for the longest time since it's the favorite restaurant of some of my friend in Cleveland. In my last trip to the city, I finally decided to brave the line to try to get a seat. We were quoted a 40 minute wait time a bit before 6, but we were in luck as a table cleared up within 5 minutes.
Margherita ($24) - The crust (or rather the cornicione) is seriously amazing. It has a bit of a char, is bubbly with a very nice rise, superb bouncy chew, and yet also a tenderness that collapses when you take a bite. There are blackened spots on the cornicione, but there is no bitterness. It's sprinkled with sea salt, giving an extra salty bite in some areas - be a bit careful, some of the salt is in larger crystals and if bitten the wrong way, they can hurt your teeth. The inner crust area soaks up the tomato sauce and becomes floppy, but is delicious. The tomato sauce is very fresh, acidic, and sweet. There's fresh basil to give an herbal note and the mozzarella adds a great dairy milkiness. The toppings are perfectly proportioned and each ingredient is fresh and high quality, allowing the pure flavors really shine and stand out. If you don't like eating crust, you should probably avoid eating at Vero - it will save you both time and money. I only mention this because we saw another party throwing out the cornicione. (5/5)
Sausage and Rapini ($26) - Again, a fantastic crust. The sausage is a bit spicy but adds much needed meaty flavors. The rapini adds some bitterness and sweetness and is cooked perfectly. There's a good amount of cheese as well. Since there isn't really any sauce here, we drizzled some olive oil on top to add moisture. (5/5)
The pizzas are not cut for you, instead they provide a pair of pizza shears so you can cut the pizza to your liking.
You can get pepper flakes, oil, or hot honey brought over to add to the pizza. We went with the oil. The olive oil is quite fresh and has a bit of a peppery kick as well as vegetal notes. They also serve a spicier olive oil that tastes kind of like hot buffalo sauce. One thing that could be improved is the oil dispenser bottle. The design they have allows a lot of drippage along the outer sides, which makes pools of olive oil on the table. Also it seems that the waiters will sometimes forget to offer condiments - the patrons at the table next to us asked if they could borrow our bottles as they were not given the option.
We went to Citizen Pie the next day to do a comparison. Vero has by far the best cornicione and the toppings and construction are better. The taste of the Vero pizza is fresh and pure, while the taste of Citizen Pie is much more muddled in comparison. That's not to say that Citizen Pie is bad. In fact, it's pretty good. Vero is just better in most aspects.
The pizzas at Vero are absolutely delicious, but it's not all roses here. According to reviews the restaurant was renovated and expanded over the last couple of months. I was researching menus and comparisons between Vero and other Neapolitan pizza shops around Cleveland and it seems like the prices at Vero immediately before the renovation were already on the higher end ($20 for margherita vs $13-$18 at other places). They rose 20% immediately after the renovation ($24), making them cost way more than the competition.
The pizzas take forever to come out. I feel like Vero expanded the dining room but didn't increase throughput. There are two people in the back prepping the pizzas while only one person (I assume the owner) operates the oven. Our pizza took over 45 minutes to arrive and this wasn't a fluke; The patrons at the table beside ours complained loudly as they had finished their appetizers and wine and were still without pizza almost half an hour afterwards.
The restaurant also has some odd music choices. They play really loud, booming music - I found it hard to hear anything over the deafening bass. It doesn't really fit with the interior or the food.
Finally, the pizzaiola gives off some seriously pretentious "I'm god's gift to mankind" vibes (seriously, read his bio on the Vero website). I hesitate to recommend going to a restaurant owned by a chef with this type of personality, but it's undeniable that the food he makes is excellent. He has the credentials and quality to back up his talk. Note: I did not personally talk to him, this is purely based on my impressions from his website.
Bathrooms - Two individual gender neutral rooms near the kitchen.
All in all, it took us slightly under 2 hours between setting foot in the restaurant and leaving. This is not a place where you can just go in, get a quick bite, and leave. You have to be patient and expect everything to take a long time. With that being said, and with those caveats, Vero has some of the highest quality and best tasting pizza you can eat.