Fiore's Ristorante (Breakfast)
 Akron, Ohio (Fairlawn)     Date of Visit  07/28/13     http://fioresristorante.com/

Somewhat sadly the Fairlawn outpost of Nicollini’s didn’t survive long at all, might have been the strangely sweet chicken marsala. As things go, there is another operation in the husk of the old and this one is also an extension of a small Italian operation, this one from Wooster instead of Y-town and we were treated to breakfast Fiore’s style.
 

Much Nicer Outside Than I Would Have Imagined
 

The place is nearly identical inside but I didn't remember a patio on the back of the building. We sat outside and if the patio was there before they should have sold it harder. You know you are on the hill close to a freeway but with the nice weather and the strategically placed shrubs you quickly forget where  you are and can enjoy a pleasant outdoor feast.

The staff seems friendlier, at least our server who shared some passion about the new place. The service, yes it was friendly, but turned out to be pretty inefficient. The server said something about the kitchen struggling to cover a 10 top but I didn’t see any big tables and it still took way, way too long after the problem was supposedly addressed. Our server did a nice job apologizing but it didn’t make a difference getting anything to the table. Friendly is much better when it’s accompanied by proficiency. She apologized often and well, at some point however, that still runs thin. I know they've only been open a short bit but everyone should at least be hearing the same music by now.
 

Around the table we had the early bird breakfast, pancakes and the breakfast pizza. The early bird came with two eggs, sausage patties, shredded taters and toast. The pancakes are buttermilk and we ordered blueberry, which also came with sausage patties. Other breakfast meat options were available but sausage was the order of the day…more on that in a minute. The rest of the early bird appeared pretty standard and was enjoyed. The pancakes were recommended by the server who stated she really enjoyed them because they are “cake-like”. They really are. Much like a sweet cake with a light crisp exterior they were a little sweet for me but were still tasty and were certainly enjoyed. Hash browns served with both breakfasts were standard.

I thought the pizza sounded unique and remain curious about unique options and ordered away. Our server asked me if I desired it the way it was listed on the menu with the house made crust, sausage, cheese, scrambled eggs and a roasted tomato sauce and I said “sure”. That wasn’t what I got, but I wasn’t disappointed. The menu says you can upgrade to sausage gravy for .99. I don’t know if I was charged for it since we didn’t get the tab but if I wasn’t it was a nice gift. If I were, I would probably order it the same way again next time.
 

The pizza is a medium crust with significant chew and a modicum of flavor. Cheese and eggs were fine. The sausage gravy…Ooohhhhh the sausage gravy. We recently traveled to two highly touted breakfast joints in Cleveland, neither of which offered a sausage gravy of note. Sad. The gravy adorning the pizza made the wait worthwhile. Reeking of sausage floating in a perfectly salty, disastrously unhealthy gravy with loads of porkiness and sage, I doesn’t seem right that an Italian joint should be killing Lucky’s and Grumpy’s when it comes to the sausage gravy but they SOOOOO Do. That being said, the sausage served with the early bird and the pancakes was a free form patty (looks like house made) and was mentioned by everyone around the table who tasted it. Super nice. We will certainly make a future trip for their Italian offerings and they have something called a Bourbon Tuesday menu. Bring it on.