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| - Presti's Bakery in Cleveland's Little Italy began as a humble shop in what was definitely a not very trendy working class neighborhood at the turn of the century ... not this one, but the one before. While the demographics may have changed, they appear to have remained consistent and keep on thriving.
I already knew how I'd be rating them and I'm right in there with the pack. I look at the rare 1 and 2 star reviews and wonder what they're all about. Then, even 4 and 5 star places have valid 1 and 2 star experiences by the rare few. Fortunately, these are outliers and, if that's what someone actually experienced, then that was unfortunate.
While it's in Cleveland, where the Great Lakes Midwest meets the Northeast, Presti's looks like it could be in New England. It looks homey and beckons you to come in. And, should you go in, you will be greeted by a line and you will have to take a number ... and be patient.
Presti's is mostly about being a bakery, with the left two thirds of the lengthy front counter being dedicated to desserts, cookies, and breads, with some of them being fairly elaborate. There is also lunch fare such as pizzas, hefty sandwiches, focaccias, salads, and even some pastas. Those looked good, but nowhere near as tantalizing as the desserts. And their baked goods are what they are known for.
You should not go here every day though, on one visit, I made back to back trips to Presti's! I've tried about four desserts, but two have been committed to memory. The first is their cannoli with the chocolate shells. The second, and my favorite, is their Italian cheesecake. I am not a fan of the sometimes bland taste of ricotta but, given how it is blended and metered into the mix, the cheesecake was excellent.
The service ranged from being perfunctory and polite to being enthusiastic and friendly, and they are always crowded. The pricing is a little higher than what you might expect for some items, but you get what you pay for. The interior is both old school and modern. There are floor to ceiling windows in front, but the rest of it has older wooden tables, chairs and booth type seating against the wall, and one of those old school (copper) ceilings. The crowd is eclectic, considering that this is both a touristic area and that it's a few blocks east of the city's main train line, while Case Western Reserve University is a few blocks to the west of it.
Wrapping it up, the sum total of the parts here is quite good. And, when they had run out of Italian cheesecake, the young lady helping me summoned an Italian looking guy who told me that some was being made and asked me if I could wait. I did. And he even brought it out to the table.
For those complaining about parking, I have to laugh. Presti's is neither in Boston's North End nor in San Francisco's North Beach. The parking is doable and, if this vexes you, take the train to the rapid station only 1 or 2 blocks away.
Lastly, when I ordered a chocolate cannolo and a slice of Italian cheesecake, I ordered the exact same items to be put into a box so I could give them to a friend since it was coincidentally close enough to her birthday. If my friend, whose parents ran an Italian restaurant, got a (by then) stale cannolo and slice of Italian cheesecake and sang the praises for Presti's for several weeks after that, then that really says something. Presti's is in a league with the sorts of Italian bakeries you'd find in New York, Boston, or Chicago, though probably not in any points west of those.
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