While seating ourselves in Aracri Pizzeria on Gay Street during a recent weekday visit, my designated dining companion and I gave the Downtown restaurant a once-over. We saw a long, narrow and inviting space with parlor-style furniture, a compact bar (with a few Ohio brews on tap), vintage brick and wood, subway-style tiles, a tall raftered ceiling, a lengthy fabric-covered banquette and stout wooden tables. 

Adding to the cozy, counter-ordering place’s ambience were whimsical decorations and posters extolling Italian locations, cars and liquors plus smiling customers and notably personable servers — one who jokingly grasped a pizza paddle like a baseball bat during what appeared to be a social media photo op.