Taglio Bar & Pizzeria - Columbia Tusculum

Closed roads and traffic downtown pushed me east, and east of downtown is an easy place to keep going. So I finally stopped at Taglio. I walked in right at opening on a weekday and had the bar to myself: golf on the TVs, the bartender still setting up, the quiet version of a room before it fills.

Water arrived without my asking, in a carafe, no ice. That may sound like nothing, but I hate ice in my water, so it isn't a small thing to me.

The Vibe

Slate-blue walls, oak wainscoting, a marble bar with real weight to it, and an exposed ceiling that leaves the ductwork and steel in plain sight. Galvanized pendants, ceiling fans, hardwood floors, and cross-back bar chairs. Handsome without being fussy.

The art tells you something about the owners. A row of large black-and-white woodcuts by Cincinnati artist Jay Bolotin runs down the long wall. His work hangs in the permanent collections of MoMA and the Cincinnati Art Museum. Someone chose those. Locals supporting locals, and I love that. Ask your server about them.

Taglio wears its identity honestly. This is a bar and pizzeria, not a trattoria. Sports on the TVs, an FC Cincinnati jersey on the wall from its official pub partnership, come as you are. It sits in a Columbia Tusculum shopping strip five minutes east of downtown, with the one thing downtown never gives you: a parking lot. There's a patio out front under black umbrellas when the weather cooperates.

Worth knowing: Taglio also has locations in Over-the-Rhine and Montgomery, and the same family owns A Tavola in Madeira. A Tavola is the handmade pasta and Neapolitan pizza side of the family. Taglio is American pizza. Different kitchen, different discipline. A Tavola, you're next.

The Food

The menu says everything is made by hand, and the kitchen has a clear philosophy to match: build the flavor into the foundation instead of burying it under toppings.

Every signature pizza comes two ways, New York or Detroit deep dish, so I ordered one of each. I let the kitchen decide which crust suited the Spicy Italian and which belonged under the Spinach + Ricotta.

The dough isn't an afterthought. It carries its own seasoning, leaning savory instead of sweet, and the sauce stays restrained instead of smothering the pie.

The Detroit crust was outstanding. Butter in the pan and cheese pushed to the edges create a fried, almost pastry-like bottom and a crisp frico rim. The Spinach + Ricotta came in the classic Detroit build, with sauce striped across the top and big dollops of ricotta browning at the edges. It was excellent hot and even better after a few minutes, especially with a little Parmesan. Let it come together.

The New York Spicy Italian needed nothing. I picked up the Parmesan and red pepper flakes, then put them right back down. Crisp cupped pepperoni, house sausage, prosciutto, and banana peppers that still had texture. Nothing cooked into submission. The crust stayed firm under every bite.

One more tell: nobody asked if I wanted ranch. They make their own, and it's there if you want it, but you push ranch when the crust is a flavorless handle that needs saving. This one didn't.

The menu also carries a full vegan pizza lineup and a gluten-free Detroit crust made in house. That's more accommodation than most pizzerias bother to offer.

To drink, I had the Traveler IPA, one of Taglio's own locally produced house-label beers, poured alongside a house Pizza Lager. It fits the menu perfectly. The house program runs past the taps, too: a house-label Chianti and Bianco, and a house barrel-proof bourbon behind the signature Old Fashioned. House pizza, house beer, one philosophy.

I came in skeptical. I love char, and a conveyor oven doesn't produce it. But char is the wrong test here. Detroit gets its crunch from butter and the pan. New York earns it through fermentation and the bake. Taglio understands both.

The Bottom Line

Worth a Short Detour. Taglio isn't trying to reinvent pizza. It's trying to execute two classic American styles as well as it possibly can, and it succeeds. The kitchen focuses on the fundamentals most places shortcut, and that's why it stands out.

I'm not telling you to drive 45 minutes when you already have great pizza nearby. But if you're downtown and tired of circling for a space, this one is five minutes east, the lot is right out front, and whichever crust you choose, you're in good hands.