Another Cincinnati restaurant is closing its doors permanently.
Pendleton pizzeria Razzo announced on social media Wednesday that its last night of service would be Saturday, March 1.
“Everyone told us not to open a restaurant. We did it anyway. We couldn’t help it. It’s who we are,” wrote owners Christy Wulfson and Michael Guilfoil, who also own Pendleton’s Bar Saeso and Airbnb The Carriage House. “We don’t need to tell you how hard it is to own a restaurant right now — you already know. We’ve all watched together as week after week another beloved establishment closes its doors. This industry is not for the faint of heart. The restaurant owners who are going to succeed in the world today are those who give it their all. The ones who roll up their sleeves, put on their aprons, and show up every single day for their customers and staff. We know these people. We are fortunate to work with many in our role as designers, and they impress us to no end. We are not them.”
Razzo, best known for its Roman-inspired pizzas and selection of natural wines, opened in the former Boomtown Biscuits & Whiskey space on Broadway Street in October 2023.
“We had to have the building,” Guilfoil and Wulfson said in a press Q&A at the time. “The corner location at the intersection of Broadway and 13th Street is an anchor for the neighborhood … one of our favorite little slices of the city. We didn’t want to see another burger joint, sports bar or trendy concept built around a gimmick end up with big presence on a street that was starting to evolve — thanks to businesses like Bar Saeso, Urbana Cafe [and] Hart and Cru — into an area that feels less like another strip of college bars and more like a quaint yet vibrant European square. The corner was calling out to become something classic, which is exactly what we set out to create.”
What Wulfson and Guilfoil created was a cozy, neon-lit space with a bar, dining room and patio. The Italian menu played into the Italianate architecture around Pendleton and the neighborhood’s European feel, as well as the team’s personal love of Rome.
“We are two people who believe that we can do anything. But we also know that we can’t do everything. … This restaurant has been so much more than a side project to us, but at the end of the day, it is not our north star, our end-all-be-all, our singular dream. And with that, it’s time for us to let it go,” Wulfson and Guilfoil shared.
The team says Razzo will be open during regular hours until March 1.
Razzo, 1201 Broadway St., Pendleton. More info: razzo.pizza.
This article appears in Feb 19 – Mar 4, 2025.
