Cafe Oliverio in Cheat Lake may be your new favorite spot.
If you’re looking for a new place to wind down after work this spring, head out to Cheat Lake. Cafe Oliverio, opened in mid-February, has a pared-down version of the menu at Oliverio’s Ristorante on the Wharf with some additions of its own, plus a livelier atmosphere.
“The music here is more bumping and jumping than the Sinatra that plays at the wharf location,” says owner Patrick Oliverio, grandson of Sonny and Shirley Oliverio, who founded the original Oliverio’s Ristorante in Bridgeport in 1965. The bar area is larger and more open and has multiple TVs.
While much of the menu is the same as in town, Oliverio calls attention to a few dishes you can only get at the Cheat Lake location. “We have Branzino Piccata, a lemon caper dish with whitefish over angel hair pasta,” he says. “Our Crispy Chicken San Giovanni is really good: breaded chicken cutlets over rigatoni mezzi—that’s a shorter pasta—with our San Giovanni sauce, more of a blush pink sauce, topped with seasoned fresh mozzarella pearls.”
Cafe Oliverio also has a thin, crispy New York–style pizza, Oliverio says. And he makes particular mention of the Meatball Caprese Salad: two of Oliverio’s much-loved meatballs topped with their fresh homemade ricotta cheese and a side caprese salad with fresh tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese.
If you’re there for after-work decompression, you’ll be happy to know there’s a full bar. Most popular from the wine list have been a red blend from Quilt, says Oliverio, as well as wines from Austin Hope and Caymus.
Before you head home, take a look in the market at Cafe Oliverio, where you’ll find dry goods, pastas, sauces, meats and cheeses, jars of Oliverio’s marinara sauce, and the bottled house Italian dressing.
A fireplace on the covered patio makes the outdoor seating area cozy for spring evenings that still have just a little chill in the air.
It’s a great anytime spot for Cheat Lake residents and, for the rest of us, a nice stop after a day on the lake or at Coopers Rock. “We’ve got our location down on the wharf for people in town, but we’ve needed to be out here for years,” says Oliverio.
Cafe Oliverio is open from 11 a.m. for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday and from 4 p.m. for dinner only on Saturdays.
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