CINCINNATI — A new pizza spot has opened in downtown Cincinnati, bringing a blend of New York and New Haven-style pies to the corner of 8th and Main streets.
Mad Anthony's Pizza, owned by Brandon Martin of Starving Artist Hospitality, opened at the downtown location about a month ago after expanding from its original home at Covington Yard in Covington, Kentucky.
"The goal is to make really good food accessible. You can get in and out of here, uh, for lunch for less than 10 bucks, which is not really something you can find a lot these days," Martin said.
The restaurant's interior features old black-and-white films, brick walls hung with art, and neon signs. Martin said the menu focuses on classic offerings with a modern approach.
"The true star of the show is the pizza," Martin said. "That is the, the cornerstone of who we are and what we're trying to do."
The pizza is served in 18-inch pies and is described as thin but foldable, landing between New York and New Haven styles.
"We are at the intersection of New York and New Haven pizza. So, we do the 18-inch. It's fairly thin but not cracker thin like you might get at a tavern or if you do the square slice of New York style," Martin said. "But it is foldable. The sauce tends to be a little bit on the lighter side, but since it's authentic, it does pack a lot of flavor."
Martin said the kitchen operates almost entirely from scratch, with a sauce recipe passed down from the head chef's grandmother.
"Our pizza doesn't have any additives. We are almost entirely a from-scratch kitchen. They're back there making sauce that was handed down to our head chefs from his grandmother who was straight off the boat from Italy. It's pizza, but it also doesn't sit heavy on your on your palate," Martin said.
The menu includes staple pizzas — giardiniera, cheese, pepperoni, and sausage — along with a monthly rotating special. The current featured pizza is called the "gumbo ghoul."
"Typically we have the, the giardiniera, the cheese, the pepperoni, and the sausage. This month is the uh the gumbo ghoul. We like to think we're clever," Martin said.
Beyond pizza, the restaurant also serves chicken wings, hot Italian sandwiches, and salads. Martin said he is particularly proud of the Italian soda program, which features house-made syrups crafted from fruit juices, rinds, and toasted whole spices.
"We take the juices and the rinds from the fruit, toast the spice, the whole spices, we distill it," Martin said.
Martin said the sodas work for both non-drinkers and those who want to add a shot of liquor.
"In syrups and I have my own dedicated soda tap over there, almost like a soda jerk. It adds a really nice component for people who don't drink alcohol, but they're also really good if you do want to spike them with a shot of something. So I say all the time, 'I'm an Italian place, but we have a grapefruit soda,' so I have one of the best palomas in Cincinnati despite being mostly an American Italian place," Martin said.
The original Mad Anthony's Pizza opened at Covington Yard on Pi Day of 2025 — March 14 — a little over a year before the Cincinnati location launched.
"We started Mad Anthony's Pizza down in Covington Yard right south of the river a little over a year ago on Pi Day of 2025. We didn't do that on purpose, but it was a happy coincidence, and we'd only been operating there for about a year before we were approached by some investors. We got an idea of what the space looked like and what the actual opportunity was. It was impossible not to jump on it," Martin said.
Martin said the 8th Street location places the restaurant among some of Cincinnati's oldest dining establishments, and he sees that as an opportunity.
"I know the city of Cincinnati really wants to revitalize this part of town and like being here on 8th Street in particular is interesting cause we are in a lineup of some of the oldest restaurants in Cincinnati," Martin said. "The street has some real staying power, uh, which is like a really cool space to kind of insert ourselves into, uh, and hopefully be the next, next in that line."
Martin said the ownership group's background in hospitality is central to the restaurant's identity and its goal of becoming a neighborhood staple.
"All of us in our ownership group, we all come from a hospitality background. We've all been in it and doing this for a long time," Martin said.
For those who haven't yet visited, Martin kept his pitch simple.
"The thing about it is we're not doing anything super duper crazy. We're not into stunt semantics or anything like that. We're into really good food at accessible prices and a really elevated guest experience," Martin said.
This segment originally aired on CINCY LIFESTYLE and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI.
