Aubrie McDougall hands an order to Rick Fraley, a long-time Hilltop Pizza Shop customer who was the eatery’s first customer after it reopened from a February fire.
Rick Fraley did not intend to be Hilltop Pizza Shop’s first customer when the Masury business reopened July 11 after renovations forced by a fire.
But, when Fraley couldn’t get through on the phone, he showed up at the 8218 Warren Sharon Road eatery just as they turned on the “open” sign.
Fraley, of Masury, has been a customer for probably 50 years, since he started coming with his grandparents, he said.
“I grew up on Hilltop Pizza,” Fraley said, adding that the food tastes the same as he remembers it did when he was a kid, despite several changes in business ownership.
“It’s never changed over the years,” he said, calling the pirogi pizza with bacon “probably the best one in the Shenango Valley.”
Current owners Mike and Nancy Scharba are “great people,” he said.
“I’ve known (them) for probably 20-25 years,” said Fraley, who likes their pizzas, wedges and salads.
The fire occurred Feb. 18. Mike Scharba said he and his wife never considered not reopening, and invested well beyond the insurance payout so they could update the building.
The response from customers since reopening has been far beyond anything they expected, he said. They sold out of dough for the first week and a half, sometimes as quickly as within three hours of opening, Nancy said.
“It went well,” Mike said, noting that customers have come from as far away as Kinsman and Meadville. “We’re extremely happy. We’re blessed to have the support that we have.”
Fraley, who orders from Hilltop every week or so and used to patronize the establishment even when he lived in Aurora, Ohio, is not the only long-time customer who has returned.
“We love seeing the old familiar faces, and we’re seeing a lot of new faces, too,” Nancy said. “We’re grateful for that.”
The business originated in 1952, in a building across the street and to the west of Grove Street.
“The story we’re told from the son-in-law of the original owner (Violet Dematteo) (was) that she actually made 10 pizzas a day and it (ingredients) was out of her garden,” Mike said.
“She started passing these pizzas out to the less fortunate families in the neighborhood and word of mouth started spreading how good this pizza was,” Nancy said.
The current building was built in 1954 as a pizzeria and candy store, although the candy store never opened.
The Scharbas, Hilltop’s fifth owners, bought the business in January 2006 from Keith and Dee Wareham. Things had changed over the years, so they had Dematteo’s son-in-law (Rich Vasile) walk through the building with them and review the menu to determine what was original and what was not.
“We are as close to the original recipes as you can get,” Mike said.
Place your order at 330-448-8183. Hilltop’s hours are 3:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
