Ohio has lost another longtime local eatery amid a wave of restaurant closures across the state. Leonardo’s Pizza in Akron’s Ellet neighborhood closed on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, ending a tradition that stretched back to the late 1960s.
Owner Ken Ilg announced the immediate shutdown on Facebook that morning, citing “out-of-control food and energy costs,” according to the Akron Beacon Journal. For customers who had made Leonardo’s part of their takeout routine, the news meant there would be no final weekend to stop in for one more pie.
A neighborhood fixture since the 1960s
Gene Barker founded Leonardo’s in the late 1960s on a lot diagonally across from what would become its longtime home. In 1980, Ted Bare purchased the business and moved it to 334 Darrow Road, near Newton Street. The pizzeria remained at that address for the rest of its run…