Jolly's Pizza Takes Over Former Barking Spider Tavern Space

Cosmic Dave’s Rock Club (11310 Juniper Rd.), an offshoot of Dave’s Cosmic Subs, which opened in the former Barking Spider Tavern property just prior to the Covid pandemic, closed last summer.

Earlier this spring, Jolly's Pizza & Pub opened in the iconic carriage house space on the campus of Case Western Reserve University. The new shop builds upon the success of the original Jolly’s, which opened three years ago in North Royalton (6120 Royalton Rd., 440-220-4353).

Like the original, Jolly's in University Circle offers 12-inch round pies and square-cut Sicilian. The round pies feature edge-to-edge cheese, giving the crust that crispy-cheesy Detroit-style feel. Owner Simon Peck, a professor at Weatherhead School of Management, is hoping to add square-cut, tavern-style pies down the road.

All doughs are made at the Jolly’s commissary in Strongsville, which also offers pizza to go.

In addition to the pies, Jolly’s offers wings and salads, but sandwiches will be added in the future. To drink, there is beer from nearby Jolly Scholar, wine and batch cocktails.

For now, Jolly is open for weekday lunches only, but that will change in late August when the students come back to campus. Then, service will run from noon to midnight seven days a week.

Management understands the desire by many longtime Barking Spider fans to see the return of live music to the facility – and they are not ruling that out. But the halcyon days “play and pass the hat” are no longer viable given the shift in demographics in the area, they say.

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