Oscar's Pizza has closed for good after nearly seven years of serving pizza, wings, ribs and calzones out of Mercury Music Lounge on Detroit Avenue in Lakewood. The pizzeria announced on Instagram that Sunday, Aug. 30, was its final day of business, capping the closure with a farewell gathering and a fundraiser for families and staff at the Cleveland Clinic NICU.
Owners Bryan and Melissa opened Oscar's Pizza in 2020 and spent the following years building it into a fixture of Lakewood's nightlife, according to Cleveland.com. The business operated both as a standalone takeaway spot and as the in-house kitchen for Mercury Music Lounge at 18206 Detroit Avenue, serving bar patrons and Lakewood locals alike. In a March 2026 Facebook post marking six years in business, the couple thanked patrons and neighboring venues including The Winchester Music Tavern and The Foundry Concert Club for their support.
A Kitchen Built Into the Venue Itself
Oscar's Pizza wasn't just located near Mercury Music Lounge — it was physically woven into it. During the venue's late-2024 overhaul, managers carved out a dedicated kitchen nook behind the front tavern doors specifically so Oscar's could serve concertgoers and bar regulars, according to Cleveland Magazine's coverage of the lounge's renovation. That overhaul, led by Rae Gentry and Shane Motolik under their MFW Productions partnership, gave the space two stages and a $30,000 sound system, as reported by Cleveland Scene.
Gentry operates The Foundry Concert Club, while Motolik owns The Winchester Music Tavern; the pair formed MFW Productions in 2024 to cross-promote West Side music events and jointly manage Mercury Music Lounge, per the same Cleveland Scene report. Motolik had returned to Lakewood from Los Angeles to buy and re-establish The Winchester, while Gentry was forced to relocate The Foundry from Lakewood to Cleveland in March 2025 after property owners declined to renew her lease, according to Cleveland Magazine. She continued co-managing Mercury Music Lounge throughout that transition.
To keep pace with the venue's shows, Oscar's Pizza built its schedule around Mercury Music Lounge's calendar, often staying open until 11:30 p.m. or midnight during events like Tuesday jam nights, according to social media posts from the business. That late-night model made the kitchen as much a part of the concert experience as the bands themselves, feeding crowds well after typical dinner hours.
A Farewell Built Around a NICU Fundraiser
Oscar's Pizza invited customers to a farewell gathering at Mercury Music Lounge on Sunday, offering a free buffet and thanking customers, staff, industry peers and family members for their support over the years. The owners agreed that closing was the best choice, according to Cleveland.com's report on the shutdown.
Rather than simply saying goodbye, the owners used the occasion to direct donations to families and staff at the Cleveland Clinic NICU, where the couple's daughter Pepper had spent time. In August, Oscar's Pizza set up a dedicated Venmo account, @OscarsNICUFundraiser, to collect contributions tied to the closing events. The final week's menu leaned into the eatery's reputation for inventive specials, including a signature spaghetti-and-meatball pizza alongside its usual lineup of burgers, ribs and calzones.
Another Loss on a Changing Detroit Avenue
The closure adds to a string of departures along Lakewood's Detroit Avenue corridor, a stretch known for one of the highest densities of independent eateries in Northeast Ohio, according to En Primeur Club. Hoodline reported in February that Roman Fountain Pizza, a 70-year Lakewood institution, had also permanently shut its doors on the same street.
With Oscar's Pizza gone, Mercury Music Lounge's co-managers now face an open question about what, if anything, will fill the dedicated kitchen nook built for the pizzeria. Neither Gentry nor Motolik has announced a replacement food operation for the space, leaving the venue's next culinary chapter unwritten for now.
