“Most pizza places use frozen dough. Fresh dough is obviously better. It doesn’t last as long, as most good bread doesn’t last long after being made,” Shaner said.

Mio’s employees roll just enough dough everyday to get though the day.

The company was started in 1975 by Ray Spurlock, who dedicated much of his time traveling across the country, predominately Chicago and New York City, researching and studying the craft of making great pizzas. He researched the best methods of rolling dough, making sauces and what ingredients resulted in the best pizza tastes.

“Our original crust recipe cannot be beat,” Shaner boasts.

The Mariemont Mio’s is located in the village square, beside The Villager and across the street from Mariemont Inn and Best Western National Exemplar. The restaurant is known for its pizzas, calzones, soups, pastas, salads, hoagies and cheesecakes.

And the pizzeria is constantly offering new items. For example, right now Mio’s os offering a seafood pizza, topped with crab, shrimp, onions, sauteed mushrooms and white wine.

There are monthly specials, too.

Each Monday and Tuesday Mio’s caters to the kids.

“We let kids come in and make their own pizza,” manager Mark McDuffie said. “They put it together and we will bake it.”

As can be imagined, many of the pizzas aren’t the normal run-of-the-mill concoctions.

“We have done pizzas that the child just wanted sauce. We just baked one for a child that made a pizza topped with pickles,” McDuffie said.

Each month, Shaner awards six free pizzas to the six best works of art made by children that come to Mio’s.

Along with the regular condiments, each table has Trivia cards and crayons. With the crayons, the children can make their own pictures. At the end of each month, the Mio’s employees will select what they believe are the best or most funny pictures, hang them on the pizzeria’s walls and the winners receive a free pizza.

And each Monday is “All You Can Eat” spaghetti for $6.95.

Mio’s also delivers, ranging from Mariemont, Fairfax, Madisonville, Newtown, Terrace Park, Madeira and parts of Indian Hill. Hours of operation are 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Monday thru Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 10 p.m. on Sunday.

Presently, anyone who attends a Wednesday night movie at the Mariemont Theatre will also receive 20 percent off their meal if they visit Mio’s on a Wednesday as long as they have their ticket stub and coupon available at the theatre’s counter.