russo's coal-fired italian kitchen & pizza

being born and raised on long island, ny, it's hard for me to find good pizza in texas since i grew up with pizza places in every shopping center. this pizza reminded me of back home and the service was excellent. the garlic knots were some of the best i have ever had and the ingrediants were fresh. i will definitely be going back. also, the drinks were great.

veal tortellini. tried russo's for the first time this evening. i have never complained about a meal in my 60 years of existence. the entree was so salty it was inedible. spoke with the waiter that stated he had never heard that comment before. he never offered to get me something else or apologize. i had one bite-it was certainly an expensive sample! i will never return. what a waste of money and time!

russo's was just alright for me. was recently in dallas for business and we stopped at russo's for lunch. i had the eggplant parmesan sandwich, a house salad and a slice of carrot cake. the eggplant in the sandwich was good - could have been placed between heartier bread. the house salad was nothing out of the ordinary. at $8.50 this wasn't a bad price for as much food as was served. the cake was way too dense and a bit steep on price at $7. other's in my party tried the pizza and pasta. reviews were mixed. the ambiance was okay. the servers seemed a bit scattered. not sure if i'd go there again.

casual, friendly pizza and pasta chain serving delicious coal fired pizza and other italian specialties.

sight- order at the counter set-up with ample indoor seating split between booths and larger tables for families. large outdoor patio seating makes this a great lunch spot.

sound- busy...

waitress had to be new. didn't know the menu at all and took forever to bring the bill. tomato sauce was bland. the ''hot' italian sandwich had cold meat and the cheese wasn't melted. won't be back

pretty darn good. i recently took a job in richardson and see russo's every day while trying to find a good lunch place. one day i tried russo's and fell in love. i love ny style anyway, but their flavor is unlike anything i've ever eaten and i was instantly hooked.

unfortunately, after frequenting it the past couple of months, i've noticed a trend that bothers me. they make what appears to be 4 of their enormous pizzas with just cheese and slice them up, top them and reheat them for the daily lunch crowd, which isn't abnormal. and when the slices are gone, lunch slices are done.
however, after a couple of poorly reheated, burnt and overly chewy slices, i saw what the issue was. if they don't sell enough slices from the previous day, they put the rest in a cooler and cook them first before dipping into the freshly made slices. the quality is significantly worse. since their pizza is so good when freshly cooked, trying to eek out a smaller food loss by recycling the previous days slices is noticed very quickly and selling them at full price is insulting.

i'm going to continue going, but unless i can be assured of a fresh slice at lunch, i'm going to order off the regular menu.

the staff is great and, aside from the recycled pizza, you won't find better in the dallas area...just be sure it's fresh.

russo’s is a chain restaurant in richardson that has no business being semi-expensive. our experience had bits and pieces of good, bad, and dirty. russo’s menus were dirty enough to make me wonder why the menus were so dirty. when a severely sweaty waiter walked over to take our drink order, little did we know he would soon return with a red lipstick-wearing wine glass worthy of scaring air. keep in mind, lipstick on a glass does not mean a restaurant is nasty. it often happens to the best of them. after asking for a new, non-dirty glass of wine, our sweaty waiter walked to the bar and poured the same wine into a different glass. this method of dirty glass problem solving is not working out for anyone. if any kind of lipstick’s presence is so extreme a person can tell the exact color, as well as every crack and crevice of the previous wine drinker’s lips, then a new everything is necessary to move on. i know a person who sticks her tongue out be

overpriced,overrated,and under appreciative. russo's ny coal-fired pizza is the definition of a snobby restaurant chain. i have tried to order from them four times and have only managed to get food only once. that particular time i had to call and cancel it because it was close to two hours late. the other three times i've called was met with no answer or i was hung up on. i figured four chances was more than enough! there are plenty of other restaurants in this area that will give you quality service and food to choose from.

great food! fantastic service! bjorn was our waiter and we will definitely be back, not only for the food, but for the phenomenal customer service.

victim to new management. we have enjoyed going to russo's at least once a month since it opened a few years ago. their black truffle sachetti was actually one of my favorite meals at any nearby restaurant. and it has also been appealing because some members of our extended family have gluten issues, so the gluten-free pizza is great to have available.

unfortunately the last few times we have gone we have witnessed a sad decline in the quality and flavor of the food. the recipes have clearly changed in favor of lesser quality ingredients. the service is still generally good, but i couldn't even eat my meal the last time we went. we will probably give it one last try before giving up.

so sad - what was a monthly tradition in our house has now fallen victim to new management...

sigh. i loved russo's when it opened a few years ago. everything had such an authentic taste and quality was immediate to the eye and tooth. we went today, and the new management has turned one of my favs into a lackluster, low quality, flat tasting (and higher dollar) restaurant that i will never return to. honestly, how can a coal fired oven make a mealy, chewy thin crust pizza? the desserts were even more disappointing! pistachio cheescake w/o the scent or flavor of pistachio, we found it here. i adored this place before, we were regulars, but boy how things have changed. worse off, we thought an empty house on a saturday night was just a random oddity. it seems like others figured it out before we did.


-----23 feb, 2012-----

the beet salad is really something else... we are disappointed that the lemmon bars have changed though.

overpriced. $35 for a large pizza with 2 toppings, garlic knots and two drinks at lunch. for that price the pizza and garlic knots needed to be beyond perfection and they were not. garlic knots didn't taste like they had any garlic on them or in them. i tasted no garlic. pizza was ok, could have used more cheese. the lunch special looked better so i may try that next time but it was confusing. apparently you don't have to get just a slice of cheese pizza, you can add ingredients to it but that was not clear. even with the lunch special it would have still been around $24 for two people.

burnt food. i went to this place today. ordered my fav. chick parm. when it came just by seeing it i was so disappointed. the key for the this dish is the parm cheese, it was totally burnt and when i mentioned that to the waiters [a gal with the specs] cooly says yes i see that. she never tried to apologies for the badly burnt food is served nor she tried to get me a fresh chick parm food. this place is just disgusting to be in...its a big rip off restaurant and i will not recommend to anyone who wants taste some good food. all you get in this place is a burnt food. i wish to see your restaurant closes pretty soon.

in every city we move to we look for that perfect pizza spot. in dallas we believe it's russo's. great pizza and great salads.

good pizza. we personally think the pizza is rather good. much better than some of the other larger franchises in the area. the pizza was freshly prepared and served hot at our table the prices are not cheap. since there are lots of apartments around the area you will find evening filled with locals and at lunch time the workers flock to the place. there are other items available other than pizza.