russo's coal-fired italian kitchen & pizza

veal tortellini. triedrusso'sfor 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 atrusso'sfor 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.

pretty darn good. i recently took a job in richardson and seerusso'severy day while trying to find a good lunch place. one day i triedrusso'sand 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.

overpriced,overrated,and under appreciative.russo'sny 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.

victim to new management. we have enjoyed going torusso'sat 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 lovedrusso'swhen 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.

great pie. went torusso'sfor the first time, and i was very pleasantly surprised by the outstanding pizza. all the ingredients were fresh including large-sliced mushrooms(so many places used canned these days). the sauce was great, and the crust was just perfect. it tries to play up the "ethnic" part a bit much with the music and the like, but i understand what they are going after. nonetheless, i will be returning for another pizza at some point soon. an unexpected gem of a find.

also, ask for michael for your server. very thoughtful and worked his rear off the night we went. i totally respect that.

very hit or miss. we've been torusso'sseveral times. i've learned not to order the pizza because it's always soggy and limp. i even sent it back once and it still came back soggy. tonight my boyfriend ordered a veal dish that he usually likes but it was so greasy tonight he could't eat it. also they have the most bland and watered down marinera sauce i've ever had in my life. it's awful, maybe that's why the pizza is so soggy. i do like the bean soup off the heart healthy menu and the mediterranean salad. however, the soup can be hit or miss too. they also make very good lattes. but after tonight i don't think we'll go back. i'm tired of spending $60 on a meal that may or may not be good.

hubby felt right at home. we were on our way to campisi's in richardson, but we had seenrusso'sa few times while traveling on 75, so we decided to try it out. we are so glad we did!

we arrived about an hour before closing time, and we were greeted warmly. the decor is really warm and reminded us of the upscale pizzerias in new jersey that my husband and i used to enjoy. we sat down and were presented with the regular menu and a heart healthy menu. although we didn't order from the heart healthy menu, we were impressed that they offered it. we noticed a good variety of offerings on the menu, from appetizers to pizzas to pastas.

after ordering, we received the complimentary basket of bread. the bread is deliciously flavored with italian herbs, and the tables all have flavored olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic powder, italian herbs, and parmesan cheese (along with salt and pepper). i could have been happy just eating the bread and dip. we ordered the roasted garlic and mozzarella flatbread appetizer. it was perfectly fired and the roasted garlic was perfectly done.

my husband ordered the manhattan pizza (italian sausage, peppers, onion). he loved it. it was thin and crispy, and when it came to the table, it smelled soooo good. the cheese, sauce and toppings were perfectly distributed, and the coal-firing gave it a nice ny-style taste.

i ordered the chicken penne puttanesca. most restaurants are afraid to make a true puttanesca because of the strength of all of the ingredients, but i was very happy to see that their puttanesca included everything i love about it.

the service was very friendly and attentive without being overdone. the owner was very active in the restaurant making sure that everything was good with all of the guests. he came by near the end of our meal and chatted with us. since we were the last ones there, we enjoyed a nice conversation with him. it was nice to hear his story, and my husband enjoyed talking to someone else from the northeast.

our check was very reasonable with what we had ordered. my dish was barely over $10, and i had enough for dinner and then lunch the next day. we will definitely drive down to richardson for more of the great food and service that we received at russo's.

great food, the best coffee!. we wound up in front of this restaurant by shear accident because of a wrong turn. since we were in route to another restaurant, we couldn't resist how inviting this place looked. we were not dissapointed. clientele was a mixture of family's, young, hip college students, trendy couples, etc. my husband is a lasagna fanatic andrusso'sdelivered. although we did not order the pizza, it was certainly the most requested entree of the evening. great food, great service and the best cup of coffee i have ever had - seriously! we enjoyed our evening here and add this to our list of "constants" ,