Week 41: Patrizio

Family was in town this week and we can think of no better way to share time together than around the dinner table.  After careful review of close-by restaurants and reader input we decided to try Patrizio’s.  With a total of 6 locations around the Dallas Metroplex we opted to to stay close and try the Highland Village location.  While it wasn’t our first visit to Patrizio’s, it was our first time to try the pizza.  Located in the beautiful Shops of Highland Village, the restaurant had an elegant dining area and felt borderline “fancy.”  The upscale ambiance would be appropriate for a date night location but also very appropriate for kids of all ages (crayons not included).

One thing to note immediately was that while the sign stated “Pizza, Pasta and Vino” this is definitely an Italian restaurant that offers pizza, and not a pizza restaurant.  This is a fine distinction that must be noted.  Many pizza places we’ve been to this year just so happen to offer Italian style dishes as an afterthought. Patrizio’s felt as though Italian dishes were the focus, while the pizza was the afterthought.  Everyone at the table ordered some type of pasta or salad and I decided to try the specialty pizza.  Unfortunately, because it was on the inserted Specials Menu, I have no idea what it was called.  Imagine a pizza covered in shrimp, broccoli, mushrooms, red peppers, and corn...  Certainly an unusual selection of toppings, and therefore I requested to have one half of the pizza meatballs and black olives.  The additional toppings section on the menu consists of 17 different choices all for an extra $1.79.  The pizza comes in one size and will cost you $10.70 (with no toppings).

The waitress brought out a table full of delicious pasta and salad plates and I got to enjoy the pizza all by myself.  One thing I quickly noticed was that the entire pizza was the specialty pizza and half included my meatballs and olives.  My hope was that it would be split 50/50 which made for a very interesting 1/2 pizza with EVERYTHING.  The waitress was very apologetic and offered to make a whole new pizza, but we declined due to the fact that the kids were getting a little restless...  Overall the pizza was good, not great, but good.  I would defiantly not get the shrimp specialty again and stick to the more standard offering.  The crust was relatively thin and almost had a buttery cracker flavor to it.  The toppings, although not what I ordered, were fresh and plentiful.

The Final Report: 6 out of 10

Patrizio’s is certainly a place that we would recommend if you are looking for a nice Italian restaurant.  That being said, it probably wouldn’t make the top of our list if we were going to point you in the direction of delicious pizza.  The wine was good. The salad was good. The pasta was good. The pizza was OK.