Villa-O

My girlfriiend's 30th birthday was this Friday and I decided to surprise her with a dinner party at Villa O, with 10 of her closest friends. Between changing the number of guests, to adding a birthday cake, to ordering a Champagne Toast, I literally drove this restaurant crazy, prior to our arrival. When we arrived, the place was very, very busy, but our table for 10 was, ready, the champagne was chilling on the table, and the management was ready to make my girlfriend's surprise birthday a real success.
We started by sharing some of the best tasting, crisp organic pizza any of us have ever tasted, followed by a delicate Calamari in a spicy marinara sauce. The table then shared a fabulous organic salad, followed by three pasta's, one better than the next. The meal ended with a special Italian cheesecake where we sang "happy birthday" to Sasha, accompanied by The Beatles -- They say it's your birthday on the sound system. Oh by the way they play the best music in this place.

Anyway it was a great evening, great food, service and fun, and I am glad Dallas has this restaurant and other cities do not. It is our secret!

Pros: Great food, service and value -- a fun dining experience

Cons: can't think of any?

Posted 01/23/09

This place is a bit odd... not terrible, just odd... the lighting is bright, the decor seems out of place (nautical) and the food was average at best. My glass of wine (if you want to call it that, it took 4 swallows to drink it) was $15. No one at our table had a very good meal, nothing special at all and not once did our waiter ask how our food was. The sides are huge, but nothing to write home about. I'd find somewhere else to spend your money. We'll never go back... there are just too many other GOOD restaurants in town deserving our business.

Pros: good location

Cons: food below average, strange atmosphere, bizarre choice of music

Posted 01/23/09

My fiance and I have wanted to dine a Villa-O for several weeks as many of our friends had tried it and raved. So this past Saturday evening we decided to give it a try and see if our friends knew what they were talking about. I must say we were impressed and the entire meal from the warm greeting at the door, to the friendly, efficient service, culminating with some of the best Italian food we have ever eaten, was impressive.
Villa-O is known for its organic foods and homemade pasta's, and we triend several of the dishes, one was better than the other. The best part was when ordering the wine, my fiance likes red wine, while I enjoy white wine, so we each ordered a 1/2 bottle of red and white, as we did not have to order full bottles, which truely added to the enjoyment of our meal.
We have family visiting for the hoildays and have already made a reservation for next Saturday, with both sets of future in-laws. We cannot wait to show off this restaurant to the folks.

Pros: Great food and value- we thought it would be more expensive, but it was very reasonable

Cons: Waited 10 minutes for our reservation-- not bad on a busy saturday evening

Posted 12/15/08

I was shocked at how authentic, healthy and good the food was at Villa O on my last visit to this restaurant this past Saturday evening. The staff is fabulous and the man in charge, I think his name is Fran, remebered me from my initial visit and sat me and my party within 10 minutes, even thought the restaurant was very busy..

I love trying their wines by the glass, as you can order any of their wines by the glass, half bottle or bottle. But most of all I love the freshness and taste levels of their food offerings. Having lived in New York City for 20 years and having dined in some of its great Italian restaurants, I was disappointed when I moved to Dallas and the Italian food I found here; until Villa O opened. I ordered a Tuscan Pizza Bread with baby white anchovies that tasted like it came right from Positano. The organic salads and the handmade pasta'a are to die for and the grilled Branzino was as good as I have ever tasted. I now have a Villa O craving and cannot wait until I return in the very near future. Thankfully I do not have to travel to NYC any more, for good Italian food.

Pros: Great food, service, decor and a fabulous outdoor patio

Cons: Gets very busy

Posted 12/07/08

I had dinner at Villa-O the other night and was impressed with both the food and the service we received. Our waiter was very accomodating and everything we had was delicious - pasta, steak, fish, and a chicken parmesan dish. I'd highly recommend starting with the portabello fries and the seafood risotto was amazing - they were very generous with the shrimp, calamari, and mussels. The patio was nice to sit out on and they had heaters for when it got cooler at night. The menu has a variety of dishes for those not big on Italian cuisine - so there is definitely something for everyone. I can't wait to go back!

Pros: Outdoor patio

Posted 11/18/08

Whether I am casually meeting friends for a lite bite and a drink or wanting a more formal dining experience I escape to Villa O for a lovely evening. Villa O has become one of my favorite spots in Dallas since every time I go I know what I am going to get: high quality organic food, attentive service and a great atmosphere. Everything about Villa O is fabulous from the scallops to the wine selection to the decor. I highly recommend dining at Villa O.

Posted 09/16/08

This restaurant seems to be popping on weekends so i went there on a Monday lunch to avoid the crowd and ensure better service and food. That was not the case! The caesar salad tastes like va-jay-jay (if you don't belive me, try it) and I'm gay so you know I hated it. Then our crazy waitress (she must smoke ice) told us they lost our order but found it (translation: she forgot to put our order in). Finally we recieved our food, which was the wrong order! We didn't have time for them to fix it so we ate it and it was something i could have gotten at the Olive Garden on time and probably tastier.

Pros: Lovely dining room

Cons: Most everything else

Posted 07/06/08

I had a great time at Vill-O. My friend and I had lunch on the patio. The service was excellent, and very accomodating. They had a great drink list, with new and refreshing ideas. We shared the margarita pizza, which we added chicken to. The restaurant was beautiful. You could tell who ever the designer was paid attention to every detail, down to the beautiful turquise water glasses. Aparently there are some cleptos in Dallas, because one of the servers told us that after the first week of opening several of these glasses went missing! All together, we enjoyed our time, our service, drinks, and people watching. I would deffinately go back and recomend it to others.

Posted 06/15/08

I was anxious to try this place because the patio looked so inviting. However, after me and my three friends were literally ignored for an hour at the bar (it was practically empty, there were maybe 10 people total sitting there) I grew concerned. We were then seated and waited about 20 minutes for our server to bring us menus and take our drink order. When my drink glass literall broke in my hand and cut it, I called the manager over who apologized and started to walk off, then turned around and asked me if I would like another drink! Our server came back once to deliver our food, actually quite decent, and then never returned to fill our drinks or even ask us if we were interested in desert. I finally got up from the table, found him and requested that he please bring our check, which took another 15 minutes. It was a terrible experience. I am not picky about restaurants, all I ask is decent service and food. And then I am a loyal customer for life. But my experience here made me feel as if Villa-O was literally unconcerned with the experience of their customers. I will never go back.

Posted 05/24/08

The food at Villa-O is very good - from Pizza to scallops but the service is consistently sub par. My first experience I assumed poor service was b/c they had only been open for a couple of weeks. The second time, the waiter actually forgot to wait on my table. Same experience the third time. The fourth time we were given a wait time of 30 minutes for a table on the patio. An hour an a half later, they sat us at a bar table and did not offer to comp our meal or drinks. For owners who are experienced in the industry, it's pathetic to see this kind of service.

Pros: pizza, drinks, ambiance

Cons: service, attitude of wait staff and management

Posted 05/01/08

A group celebrated my birthday here, great service, excellent food! It's great to finally find an amazing italian restaurant. We will be back!

Posted 03/20/08