Pizza News
Olivella's Fort Worth closes but rolls out novel new concept down the road
A pizzeria in Fort Worth is shutting down but will return with a new downsized approach. Olivella's, the Italian restaurant featuring Neapolitan pizza that opened in 2016 in the Village at Camp Bowie, is closing after four years.
But Olivella's is not leaving Fort Worth. Instead, owner Charlie Green will re-open the restaurant as a delivery and take-out model at 4910 Camp Bowie Blvd., across from Kincaid's.
"We're downsizing," he says. "We'll be leaving that big space for a smaller location on the bricks about a mile away that will be carry-out and delivery only. We tried for four years but the old location was just too big."
Green says he's excited to debut what is going to be a new business model.
"What we've discovered during COVID-19 is that there's a higher demand for delivery and carry-out," he says. "We've done delivery and carry-out all along, and I feel good about competing in that space with our authentic Neapolitan and Roman-style pizzas."
The menu will be basically the same as what was served at the old location, but it too will be slightly "downsized."
"It's a slightly smaller menu but we'll still have appetizers, salads, pastas, sandwiches, desserts, and pizzas of course," he says. "But we're also getting heavily into delivery of beer and wine, and I'm excited about that because it means we'll be able to deliver the entire authentic Italian experience. Basically, it's the restaurant minus the service."
Two other locations of Olivella's remain open: the original near SMU and a second location in Dallas at Abrams and Mockingbird Lane. The location at the Water Street development in Irving closed in September, as well as El Famoso, Green's California-style Mexican restaurant.
Pizza is one cuisine that has survived the pandemic a little more sturdily than some other categories because it already had such a robust to-go operation to begin with. The other big category that has thrived has been chicken, and Green is all over that.
"We're adding wings with dipping sauces that have an Italian theme," he says.
They're also offering in-house delivery. "It'll eliminate exorbitant third-party delivery prices and extensive wait-times," he says.
The new location will open December 3.