Russo's New York Pizzeria

Russo's New York Pizza got rave reviews from Ken Hoffman of the Chronicle several years ago when he ate with the owner at one of their locations that (at least at the time) had a coal-fired oven.  Our location in Tomball (Spring Marketplace) does not have the coal-fired oven but does advertise brick-oven pizza.  I went in on a Saturday to give it a try.

I was the first customer, so I can't comment too much on service speed, but it was relaxed. I was alone in the place the whole time and they didn't seem to get any delivery orders. I ordered a drink, some garlic bread, and a Paesano Napoletana pizza.

The garlic bread was nicely presented and came with marinara dipping sauce (a $4.50 appetizer). I like mine a bit more crisp and with more butter, but this was fine. Service was attentive while I was waiting, maybe not too surprising since I was the only one there. The pizza was plenty for 3 people, though it should have been for $17 (that's for a medium). The menu says this has romano cheese on it, but it came without any cheese. I could have sent it back, but I prefer to review food as I get it.  I have had cheeseless pizza before and liked it, so I went with it. The crust seemed to be underdone, it was a thin crust but was light colored and was not at all crisp. The flavor was just OK, they used crumbled sausage instead of the sliced sausage on the menu, and in my opinion not enough of it.  Overall, not too close to what I ordered.

Russo's has a full Italian menu, and the prices for the entrees seem in line with Olive Garden or better restaurants, but I can't speak to their quality. The dining room is nice in a typical dark Italian restaurant way (NOT like Olive Garden). It has one TV over the bar but the rest of the place would be congenial for conversation. Unfortunately the rest room, while clean, had no towels in the dispenser, which is not acceptable, especially right after opening.

With expensive, poorly made pizza and inadequate attention to detail in the rest of the place, I won't be going back.  Any of the Big Three delivery places, and plenty of others, would do a better job on the pizza itself, for less money, and Crust Pizza in the Woodlands is a much better choice for eating in.

My Yelp review