Barsella, a 3,100-Square-Foot Pizzeria and Cocktail Bar, Targets SMU Boulevard This Winter

An 80-seat Italian-American restaurant and cocktail bar called Barsella will open this winter at 5600 SMU Blvd., Suite 120, in Dallas, steps from the Southern Methodist University campus. It is the first hospitality concept from Dallas native Oliver Steinberg, an operator with no prior restaurant ownership disclosed in the announcement.

The project covers approximately 3,100 square feet and stacks four service models onto one kitchen: a full dining room, a seven-seat pizza bar, a daytime walk-up slice window and a late-night bar program running until 2 a.m. That mix is a deliberate hedge across dayparts, capturing lunch walkers, dinner couples and post-10 p.m. drinkers from the same fixed real estate.

What does the concept actually serve?

The menu leans on familiar Italian-American dishes — rigatoni alla vodka, ravioli, lasagna — positioned as recognizable items executed at a higher standard.

"The menu is intentionally filled with dishes people know, love and want to order such as rigatoni alla vodka, ravioli and lasagna, yet executed at a high level," Steinberg said.

New York-style pizza functions as a foundation of the concept rather than an add-on. The slice window will sell individual slices from staple pies plus rotating specials during the day, before dinner service begins. The culinary team built the menu after visiting iconic New York pizzerias and restaurants, though the announcement names none of them.

Who is behind it?

Steinberg is a Dallas resident opening his first venue. "Barsella was designed in hopes of becoming a neighborhood institution, elevated enough for a great dinner or date night, approachable enough to become your regular spot, and lively enough to be where you want to end the night," he said. He added that the goal is a place "where families, couples, friends and neighbors all feel equally at home."

Liz Johnson of Wallace Johnson Studio leads the interior design, drawing on classic Italian-American restaurants, New York cafés and European aperitivo culture. The stated look is polished, bright and colorful — hexagonal mosaic floors, olive-green millwork, green tile and red pleated booths — rather than dark and rustic. A roughly 16-seat private dining room rounds out the layout for events and celebrations.

Can one kitchen carry four formats?

The announcement asserts that every space, from the dining room to the slice window, has its own identity while sharing a single kitchen and one approach to hospitality. That claim is standard for multi-format openings. Executing a slice window, a seated dinner menu and a 2 a.m. bites program simultaneously tests labor scheduling and food cost control in ways the release does not address. No check average, staffing count or investment figure was disclosed.

The beverage program may carry more weight than the food. Barsella plans an extensive spritz and craft cocktail list, a developed wine selection and a patio with a pergola and lemon-vine plantings connected to the interior bar by large sliding windows. Live music is scheduled most Thursday through Saturday nights, and a dedicated late-night menu of light bites — dishes the operator says guests will not find everywhere else — runs until 2 a.m.

The location places Barsella in the SMU-adjacent corridor of Dallas, a market that skews toward students, university families and neighborhood regulars. A concept that wants to serve families at dinner and bar crowds at midnight is betting both crowds coexist on the same block. The opening date remains unannounced; the operator says menu details and timing will come closer to launch.