A Dallas dining institution is expanding: Terilli’s, a staple at 2815 Greenville Ave. for 40 years, is opening a second outlet dedicated to takeout, just down the street.
The new location will be at 2820 Greenville Ave., in the former Val’s Cheesecake, which closed in December 2024.
The expansion came about as a result of the pandemic, says Amanda Terilli Loyd, who owns the restaurant with her mother (and founder) Jeannie Terilli and her brother Joey Terilli. They plan to open in mid-fall.
“Ever since COVID, our to-go has increased,” Loyd says. “It got to where we could not accommodate all the to-go business because we are also a full service restaurant. We were so busy that we were turning people away.”
Jeannie opened Terilli’s Restaurant in 1985 with a concept of “fun Italian”, with the signature dish being the Italchos, their Italian twist on nachos featuring pizza crust chips topped with red sauce and a cheese blend.
The menu also has spinach-artichoke dip, bruschetta, lobster ravioli, and chicken thighs over angel hair pasta. Reasonable prices, live music, and a nice selection of wine have made it a Dallas mainstay.
The new outlet will serve other purposes as well, Loyd says.
“It will help us fill the gap at lunch,” she says. “We used to be open for lunch but we never reopened after the pandemic. This is an opportunity to serve a lunch menu without having to be open for full service.”
The menu will be concise. “We will probably skip specialties like steak and seafood because they don’t travel well,” Loyd says. “But we will definitely offer most of our pasta dishes, a few appetizers, and the Italchos. We’ll also offer lighter items like sandwiches, in a combination with soup to make it lunch-friendly. Since the location has its own kitchen, everything will be cooked to order there — we just won’t have a dining room.”
It’ll also give them a platform for catering to businesses who want to order large lunches.
“We’d been thinking about it, and when Val’s came open, I was staring at it one day, and said, ‘Let’s try the to-go there’,” she says. “Once we saw the space, we felt like it was perfect. With both Terilli’s on Greenville Avenue, it creates a perfect scenario where, if we need something, we can run over and grab it from the restaurant.”