Charlie Green, Founder / Owner

Olivella’s (Snider Plaza) and Neo Pizza Napoletana by Olivella’s (Victory Park)

Charlie Green spent years in search of the best, most authentic pizza recipe to bring home to Dallas. In 2007, Green opened Olivella’s, which features traditional recipes from Naples, Italy’s third-oldest pizza family, but with a modern twist. The opening was met with wide praise from the media, both nationally and locally:

2007  -  The Dallas Morning News  -  “Top 10 New Restaurants”

2007  -  Fort Worth Star-Telegram  -  “We Love This NY Pizza”

2008  -  Zagat  -  “Finally Real Pizza in Dallas!”

2008  -  D Magazine  -  “Best Of”

2009  -  Dallas Observer  -  “Critic’s Pick – Best Pizza in Dallas”

2010  -  Rachael Ray  -  “Most Delicious Pizza You’ll Ever Eat” (top 64 in the U.S.)

The reviews helped Green quickly build a large and loyal customer base – one that from the start often waited two hours on weekend evenings to be seated in Olivella’s 900-square-foot restaurant.

Facing high customer demand and a desire to introduce modernized but traditional Italian sandwiches, pastas and salads, Green raised $1 million to expand to a larger space and kitchen in Victory Park. Green unveils his new menu, including new pizzas, sandwiches, pastas and salads, at Neo Pizza Napoletana by Olivella’s in Victory Park May 2010.

Though square footage and menu vary between the two locations, Green’s restaurant tenets remain the same:

• Provide five-star food without five-star prices or pretentiousness
• Infuse neighborhoods with new hang-outs for business lunches and residents

Green is no stranger to entrepreneurialism. Prior to opening Olivella’s, Green was in software and medical sales. He has also owned a New York City-based sportswear company. In 1985, Green graduated from Swarthmore College. Green has Washington, D.C. roots, but loves living in Dallas where he has been for the last 20 years.

New Menu Items Will Make Their Debut

Dallas, TX – (May 13, 2010) – Olivella’s – Charlie Green’s pizzeria that opened May 2007 in University Park May 2007 and garnered high praise from Zagat, Rachael Ray, and the local media – celebrates its three-year anniversary by expanding to Victory Park.  The new restaurant, called Neo Pizza Napoletana by Olivella’s, opens June 1, 2010 with the bold plan of helping breathe new life into Victory Park, which has been trying to shed its high-end profile and offer affordable places to eat, shop, and play.

Despite the two-hour free parking lot just outside Neo’s front door and the larger dining space that support Green’s ‘build it and they will come’ bravado, he is not naïve about the challenges that continue to face Victory Park retailers.

“We may be pioneers at Victory, but we have had the benefit of learning a few things from the failed super-high-end places. That’s why we’ve constructed a menu and drink specials that are accessible to all,” says Green. “Individual pizzas start at $7; some salads are $6; and the $8 sandwich/salad combo is competitive with most other dining options.”

Neo Pizza will continue offering the trademark pizzas and sandwiches that won Olivella’s its critical acclaim, including its black truffle pizza. It will also debut what Green calls a “melt-in-your-mouth creamy mozzarella pizza called The Neo,” as well as individual-sized pizzas for carry out or dining in, large dinner salads, an extensive list of cold sandwiches, a smattering of rustic pastas, and seasonal pizza specials.  All bread and mozzarella are made in-house daily.  Neo also has a robust catering operation.

“With just over nine hundred square feet and non-existent daytime parking at our current location, we just haven’t been able to expose much of Dallas to what we are up to.  The Victory location is within easy reach of Downtown, Uptown and the Design District – and has tons of free parking,” says Green.

Like Olivella’s, Neo Pizza is designed to feel open, airy, and intimate.  Hangar door-windows with counter seating and two patios—one on Houston Street across from The House of Blues and one on the park—give the place a Lower East Side Manhattan, inside-outside feel.  The main dining room seats seventy and The Slice Bar Lounge can seat an additional twenty-five.  The Slice Bar Lounge has six televisions and is designed to be a neighborhood hangout and sports bar.

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