Campisi's Celebrates 70 Years in DFW and Re-location in Plano

Campisi’s, the popular DFW-based Italian restaurant, celebrates 70 years!

Another thing to celebrate: The Plano restaurant that currently resides at the northwest corner of Parker Road and Independence Parkway is relocating. Owner David Campisi wanted a space big enough for a full bar area where small plates and great conversation can be had. And don’t worry, it’s right down the road at Parker and Preston.

“We saw an opportunity to relocate our Plano Restaurant to a bigger dining space. The move makes it easier to reach our West Plano family and friends to fulfill delivery as well,” David Campisi told Plano Profile. “We just recreated our dine-in experience for the whole family with clean lines and a more modern look to our vintage Italian traditional décor with the familiar menu you’d expect at any of our 10 Campisi’s locations.”

The Campisi story began in 1946, when Italian immigrant and grocer Carlo “Papa” Campisi purchased a bar at the corner of Knox and McKinney in Dallas, named Idle Hour. The bar was home to a small kitchen that went unused until a cousin visiting from New York suggested they serve “Pizza Pie,” a newly popular family meal in New York. Papa thought the idea was a great one, so he gathered the family in the kitchen to create Dallas’ first pizza and Texas’ first pizzeria. Impressive!

A few years later, in 1950, the family purchased the well-known Mockingbird Lane location to take over the previous “Egyptian Lounge.” At the time, money was tight and there was not enough to buy a new sign, thus, the original Egyptian sign was changed by removing “Lounge” and adding “Restaurant.” Under the great leadership of David Campisi, the family restaurant has grown to a total of 10 DFW locations. Their legacy and style has helped tremendously with the restaurant’s image, demonstrating the same concept today as Grandpa Joe Campisi had mentioned years ago, “Baby, Campisi’s was built on hand shakes and hello’s.”

I’m not foolin’ you, the new location at 4709 W. Parker Rd., Suite 400 opens April 1.