Customer Reviews
What You'll Get
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Chomp into a cheese-spackled slab of brick-oven flavor with today’s Groupon. For $10, you’ll get $20 worth of traditional Italian tastes at Russo’s New York Brick-Oven Pizzeria, an esteemed eatery voted Houston’s Best in 2008 by the Houston Press.
Russo's yeasty pizza-slivers boast charred crusts, imperfectly delicious surfaces (some parts chewy, others crisp and crackly), and fresh toppings. Combining family recipes with austere advice (his father’s famed phrase was “If you can’t make it fresh, don’t serve it”), first-generation-Italian Anthony Russo spent years developing the special slices, authentic appetizers, and pasta dishes on the menu.
Temper taste buds with an order of mozzarella fritti, fresh-cut cheese bites battered until golden brown and served with marinara ($7.95). You’ll find pies to please every palate, from super skinny slices of Neapolitan style pizza ($12.95) to the vegetarian-friendly heart healthy veggie (spinach, artichoke hearts, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, basil, mozzarella, olive oil, and garlic sauce, $14.95) to hand-tossed brick-oven baked rounds (starting at $11.95). Top your custom circular masterpiece with a bevy of fresh options, including fresh spinach, pineapple, meatballs, hamburger, gorgonzola, anchovies, and more (additional toppings are $1.50 each for a medium pie).
This Groupon is redeemable at Russo’s Galleria-area location.
Reviews
Russo’s has taken top honors from AOL CityGuide, Houston Press, Southwest Pizza Championship, the Houston Chronicle, and the Herald-Voice.
- The sausage was real Italian with a nice fennel aroma. But it was the crust that set this pizza apart. It was crunchy and slightly charred along the perimeter with a very crispy bottom and big yeast bubbles along the edges to add chewy texture. – Robb Walsh, Houston Press Food Blog
Pizza Authority
A reviewer for the Houston Press writes that he can compliment the high-quality pie at Russo’s “with authority.” Where did he get such authority? From the Pizza Quality Identification and Training Certification Board, a nonprofit group that handles Pizza Authority. Here are the criteria to determine if a reviewer has Pizza Authority:
- Can they tell the difference between pizza and non-food items such as shelving and forest fires?
- Are they familiar with pizza nicknames, such as ‘za, pie, and San Francisco Ear Jacky?
- Can they correctly identify New York–style and Neapolitan-style pizza while wearing a blindfold made out of Chicago-style pizza?
- If they had to choose between saving a boy from an oncoming train or eating a slice of San Francisco Ear Jacky, which would they choose?
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The Fine Print
Promotional value expires May 4, 2010. Amount paid never expires. 1 per table. Only valid at Galleria location. Dine-in only. No cash back. Tax & gratuity not included. Must be used in 1 visit. Merchant is solely responsible to purchasers for the care and quality of the advertised goods and services.
About Russo's New York Brick Oven Pizzeria
The Russo family moved from Italy to New York in 1964, and from New York to Texas in 1978, carrying with them time-honored culinary techniques imported straight from the old country. Anthony Russo has worked side by side with family members and Italian chefs since the age of 12, learning to prepares salads, pastas, and pizzas from only the freshest of ingredients. Anthony's love for his family's cooking grew into a lucrative business, with Russo's Coal Fired Italian Kitchen restaurants and Russo's New York Pizzerias popping up all over the American South.
Like a cookie decorated with Lady Liberty's Social Security Number, Russo's pizza is an edible souvenir of the Big Apple, introducing palates to the thin, crispy brick-oven pies that helped make New York cuisine world famous. In between bites of basil-, anchovy-, and meatball-crowned pizzas, diners feast on baked ziti, lobster ravioli, and tortellini carbonara, as well as oven-cooked flatbread sandwiches and toasted calzones.