Miss Pasta — Restaurant in Richardson

You enter on the side of the brick building, feeling it’s a secret trattoria you just happened upon. The entrance doesn’t face a parking lot or the frontage road to the busy Bush Tollway, but instead, the view from within looking out is the gorgeous patio of the upscale restaurant next door. Brilliant!

Miss Pasta’s interior, despite the unappealing counter ordering, is very warmly inviting. A magnificent picture sets a sweet tone and tables fill the windowed space. Lucky for W and me, there’s a long bar option which we always prefer, and here we can watch the chef prepare dishes. He does so in a modern-esque very small space designed for efficiency, and functions so quietly. That was the chef’s plan; six induction burners put out finished dishes with amazing speed. Brilliant!

The restaurant’s menu concept pays homage to Italian tradition, and pays it to such an extent that I think for many diners, it needs explaining. Pasta in Italy is considered a first course, as is soup, risotto, and more. Primi Piatti! A few dishes incorporate meat or seafood within the sauce, stuffed pasta, or rice, but that’s it. The Secondo, or second course, is a protein served with a side vegetable – never, ever, is pasta degraded as a side dish to this course. At Miss Pasta there’s such authentic attention given to cooking pasta as served in Italy, not as found on American menus. Brava!

It is truly a regional menu, so diverse with dishes from the country’s southernmost to northernmost. Sitting there sipping wine and trying to choose, I realized W really does hear me when I rant. She summed up their regional offerings as “from the heel to the veal”. Exactly, Sweets!

The two options we settled on to share were both delicious. They brought me watery eyes with the first bite; so much flavor perfected in such simplicity. Although W was forgiven for forgetting to order with the fried eggs, the very fact that Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (garlic, olive oil, chili peppers, breadcrumbs) offers eggs atop thrilled me! We often eat it that way when I cook but we never see it on any menus. Spaghetti alla Puttanesca was bursting with flavor also from minimal ingredients: cherry tomato sauce, olives, anchovies, capers, oregano, garlic.

The pastas are just so good that you forget you’re eating from a paper bowl, sturdy as it is. Another touch of brilliance considering any or all upscale additions – table wear, table servers, additional cleanup, would only increase costs for the establishment and its customers. This way the restaurant serves the quality of a finer dining experience while supporting a strong casual dining or carry-out status. Still, I’m sure Miss Pasta will hear complaints. During our dinner, we observed a customer say her goodbyes but scurry back in to comment to the owners that they should have a bigger sign.

Are there things I would prefer? Of course, but a bigger sign wouldn’t be one. Finer pasta strands such as linguine, fini linguine, and capellini would be, for they are simply personal favorites. And I very much prefer dried pasta for certain dishes like Aglio e Olio regardless of how excellent the fresh version may be. And these are!

I really, really wish for a half-priced-wine-bottles-day, which is a factor that keeps W and I returning most often to our special haunts which do. The restaurant has limited beverage offerings, and only bottled water for purchase which probably won’t settle well with a huge majority of diners. Didn’t with us. To pay $38 for a bottle of wine with no free table water, is a bit hard to swallow.

But W and I will be returning, probably soon followed by often and morphed into regularly. Miss Pasta feels familiar in so many ways and I’ve missed this feeling. Missed it...

Update 4/23/24 - Upping from 4 to 5 stars. I've been back a few times, and if you like pasta, you should really check this place out. The first time I visited, right after opening, I was not impressed with the portions. But the portions are good now. I actually find it a challenge to finish my entire meal. And the atmosphere is mellow and nice. I really hope they succeed. The location is not the best, as they are a bit hidden away. Maybe they could put up some more lights or something. But they seem to be doing OK. If you don't mind a little spice, not very hot but a little bit, then I recommend the Miss Pasta dish. I've tried others, and they are good, but that is my favorite so far.

I will give this place 4 stars based on the quality of the food, which is 5 stars, but I doubt this restaurant will be open for long if they don't change some things. The location is bad, hidden away as it is, and they can't change that. So the only way to be successful is to do enough marketing to bring traffic in, and then provide a product and an experience that will bring people back. For what they are worth, here are my suggestions. The music was loud when I went in, which makes no sense. The prices should be reduced by 2-3 dollars per entree. The portions sizes (at least for the torteli I had) should be increased 30 to 50%. I had to have a snack after my meal. The staff should be kept to a minimum for the traffic expected. The checkout should be friendly and not feel like you are forced to tip. If the tip process is kept the same, make the first option 10%. This is fast casual, not a sit down restaurant. Go into a nearby restaurant, say Piada. A similar service experience but without feeling forced to tip. The place looks a little dark from outside during the day, maybe put some lights in the windows so that people driving thru the parking lot can see that there is something open there. And then, once you have the details ironed out, advertise like crazy. The nearby apartments and City Line should be the first targets. Something like a 50% off your first meal to drive traffic, and if the experience is good enough, and the price and portions right, they will come back. Any restaurant in that location is going to have a tough time getting going. The product itself is high-quality, so if people see the value and desire it, they will remember the location and come back. Personally, I would think a wood fired stove pizza restaurant would do better. Maybe that served beer and had a lot of business from Uber eats and such. But perhaps the pasta concept will work. The food quality is...

SERVICE FAILURE!! I came in having high hopes of Miss Pasta and I left in complete disbelief of my entire experience. Be Careful what you order! This is not the place to try something new!! Be prepared to buy a new dish if that is the case if you do not like it or just simple kitchen error. They will not replace a dish you don’t like. I ordered over $120 worth of food, one of the dishes being the carbonara, and it was like they spilled the jar of pepper in it. It was too peppery and not edible for me. As I am looking more and more at this dish, I notice MULTIPLE HAIRS. The majority of the staff had black hair and my hair is brown. The lead cashier /hostess said I had to buy a different dish if I did not like the food I ordered & refused to acknowledge that there was hair in my pasta. I was shocked. It’s my first time coming to this restaurant, and as someone in the industry I am extremely disappointed they were so unwilling to fix this issue. Not only was my pasta completely disgusting and unauthentic, it had hair in it which is a complete sanitary issue. No one was wearing hair nets. I do not recommend this place. I asked them if they have a business card, and all they could give was a to go menu. The cashier/hostess I had been speaking to was rude and clearly had ZERO customer service skills; she was rigid. She wouldn’t give her name or what her role was in the restaurant. Whatever she was, she was a poor representative of this establishment. I didn’t see that there was an owner or someone of management status during my visit, as I feel the situation would have been handled in a more professional manner if anyone gave a damn. The service and her actions played a major factor in this review, which is very...