We tend to think of Dallas in terms of a high-rise downtown and suburbs that go on forever. In terms of food, high-end beef and Tex-Mex are utterly ubiquitous. But on a recent visit, we discovered a delightful spot in a real neighborhood in the city, a restaurant that excels on a number of counts. 
Terilli’s is family-owned, an Italian spot that seems to have evolved with the times, so that not only is there veal marsala and fettucini alfredo, but pork osso bucco and seafood lasagna. It’s in the part of town known as Lower Greenville, where Greenville Avenue is a street with many, many places to eat and drink. Terilli’s successfully merges being a family restaurant and a date restaurant at the same time. There’s sidewalk dining (on the shady side of the street, important to know in the Dallas climate), and inside, the feeling is of a pleasantly upscale spot, complete with a piano and live music later in the evening every night but Monday. But when we arrived for a 7 p.m. weeknight visit, three tables in easy sight had small children as part of their group. One elegantly-dressed young lady was obviously celebrating what may have been her third birthday. We would not have known there were children in the house, so well behaved were all of them. On the same visit, in a semi-circular booth, a couple was staring intently into each other’s eyes and engaging in a little foreplay between courses.
We, too, were there for a celebration, part of a large party that meant lots of dishes on the table. It’s a mark of our family’s eating habits that a platter of roasted garlic, three fat heads that were served with some local goat cheese, delicious and mild, red grapes and warm bread, was gobbled down with cries of delight. That, however, was nothing compared to a dish called calacini. Large and extremely tender calamari rings were sauteed in a garlic butter sauce with white wine, green onions and pepperoncini, and the first bite from the first person to try it brought the immediate cry of "Order another one!" It’s certainly among the best calamari we’ve ever eaten, if not at the top of the list. One of the most garlicky, too.
And something called spalmare, a warm spinach and artichoke dip with provolone and mozzarellal came with housemade garlic crostini, warm and gooey and hard to keep from pigging out on. The house salad is fine, with good greens and a shallot vinaigrette; we were surprised that they used those tasteless California black olives instead of the more flavorful offerings from Italy or Greece.
The list of entrees is long, to the point where the menu says, "Terilli’s Parmesans," offering a choice of chicken, veal or eggplant, and gives the same grouping to piccatas and marsalas. Pretty logical, come to think of it. On the other hand, the lasagne are listed separately, as meat (Italian sausage and brisket, served, says the menu, with Italian sausage and a meatball alongside), vegetable (spinach, zucchini, yellow squash) and seafood. Ah, the seafood lasagna. Lobster, shrimp and crabmeat, which we think was real crab, layered with cheese and a modicum of tomato sauce. Very rich, but not overwhelming, waltzing around the mouth, the seasoning light enough that the seafood flavors were not obscured. Great stuff.
One of several vegetarian options was spinach ravioli with a walnut cream sauce, more delicate than the lasagna, but equally flavorful, the ravioli not overcooked; if the pale tan sauce was not deeply handsome, it was rich and satisfying. One of the less successful options was the chicken scampi, strips of grilled chicken breast over angel hair pasta. We’re impressed that the angel hair wasn’t overcooked, no small job, but were surprised that what was described as a lemon caper beurre blanc sauce wasn’t more flavorful. The sauteed tomatoes had more zip than the lemon and capers.
A crab salad, ordered by a smaller appetite as a main course (following a major effort with the calimari) was delicious, with real lump crabmeat served atop some penne pasta and a generour amount of lettuce and tomatoes. Extremely flavorful with a light dressing that pushed up some of the flavors without dominating.
Desserts are mostly standards like tiramisu and gelato. No one braved the Xango Cheesecake, which is wrapped in filo dough, deep fried and rolled in cinnamon sugar, but some tiramisu was pleasant enough.
The wine list is adequate, the martini list considerable. A Domaine Chandon Rose, an unsweet pink bubbly that was perfect to toast the graduate, also worked well with almost everyone’s choice, especially the garlic-laced appetizers. And a special hooray for the service, which kept up with us, the birthday parties, and everything else. A most pleasant spot.
Terillli’s Restaurant & Bar
2815 Greenville Ave., Dallas TX 75206
214-827-3993
(also at 4226 Preston Ave., Frisco, TX, 214-387-4600; no lunch)
Lunch and Dinner daily, Brunch Sunday
Credit cards: All major
Wheelchair access: Fair
Smoking: No
Entrees: $10-$33