The Barraco family
Four generations, one neighborhood, and recipes that started in a grocery store on Bryan Street.
We want you to feel like you're coming back home for a family meal
Just like your grandma used to make you feel when you came home to visit.
Joe Barraco Sr. opened a grocery store in 1956 at 2919 Bryan Street in Dallas. The store sold homemade Italian sausage to the neighborhood, and after many successful years in the grocery business the family wanted to open a restaurant. The original Prego Pasta House opened on Greenville Avenue in September 1982.
Rose, Joe's wife, brought her family recipes and passed those secrets on to the Prego menu. Her rice pudding and her spicy bleu cheese salad are still on it, with her name next to them.
A Dallas institution
- 1956
The grocery store
Joe Barraco Sr. opens a grocery at Bryan and Allen Streets and starts selling homemade Italian sausage.
- 1982
Prego opens
The family opens Prego Pasta House on Greenville Avenue in September, with Rose's recipes on the menu.
- 2022
40 years
Prego celebrates four decades on Greenville with 1982 pricing on the classics every day in November.
- 2023
Best of Dallas
The Dallas Observer names our chicken fried steak the best in the city.
The successful formula hasn't changed
- The finest foods available, prepared with the best ingredients and highest quality products we can find.
- Every sauce made from scratch, without MSG.
- All steaks and veal are USDA Choice.
- Sausage, meatballs and our Italian salad dressing made in house and sold to take home.
- Long-tenured bartenders and servers who know your name.
The most important factor in lasting more than four decades in the Dallas restaurant scene is our customers. Three generations of them have dined with us, and they are still bringing their families. We promise courteous service and the food your family deserves.
Dress code
Prego Pasta House is an upscale, family-owned Italian restaurant with a business casual dress code.
Full bar
Italian wines by the bottle and glass, cocktails, espresso drinks and after-dinner liqueurs. Ask about the wine of the month.
Valet & parking
Valet is available at the front door. Please tip your valet.
"Come experience the Prego magic and enjoy that family feeling again. Please bring all your friends who are like family to enjoy all those great memories."The Barraco family