LaNella - good food, but will it be here long?

You know by now if there's a new pizza/Italian place in town, you're going to read about it here. Like I've written before, our family is not very adventerous on the menu. My wife will order spaghetti and meat sauce, the kids will get cheese pizza, and I'll either get a pizza or a stromboli. Nothing fancy. We've visited many times to old favorites Pazzo (still my favorite), Bari's, Alforno's (the definition of "comfort food"), Nick & Willy's take-and-bake, and more recently the venerable Salerno's. We also like Roma in Highland Village (cheap prices, great food, and a big-screen TV) and Parma in Lewisville (crowded and tight, but the food is a cut above).

Now comes LaNella, which is oddly hard to find even though it's in the center of Town. LaNella occupies sits right behind (or to the side of) the Z Grill on 1171. If you're coming out of Sprouts, look to your left. It's in the satellite building right in front of Sprouts. You'd think this would be a good location, but at least two other restaurants I can think of (one a hamburger joint, the other some sort of Mexican variation) have both come and gone in that spot. It's right on 1171, but you can't see it unless you're coming in from the east. It's close to Morriss, but you can't see it well from Morriss. I'm no real estate expert, but I think the location will make it difficult for LaNella to build business quickly.

LaNella occupies a couple of smaller stalls in the shopping-center, and there are about 20 tables in the one-room dining area. I've been there twice now, once with the family and once for pickup. In both visits (one a cold/rainy Sunday night, the other Sunday after-church lunch), I've seen only one other customer. The food is very comparable in quality and taste to Bari's -- the New York-style pizza is quite similar, in fact. It's very good, and we'll go back. The question is, will enough of you get there soon enough, or are LaNella's owner's pockets deep enough, to keep this new restaurant open? There are coupons in the Clipper magazine. Check it out.