A new Olive Garden Dallas restaurant is headed to Wynnewood Village, bringing pasta, salad and warm breadsticks to another Oak Cliff address. The planned 6,496-square-foot restaurant at 575 W. Illinois Ave. would add full-service dining to the shopping center’s continuing redevelopment.
This is a ground-up restaurant project at a place generations of Dallas residents already know. Brixmor’s current leasing plan names Olive Garden on Pad C, giving the chain a place in Wynnewood’s next chapter after major Target and Burlington additions.
Pasta and breadsticks join the Oak Cliff mix
For diners, the appeal is familiar: bowls of pasta, a basket of breadsticks and the soup-and-salad combination closely associated with Olive Garden. The Italian-American chain pairs those familiar starters with baked pasta, chicken and seafood entrées.
Its current Alfredo offerings provide a good introduction. Fettuccine Alfredo pairs ribbons of pasta with a creamy sauce, while Chicken Alfredo adds sliced grilled chicken. Seafood Alfredo brings shrimp and scallops into the same rich, familiar format.
Lasagna offers a different kind of comfort food: layers of pasta, sauce and cheese rather than a bowl of noodles. Together, those dishes explain the restaurant’s broad appeal without needing a tour through every page of the menu.
And yes, the breadsticks belong in the story. Along with house salad and soup, they make the dining experience recognizable before the main course arrives. The new restaurant would give Oak Cliff customers another local option for that sit-down meal.
Olive Garden began in Orlando, Florida, in 1982 and is now part of Darden Restaurants. Its Wynnewood plans bring that established casual-dining concept into a shopping center with a much longer history of its own.
Olive Garden Dallas plans take shape on Pad C
The location is more specific than a street address on a construction form. Brixmor’s leasing plan explicitly labels Pad C for Olive Garden along the West Illinois side of Wynnewood Village.
That plan lists approximately 6,656 square feet for the restaurant. The newer state construction registration identifies 6,496 square feet, the figure used for the current project. The modest change reflects the different planning documents rather than a different restaurant proposal.
Olive Garden arrives as Brixmor continues into Phase V of its redevelopment. The company’s plans include new outparcel development featuring Chipotle, Chase and additional restaurant space, plus work on existing retail areas.
For customers, that means the changes extend beyond the large stores. New restaurants and smaller buildings around the center’s edges would broaden the reasons to visit, with Olive Garden adding a full-service meal to the shopping trip.
Target and Burlington set the stage
Brixmor reported completing Phase IV in March 2026. That work included a roughly 111,000-square-foot Target, a 26,000-square-foot Burlington and improvements to façades, landscaping, signs and parking.
The company reported about $32.7 million for that phase. Brixmor’s current property marketing puts the broader redevelopment at approximately $52 million.
Wynnewood Village spans more than 574,000 square feet, according to Brixmor. Target and Burlington join established anchors such as Kroger and LA Fitness, placing the planned Olive Garden within a substantial existing retail destination.
The restaurant would therefore become part of a changing shopping center rather than a new development starting from scratch. Grocery trips, fitness visits and larger shopping stops already bring customers to the property.
A dining destination with roots in 1949
Wynnewood Village’s story reaches back to 1949, when construction began on the shopping center. Developer Angus G. Wynne Jr. conceived it as the commercial hub of the larger, roughly 820-acre Wynnewood community in postwar Oak Cliff.
The Texas State Historical Association describes a community that combined housing with shopping and services. Wynnewood Village included restaurants, a movie theater and a hotel, so dining has long belonged in its mix.
The historic image above captures another era through its directory: Kroger, Montgomery Ward and Wyatt’s Cafeteria appear among the familiar names. Today’s leasing plan shows how the tenant lineup continues to change while the shopping destination endures.
Wynne later became known for creating Six Flags Over Texas. That connection is part of the center’s developer history; the current redevelopment belongs to a separate chapter under Brixmor.
What’s next for Olive Garden Dallas at Wynnewood
The state filing, TABS2027002155, lists a $3 million estimate for Olive Garden Dallas and associated work within its building pad. It names Brixmor Holdings 12 SPE LLC as owner and ACS Architectural Construction Services Inc. as design firm.
The filed construction schedule runs from April 26 through October 14, 2027. Those dates are estimates, and October 14 is not a confirmed opening date.
For Oak Cliff diners, the next milestone will be a clearer opening timeline. For now, Olive Garden’s plans put a familiar combination of pasta, salad and breadsticks into Wynnewood Village’s ongoing transformation—another dining chapter at a shopping center that has served Dallas for more than 75 years.