Pizza has been one of the rare success stories during the pandemic, and nothing breeds success like success, which is a roundabout way of saying that Dallas-Fort Worth has more pizzerias in the works. This batch includes newly opened pizzerias as well as some coming soon — everywhere from an indie spot in Oak Cliff to a vegan pizzeria opening in Fort Worth.

Here's a new round of restaurants slinging pizza pies.

Zio Al's Pizza & Pasta
Zio Al's is a small but growing chain with three locations, including the original in Carrollton, plus Addison and Plano. Now there is one set to open in Dallas.

It's in a pretty prominent location on the main drag in the Cedar Springs district at 3851 Cedar Springs Rd. This is the former location of Cafe Brazil, which closed in February 2021 after four years in that space. (It relocated after getting bumped of its original longtime space by the Warwick Melrose Hotel.)

A Zio Al's spokesperson says that renovation work is almost done and they're waiting for approval from the city of Dallas to open, so maybe sometime this summer for an opening.

NeoNY Pizza Works
Indie pizzeria is a new concept opening in Oak Cliff at 829 W. Davis St. from Alex Ham, a commercial photographer who previously owned a pizza place in Korea.

Ham says it'll be "nothing fancy but good-quality pizza" — an artisanal rendition of NY-style pizza but with a lighter dough that takes 4 to 5 minutes, which means you'll get it a little faster than you would a traditional NY-style pie.

No pizza by the slice, however. "The best pizza is fresh," he says. He hopes to open by mid-June, depending on how long it takes the city to emerge from its permitting backlog.

Pizza Verde Vegan
A exciting new vegan pizzeria is coming to Fort Worth. Called Pizza Verde, it's a a mom-and-pop enterprise from husband-and-wife Landon and Jennifer Cabarubio, who previously ran a vinyl record store but wanted to expand Fort Worth's vegan restaurant scene.

They started out as a pop-up, and now will move to a full-menu brick-and-mortar at 5716 Locke Ave., where they say they will proudly embrace a 100 percent plant-based menu.

They hope to be open in July.

Romeo's Pizza
Ohio-based pizza chain will make its North Texas debut with a location in Frisco in a new-build shopping center west of the Dallas North Tollway off Lebanon Road at 4747 4th Army Dr.

Romeo's was founded in Medina, Ohio with a strong sense of community, which is good that they have the whole community aspect, since Ohio is not really known for its pizza.

The chain has 44 locations, mostly in Ohio, but Texas is definitely on its radar. The first location in the state will open in the Austin and Rio Grande Valley market, where it's being brought by none other than Eddie Lucio, who is a member of the Texas House of Representatives.

Jonny's Pizza New York Style
Pizzeria favors New York style pies with signature selections as well as build-your-own. The menu also includes sub sandwiches, calzones, strombolis, and cheesecakes.

Owner is Fatjon "Jonny" Lami, who founded the original location in Little Elm (the street address shows up as Aubrey) in 2019 and now will open a spinoff about a mile west of Old Town Keller at 5301 Golden Triangle Blvd., Fort Worth.

Uzy's New York Pizza
Family-run New York-style pizzeria was founded in 2018 by namsake Uzy Ehsan, an ex-New Yorker who opened his first location in North Richland Hills, at 8700 N. Tarrant Pkwy.

Now he's expanded with a second location at 6851 Matlock Rd. Arlington, near Mansfield, which just opened.

"I lived in Queens and made pizza in New York," the highly personable Uzy says. "Honestly, my goal after moving here was not to make pizza. But there's a lot of 'New York-style' pizza here that's being made by people who've never been to New York. I had to do it. I do it the right way, I make my own dough."