In a season of flashy restaurant openings across Fort Worth, the biggest hit might be a new Italian restaurant in Burleson.
On the Rocks Italian Bistro is still in soft-opening mode. It doesn’t even have its full menu in place yet.
Yet crowds are coming to 135 W. Ellison St., in a corner of the Old Town plaza.
Yes, Fort Worth has great new restaurants like Almacén El Gallo downtown, and the northern suburbs have the U.S.’s second Shark Club sports grill from Vancouver off Interstate 35W in Northlake.
But On the Rocks has the potential to draw customers to Burleson from far around for an old-time Italian restaurant experience with pastas and grill dishes, cocktails, wines and a piano bar.
On the Rocks Italian Bistro in Burleson, Texas, has a piano bar and some equipment from cousin restaurant La Bistro Italian Grill in Hurst, Texas, as seen Sept. 8, 2026.
The Benouared family from La Bistro Italian Grill in Hurst has teamed up with star Dallas chef Kent Rathbun to open On the Rocks, like an updated version of La Bistro.
It was still in “soft opening” phase with a limited menu this week. Reservations on Resy.com are still required in order to manage the turnout.
By this weekend, new menus may have arrived to broaden the choices.
But early this week, customers were plenty happy with Rathbun’s lobster-bisque-cream shooters, the rotolo “spiral lasagna” and La Bistro’s signature cappuccino pie.
On the Rocks Italian Bistro in new in Old Town Plaza in central Burleson, Texas.
An order of chicken “La Bistro” delivered with chicken and mushrooms sauteed in a brandy cream sauce.
The simple house salad still stood out with a light lemon-Parmesan vinaigrette.
After 10 years at La Bistro, founded in 1984 by Robert Pjetrović, the Benouared family was looking for somewhere to expand their restaurant, always Italian but now with added hints of Mediterranean and French heritage from the family’s ancestral Algeria.
Jason Benouared built a new following for steaks and fish cooked on a hot lava rock. Many restaurants call the dish “steak on a stone,” but here it’s “steak on the rocks.”
House salad in a lemon-parmesan vinaigrette and chicken “La Bistro” with mushrooms in brandy-dill cream sauce from the soft-opening menu at On the Rocks Italian Bistro in Burleson, Texas, seen Sept. 8, 2026.
The family took a chance on a former Razzoo’s Cajun location in a plaza where other restaurants had also struggled.
The result is a restaurant that joins the Buffalo Bros sports bar and standby Babe’s Chicken Dinner House as Old Town anchors.
On the Rocks Italian Bistro opens nightly at 5 p.m.; 682-214-7782, ontherocksbistro.com.
Dining and Cooking