Farrelli’s Wood Fire Pizza expanding to Point Ruston

Farrelli’s Wood Fire Pizza is the latest restaurant to sign on to the Point Ruston project, a growing complex of retail and residential buildings that straddles the boundary between Ruston and Tacoma.

The 20-year-old South Sound pizza chain with stores from Lacey to Maple Valley plans a two-story flagship restaurant, the largest in its chain of seven pizza restaurants specializing in pies cooked in Wood Stone ovens.

With seating for more than 300, the restaurant will take up an impressive chunk of real estate, about 8,500 square feet spread across inside and outside spaces. The restaurant will be inside a building that is expected to break ground in early 2016.

Farrelli’s anticipates a late summer 2016 opening, said Clayton Krueger, marketing director for the Lacey-based chain that specializes in what it calls Northwest-style pizza.

“We’re going to have a two-story presence. The upstairs will be what makes this location so unique,” said Krueger. “There will be an outdoor rooftop bar looking right at the Sound. There’s going to be an enclosed space (banquet area) that will have seating for 50.

“There won’t be anything else like it down there. We feel people might want to book it out for weddings and receptions,” he said of the outdoor patio and banquet area.

Downstairs will host another bar and, for warmer weather dining, a large pavilion for family seating. “There will be a big outdoor family seating section looking right at that splash pad,” he added, referring to the family play area.

Now open: Dolce Si, a Sicilian Bakery, opened in November at Point Ruston development. Expected next to open, in January, is Wild Fin, a seafood restaurant based in Issaquah.

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 9:00 AM with the headline "Farrelli’s Wood Fire Pizza expanding to Point Ruston."