The place ThaT knOws yOur name (and phOne number)

Scott Bodell had gone out to pick up pizzas from Tony’s, a once-aweek (or more) ritual for the Bodell family. In the five minutes between his leaving the restaurant and arriving home, Sylvia Bodell received a phone call.

It was Tony’s.

“Before I heard the garage door open, they were calling me saying, ‘We’ve got your husband’s credit card.’ ”

She was thankful, but not surprised. This is the kind of over-the-top customer service the Bodells have come to expect from the family-owned Italian restaurant at Northwest Highway and Ferndale.

The Bodells started eating at Tony’s when their 21-year-old son Cameron and 17-yearold son Carter were 8 and 4, “when you could still walk in and sit down at a table,” Sylvia Bodell says, adding that Tony’s is now so popular that it is perpetually packed with a line out the door.

They loved that it was BYOB and that the waiters handed their sons dough to play with while they waited for food. Sylvia remembers one instance when they had to wait longer than usual for their food, and the boys were “starving and complaining.” When it was time to pay, Tony’s wouldn’t let them.

“They told us, ‘We’re not charging you for this. You had to wait too long.’ And the next time we came in to have dinner again, they wouldn’t let us pay,” she says. “We’ve been loyal customers ever since.”

So loyal, in fact, that Scott has forgotten his wallet a couple of times when picking up food, and was told, “No problem, Scott, we’ll get ya next time.”

“They know us, and there’s a comfort that they know us. If there were a neighborhood ‘Cheers’ restaurant, they would be it. They have your name and phone numbers,” Sylvia says. “There’s a small-town atmosphere about that. It’s a nice perk to have when you live in a big city.”

The family hasn’t eaten a sit-down dinner at Tony’s in years. The boys grew up, and “our schedule got crazier,” Sylvia says. But it was the first restaurant she added to her cell phone years ago, and though “our family eats out a lot and frequents many restaurants,” she says, “once a week, we make it a point to order Tony’s.”

And she makes a special trip when Cameron, a Texas A&M junior, comes home.

“He has to have his Tony’s fix,” Sylvia says.

Soon enough, she’ll be making such trips for Carter, currently a LHHS junior.

“Now that they’re older, [Scott and I] will probably have time to go back and sit down,” Sylvia says.

Order like a regular

Sylvia’s favorite for “at least 12 years” is the veggie pizza. The trick, she says, is adding eggplant and spinach. “Years ago, I think Tony asked me, ‘Do you want eggplant and spinach?’ ” She didn’t even know to ask, but after that, she was hooked. “I have found that people who have eaten at Tony’s for years have never tried it, and love it!” Another Bodell family favorite is the “modo mio” pasta with pink sauce. What’s in the pink sauce? “You’d have to ask Mama,” Sylvia says. “It’s her recipe.”