We're open until 3 AM, 365 days a year, holidays included. That is the short answer for families who need a real sit-down or carry-out meal after the kitchens around them have gone dark. Zio Al's Pizza & Pasta has neighborhood locations across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and in Katy, Texas. Everything is hand-crafted, the dough is made fresh in-house every day, and the whole menu is pork-free.
Below, you'll find how to plan a late family meal, what to order for a mixed table of kids, teens and grandparents, how to handle halal questions honestly, and how to order without paying delivery app markups.
TL;DR
- We stay open until 3 AM every day of the year, while most kitchens close at 10 or 11 PM.
- The entire menu is pork-free: beef pepperoni, turkey ham and beef bacon. Zabiha halal is available upon request. It is not the default, and we are not halal certified.
- Order direct at zioals.com or in the Zio Al's app. The app takes 15% off your first order, and you skip third-party delivery markups.
- Feeding a crowd, a team or a party? We cater pizza and Italian food for offices and events.
Table of Contents
- Why "late" is hard for families
- What late-night family dining looks like in Katy
- What the family table needs
- Pork-free by default, halal upon request
- Order direct and skip the app markups
- Feeding students and big groups late
- Catering for the early evening, the office and the party
- Our point of view: why we stay open until 3 AM
- Beyond Katy: late-night help around DFW
- Start your late-night order
- FAQ
- Sources
Why "late" is hard for families
Late-night eating is usually built for bar crowds. Look at what a typical search for places open late in Katy turns up: Yelp's list of late spots near Katy leans on bars, hookah cafes and sports pubs. That works for a night out with friends. It works less well when you have a seven-year-old who skipped dinner after a late game, or a teenager who just finished a shift.
Families need a few simple things after dark:
- A menu everyone can find something on, from picky kids to adults who want a full plate of pasta.
- Food that arrives hot and doesn't cost a fortune once fees are added.
- Clear answers on ingredients, especially for households that avoid pork or follow halal practices.
- A kitchen that is actually open, so you aren't driving around at 11:30 PM refreshing a map.
That last one is the whole reason we keep the ovens going until 3 AM. Nobody plans to be hungry late. It just happens.
What late-night family dining looks like in Katy
Katy's dining scene has grown up. A recent Katy dining guide from Houston.com notes that a decade ago, dinner in Katy mostly meant chains along I-10. Today it covers upscale steakhouses at LaCenterra at Cinco Ranch, craft beer and BBQ in Old Katy, and plenty of mid-range, family-friendly spots with easy parking.
The pattern is that most of those places are built around the early dinner hour. Great for a Saturday at 6 PM. Not much help at 11 PM on a Tuesday, or after a late school event, a rodeo night or a long drive home on I-10.
That is the gap a pizzeria fills well. Pizza and pasta are made for sharing, they travel well, and they work for a table of mixed ages. Dine in if the kids still have energy to burn. Pick up if everyone is tired. Have it delivered if nobody wants to put shoes on.
What the family table needs
Family-friendly dining is often about the room and not just the plate. Visit Dallas makes the point that when you take kids out to eat, they care less about eating than about having a fun time. We agree, with one addition: at 10 PM, they also care about getting fed quickly. A shared pizza lands fast and nobody has to wait for a separate entree.
A sample order for four
We don't publish prices in this article, so check the menu at zioals.com for current items and costs. Here is how families tend to build an order from our menu categories:
- One or two pizzas, built to order. Get one plain or beef pepperoni for the kids and one loaded for the adults. Our beef bacon and turkey ham toppings cover the classic combos without pork.
- A pasta for the table. Pasta is a good middle ground for the person who doesn't want pizza again.
- Wings in the sauce you choose. We make wings in 10 sauces, and you pick traditional, boneless or breaded. Boneless is the easy call for small hands.
- A salad or a sub. Someone always wants something lighter, or something handheld.
The point is variety without a long menu debate. When the table is hungry and tired, you want the decision made in two minutes.
Pork-free by default, halal upon request
Many families who search for late-night food are also asking a second question: what's in it?
Here is exactly where we stand. The entire Zio Al's menu is pork-free. Our pepperoni is beef, our ham is turkey, and our bacon is beef. That is true on every order, with no special request needed.
Zabiha halal is available upon request. That means it is prepared when you ask for it. It is not the default preparation, and the restaurant is not halal certified. If halal matters to your family, tell us when you order, and ask us anything else you need to know.
We say it this plainly because the halal label gets stretched. Restaurants that are fully halal tend to be open about it. As one Texas restaurant explains in its guide to zabihah halal, a trustworthy place can name its meat supplier and certifier and show current paperwork on request. Whatever restaurant you choose, hold it to that standard. Ask the questions. A good kitchen will not mind.
If you want to go deeper, we've written on how to check the kitchen and not just the label, a short list of questions to confirm zabihah, and four quick checks on pepperoni.
Order direct and skip the app markups
A family order is not small. Add delivery fees, service fees and menu markups on a third-party app, and a late dinner gets expensive fast. Ordering direct fixes that.
You have two ways:
- Order at zioals.com. Pick dine-in, pickup or delivery.
- Use the Zio Al's app. Your first order gets 15% off, and the app is also how you earn loyalty rewards on repeat orders.
Our view is simple: money you don't spend on app fees is money for another order of wings. We go into more detail in our posts on eating after midnight without app fees and ordering halal food online late at night.
A few ordering habits that help
- Order for pickup if you're nearby. It's the fastest route from hungry to fed.
- Tell us about halal when you place the order, not at the door.
- Put in the order before you leave the event or the game, so it's ready when you arrive.
- Check the menu for your nearest location before you go, since each neighborhood spot runs its own operation.
Feeding students and big groups late
Families aren't the only ones up late. Many college students and young adults make our late hours part of their routine, and the logic is the same: share a few pizzas, split a big order of wings, and keep the cost per person low.
For study groups, team nights and roommate dinners, build the order like a family one:
- Two or three pizzas to start, then add more as people arrive.
- A mix of wing sauces so nobody gets stuck with one flavor.
- A pasta or two for anyone who wants a proper plate.
Direct ordering matters most here. Splitting the bill is easier when there aren't hidden fees to divide.
Catering for the early evening, the office and the party
Sometimes the family dinner is a family event: a birthday, a graduation, a reunion or a team gathering. We cater pizza and Italian food for offices and parties, and our offering includes pork-free options that many caterers skip.
If you have a guest list with mixed dietary needs, start with our catering pages for DFW or the general pizza and Italian food catering page. We don't publish package prices there in this article, so use the pages to request what you need and ask about halal upon request when you plan.
Our point of view: why we stay open until 3 AM
We're a family-owned pizzeria. We started from a simple belief: people shouldn't have to settle for a drive-through when they want a real meal at midnight.
That's why our dough is made fresh in-house every day, and pizzas are built to order instead of pulled from a heat lamp. It's why we keep every location open 365 days a year, including the holidays when other places turn the sign off and everyone is hungry anyway. It's why we kept the menu pork-free, so more families can sit down without scanning an ingredient list.
We also think honesty beats a label. We offer zabiha halal upon request and we say so clearly, because that is exactly what it is. We would rather tell you what we do than let you assume something we don't.
And we believe the best price is the direct one. When you order at zioals.com or in the app, the money goes to the kitchen that made your food, not to a middleman.
— Zio Al's Team
Beyond Katy: late-night help around DFW
If you're traveling north for a game, a wedding or a visit, or if you have family in the metroplex, our hours stay the same across the area. We have neighborhood locations across Dallas-Fort Worth. These guides cover the area in more depth:
- Late-night food in Arlington
- 3 AM eats in Fort Worth
- Late-night date ideas in Dallas, for the adults-only evening once the kids are with a sitter
- Late-night meals during Ramadan, for iftar and suhoor planning
For a wider look at the halal scene in North Texas, D Magazine's guide to halal restaurants is a useful read, and it shows how many options the region has for fully halal dining. If a fully halal kitchen is a must for you, that is the kind of place to look for. If you want pork-free pizza and pasta until 3 AM, with halal upon request, that is where we fit.
Start your late-night order
When the clock says late and the family says hungry, we're ready. Browse pizza, pasta, wings, subs and salads at zioals.com, or download the Zio Al's app and take 15% off your first order. Planning a bigger event? Look at our DFW catering page.
FAQ
Is Zio Al's really open until 3 AM every day?
Yes. We're open until 3 AM, 365 days a year, holidays included. Hours can differ slightly by neighborhood location, so check your nearest location's page before you head out.
Is the menu halal?
No, not by default. The entire menu is pork-free, using beef pepperoni, turkey ham and beef bacon, and zabiha halal is available upon request. We are not halal certified, so tell us when you order if halal matters to your family.
How do I get the lowest price on a late-night order?
Order direct at zioals.com or in the Zio Al's app instead of a third-party delivery app. That way you skip app markups, and your first app order gets 15% off.
Do you cater for offices and parties?
Yes. We offer pizza and Italian food catering for offices and parties, including pork-free options. See our catering page to start planning.
What should I order for kids?
Pizza is the easy one, and boneless wings are a hit with small hands. Add a pasta to share, and the table is covered.
Sources
- Best Restaurants in Katy, TX: Houston Suburb Dining Guide (Houston.com)
- Top 10 Best Restaurants Open Late in Katy, TX (Yelp)
- New Dallas Restaurants for Family-Friendly Dining (Visit Dallas)
- Zabiha Halal vs Halal: What It Means, How to Verify (Wok & Karahi)
- The 35 Best Halal Restaurants in North Texas (D Magazine)