A Mess at Via Napoli

AggieDizzer

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 22, 2019
Had dinner at Via Napoli last night, our third time at this restaurant. Our experiences had always been outstanding - that's why we kept coming back - but not so much last night. The lobby was chaos. We were seated almost 30 minutes AFTER our ADR. Service was very slow. We hardly saw our server during our stay. It took almost a half hour just to get our salad, then another half hour to 45 minutes to get our pizza. All totaled, we spent more than 2 hours of our Epcot day at VN. Just barely made it to Illuminations. (The pizza was very good though.)

It might have just been a bad night, which happens!! But it'll probably be a while before we venture back to this one. Anyone else have a similar experience, or could this have just been an outlier?
 
We've eaten there 4 times.

3 were fantastic, the 4th our poor waiter had some trouble with our bill. We each were in a different room, different dining plans, I think he got confused. :)

Probably just an off night.
 
Sounds like they were understaffed in the service area and/or the kitchen as well; hate when that happens but glad the food is still worth the wait.

I'd pop off an email to the restaurants management as well as Disney's for some sort of satisfaction.
 
We've never had a bad experience at VN. Sorry that it did happen to the OP. Hope they spoke to the manager about it before they left.
 


It sounds like an really off night there. Via Napoli is not my favorite Epcot restaurant however we have never had bad service or sub par food. I am sorry your family was there on that kind of night.
 
We love Via Napoli and go every trip, however the lobby has been chaos a lot in our recent visits. Even to the point that someone stole our table. We were like 5 people back, they called my name, I went up and someone said no they didn't say that, they said this and went to sit down. I asked manager and sure enough they stole our table. They were very helpful and seated us next, but still. Even with the ADR we've ended up waiting a bit each time on our visits.
 
We had a similar dining experience at Via Napoli the one time we dined there in Nov 2018. Lobby was chaos, everything took forever and unfortunately, we weren't overly impressed with the food. I was so disappointed as I'd always heard such rave reviews about it and was excited to try it. We were underwhelmed for sure and not in any rush to go back.
 


This sounds exactly like our experience there in November. The lobby was complete chaos, people all over the place with the check-in line out the door. It was 6:15pm and there were people with later ADR's trying to get in early. Our server disappeared and our meal took 2 hours! That was the last time for us, for dinner at least.
 
We don't go every trip, but we go most trips. We've had a couple of bad experiences, but that is out of like 20-25 meals there since 2010. One was a food issue that was comped by the manager. The other one was pretty funny. We had a young male server who spent more time chatting with the female servers than waiting on his tables. The manager came by to check on us, and I pointed out that our server was leaning against the wall talking to a young lady instead of refilling our drinks. The manager apologized and immediately darted over to the young man in question. They had a very short and tense discussion, and our service was much better the rest of the meal. :P
 
i remember one 'not so great' time at VN... long ago but since then we typically have ADRs closer to mid day vs evening. Regardless, its my favorite Pizza on the planet and a must do every trip to WDW!
 
Had dinner at Via Napoli last night, our third time at this restaurant. Our experiences had always been outstanding - that's why we kept coming back - but not so much last night. The lobby was chaos. We were seated almost 30 minutes AFTER our ADR. Service was very slow. We hardly saw our server during our stay. It took almost a half hour just to get our salad, then another half hour to 45 minutes to get our pizza. All totaled, we spent more than 2 hours of our Epcot day at VN. Just barely made it to Illuminations. (The pizza was very good though.)

It might have just been a bad night, which happens!! But it'll probably be a while before we venture back to this one. Anyone else have a similar experience, or could this have just been an outlier?
Ate there 2018 & service was slow. Long time to order drinks & food & to get it. But still delicious. Went back again March 2019 & service was much better. Waitress really on top of things. Again, food was delicious. So. For us, food always good. Service inconsistent.
 
The lobby was chaos. We were seated almost 30 minutes AFTER our ADR. Service was very slow. We hardly saw our server during our stay. It took almost a half hour just to get our salad, then another half hour to 45 minutes to get our pizza.

That was our one and only experience there.

Add the vile pizza (and my then-husband had JUST been to Italy and said the pizza did not taste right at VN), LOUD LOUD LOUD room, and the rude server, and that was enough.
 
That was our one and only experience there.

Add the vile pizza (and my then-husband had JUST been to Italy and said the pizza did not taste right at VN), LOUD LOUD LOUD room, and the rude server, and that was enough.
I don't know what part of Italy your then husband visited or what the kitchen was like when you ate there but my southern and northern Italian friends who visited WDW long before me encouraged me to eat at VN before I went for the first time. I will say I've only had the Margherita pie since I'm a purist that way. My thinking is if you can do the simplest pie right the rest is gravy.
 
I think the lobby has been chaotic every time I have been there and the chaos often seems to carry over to the dining room. I have had a variety of interesting experiences there, sometimes service-related and other times related to other diners. The pizza has always tasted good, though the last time my pizza was badly burned in one area and had a pool of liquid in another. Via Napoli used to be a must-do for me, but now I can take it or leave it. To me, it’s sort of a character meal atmosphere without the characters (and I’m not a fan of character meals).
 
Check in always seems busy and chaotic. The waiting area is just so small. But once we get in, food and service has always been amazing.

Last time we ate there was New Years Eve. It was crazy busy just trying to make our way through the dance party in Italy to get to the place. :faint:

Our wait, once we checked in was maybe 5 minutes, food and service was unbelievably perfect. :)
 
I really enjoyed the pizza but our service was exactly the same. Lobby was crazy. We waited almost an hour past ADR then spent another 90 at the table. I just assumed they were always jammed like that.
 
We’ve dined at Via Napoli every trip and it never disappoints! Our May trip is no exception. Fantastic atmosphere, authentic wait staff, great food. We always do wait a bit to get seated but never are in a hurry. Try checking in a bit early next time. It helps unless your ADR is at peak dinner hour. Guests usually live to linger in Via Napoli and all around the Italy pavilion.

Odd your salad took 30 minutes to arrive?? Did a manager come over? Doubly odd that if your pizza took an additional 45 minutes to be served that a manager didn’t come over then. A pizza takes 20 minutes from start to finish and It is policy at Via Napoli if a pizza isn’t served in that timeframe, the wait staff must inform a manager who then will come to the table and speak with the guest(s).

🤔
 
I had a terrible time the last time I was there that made me never want to go back. It took a really long time to be seated and then about 15 minutes before we could even order food. Then over an hour before our food came out. I enjoyed my pizza, the kids hated theirs. They are picky eaters and it wasn't what they were used to. Then we couldn't find our waitress to get the check. We were there over two hours. We had planned to do more rides, but it was so late and we had to drive home that day that we ended up leaving. I had been there once before a few years before and enjoyed my meal. It's possible it was just an off day, but it was enough to make me not go back.
 

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