Anybody eaten at Via Napoli?

[gretchnh]

We are heading to the world in February. My husband is dead-set on trying Via Napoli. He's a hambuger/fries, nothing out of the ordinary, kind of food guy.
My kids should be okay as long as they have cheese pizza and pepperoni pizza.
Who all has eaten here? Is it good?
What do you suggest on the menu?

Thanks so much peeps!
-Gretchen in Ks.

 

[AshClan]

I've seen mixed reviews but we loved it! Might have had something to do with our hot waiter, Davide IMHO, it's a great option for picky eaters. The pizza is great (thin, crispy), as are their salads. Only other thing we got was a vegetable fritti appetizer. Also yummy. Enjoy!!

 

[tortoni]

Via Napoli is tucked away in the back of the Italy Pavilion and it is a nice addition, visually.

Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr
The room is quite large and attractive—at least the main dining room is. We noticed a back room and I do not know what it would be like to eat in that room. I loved the chandelier that was part of the entry hall.

url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/66340718@N05/6042187748/]

[/url]
Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr

We had a lovely and attentive CM from Venice who took our drink orders. It quickly became clear that there were quite a few items that would not be covered on DDP. The only drinks covered were the sodas and minute maid lemonade, not the aqua frescas and not the San Pellegrino sodas. DD wanted a San Pellegrino so she had that in lieu of the included drink. We ordered an appetizer of anancini because we love these and a tortellini en brood, DH’s favorite soup, knowing and expecting these would not be included. Both were very good.

As for main courses, DH ordered a pizza, which was okay, but not as good as the WPE pizzas.


Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr

DD ordered a chicken salad, which was heavy on greens and light on chicken, but she enjoyed it.


Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr

Oldest DS ordered a pasta dish that had a light cream sauce. Surprisingly, the dish was rather a small portion, even though it was an entrée. Given how little pasta costs, I just don’t understand when restaurants serve small portions of pasta. Since this was not enough to satisfy him, he shared some of the other dishes we ordered.
url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/66340718@N05/6042422443/]

[/url]
Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr
Younger DS ordered the chicken parm. He asked for pasta as a substitute for the potato and the waitress said fine, without alerting us that it would be additional money, and not on the plan, to substitute. We were surprised later to learn that the pasta substitute (which came with miniature meatballs) was an additional $12!

Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr

The chicken parm itself was a disappointment, not tender at all, so he left most of it.


Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr

I ordered the pasta with seafood and requested that it be made without the calamari. The waitress advised me this was not possible because the kitchen was too busy. Huh? I guess this means they pre-make the sauce, which is disturbing because seafood should be added at the last minute so it is not overcooked. I ordered it anyone. Again, another small dish, but since I did not find it particularly tasty, it was just as well. The seafood had no taste and the sauce had no zip.


Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr

I ordered the ricotta fritters for DS, since I wanted to try these and still have the orange frappe thing I’d seen earlier. The fritters? zepole?, I forget what they called them, were okay, and the chocolate sauce was nice, but they were not warm and fresh tasting, as they should have been.


Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr

The frappes were a combo of orange soda, vanilla gelato and whip cream. Should have tasted like a frosty creamsicle and would have if the soda used was cold, but it was lukewarm and the gelato on its own did not cool it off enough. What a disappointment.


Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr

DH and DS had the chocolate gelato, which they enjoyed.


Untitled by tortoni, on Flickr



We also ordered 2 espressos for dessert, including a double for DH. Since we had only ordered water, we assumed, incorrectly, that these would be our drinks. Everywhere else we went, these were included as drinks. Not at Via Napoli. A double espresso was $8 plus my single for $4. WOW.

With the tip, we paid $90 out of pocket for this DDP meal. Since Tutto is owned by the same company. I went back to the Beach Club and cancelled our Tutto reservation.

I don’t like being nickeled and dimed and that is how I felt at Via Napoli. We may try it again in the future because sometimes things are off for a lot of reasons including your own mood and I do admit that we were a bit put off there and it may have affected how we viewed everything.

 

[disney*mom*82]

We ate here while on DDP in December and LOVED it, it by far is the best pizza at WDW, and some of the best pizza we have had. The waitstaff both times were very friendly, quick about refills on drinks and everything was wondeful. They even accomodated a different pasta for my picky dd11.

We returned there again this July and paid OOP and still love it again! We just got the biggest pizza, 4 drinks and the dessert cheese balls thing, (this too is amazing) and it was around $75. Not too bad for a family of 5. It depends on how many you have a how much you eat, it is ex*****ve, but good. And...if on DDP...it is even better!

Tutto use to be our must do...now it is Via Napoli!

 

[calngavinsmom]

Everyone in our party enjoyed it and my dh is a very plain, picky eater. In fact, it was his one must do again for our trip this coming October.

My older son really liked his fancy ice cream sandwich.....I was pretty impressed to that this was classified as a childs dessert

I also enjoyed my dessert of zeppoli

I would give it a shot, It was a definite winner for our picky eaters!

Take care

 

[Stinger5]

We dined at Via Napoli a couple of weeks ago as kind of a last second reservation. Had a seat near the ovens and got some great pix! Pizza was fantastic as was the service. Highly recommend it!

 

[cinderlexa's mom]

Compared to the other Italian restaurant, we did not care for it.

We felt it lacked ambience for a 'world showcase' restaurant. It seemed like any other pizza joint. The pizza was just okay and they gave us a hard time about sharing entrees with our picky child. Slow service, unfriendly server. Of course, YMMV.

 

[P00H1010]

My husband and I ate there in July, we loved it! We are big pizza eaters and really enjoyed more of a "gourmet" pizza as opposed to the norm.

For an appetizer we had Arancini (Fried saffron risotto balls filled with mozzarella and meat ragu). It was delicious! We had the Quattro Stagioni signature pizza (The toppings are divided up into four separate sections:eggplant, artichokes, prosciutto, mushrooms). It was amazing, the ingredients were very fresh and the wood-fire taste really came through.

 

[quirty30]

We really enjoy Via Napoli. It's a good place to share several items and pay OOP. I do agree that using the DDP is not really a good idea here. My kids and I like to share the Arancini & calamari appetizers, a couple of individual pizzas, and the Zeppole for dessert. And that kids gelato sandwich that someone posted the picture of is just heavenly. Also recommend the Aqua Fresca drinks - we love both the Blood Orange and Strawberry flavors. Just remember that they are not included as a beverage on the DDP.

 

[dsneygirl]

We've only had pizza and salad but really enjoyed it.

 

[Tomader]

I loved it! My family went and I have to say the food was very good. My husband and two kids had veal parm and I had a pizza. We are Italian and like a good sauce and I will say their sauce was very good. I would go back for sure on my next trip. Maybe twice!