DonaldDoleWhip
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Aug 22, 2008
- Messages
- 3,608
Our trip has been over for almost a week now, and I was still thinking about Via Napoli's pizza. I wanted closure, if you will. Fortunately, we live very close to NYC, and while going into the city to have dinner with a friend, I saw that Naples 45 is adjacent to Grand Central Station. So earlier today (8/17), three of us decided to have a meal there before heading home. A Naples 45 variant can also be found in Disneyland, so it's one of the closest things to a 'Disney' restaurant in New York.
There's definitely synergy between Naples 45 and Via Napoli. The experiences were largely similar. Both restaurants cater to large crowds in a high-capacity dining hall. The atmosphere is busy and loud, and the service at both is very quick. Naples 45 had a greater proportion of adults, but there were still kids there and both places are casual. The decor at Naples 45 is more subtle (i.e. sparse) and contemporary. On the other hand, Via feels more like a colorful cartoon caricature of an Italian chain restaurant. It's brighter and has vibrant colors (especially red), higher ceilings, and Italian music playing. Via Napoli's decor seems a bit exaggerated to me, and I can't imagine that a lot of restaurants in Italy look like Via.
To start, the three of us split an appetizer sampler: 5 mini appetizers for $21, and we could choose them from a list. The arancini were almost exactly like Via's, but they seemed to have a bit more saffron in the risotto (on another note, the full-sized arancini is $8.50, with is 15% cheaper than Via's equivalent - theme park food overpricing + a minor case of DDP inflation syndrome, ugh).
The tuna crudo was simple and had a lemony, garlic flavor. I could have had a bigger portion of this.
The meatballs with sweet and sour sauce tasted ordinary, and the sauce tasted like basic tomato sauce.
The shrimp with spicy fra diavolo sauce and Italian peppers was good. Once again, spicy and garlicky were the main flavor profiles.
I liked the caprese salad. The capers added a salty touch, and the rest of the flavors were classic and good.
For my main course, I chose the tonno pizza, which had Sicilian tuna and spicy puttanesca sauce. Perhaps I've gotten so used to seared ahi tuna, sashimi, tartare, etc, but I was surprised to see cooked tuna like this. The tuna was pretty dry and tasted like the stuff from a can (I'm sure it wasn't, but I guess that's what an 800 degree oven can do to tuna). The spicy puttanesca didn't have as much of a kick as I was hoping for, so it didn't balance the tuna completely.
Here's the Vesuvio, with olives, capers, and Italian papers. The pizza usually has anchovies, but because we were all sharing (and I hate anchovies), the waiter actually suggested leaving the anchovies off or getting them on the side. This is in sharp contrast with the recent incident at Via Napoli (where apparently toppings cannot be removed from any pizza), but this is more what I would expect. Not everyone will like every single topping, but that shouldn't be unfixable. Anyway, I liked this pizza a lot. I love the saltiness of capers and olives combined with the sweetness of tomato sauce (and a bit of spice). My fellow diners liked the anchovy on it, as well.
Here's the roasted crispy chicken with lemon, garlic, and oregano. The spinach on the side tasted ordinary, as did the chicken for the most part. But it was moist, the outside was crispy, and the lemon and spices were yummy. Good dish.
For dessert, we got a few to sample: tiramisu, chocolate mousse cake with strawberry sauce, and tartufo. The tiramisu was light and spongy, and the mascarpone cream actually had flavor. The mousse cake was dense and chocolatey with a ganache layer on top. The tartufo ice cream was thick and creamy, and the chocolate on the outside was thick enough to be noticeable. All of the desserts were pretty good, but we couldn't finish 3!
We also ordered a piccante to go, specifically so I could see how it compared to WDW's version. This one had chicken sausage, hot pepper, and provolone, in addition to the tomato and mozzarella. It was rather one-note, like a spicy sausage pizza.
Overall, the food was essentially the same as at Via Napoli. But experiencing it outside of the Disney Bubble was pretty mind-opening. The food was good and simple for the most part, but I actually think I prefer Via Napoli's pizza. The toppings there were bolder (for example, putting something bitter like broccoli rabe on the piccante is a risk, but to me it made the pizza even better; the truffle oil on the artichoke pizza adds some decent flavor; and even the cool melon is a risk on a warm prosciutto pizza, although personally I hate the gamey taste of warm prosciutto anyway). Here, the main flavors were of cheese and one prominent ingredient (tuna, spicy sausage, etc). I felt like each of the pizzas could have used an extra ingredient to be more balanced (although I can't blame the Vesuvio pizza, since I chose to leave off the anchovies). Good pizza, and convenient location if catching a train to/from Grand Central, but not the most groundbreaking or inspiring. Out of curiosity, we looked it up in our 2010 NYC Zagat, and it received a 17 out of 30 for food (which means good to very good - makes sense to me). On the bright side, it's pretty consistent with the experience at Via Napoli (sort of like how Rainforest Cafe's throughout the country will offer a similar dining experience). Plus, this allowed me to finally get rid of my lingering pizza craving. If you're in the city and really want to taste Epcot's new pizza, you should stop by here (I'm sure the Margherita, Pepperoni, and Four Seasons pizzas are virtually identical).
There's definitely synergy between Naples 45 and Via Napoli. The experiences were largely similar. Both restaurants cater to large crowds in a high-capacity dining hall. The atmosphere is busy and loud, and the service at both is very quick. Naples 45 had a greater proportion of adults, but there were still kids there and both places are casual. The decor at Naples 45 is more subtle (i.e. sparse) and contemporary. On the other hand, Via feels more like a colorful cartoon caricature of an Italian chain restaurant. It's brighter and has vibrant colors (especially red), higher ceilings, and Italian music playing. Via Napoli's decor seems a bit exaggerated to me, and I can't imagine that a lot of restaurants in Italy look like Via.
To start, the three of us split an appetizer sampler: 5 mini appetizers for $21, and we could choose them from a list. The arancini were almost exactly like Via's, but they seemed to have a bit more saffron in the risotto (on another note, the full-sized arancini is $8.50, with is 15% cheaper than Via's equivalent - theme park food overpricing + a minor case of DDP inflation syndrome, ugh).
The tuna crudo was simple and had a lemony, garlic flavor. I could have had a bigger portion of this.
The meatballs with sweet and sour sauce tasted ordinary, and the sauce tasted like basic tomato sauce.
The shrimp with spicy fra diavolo sauce and Italian peppers was good. Once again, spicy and garlicky were the main flavor profiles.
I liked the caprese salad. The capers added a salty touch, and the rest of the flavors were classic and good.
For my main course, I chose the tonno pizza, which had Sicilian tuna and spicy puttanesca sauce. Perhaps I've gotten so used to seared ahi tuna, sashimi, tartare, etc, but I was surprised to see cooked tuna like this. The tuna was pretty dry and tasted like the stuff from a can (I'm sure it wasn't, but I guess that's what an 800 degree oven can do to tuna). The spicy puttanesca didn't have as much of a kick as I was hoping for, so it didn't balance the tuna completely.
Here's the Vesuvio, with olives, capers, and Italian papers. The pizza usually has anchovies, but because we were all sharing (and I hate anchovies), the waiter actually suggested leaving the anchovies off or getting them on the side. This is in sharp contrast with the recent incident at Via Napoli (where apparently toppings cannot be removed from any pizza), but this is more what I would expect. Not everyone will like every single topping, but that shouldn't be unfixable. Anyway, I liked this pizza a lot. I love the saltiness of capers and olives combined with the sweetness of tomato sauce (and a bit of spice). My fellow diners liked the anchovy on it, as well.
Here's the roasted crispy chicken with lemon, garlic, and oregano. The spinach on the side tasted ordinary, as did the chicken for the most part. But it was moist, the outside was crispy, and the lemon and spices were yummy. Good dish.
For dessert, we got a few to sample: tiramisu, chocolate mousse cake with strawberry sauce, and tartufo. The tiramisu was light and spongy, and the mascarpone cream actually had flavor. The mousse cake was dense and chocolatey with a ganache layer on top. The tartufo ice cream was thick and creamy, and the chocolate on the outside was thick enough to be noticeable. All of the desserts were pretty good, but we couldn't finish 3!
We also ordered a piccante to go, specifically so I could see how it compared to WDW's version. This one had chicken sausage, hot pepper, and provolone, in addition to the tomato and mozzarella. It was rather one-note, like a spicy sausage pizza.
Overall, the food was essentially the same as at Via Napoli. But experiencing it outside of the Disney Bubble was pretty mind-opening. The food was good and simple for the most part, but I actually think I prefer Via Napoli's pizza. The toppings there were bolder (for example, putting something bitter like broccoli rabe on the piccante is a risk, but to me it made the pizza even better; the truffle oil on the artichoke pizza adds some decent flavor; and even the cool melon is a risk on a warm prosciutto pizza, although personally I hate the gamey taste of warm prosciutto anyway). Here, the main flavors were of cheese and one prominent ingredient (tuna, spicy sausage, etc). I felt like each of the pizzas could have used an extra ingredient to be more balanced (although I can't blame the Vesuvio pizza, since I chose to leave off the anchovies). Good pizza, and convenient location if catching a train to/from Grand Central, but not the most groundbreaking or inspiring. Out of curiosity, we looked it up in our 2010 NYC Zagat, and it received a 17 out of 30 for food (which means good to very good - makes sense to me). On the bright side, it's pretty consistent with the experience at Via Napoli (sort of like how Rainforest Cafe's throughout the country will offer a similar dining experience). Plus, this allowed me to finally get rid of my lingering pizza craving. If you're in the city and really want to taste Epcot's new pizza, you should stop by here (I'm sure the Margherita, Pepperoni, and Four Seasons pizzas are virtually identical).
