Via Napoli Review

Well, it has been four months in the making, but I am finally posting my review of Via Napoli. Let me start by saying I was very excited about the opening of this restaurant. Our family loves all things Italian, with pizza being our absolute favorite meal. So that being said, you can imagine how thrilled I was that this restaurant was going to be opening mere weeks before our trip. So, I spent months in the spring and summer checking for updates on this restaurant and counting down the days until I could make our reservations. When the big day came, I woke up early and called to make our reservation. Luckily I was able to get the time and day I wanted so I was thrilled. The only thing left to do was wait for the big day to come.

That day finally came and I was very excited and very much looking forward to our dinner that night. Ironically, that day my brother and sister-in-law ate there for lunch as a walk in without knowing that we were eating there that night for dinner. When we ran into them they went on and on about how good their lunch was and how stuffed they were. To say the least, they were very impressed with Via Napoli. That just added to my excitement. I was looking forward to it even more now that I had actually talked to someone who had eaten there. This was going to be a good meal.

So we checked into the restaurant at our scheduled time and had to wait about 10 minutes for our table. This was fine though as it gave us time to soak in the beautiful details of the new restaurant. It was a very bright, friendly, and welcoming atmosphere. The decor was very nice, and had a lot of touches that I can imagine were good representations Italy. If you haven't seen pictures of the brick ovens they use, I have to say that they are pretty cool. So far, I was impressed.

So we were seated and given a menu by our friendly server. I decided pretty quickly on the chicken parmigiana. I was disappointed that it didn't come with a salad, but decided to go with it nonetheless. My husband wanted a pizza with pepperoni and sausage, but there wasn't one on the menu (I can't remember which one he settled on now). My seven year old decided on a pepperoni pizza as well. So, we placed our orders and proceeded to soak up the fun atmosphere. After a few minutes the server brought the pizzas. When we asked about mine, we were told that they bring the food as it is ready, and not all at once (apparently this is the way they do it in Italy). So, I sat there and watched the two of them start their meals. My husband thought the pizza was pretty good (though we both admitted that the pizza we had eaten that day for lunch at Wolfgang Puck Express was actually better). The pizzas are cooked in the brick ovens which makes the crust pretty tasty....though our daughter would disagree. She did not like it at all. She had not had this type of pizza before and thought it tasted burnt. Once she saw the brown spots on the bottom of the crust, there was no convincing her otherwise. She only had a few bites.

Luckily my dinner finally showed up and she was able to share it with me. I liked the chicken portion pretty well. It was very moist and the sauce was very good. However, the noodles came as a fried lump. It was not at all what I was expecting and I did not like the texture of it. My daughter thought they were pretty cool and ate most of them for me. I think this was the first meal that I was actually looking forward to seeing the dessert menu since I actually had a little room left to eat it!

So, the dessert menu is delivered. I anxiously look at it hoping for something extra yummy and chocolaty...

No such luck. I didn't see anything that I just had to have. However, I finally settled on the Tiramisu and my husband went with the Zeppole di Catarina ( fried ricotta cheese with whipping cream and chocolate sauce). I think my daughter had a cookie, but don't hold me to that :) When the desserts came I was very intrigued with the presentation of my husbands dessert, and it actually looked quite tasty despite how disgusting I thought it sounded! So, was dessert better than the entrees? Yes, and no. My daughter did not like her dessert, and mine was very mushy. I am a texture person and couldn't get past the sliminess to enjoy the taste. Surprisingly, my husband's meal was the big hit. Those fritters were actually really good, and a lot of fun to dip in the chocolate and whipping cream. So, we all shared his!

In summary, the meal was good. It wasn't Disney great and if I was paying out of pocket, I definitely would not go back. However, if we were on the dining plan and couldn't get into one of our favorite restaurants I would give it another shot.