WDW Cravings Countdown: Day 5 - Via Napoli

WDW Cravings Countdown

Day 5 - Via Napoli

When we were visiting in September 2010, we were fortunate enough to have lunch at Via Napoli while it was still in the "soft opening" phase: in other words, it was not accepting reservations.

I love Via Napoli. The building itself looks as though it has always been a part of the Italy pavilion. The interior is spacious, bright and airy. The pizza ovens are amazingly fun to watch and the servers from Italy always seem to enjoy joking with guests.

My Dad traveled to Italy as a teenager and he lived off of 2 things: gelato and pizza. He swore that this was a near exact replica of the pizza he tried in Naples.

Exterior of the restaurant

Venetian glass chandelier in lobby

View of restaurant from lobby

Large communal table running the length of the restaurant

Wood-burning pizza ovens (named after three Italian volcanoes: Stromboli, Vesuvio and Etna)

When this restaurant first opened, there was some speculation that the pizzas would not be authentic. In fact, there were some who were skeptical enough to believe that the pizzas would be pre-made. This could not be further from the case. You see the pizza chefs constantly making dough, tossing it by hand, adding fresh ingredients such as imported San Marzano tomatoes and Fior di Latte mozzarella cheese. These pizzas are not your typical "Disney pizza", in fact, they aren't even traditional "American pizza".

Marghertia - the original pizza, simply tomatoes, mozzarella and basil

See how the crust is slightly blistered and dark brown in spots? See how it is lovely and think and not piled with toppings? True Naples style pizzas are thin crust with a crunchy exterior and a chewy interior, they are dressed perfectly with a light coating of toppings so that no one element of the pizza outshines another.

Pepperoni

The pepperoni itself is very small, slightly spicy pepperoni, that imparts its oil onto the pizza making every bite flavourful.

Quattro Fromaggi - mozzarella, parmesan, fontina and provolone

Wow…just wow. This pizza, with a combination of mozzarella, parmesan, fontina and provolone was cheese heaven. However, as it is a true "white pizza" with no tomato sauce it was way too rich for 1 person to finish.

 

All the pizzas above were the "individual" portion and that was far too much. For 3 adults, I'd say 2 individual pizzas is more than enough.

For dessert, we had to try:

Chocolate Gelato

Sadly, this was nowhere near as good as authentic gelato should be. It wasn't as airy as traditional ice cream, but it was far from the silky, rich, creamy experience of real gelato.

Our first night at Epcot this coming trip, we are making a beeline for Via Napoli (after sampling some Food & Wine festival items of course) to split some of the best pizza we have ever tasted.