Taste of Disney

It had been more than 6 years since I had dined at Via Napoli so I decided it was time for a return visit. Walking into the lobby, I remembered how much I liked the colorful light fixture there…

We were seated in a pretty secluded section of the restaurant (there was just one other table), just to the side of the open kitchen area so we could see all the action.

From the making of the pizzas at one end of the counter…

To stuffing the cannoli at the other end…

We started by ordering our drinks. Four ordered alcoholic beverages, starting with Emily who had an…

Amaretto Sour with Maker’s Mark Bourbon, Amaretto Liqueur, Lemon-Lime Soda, and Lemon Juice – $19.00

I thought the size of this drink was pretty small for $19.00. And to make matters worse, she didn’t like it and rated it only a 2. Emily said it didn’t quite taste like a normal Amaretto Sour.

Jake and Becca also ordered cocktails…

Jake had the Limoncello Mule, which had Wild Sardinia Vodka, Limoncello, Peach Puree, Orange Juice, Pineapple Juice, Lime Juice, and Ginger Beer for $20.00. Again I thought this was overpriced but at least he really enjoyed it and rated it a 4 1/2.

Becca seemed to like her Peach Bellini made with Prosecco wine for $16.00. I kind of wished that I had gotten one too but I stuck with water, as did my husband. Because of course, the people paying the bill didn’t indulge in expensive cocktails. Haha.

Andrew chose a non-alcoholic beverage, a Limonata (lemon flavored Italian Soda), which was served in a can for $7.00. He didn’t rate this or take a photo. That leaves Bryan, who had an Italian beer (Cipriani Chiara) that was served in a bottle for a whopping $16.00 (Ouch!). But then even a Blue Moon was $16.00 here so I guess that is pretty much the going rate for a bottle of beer at Via Napoli. Anyway, we don’t have a photo and no rating was given so I can’t really tell you if the Cipriani Chiara was worth the $16.00. I hope so, lol.

Next we ordered a couple of appetizers to share…

Arancini – Fried Risotto Balls with Fontina Cheese and Meat Ragu ($15.00)

When we ordered this appetizer for the 6 of us to share (Emily didn’t partake because of her gluten sensitivity) I didn’t realize that we would get only two risotto balls. Though they were fairly large in size, I wouldn’t say that this is a group sharing size appetizer. But anyway, I really enjoyed my 1/3 share of a risotto ball. I especially liked the sauce. I gave the arancini a rating of 4. The others gave this either a 3 or 4, so our average rating for the arancini was a 3 1/2.

The other appetizer we got was one that Emily could have, as it was a gluten-free one…

Mozzarella Caprese – Fior di Latte Mozzarella, Vine-Ripened Tomato, and Basil ($14.00)

Again, this was not really a group sharing size appetizer, as it was just 3 slices of tomato topped by one slice of fresh mozzarella. The taste that I had was pretty bland. In my opinion, the tomato was not ripe enough, as it had no flavor. The best part of this was the balsamic. I wish there had been a lot more of it. I gave this only a 2. It did receive a couple of 3 1/2 ratings though so I’ll say our average rating for the Mozzarella Caprese was a 3.

Our problems began with the entrees. Emily asked our server what their gluten-free options were and was told that any of the pasta entrees on the menu could be made gluten-free except for the Carbonara pasta. So she ordered the Tortellini. Bryan wanted to be able to share entrees with Emily so he asked if the Chicken Parmesan could be made gluten-free and was initially told yes. A little later our server returned to tell him that it actually could not be made gluten-free and suggested the Branzino, which is what Bryan then ordered. The rest of us decided to share a Mezzo Metro size Pizza, their largest size.

So we were seated shortly after our 7:30 reservation time and ordered soon after being seated. Our appetizers arrived at about 8:00. It didn’t take very long for the 7 of us to devour the appetizers and then we sat and waited, and waited, and waited some more.

Finally at 8:30 our pizza was brought to our table…

1/2 Meat Lover and 1/2 Quattro Formaggi Mezzo Metro Pizza ($60.00)

NOTE: We were charged the higher price of the Meat Lover’s Mezzo Metro Pizza. The price of a whole Quattro Formaggi Mezzo was only $57.00.

The Meat Lover’s half had Italian spicy sausage, pancetta, parmacotto ham, and pepperoni with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. The four cheeses of the Quattro Formaggi half were mozzarella, parmesan, fontina, and provolone, with a white sauce. I liked both halves equally and gave the pizza a rating of 4. The guys though preferred the cheese pizza, giving it ratings of 3 1/2 and 4. They gave the meat lover’s pizza ratings of 3 and 3 1/2. So for the entire pizza overall I believe our average rating was 3 1/2.

When they delivered the pizza at 8:30 (after we had been there for about an hour) we asked about the other two entrees, which were to be gluten-free. Our server said he would check on them and returned about 5 minutes later with just one of them…

Branzino – Mediterranean Sea Bass topped with lemon oil and served with green beans and cherry tomatoes ($39.00)

Bryan and Emily said that this was pretty good. They liked that it was not fishy tasting. Their rating for the Branzino was 3 1/2.

When he brought the Branzino to our table, our server told us that the chefs had made the wrong pasta entree so he said it would be a few more minutes for them to prepare the correct pasta dish. I suspect that they had prepared the regular tortellini dish instead of the gluten-free version. So about 10 minutes later (we had now been there for 1 hour and 15 minutes) they brought this…

So, this was obviously not the tortellini pasta that she had ordered. However, though it was Rotini noodles instead of tortellini, the rest of this dish seemed to match the menu description of the Tortellini. Therefore, what Emily ended up with was Gluten-Free Rotini with Sauteed Pancetta, Sweet Peas, and Parmesan Cheese Cream Sauce for $29.00 (the same price as the Tortellini entree). While the gluten-free rotini noodles were fine, she would have preferred tortellini. But we came to the conclusion that the rotini was likely the only gluten-free pasta that they had. So anyway, she liked the cream sauce and the rest of the dish was okay, so she gave her gluten-free pasta entree a rating of 3.

When we were brought our bill at 9:00, our server apologized for the long wait for our pizza and entrees. He had given us a 15% discount as compensation. Also note that an 18% gratuity had already been added due to our party size. I believe this is standard practice at the table service restaurants at Disney World for parties of 6 or more.

So overall our Via Napoli dining experience was just okay. The food was rated only 3 or 3 1/2 and the service was slow and not very knowledgeable regarding their gluten-free options.