Via Napoli in Epcot Review

Wrong!

If you want real pizza, you need to visit Via Napoli, in the Italy Pavilion in Epcot’s World Showcase.

With a beautiful dining space, and authentic pizza pies, baking in 3 beautiful wood burning ovens. These wood ovens are named after the 3 active volcanoes in Italy: Mount Etna, Mount Vesuvius and Stromboli. This restaurant is, at once, huge and homey.

My wife and friends have eaten here twice, and loved it on both occasions.

The family style salad is served exclusively if you order a pizza. It comes with leaf lettuces, roasted red peppers, marinated mushrooms, olives, peperonicini, red wine vinaigrette, and is $5 per person, with a 2 person minimum.

I have had the Calamari Fritti, corn-crusted rings served with spicy tomato sauce, for $14.00. Very good calamari, but I LOVE the sauce.

My friend John has had the Minestrone, vegetable & cannelini bean soup with basil pesto, which is $8.00, on both visits, and highly recommends it.

But enough of all that, you’re here for the pizza!

The pizzas are made with caputo flour imported from Southern Italy, San Marzano tomatoes, handmade mozzarella, and water from a local spring similar to Italy’s Campania region.

On our first visit, John and I split a large pie, which is $28, and added Prosciutto on top for $2 extra. One interesting thing, and something that took me a couple of bites to get used to, was the Prosciutto was not cooked onto the pie. At a local pizza establishment, they bake the pizza with the Prosciutto on it, and it turns crispy, but here, it was uncooked. It was good, but I felt it would have been better crispy. You can probably ask that it be cooked on, as I will next time I order it.

On a recent trip, my wife, friend Kandi, and I shared a signature pie, the Funghi, which comes with portobello and crimini mushrooms. This is the “Mezzo Metro” size, which serves 3-5 people, and costs $41.

John was in the mood for Piatti alla Parmigiana, with Pollo, aka, Chicken Parm, which was $24. It was a good size serving, tender and juicy.
For desert, I’ve had the Tiramisu, Mascarpone cream, espresso coffee, lady fingers, and chocolate, $8.00. I really enjoyed it.

This is a great restaurant, and we will absolutely return. But one thing it is not, is cheap, as I’m sure you’ve gathered by the prices I listed. If you are just in the mood for a quick slice, this may not be the place for you, but if you are in the mood for an authentic pizza pie in a lovely environment, give it a try.

Alla salute!

Nick is co-writer of the Disney Musings Blog with his wife, Barbie.