Via Napoli Review
Via Napoli is an Italian restaurant in Epcot’s World Showcase. It’s Walt Disney World’s best pizza place, serving the only authentic Neapolitan pizza in WDW, with ingredients imported from Southern Italy. In this review, we’ll share food photos, pros & cons of dining here, and also thoughts on the service. (Last updated December 28, 2017.)
First, some basics. Via Napoli participates in the Disney Dining Plan and accepts the Tables in Wonderland card for a 20% discount. We have always paid out of pocket at Via Napoli, as it’s not a good value on the Disney Dining Plan on the Disney Dining Plan if ordering large pizzas. If ordering personal entrees, it’s a much better value.
Via Napoli is one of the newer World Showcase restaurants–and one of our favorites. Without question, it serves the best pizza “pies” in all of Walt Disney World. We’d take that a step further, proclaiming it one of the few places we’ve ever dined serving truly authentic Neapolitan pizza, right down to imported ingredients, wood-burning ovens, and even the water-sourcing (no joke!).
We’ve dined at Via Napoli several times over the years, and while still busy most of the time, its popularity has died down a bit since it first opened several years ago. It’s not a difficult Advance Dining Reservation (ADR) to get at this point.
Before we dig into the food and ambiance of Via Napoli, I want to take a rare moment to address the service at Via Napoli. Normally, we shy away from this in our reviews since service is incredibly hit or miss at Walt Disney World. You can go on two different days and have night-and-day experiences, or even be sitting at different tables on the same night and have a totally different take on service quality.
In fairness, most service at Walt Disney World is good. We’d peg around 80% of our restaurant experiences with servers and other Cast Members as good to great. The other 20% are not so good, and are totally unpredictable. It’s hit or miss to the extent that there’s usually no telling where or when you might encounter poor service. It does not depend upon the specific restaurant, or the caliber/cost of the dining spot. This inconsistency is definitely a problem at Walt Disney World.
At least, service is usually unpredictable. At Via Napoli, our experience with service has been poor most of the time. We’ve now dined at Via Napoli around a dozen times, and I’d say we’ve had good service maybe three times. Given those numbers, I’m pretty confident that we have a large enough sample size, and our experiences are not anomalies. Via Napoli is a consistent offender.
Despite this, we keep returning. The food is that good, and the poor service is the price we pay (so to speak) for the delicious pizza. I also write this off as being the general “style” of service throughout Europe. Look at it this way: you’re getting an authentic European experience–poor service makes it just like being there. 😉 (Seriously, at a good 75% of table service meals we’ve had in Europe, the server acts disinterested or like our presence is a burden.)
With that out of the way, let’s move on to the theme and ambiance of Via Napoli…
The inside of Via Napoli is beautiful albeit it relatively understated. There are nice lighting fixtures and craftsmanship. By far my favorite feature of the restaurant was the open-air cooking area, including the three-ovens.
In terms of ambiance, Via Napoli is fine. The seating area is large, open, and features high ceilings with minimal fabric to absorb sound. It can get pretty loud inside, but is still typically fine. After all, this is a pizza place, not an intimate fine dining setting.
Even though the pizzas are quite expensive, the true question is whether it costs more to eat a meal here than at most restaurants. If paying out of pocket and eating pizza, I would answer with a resounding “no.” The largest pizzas on the Via Napoli menu are around $40. That would be a fairly high price if these pizzas could only feed one.
However, they can feed ~4, depending upon appetites. Roughly $10 per person for an entree at a table service restaurant, especially one of the better World Showcase restaurants, isn’t that bad. Add in appetizers and drinks, and the total is around $20 per person, which is still quite reasonable given the alternatives.
It’s still quite a bit for pizza, but in Disney, you pay for the ambiance and location. It’s not the best-value in the EPCOT area, but you shouldn’t have sticker shock in looking at the pizza prices. All in all, it’s not that bad given the size of the pies.
Over the course of our first few visits to Via Napoli, we tried some appetizers. On our subsequent half-dozen or so visits, we’ve always skipped the appetizers. They don’t seem that special to us, and can quickly escalate the cost of the meal (which we normally try to make a good value).
With that said, here’s some of what we’ve tried…
One such appetizer is the Calamari Fritti. I’ve never encountered calamari I didn’t like, and this was no exception. The sauce was rich and fairly well-flavored (not the best I’ve ever had, not the worst), and the calamari itself were perfectly breaded. I definitely have a weakness for calamari, and this really hit the spot. I probably would have been fine with two orders of calamari for myself, for my entree.
Here are a couple of other appetizers that we’ve tried since that first meal at Via Napoli:
Here’s the Fritto di Verdura. These are crisp fried vegetables served with marinara piccante.
This is one of the cheaper appetizers at Via Napoli, and are arguably worth getting if you want a bit of filler. Very straightforward and nothing that will wow you, but the batter is fairly good and the portion usually fair. (It’s hard to tell from that photo, but I think we got decent value out of this.)
Here’s the Arancini. This is fried risotto balls filled with mozzarella and meat ragù.
These were fine, with a nice crunch outside and a soft center. I wouldn’t say the flavor was particularly noteworthy, and at over $10 for this appetizer, I wouldn’t say the portion presented good value for money.
We’ve also had the Salami e Provolone (flavorful without being overly greasy) and the Eggplant Caponata (something I wouldn’t normally sample, but surprisingly delicious). With that said, I’d probably still steer clear of the appetizers unless something really catches your eye. Instead, go big on the pizzas.
Now, let’s take a look at the star of the show at Via Napoli: the pizza!
After a hiccup our first time visiting Via Napoli, we’ve had incredible pizza after incredible pizza there. We’ve tried most of the menu at this point, and have loved every choice. Here are some random notes I’ve collected from our experiences at Via Napoli.
Our current favorite is currently the Carciofi Pizza (pictured above). This is a white pizza topped with artichoke, fontina, mozzarella, and truffle oil. That might sound like an odd mix, but it is addictively good. I’m not a huge fan of artichoke, but it totally works here, and the truffle oil puts this pizza over the top. I’m pretty sure I could eat a Mezzo Metro of the Carciofi Pizza all by myself, and I’m not even exaggerating.
As is the case at pretty much every pizza place, Margherita is the cheapest option. Here, it’s no slouch.
Choosing the Margherita allows each ingredient to stand out, including the exceptional crust. The cheese is excellent, ditto the sauce, and the basil punctuates an extremely flavorful pie. If you’re trying to do Via Napoli on a budget, look no further.
The pepperoni pizza is also stellar. It went from being “nothing that knocks my socks off” as I called it at one point, to being an excellent pizza, and a worthy competitor to many real-world pizza places at which we’ve eaten. (Even though we favor Chicago-style deep dish pies, we loved these thin ones!)
Countless individuals in the Disney community have indicated what makes Via Napoli so special is the water. The team at Via Napoli sought out to find water-wells in Florida similar to those in Naples. Consequently, Via Napoli uses water nearly identical in chemical composition to the water of Naples, Italy.
Purportedly, this produces the best density for the dough, which in turn makes the pizza better. It seems to me to be more marketing fodder than anything else, but the dough on the pizzas we’ve had on our recent two visits has been really good. I wonder how many people who have gone to Via Napoli without knowledge of the dough-water have thought, “wow, this is some amazing dough!!!” Not many, I’d imagine.
The Quattro Formaggi Pizza (pictured near the top of the post) is another of our favorites, as is the Piccante Pizza (half pictured above). About the only thing I think we have not tried at Via Napoli is the Prosciutto e Melone Pizza, and that’s because I can’t get past the idea of cantaloupe on a pizza.
One thing we would recommend doing is doing a half and half Mezzo Metro (again, pictured above) if there are a couple of options you want to try. Not only does this present the best value, but it’s a good way of sampling more of this excellent menu on a single visit.
Another thing that has been heavily advertised is the varying hot spots that frequently change in Etna, Vesuvio and Stromboli (Via Napoli’s three ovens), which greatly affect the cooking. I have noticed some unevenness in our pizza, namely on the underside of the crust, and this has added to the taste.
When I first wrote this review, it ended with the following conclusion: “We had read some pretty positive reviews of Via Napoli prior to the trip, so we were fairly excited about the meal. However, I think with any new Disney restaurant, there is a bit of “inflation” that occurs in the Disney fan community. People so want the restaurant to be the next big thing that, psychologically, it seems better than it actually is (as Mulder from the X-Files would say, “I WANT to believe.”). I’m not saying Via Napoli wasn’t good–it was very good–it just didn’t match the hype I had read about the place. I would not place it in the “must do every trip” realm. Still, it was very good, well worth a visit, and definitely not as expensive as some reported, assuming you get one of the larger pizzas and share it.”
I can no longer say that this is accurate. We’ve now eaten at Via Napoli countless times, and it’s no longer a matter of “wanting” to believe. I DO BELIEVE. While it stumbles in terms of service, Via Napoli’s pizza is so good that we’re willing to overlook that. Simply put, Via Napoli is one of the best World Showcase restaurants, and a great value if you split a pizza. It’s a really fun restaurant, and it lives up to the hype. We highly recommend giving it a shot.
Want more dining tips? Check out our 101 Delicious Walt Disney World Dining Tips. For where to eat, read our Walt Disney World Restaurant Reviews. For comprehensive advice, the best place to start is our Walt Disney World Trip Planning Guide for everything you need to know!
Your Thoughts…
What do you think of Via Napoli? Do you think it’s the best Walt Disney World pizza, or do you think it’s overhyped? Planning on going? Any questions? Hearing your feedback about your experiences is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts or questions below in the comments!
Tom, you must try the Prosciutto e Melone pizza. It may sound strange but it is amazing. It’s a classic Italian pairing and it is stellar on their pizza. We’ve ordered it every time and it’s a favorite among the adults and kids in our family—in fact we even have made it at home.
I haven’t been as many times as you, but I’ve never had a negative experience with staff. Last trip we celebrated the birthday of my handicapped uncle (to whom birthdays are a huge deal) and they made home feel really special. It’s been on our list to go every time.
To everyone else, if you like Neapolitan pizza, you don’t want to miss it. Like Tom said though it seems a lot per pie compared to your local pizza place, when compared with how much you spend per person at other restaurants it actually is fairly reasonable in price.
I agree with all of the positive reviews on the pizzas and the negative reviews on service an loud ambiance. As a person that has dined here multiple times (I keep coming back ONLY for pizza) I am running close to Tom’s estimated 75% failure rate for service. Our first time back in 2011 was amazing with both pizza and cast member interactions. We felt it was among the better service we received that trip (compared to our other restaurants at Coral Reef, Liberty Tree, Crystal Palace-excluding characters that were wonderful).
We returned the next year to a snobby and stand-offish server. Rinse and repeat each visit after that. We experienced everything from inattentive servers to down right rudeness. The one that stands out in my mind as the worst was our last visit to Via Napoli- we won’t be back- when my family of 4 on the dining plan decided to only order 3 meals because neither of my kids were exceptionally hungry and they just wanted to split an individual pizza. A total of 3 iced teas were ordered and 1 paid for out of pocket beer for my husband. Only 3 deserts were ordered (of which none were even finished because no one was that hungry).
The server threw a fit about ringing in only 3 dining credits because both of my daughters and I drank the tea since they were splitting a pie- my husband did not have any tea since he ordered a beer which he paid out of pocket for. It bothered me that the server loudly announced that we were abusing the dining plan and tried to convince us to use four credits and actually went as far as to say we were dishonest. By my calculations- 3 individual pies + 3 iced teas + 3 deserts = 3 dining credits regardless of whom eats/drinks! Definitely not a “Magical Disney” experience.
We ate here in December 2017 for dinner and were surprised by how great the pizza is. We are from NYC and thought it would be fun to try a place that others thought had good pizza and we really were shocked. My kids loved the food and actually ate a real meal (my kids pretty much don’t like the kids meals at all the Disney theme park restaurants except rain forest cafe). We had pretty good service too which seems odd since so many people complained about service, but we have only dined here once. For 4 adults and 2 kids we ordered a mezzo metro pizza and 3 appetizers which was more than enough food and I think our bill came out to less than the other restaurants we ate at our entire trip (including lunch service at be our guest restaurant and my kids were not happy with the food at be our guest). Next WDW trip I am definitely planning on getting reservations to this restaurant again.
We ate at Via Napoli in November 2016, when both my wife and child had a full week off from school (aka, “Jersey week,” though usually they “only” get a 4 day weekend….one is a student, the other a teacher).
We did not have an ADR; we just walked up, asked what the wait time was, and decided to wait (we were told 15 minutes, it was more like 5). This was the first day of our short (4 day) WDW vacation, AND the last day of the Food and Wine Festival (or whatever it is called).
We got a large pepperoni pie, and it wasn’t bad, though I did have sticker shock at $33. However, we got 2 meals out of that pie (we left the park after our meal, and took the leftovers back to our resort), so it was more like about $3.50 per person per meal, so looked at that way, it wasn’t a bad deal at all. I sort of came to that realization 2 days later after paying something like $36 for a steak just for myself at Coral Reef.
We scored a last minute ADR for Via Napoli on our honeymoon. The pizza was good, our server made some recommendations, but was mostly absent after our food arrived. It was one of those “we’re ready to leave so we can catch the Fireworks, but no one is around to give us a check” kind of thing. Needless to say, it was no where near the worst service we had that trip (I’m looking at you Le Cellier). Being a former server, I have a lot of patience, and am used to the hit/miss service at Disney. What does stand out in my mind, was that from across the restaurant, which is typically loud, I could hear the manager yelling at a bunch of the servers in the one corner in plain view of guests. It was just..not Disney, and awkward.
Ate there at least 5 times. When new the food and service were great. As time went on, both declined. Once, pizza was under-cooked. Our last visit (and probably our last visit), we ordered iced tea and never got them. Pizza was delivered by a different person and we asked for tea, never got it…waiter came around and asked again for tea and he said, “well, our ice machine is down so I assumed you didn’t want any’. WHAT? Never even told us this! He brought us tea and said he wouldn’t charge us. Well, he charged us. Took forever to get it off the bill because he couldn’t find the manager.
We had our 2nd meal here in our December trip and honestly enjoyed every mouthful both times.
It was one meal on both our trips this year that we could all say we remembered and enjoyed.
We actually had really good service from our main servers, the first time particularly was really friendly with great recommendations.
Only issue I had was the ‘busser’ (probably not the right word) taking away silverware and not bringing any back etc. Our main server resolved that right away.
The pizza was nothing less than outstanding. I rarely finish a whole pizza by myself…I didn’t want mine to end!
We’ll be back!
If you put Napoli pizza up against Costco pizza, Costco’s would win, that was my experience early Dec.
Love the picture of Sarah in front of the giant pie. I took almost the exact picture of my wife on our trip last year to Via Napoli, of course followed by one of her proudly behind the empty pie pan.
Our service was also fairly spotty, but we didn’t mind.
It reminded us of a meal we had at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown in New York City years ago. It was far & away the most incredible Asian food of any kind either of us has ever had (& my Wife is Asian), but the waitress was outright hostile. We cowered in fear every time she approached our table.
It was a wonderful NYC memory!!
I remember having read somewhere that the water is sourced from an undisclosed location in Pennsylvania.
I think they pail it out of the Ohio River, near Pittsburgh!
If not the Ohio, then the Mon!
(Yeah…we are from the region!)
I want to give Via Napoli the benefit of the doubt, but I have to say that I’ve tried it two different times over the past three years, and each time neither i nor anyone I’ve eaten with has been impressed. I enjoyed the pizza I had in Italy and I normally love pizza in the U.S. so I’m not really sure what the issue is. All I know is that I’ve been with pizza lovers both times and both times everyone’s been disappointed.
Has anyone tried the pizza at the walk up window? We don’t want to commit to a full meal anywhere when we’re in Epcot next month for the Festival of the Arts, but I was thinking of splitting a slice with my husband as we eat/drink around the world. Since the biggest complaints seem to be service and atmosphere related, I wonder if this might be another option.
I am puzzled as to why you think this pizza is so good, it’s really NOT. The whole experience dining there was not up to standards, even Disney dining standards. My advice to anyone thinking about a reservation here is to pass! Sorry, but that’s based on my experience there.
I agree! Out of every place we ate at Disney, the four theme parks and Disney Springs, this was THE worst experience we’ve ever had. I wouldn’t accept that from a fast food place, let alone a place where I’m paying $20 for one pizza!
I am glad to read such honest reviews!
Was considering this place, but now think I’ll skip it.
There are probably lots of adr times available for a reason.
That’s probably a wise decision. I don’t know when this review was written, but I’m guessing some time ago. Perhaps it was good when it first opened, but it seems to have really gone downhill since. Like I said in my comment, I can’t even say if the food was good or not because the atmosphere was absolutely the worst I’ve ever experienced. When you can’t even hear the person seating you, you know it’s bad. If you really want pizza, go to Blaze Pizza at Disney Springs. It’s a QSR, but it has truly great pizza and an awesome variety of toppings.
We’ve dined at Via Napoli twice in 2017, and both times the food was very good, but the ambiance was loud and the service was very ‘curt’ (to put it charitably). I should update this review with more on that…
We just got back from a ten day stay on the dining plan and Via Napoli was the worst meal experience of our entire stay. Back Lot Express Quick Service at Universal was Better! Pizza joint down the street is better and my Chicken Parmigiana was dry and tasteless with no sauce. Oh, It might have been brushed with a thin sauce because the breeding on the chicken had a slight reddish tint to it! Stay Away from this one!
The manager here is useless and needs to learn customer service and the food was tasteless. The bathroom for the men had pee all over the seats and floors!
I can’t see why this restaurant is so highly rated! We went there and left before even ordering the drinks because it was so loud! We couldn’t even hear the woman who sat us at our table. My granddaughter was covering her ears with her hands because the noise level was so high it was hurting her ears.
So I can’t say whether the pizza was good or not. I know the atmosphere certainly isn’t!
We were just there at the end of October and had a very similar experience. The waitstaff was terrible-forgetting items, drinks, etc. All of the tables around us had similar complaints. And the noise was terrible. We couldn’t hold conversations at our table because the noise level was so loud. The pizza was ok, but nothing I’m dying to eat again.
Perhaps a sign of protest from the patrons ?
I was looking to try this when we went to Disney later this month. However, I can’t find any blog that translates Via Napoli’s highly confusing pizza sizes! I know what an individual and a large are. I have NO idea what a 1/2 Metro Mezzo Metro or what a Mezzo Metro is.
Without knowing the sizes, it’s difficult to decide whether this will be an outrageous price or one I can live with. I wish someone would translate these for readers!
We just dined there today for lunch for the first time and it was fantastic! The best service we’ve received our entire trip(we have dined at homecoming and whispering canyon). The pizza was awesome. We did the 1/2 mezzo and did pepperoni on one side and cheese on the other. Paid out of pocket. Highly recommend!
What is a 1/2 Metro Mezzo Metro pizza? I’m trying to translate their pizza sizes and it’s been next to impossible!
Thanks
One of my favorite places to have lunch. been there many times and never disapointed. Great value as a late lunch whether on meal plan or not.
Love the theming!
We’ve called to make sure there were tables available and a man answered the phone and said there was a 10 to 15 minute wait at that time. It tooks 9 minutes to get to the restaurant and the stupid person tells me at that time meant that time! Are you serious? Walked there for nothing. Anyways the pizza is great but service sucks. You have to put up with horny dumb waitstaff who take too long to serve you because they are always joking and flirting with the opposite sex. Half of the tables are empty, or waiting to be cleaned. Just go and check for yourself, but be warned!
About that water *lol* There’s a family who owned an Italian Pizzeria Restaurant here in NJ who moved to Texas. After re-opening the business in Texas, they quickly realized why the competition had such shabby pizzas. They’ve made more dough out there than they could’ve dreamed of making in NJ, simply by bringing in NJ water via tanker truck on a regular basis. True story!
Honestly, I was not impressed with via Napoli; it took 20 minutes to get our pizza. Our pizza was greasy and had very little toppings. Service was slow and food was poor quality.
I would not recommend and I will not return.