Naples Restaurants

Favorite Dish: Naples is known for the following foods:
Pizza - undoubtedly the symbol of Naples
Vermicelli - served with clams, mussels, and smaller shellfish
Ziti
Struffuli - cookies with Strega liqueur
Pastiere - cakes made with ricotta and orange syrup
Zeppole - cookies made frwith black cherry liqueur

So, Naples is the birthplace of pizza, and it's really good here. The margarita pizza is the original -- sauce, mozzerella di buffala and basil. A little random history for you here -- the reason that those are the ingredients are because they wanted to make a dish that represented the colors of the Italian flag. Anyway, really any place you eat at in downtown Naples is going to have great pizza. If you're here, and you eat anything else, you're an idiot.

Tiny place not far from the University, where traditional Napoli recipes are prepared. They tell their preparations are at least 2-century old, but I can tell you it was worth waiting: such a long time of testing led to excellent results.
It's necessary to book, because there are no more than 20 places available.

Favorite Dish: Wonderful artichokes and potato soup. Great stockfish with potatoes, very very interesting "salsiccia" stuffed with mozzarella and many other worth tasting recipes.
Wines: no risks to make any mistake.

This pizzeria was once owned by the creator of the famous "Pizza Margerita", named after the Queen Margherita.

In the modern days this is a over commercialized and abused reason to serve a below-quality pizza (uncooked) and very very expensive.

Avoid it at all costs. Go to other places: the pizza is better (and cheaper) if you don't get it there.

Eating seafood in naples is just as important (if not more than) as climbing the Vesuvius when visiting naples. Thanks to its coastal location, seafood in naples is fresh all year round with some seasonal offerings. It is so fresh that in fact some people like to eat it raw, barely pickled with herbs and lemon or vinegar or so I think that's what it is...

Although I wasn't partial to eating raw seafood, despite my partner's many attempts to instill a love for whole, raw anchovies in me (yeeks), I fell in love with many many seafood dishes, cooked in the traditionally light Napolitan way. t

he more squeamish will love the frutti di mare (is that how it's spelt? means fruit of the sea. All deep fried, light-as-a-feather battered seafood bits) and linguine with cozze (mussels) and gamberi (prawns), the gratinated mussels and grilled whole fishes. The less squeamish really ought to try the souther italian antipasto of pickled baby octopus. very wriggly-looking and chewy at first, but so delicate and tender, i almost forgot what they were! delicious!

I thought just about everything was delicious in naples. Except maybe the raw, marinated anchovies I bought from the deli counter at a supermarket. But i had a particularly enjoyable time at a ristorante by the promenade near the coastal Castello d'Uovo (Egg Castle, I think). I am not very sure what I was eating but I had 3 starters, a bruschetta, a mozzarella adn ham and a very nice deep-fried dough-ball (im sorry Ive forgotten the name) antipasti, 2 rugola (im sure the spelling is wrong..), prosciutto and mozarella pizze, a caffe and a complimentary limoncello to top off a wonderful meal. Something about the food - simple cooking, light sauces, more carbs and greens than meat - keeps napolitan food satisfying and yet very very clean and light to eat...we were sure i'd explode near the end of my meal-i'd eaten so much, yet a mere hour later,we were starving again!

This is a good restaurant and one of the oldest pizzeria in town, as it was founded in 1830. It is via Port' Alba number 18. The atmosphere is quiet and family like - it is particularly nice to see what is going on in the kitchen. A funny anecdote about this place: one of the chefs is actually quite short, but I only noticed this when he stepped down from the platform in the kitchen!

One of the most popular bakeries, and definitely always very busy. One needs to take a ticket and queue, while all the locals are taking away desserts for their family lunch. It is in a small street north of the Stazione Centrale, in Vico Ferroviario 1-4. Famous throughout Italy, supposedly, and definitely packed and talented.