A Meal at Via Napoli Would Make Gram Happy

EPCOT provides dining opportunities with all sorts of unique twists, but sometimes you just want a good meal like grandma used to make. One popular choice is Via Napoli at EPCOT’s Italy pavilion. Although it is known for its pizza, don’t overlook many of the other dishes. Here’s what we tried on a recent visit.

Tagliere

This is the Via Napoli charcuterie board. Our in-park researchers have had their share of them recently, and at $38 this is certainly a pricey one, but it is worth every penny. You’ve got your typical assortment of Italian meats, and these were the highest quality. There’s also beautiful olives and a delicious fig jam that tastes like the kind you get at the really good cheese counters. And speaking of cheese, the assortment was wonderful including a fontina and a cruccolo (both semi-soft cheese). The favorite at the table was the simply gorgeous burrata.  The entire board was high quality, well thought out, and visually appealing. This is a fantastic thing to order on a date or one of the times that you’re the Disney guide and want to impress your pals. It’s all different enough to be special but familiar enough that even the 8 year old was fine just digging in. That’s always the best kind of food.

Spaghetti E Polpettine

Yes, this is spaghetti and meatballs, an incredibly simple dish, but just amazing. I’ll let Chrissy speak for herself on this one: I have never in my life had meatballs like this. Truly. And my Gram was a sweet old Sicilian lady. Who knew that the meat was supposed to be formed into a ball that was only held together by the smallest bit of pressure and a lot of love?!?! That’s exactly what this tasted like. They were light. I have never in all my years had a meatball that was light. Almost airy? You could see the spices and garlic and it was just such good quality. The pasta was al dente and perfect and wasn’t swimming in sauce. We may have had a small fight about who was going to get the last bite of meatball.

Large Margherita Pizza

Overall, most people come to Via Napoli for the pizza, and yet our review team was least impressed by this dish. Was it that everything else was so good that this just fell a little . . . flat? Was it that this particular type of pizza just didn’t wow our team? The dough was tasty, but the sauce and cheese just didn’t have a wow-worthy flavor. We’re game to give the pizza by itself another try. Let us know in the comments what type of pizza you enjoy the most at Via Napoli for our next trip.

Via Napoli offers both indoor and outdoor seating, and a 10% discount for Annual Passholders. For fans of vino, the wine list could qualify as a novel. Our TouringPlans readers give Via Napoli a 91% thumbs-up rating, placing it at #20 out of 105 restaurants at Walt Disney World.

Are you a fan of Via Napoli for more that just the pizza? Do you have a favorite pizza that is your must-have? Let us know what you think in the comments.