As if gorging ourselves on delicious treats throughout the day at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival wasn't enough, my girls and I had made reservations to eat at one of Epcot's newest restaurants, Via Napoli. This sit-down restaurant is another one of the fantastic dining options at Epcot, located (obviously) in the Italy Pavilion. It's menu features all kinds of Italian specialities, but it's shining star is PIZZA. You can't miss the three giant faces of the wood-fire pizza ovens, each named after active volcanoes in Italy.... there's Stromboli, Vesuvius, and Etna.
Walking in, you feel like you're instantly transported to a well worn in, much loved restaurant in the heart of Italy. The walls are painted with a nice fresco, with views of sun lit vineyards. It may seat 300 but it feels cozy at the same time. We were seated at the GIANT family style table in front of the pizza ovens, it seats about 40 people.
We ordered a glass of red-wine sangria ($7.00) and an Aqua Fresca ($5.00), which is made in-house and is a combination of water, sugar, and fresh fruit. I ordered the Limonata flavor. It was like a better version of a homemade lemonade. Tart, refreshing, and a good way to begin our evening.
Since there were three of us, we decided we wanted to try the Fritto Misto platter ($24.00), which is a sampler platter of a few of Via Napoli's appetizers. It comes with fried calamari, zucchini, asparagus, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, eggplant, and fried risotto balls. Served with a side of zesty marinara sauce, this was a HUGE hit with us. We all got to try different things, and there was plenty for all of us. My favorite was the fried asparagus, that was new for me and it was surprisingly delicious! I also ordered the Proscuitto e melone ($7.00), which was slices of juicy cantaloupe draped with thin slices of Prosciutto di Parma, and is one of my new favorite combinations in life!
Then the crowning glory of the evening arrived, our Quatro Formaggio pizza ($28.00 for the large) was here. Crispy crust, oozing melty cheese on top, this pizza looked divine and we hadn't even tasted it yet. With a blend of four cheeses : Mozzarella, Parmesan, Fontina, Provolone, this pizza's flavor was out of this world. It was without a doubt the richest, most delicious cheese pizza I've ever had. The only thing that could have made it better was if we had gotten sliced pepperoni on top to cut through some of the richness of the cheese. But it was still good either way!
Our server for the evening was Francesco and between him and the other waiters in the place, they had us in tears over how delightfully funny they all were. He was a wonderful server and we will be back to Via Napoli very soon!
Please note that park admission into Epcot is required, and it's highly recommended to make advanced reservations when visiting Disney World, you can call the dining hotline at 407-WDW-DINE or log into Disney's website and make online reservations there.
