Need Via Napoli and Plaza Reviews/Suggestions

[PirateLover]

We just booked a last minute trip for August 28th-31st. We will be staying at Dolphin and don't have the dining plan. Being a little under 2 months away, dining reservations are slim pickens unless we want 8:30-9:00 dinners
We scored three at reasonable times.

We'll be at Biergarten the first night, which is one of DH's faves so we know exactly what to expect there.

The other two places we'll be dining are brand new to us- Lunch at Via Napoli and Dinner at Plaza Restaurant.

I would like to know if you have eaten recently at one or both, what you ordered, and what your nutshell review is. If you've eaten multiple times, what would you suggest ordering? Did you get desert? etc (I've looked at the menus and I know Plaza is rather limited. )

[kakn7294]

We've been to the Plaza several times. Everything on the menu is good and we have gotten dessert but I don't recommend getting both a milkshake and dessert - it's just way too much sweet stuff.

[ElenitaB]

I always find myself getting "fooded out" when at WDW. After all, I don't eat out for every meal here at home and it just gets to be too much... which is why I like The Plaza so much. I generally get a kid's meal there and I love the Mickeylodeon (a scoop of ice cream with Oreo mouse ears). Their tomato soup is soooo good too.

[BugeyedMuggy]

We are in Disney now and have had great luck with ressies day of. We went to Via Napoli in May and we were not impressed. Had the pizza and thought it was not so good. But that is just our opinion. If you are staying at the Dolphin I suggest Bluezoo or Shula. They have an italian restaurant also Il Mulino I have never tried but have heard from many this week it is really good.

[VWL Mom]

We go to The Plaza every trip and enjoy it. It's a nice break for us. Last week I tried the Vegetarian Sandwich for the 1st time and I loved it. So nice and light, yet filling. i'm on WW right now so I had to forego the strawberry milkshake but boy it was a temptation, simply delicious.

Word of caution, If you have kids and they get a milkshake save it for dessert. Mine (16 & 19) ordered it as their drink, had it finished before the meal arrived, and then of course were too full to eat their dinner. Will they ever learn???

[SBETigg]

We loved the pizza at Via Napoli. We got the individual sizes so we could all try more different kinds- I think the Margherita was the best. Simpler seems best when you have real pizza with great crust and fresh ingredients.

Bluezoo and Shula's are both good, but very expensive.

[AgentC]

I've never been to the Plaza but we went to Via Napoli shortly after it opened.

My husband and I really enjoyed. He got the the calamari and liked it. The salad was good.

We shared a large margherita pizza and it was delicious. It is brick oven style, so you need to make sure you like that type of pizza. I prefer this style of pizza, but my son who is not very adventurous did not like the fresh mozzarella slices and didn't like the crust. I, however, really recommend it.

[PirateLover]

Thanks, these are exactly the tips I was looking for! We may still try to do walk ups but we wanted to have at least a few reservations. We were looking at the restaurants at the hotel, but we didn't want to tie ourselves down too much. If we decide to try one of those, it will probably be day of. I know Via Napoli has somewhat mixed reviews, but being pizza lovers, we have to try it! (Also being Philadelphians, we will also be stopping by Cosmic Ray's for lunch at some point to try out this cheesesteak that Ian talked about on a recent podcast. )

ElenitaB, I love a good tomato soup so I'll be sure to try that! Oh, and we don't have any kids yet, so no worries there. It will be myself, DH, and his mother.

[PirateLover]

Cindy, I think I will like it, but I have a feeling my husband may not. He tends to not like char. A little bit is OK but if we get an overcharred pizza pie, he may not be too happy! Oh well! We can get extra calamari for him

[SBETigg]

Cindy, I think I will like it, but I have a feeling my husband may not. He tends to not like char. A little bit is OK but if we get an overcharred pizza pie, he may not be too happy! Oh well! We can get extra calamari for him

My kids don't like char either, but they loved our Via Napoli pizza so it might work out. Looking forward to reports!

[AHOTE]

We did Via Napoli twice last visit. Both meals were very good. We had the pizza the first time and it's different than what we're used to having here in Philly, but it was very good. The second meal was a more traditional fare. I had the veal parma and it was great. We'll be back there again in October... I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[RedSoxFan]

Via Napoli is great. DH had the pizza which he loved. I had the veal parm which was the best I've had in years. Looking forward to eating there again in November.

[Kairi_7378]

(Also being Philadelphians, we will also be stopping by Cosmic Ray's for lunch at some point to try out this cheesesteak that Ian talked about on a recent podcast. )

If you try one of these I'd love to hear about it! (And the rest of your plans sound great, too.)

[MinnieMommie]

This is what we had at Via Napoli (all good to very good...no disappointments):

prosciutto and melon
fritto de verdura (fried veggies with marinara sauce - great batter almost like a tempura)
cheese pizza
chicken parmigiano (not boneless and comes with spaghetti)
Candele (pasta with sausage and cheeses)
aqua fresca: limonata and strawberry (lemon good but strawberry not as flavorful)

A couple of thoughts on where you might be able to dine calling last minute or walking in:

Grand Flo Cafe
Kona (not likely for dinner but great breakfast and good lunch)
Captains Grill
Beaches and Cream

I'm sure others will be able to offer more suggestions.

[DVC2004]

We like Via Napoli and have been there 2 times now, most recently in June. We liked the arincini appetizer (fried race balles with a nugget of gooey mozzarella in the center, on a bed or red sauce), we shared a half meter pizza with pepperoni (there were 4 of us including 1 teen and 1 preteen boy so...yeah we needed a pizza that big) and that was also great.

[Hammer]

Thanks, these are exactly the tips I was looking for! We may still try to do walk ups but we wanted to have at least a few reservations. We were looking at the restaurants at the hotel, but we didn't want to tie ourselves down too much. If we decide to try one of those, it will probably be day of. I know Via Napoli has somewhat mixed reviews, but being pizza lovers, we have to try it! (Also being Philadelphians, we will also be stopping by Cosmic Ray's for lunch at some point to try out this cheesesteak that Ian talked about on a recent podcast. )

ElenitaB, I love a good tomato soup so I'll be sure to try that! Oh, and we don't have any kids yet, so no worries there. It will be myself, DH, and his mother.

Sorry, Maryanne, was away this weekend. Having just stayed at the Dolphin I can give you dining reviews for some of the restaurants there. Simply, we liked all the places where we ate (Il Mulino, Garden Grove Cafe for breakfast, and Cabana Bar and Grill). We made our reservations at Il Mulino the day of and ate around 7:30, which is the time we like to eat. Breakfast at Garden Grove does not take reservations and we were seated right away. Food was good and you have characters on the weekends (Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale)!

[KAT1811]

chicken parmigiano (not boneless and comes with spaghetti)

I have never heard of such a thing and we live in an area with a large concentration of italian immigrants and a zillion italian restaurants.

I'm looking forward to trying Via Napoli in the fall.

We like the Plaza. I agree with the PP who said they had good tomato soup. I really enjoyed it when we ate there last. If I remember correctly I also had the reuben and it was very good. It's a nice change of pace. A great place to take a break from the parks and even better when not using the dining plan since it really wouldn't be a good choice to use a TS credit on since the price points are so low.

Enjoy!!! Looking forward to hearing more on Via Napoli

[azcavalier]

This is what we had at Via Napoli (all good to very good...no disappointments):

prosciutto and melon
fritto de verdura (fried veggies with marinara sauce - great batter almost like a tempura)
cheese pizza
chicken parmigiano (not boneless and comes with spaghetti)
Candele (pasta with sausage and cheeses)
aqua fresca: limonata and strawberry (lemon good but strawberry not as flavorful)

We had the prosciutto and melon, and while I liked the flavor, the prosciutto was basically a huge sheet, and kind of chewy. I thought the Margherita pizza was the best. Our daughter had the chicken parmigiano, and still talks about it.

However, my wife *LOVED* (I cannot stress this enough) the pistachio gelato dessert. LOVED IT. She actually has ADRs mid-afternoon on our next trip simply to go back for this.

[Ian]

LOVED Via Napoli!!! We ate there twice on the last trip and I think I'm still digesting the pizza from our last visit I ate so much of it.

Awesome ... can't say enough about it. Probably my favorite place on property now.

Plaza is one of our favorites, too. Get the milkshake!

[brownie]

Via Napoli was great! We had a group of 8 and several varieties of pizza. Everything was very good. We'll be going back for more!