Pizzeria Napoletana — Restaurant in Montreal

My review is the review of someone who came to this restaurant for around 30 years with my Nonna initially and my dad since I was a child.

The first thing I noticed after eating here twice within just a few weeks apart, the quality of the food varies greatly from one occurence to the other. Two weeks ago the food was very good and yesterday, very underwhelming (wet pizza, mooshy and tasteless pasta) and that, even if we ordered twice the exact same meals. Difficult to know what to expect: the Pizzeria Napoletana of my childhood or some generic italian pizzeria that I feel is not worth going back to? I wish I could say the former but at this time, for me the consistency is lacking to say the least.

The prices have increased tremendously over the 30 or so last years but I get it, prices increase everywhere. The quality of the food should at least not be affected by any of that.

Although it took a little too long for our liking to be attended to initially, the waiter we had was good and seemed to enjoy his job which we appreciated. Unfortunately, it is not something we can say about everyone in the staff that day. As if working there for a long time allows you to not care about welcoming people properly. An effort should be made to serve customers properly.. placing the forks and plates in front of each customers instead of in the middle of the table in a bunch like saying "serve yourself we're not here for that" (it's been like that for a long time though).

This is gonna sound weird and I hope it's not gonna be taken in a wrong way because it's something not everyone will understand or agree with but.. I understand waiters origins have changed over time as I understand time have changed with the lack of workforce and you have to hire good waiters and not just any italian waiter just because it's an italian restaurant.. but the fact that waiters speak spanish amongst themselves is just breaking the vibe for me. Just think of an african restaurant that would have asian waiters talking their native languages between them. It would be kinda weird right? Not because spanish is closer to italian that it's less weird. The only people that would disagree probably can't tell the difference. It simply dilutes the "italian food experience" further more.

Anyways, if this wasn't one of my favorite childhood memories I would propably not say a word. Simply trying to help preserve the greatness that I remember. Sorry if this offended anyone. Definitely not the...

Looks good on paper but just another tourist trap! Burnt pizza and patronizing waiters.

Bear with me! I arrived at 11, but they open at 11:30, fair enough. Dante street as quite a very unique vibe, so I enjoyed that free time. They own this very quaint shop across the street and bought a decent white whine in private import and I could of bought everything! Back at 11;20 and there was a line. Had to queue with no acknowledgement on his behalf. Finally I get to sit and have a taste of that wine. 11:30 passed order (so to be the first sent to the cook) mentioning that I have a 12:15 meeting at the market. All is GREAT, nice original décor, patio on the sidewalk, flower beds and all! 30 minutes later, still no food. So I asked and this is when all went bad. I asked for the check and was told not to pay. Not one to loose a paid for wine, I went back to polish that 375ml. Second waiter comes in to lecture me of what a restaurant business , that he is not the owner and so on, while I was on the phone with my 12:15 meeting. Around 12:12 the pizza arrived and IT WAS BURNT. As soon as it arrived I mentioned it and the waiter went off on me. It looks like my order was lost. I ordered #41 with capicollo, italien sausages and prosciutto (did not see any of it) tomato sauce was very nice, thick with roasted red pepper, Nice touch. But I had still to go, so that second waiter asked me if I wanted to bring it to take out. I was travelling BIXI while in the area and going to a meeting, so that was not an option. By then all I wanted is to get back to my business. To pay, you need to go inside, no outdoor, modern machine or cash done outside, oh dear.. I was going to pay with debit, then the machine model was so old I just could not read the screen. Then that second waiter looked at me and told me that I do not even know how to use an interac machine works. Well, get a newer model. Sorry, it is...

I'll start off by saying that the staff is wonderful and friendly. There was little waiting time between taking my order, receiving my food and getting the check (I did come after rush hour though). Sadly that's the only positive thing that I could say about the place.

I started with the complimentary bread and water. Water 5/5 but the bread/dinner rolls arrived cold and hard with no butter or oil which to me is already a sign of things to come.

For starters I ordered the meatballs 12$. Roughly

The big massive meatballs which honestly had good flavour. The issue I had was the uneven temperature throughout the dish. The sauce was luke warm and the meatballs had spots where it was piping hot and others where it was warm to the touch. (I'm inclined to believe that they were microwaved) The structural integrity wasn't the greatest. It lacked a bit of firmness and colour that your come to expect from big ole meatballs.

3/5

For the main I had a meat pizza 20$ rougly It came with a generous amount of cheese and meat! However this may have led to it's downfall. It was greasy and soggy in the middle while more on the burnt side than what I'd prefer. The taste was mediocre especially when combined with the texture . While I was packing it into a to go box, I had to let the excess grease drip onto my plate leaving a pool of oil behind. What's worse is that it made for a lousy leftover dinner. I'm a person who loves leftover cold pizza. I honestly expect a lot more for the price

I left unsatisfied and 50 dollars poorer after tip and tax. It was disheartening especially after reading the older reviews that. Apparently there was magic before, please...