Fantasia Gelati — Restaurant in Naples

Rating: ★★★★☆ (in reality 3.5 stars)

I can only give this Chiaia branch more like 3.5 stars, especially since I gave the Vomero branch a full five stars before.

This shop is located right in the heart of Chiaia and is always quite busy. There were only two staff members working when I visited, and the place was full of families and kids, so there wasn’t much of an organized queue. The ordering process goes: pay first, then choose your flavors.

Firstly, speaking of the gelato itself, the flavors were in general good. As others have mentioned, their fruit sorbets seem stronger than the milk-based options. I had "stracciatella", "pistachio", and "cheesecake caramel". The texture and flavor profile remind me a bit of Gelateria La Romana (though they don’t have a branch in Naples) — a rich “cake-like” style that can feel a bit heavy overall. Enjoyable but fail to compete with the top-notch tier gelateria.

However, as a foreign visitor with limited Italian, I found communication difficult. The male staff member didn’t seem to speak any English and reacted rather dismissively when I tried to order in my broken Italian — it felt a bit like he was looking at an alien. By contrast, at the Vomero branch, even though the staff didn’t speak English either, they were very warm and made their effort to communicate and explain the flavors even by hand gestures. Here, it felt more like they just wanted customers to order quickly and move on, which was disappointing.

Language isn’t the real issue though — the main problem is the confusing flow and the understaffing. When the female employee finally handed me my cup with three flavors (after quite a queue), I cheerfully said, “Grazie! Ciao” but she didn’t respond at all, just moved straight to the next customer. It was almost comical — I felt like I was the one working there. 😅

That’s why I still think it deserves this rating. So, I may recommend visiting the Vomero branch instead, where the service is friendlier and more attentive — unless this Chiaia location manages to improve its organization and customer interaction, because some of the other reviews also mentioning these same issues are, unfortunately,...

Unfriendly staff. Asked for a ball of stracciatella. Was told that I have to choose "coin or cup" first. After I said coin I had to tell her the flavor again.

Then I said "for my girlfriend the same". But we had to do the procedure again. Cup or coin: coin. "And what flavor" ... Guess what.... Stracciatella.

😵‍💫

12:50 30th...

Una stella obbligatoria che ne vale zero. Più che un gelato era un frappè, sciolto al punto da gocciolare ancora prima di assaggiarlo. La commessa, scorbutica e annoiata, nel comporre un semplice cono con due microscopiche palline di gelato, ha rotto la cialda e ha cercato di coprire il danno coprendolo con un dischetto di cialda, quello che si mette sopra le palline di gelato. Ho dovuto farmi dare una coppetta per versarci il gelato che oltre a colare stava per cadere a terra, facendo notare che il cono era stato spezzato. Mi è stata data quindi la coppetta dove si infine riversato il gelato, già quasi liquido oltretutto. Per quanto riguarda il gusto, ho preso un semplice cioccolato e pistacchio di Sicilia, quest'ultimo non solo non sapeva di pistacchio di Sicilia ma nemmeno di pistacchio. Forse bisognerebbe insegnare a chi compone i coni che i gusti più consistenti come il cioccolato vanno messi in basso, e che le palline di gelato vanno poggiate dolcemente sul...