Don Antonio 1970 Pizzeria — Restaurant in Salerno

BEST PIZZA IN SALERNO ! My wife and I arrived in Salerno the previous evening to commence our 3 week vacation in Italy and France. After a huge sleep-in to get over our jet lag we hit the road with a bounce in our step on Wednesday morning to explore beautiful Salerno. We had a fantastic day enjoying a fabulous breakfast, checking out retail stores, a wonderful lunch and finished with decadent desserts at Mr Whippy. In fact Karen the young lady who served us said the pizza at Don Antonio 1970 is the best. ENOUGH SAID ! We decided it would be our dinner destination that evening so we headed home to recharge our batteries. THERE'S MORE ! Having come to grips with the late dining habits of Italians we left our apartment at around 6.30pm for the 20 minute walk to this restaurant which didn't open for dinner until 7.45pm. PLENTY OF TIME ! Soon after we left our apartment we saw a huge crowd blocking the whole street down below. Little did we know that every year on Sept 21st is the Festival of San Matteo. My wife found this out when she asked a clothing store owner near our apartment. WIKI - It is precisely on this day that the Feast of the Patron Saint St. Matthew is celebrated. This event involves all citizens in a lively way and is an event rich in tradition and folklore, therefore it is not surprising that it manages to attract many tourists every year. WOW ! The crescendo of noisy excitement grew louder and louder as we approached...we could see a very long street parade marching to music. DETOUR ! We had to take cobblestone side streets and alleys pushing our way through crowds of onlookers. It was unbelievable....150,000 people out on the streets to celebrate this once a year historic festival. WHEW ! It took us over an hour to get to Don Antonio 1970...my wife was exhausted from battling through the crowds on the cobblestone streets when we arrived here at 7.35pm. After a few minutes we approached the host desk and chatted with Francesco & Roberto who we told about our adventure packed walk here. At 7.45pm the restaurant opened for business and we chose to sit on the sheltered outdoor patio. At this point we had the whole restaurant to ourselves....Italians love to dine out late and outdoors. I popped inside to say hi to the pizza crew led by Luca the fun manager. A warm & friendly server named Antonio looked after us during our dinner visit. A filled carafe of cool water and glasses plus Italian only dinner menus arrived quickly. FIRST UP ! I need a good beer and cheery Jose Luis the beverage server suggested my first choice....La Bionda Del Brenta a pretty potent Italian micro brewery blonde ale at 8.2% abv. It tasted very satisfying. My wife and I studied the Italian dinner menu.....we didn't have a clue what to order. Antonio our talented server came to the rescue with an appetizer suggestion and a pizza we would love. Our fluffy pizza like appetizer arrived quickly and tasted fabulous. THE MAIN SHOW ! A food runner brought out our lovely looking pizza and then Antonio arrived with his mini flame thrower to melt the cheese. TOTALLY DELICIOUS ! I ordered a second beer from Jose Luis....a German one called Erdinger Weissbier - 5.3% abv. It arrived in a beautiful tall matching glass and tasted very refreshing. DESSERT ! There were 2 desserts on their menu so we ordered one of each. They came out in pre-packaged glass jars and tasted fine. By the time we left for home at almost 10pm the outdoor patio was packed out and there was a line waiting to get a table...Italians love to dine out late. WE HAD A VERY ENJOYABLE...

WORLD CLASS RESTAURANT ! When we were on the Salerno leg of our 3 week vacation in Italy & Paris in Sept, 2023 a young lady at a gelato shop recommended this restaurant to us....BEST PIZZA ! And we couldn't have agreed more. The pizza, focaccia, beers, dessert, service and ambience were second to none but Fabio the owner was not in attendance. WOW ! In the meantime Fabio messaged me on Instagram thanking me for my wonderful review of his Pizzeria on Google Maps and said...next time I will serve you. We kicked off another 2 week vacation in Italy on March 20th, 2025 so I made a dinner reservation here for 8pm on Friday, March 28th. WE'RE BACK ! The weather was quite cool when we arrived in Italy compared to the hot weather in September during our first visit. It was a brisk 20 minute walk from our apartment to the restaurant. We arrived pretty much on the dot of 8pm...opening time for dinner. After being shown to a table in the main dining area I headed straight to the pizza kitchen to say hi to the crew...Luca, Michaele, Salvatori, Nicola and Enzo. Even after 18 months away Luca the manager and a few of the others remembered me. We had a number of servers looking after us....Roberto, Domenico & Besem. FIRST UP ! I requested the same Italian beer I enjoyed last time.....La Bionda Del Brenta Blonde Ale - 8.2% abv. My wife and I decided to skip the appetizers and get to the main attraction....pizza. Keep in mind that Fabio the owner/chef is rated in the top 50 Pizzaiolos in the world. One of our servers suggested the Bolognese Ragu Wood-Fired Pizza...that sounded great to us. Meanwhile my ice cold bottled beer and tall glass arrived....without a doubt a great Italian beer ! The dining room was filling up fast...Italians love to dine out late. I asked a server where is Fabio....he will be here within an hour I was told by our server. WHOO HOO ! Our amazing looking wood-fired pizza arrived and we couldn't wait to try it. Whoever thought of putting Bolognese Ragu on a pizza deserves a medal....what a winner. AND THEN ! I spotted a guy dressed in formula one style apparel standing beside the pizza kitchen....it was Fabio. I headed straight inside to meet him. Fabio was very pleased to see me...we did a selfie and then walked to the dining room so he could meet my wife. A few minutes earlier I had asked a server about dessert...specifically Millefoglie which I had seen featured online. It was on the menu 6 months ago was his response. So I mentioned the Millefoglie to Fabio and his reply was...you sit I make. Within 10 minutes a server brought out an astounding looking dessert....Pizza Tiramisu Cake made by Fabio specially for us. WHAT A GENIUS ! And how delicious was this dessert ? We are still talking about it 3 months later while I am writing this review. ONE OF A KIND, MADE IN HEAVEN, TOTALLY DECADENT. Saverio the cashier took care of the bill and we left to walk home. DON'T MISS...

Went here because of all the reviews.. but now I’m wondering; are these real people with actual tastebuds or bought reviews… because these ‘pizzas’ have got to be the worst things we’ve ever eaten.

The sauces had zero flavour, were bland and gooey. Some toppings were flatout cold, while the cheeses lacked any form of flavour. The crusts were boring crackers.. and either the crusts were way too hard, or the knives were too dull. Either way, our night was pretty much ruined by this event.

And to think that we had to pay for this ‘food’. That makes it even worse!

If I would be at a party and people would order from Don Antonio, I would straight up go home, because that party would be over.

The service was alright and the look and feel of the place are nice, so maybe they can start a construction company, because they got that right… with their mozzarella tasting like cement, being...