Napolis Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Champaign

Ok so I'm going to try to be fair and objective here. The bread was great. The Tiramisu was absolutely phenomenal. The bald gentleman that sat us that I think may have been the owner or one of the chefs, as he was going around to the different tables checking on people, was friendly. However I have some complaints. The Fried Calamari was completely tasteless. It was like eating flavorless rubber. It didn't look anything like the calamari like in the images on other reviews people have shared on here, that it's covered with spices and Parmesan cheese. Mine had none of that. The marinara sauce that came with was amazing. But the calamari itself was just not good. I got the seafood Alfredo Tottomare, which I think might have been one of the most expensive things on the menu, if not the most expensive. The sauce on that was extremely bland as well. It tasted very watered down and it was not thick or creamy like it should have been. It also only came with three pieces of shrimp in the entire dish which really upset me considering how much it cost. I didn't appreciate the stinginess of the seafood. There weren't many clams in there at all either. It was extremely runny and bland. It was also very lacking in flavor. To be fair, I noticed a lot of reviews where people had said that things were too salty or too seasoned, so I guess you can't please everyone. It looks like they may have tried to accommodate that feedback, and instead went the other direction to almost a complete lack of using spice. So I can kind of understand why this happened with us tonight If that's the case. I was honest about it with the gentleman that was going around to tables and he said next time let them know to go heavy on the spice and herbs and they would accommodate. So I do plan to give them another chance on that. It had potential to be amazing, but what we actually got was just not good at all and completely lacking flavor. I had to douse mine with Parmesan cheese and pepper and salt for it to have any kind of flavor.

Now to address the other thing that happened with us. The older lady that was our waitress, either she was discriminatory because of us being two males, or because maybe we are in our early thirties or something I'm not aware of, and while we weren't dressed to the nines, we were both wearing button-up dress shirts and nice jeans. I don't know what it was, but there was definitely something wrong. She avoided us pretty pointedly during our time there. She was constantly going around to all of her other tables checking in on her guests, asking them if they wanted more bread, refilling their drinks etc. But she completely ignored us almost the entire time. It was extremely noticeable It was that bad. There's no way that this could have been perceived any other way. None of the care and dedication she showed to literally all of her other tables, did she ever show to us. She never offered us the things she offered them, she never was cordial with us the way she was with them. She was very standoffish with us. She acted like she was so surprised when I wanted to order dessert. Here's the kicker though. When she brought the bill, she made a point to say now don't forget to take it up front and pay before you leave. But she said it in a way that could not have been interpreted other than she expected us to attempt exactly that. I didn't appreciate the insinuation there at all. Almost like she expected us to dine and ditch. That was extremely rude. It's not what she said, it's the way she said it. It was clear she had this preset expectation. I almost would not go back specifically because of her. Combine that with the pretty bad food experience, and it's enough to make me not want to do it again. However, the positives do make me want to give it another shot. And that gentlemen at the front, seemed pretty genuine and like he really cared so I do want to give them another shot. For the first time there though, this was a pretty...

Visited with a party of 12 celebrating a family member’s graduation on Saturday 5/17/25. I’ll start with the “good,” the only reasons why I give 2 stars and not 1. The food was okay, nothing mind blowing, but okay, and it came out pretty quickly after we ordered. Unfortunately I have few else “good” to say aside from this.

My group was sat at the same time as another large group; we were led not into the main dining room of the restaurant, but what appeared to be a conference room at the coworking space directly next door, attached to the same building. There were folding chairs and tables put together for our respective groups, as well as a table still with empty bottles and dishes from a previous gathering. No music, no attempt at ambiance. Looking back, at this point I wish I had suggested to my group that we go elsewhere, as tables put together in a random conference room was not what I or I’m sure any of my group members had in mind for the celebratory dinner. Alas I work at a busy restaurant myself, have experienced being unexpectedly understaffed, and wanted to give Napoli’s the benefit of the doubt.

A server arrived a few minutes later to take my group’s drink order. A few of us had interest in alcoholic offerings which were not listed in the menus we had. When asked about them, she said she wasn’t sure and we learned that she had been called in from another location in Danville. It soon became clear she was thrown into a suboptimal situation, and did her best all things considered. Another server(?)/ staff member we asked about the style of pizza (as it was not clearly listed in the menu) said he didn’t know, but that it was good. Not sure what his excuse for lack of menu knowledge was.

Next our food order was taken, at which time I noticed the other group seated with us had either not been attended to or hardly attended to, to the point that a member of their party felt compelled to take the group’s order and take it to the kitchen. It had to have been at least 20 minutes if not more that they were sitting and waiting.

After this the other server(?) came back out with a manager(?) and tried to smooth things over with them. Realizing they goofed up, also tried to smooth things over with us. They brought a somewhat obscene amount of bread baskets to the table. This was neither good nor bad, just kind of silly.

As I noted previously, food came out surprisingly quickly for how busy the restaurant seemed to be. My fiancé and I shared a cheese tortellini and pepperoni pizza, both which were a solid okay in my book. I am confused about the number of reviews complimenting the food at this establishment, to the point that I question the validity of some of them, as I found it absolutely nothing to write home about.

After our meal, we were given a handwritten itemized check with no total listed. Also no sales tax included. This we had to bring to the host stand and then wait for staff to ring up for us to check out. With no total listed on the bill, we had to add things up ourselves to make sure we were being charged the right amount. Inconvenient and confusing way of doing things.

Honestly, I wish the restaurant had said something like hey, we’re so sorry but we overbooked and will not be able to accommodate your reservation. As disappointing at that might’ve been, things happen and we could’ve carried on our merry way elsewhere. I don’t believe it was professional the way management behaved towards the other group or towards the guest server. It felt like they were being dismissive, making excuses and not taking accountability for their mistakes. Very unimpressed and do not recommend.

Update: thanks for the insincere, AI generated response Napoli’s. You just inspired me to take my 2 star review down to a 1. I urge anyone reading these reviews to take the negative ones seriously and to not waste your money or time at this...

I would like to begin that this is coming from someone with over 15 years in the restaurant industry, working front and back of house from dishwashing to management.

Napoli’s completely dropped the ball tonight, and in such a way that this cannot be chalked up to an off night. It is no secret that graduation weekend in a college town will be busy. Reservations are easy to manage with proper planning.

We were part of a large group - 12 people - with a 5PM reservation. Upon entering a predictably busy restaurant we had no host to check in with for about 5 minutes. We then were finally “greeted” by a bald man, who instead of saying something like “welcome in” or “hello” chose to just say “which group are you”. He then led us AND another party at the same time to what he said was a private room booked just for us. Their restaurant looked nice, would’ve been fun to be there. Instead we were led to a conference room and sat at folding tables in folding chairs with charming decorations such as a bus cart of dirty plates and half drank bottles.

We were greeted by Latoya who predictably looked overwhelmed. When asked for a wine list she looked like I asked an impossible never before heard of thing. I quickly found out that Latoya does not actually work here and was doing a favor for her Brother in Law. Knowing this, our party became much more understanding and cut her a large amount of slack because she was put in an impossible situation by management and ownership.

At this time our other group that was sharing this room with us began inquiring when they will get a server. they had been sitting for roughly 20 minutes at this point. They began taking their own food and drink orders and walked them to the main restaurant. Bald man came out at this point and became instantly combatative with this group AND at Latoya. His argument with this group and her continued in the hall outside our conference room and he grabbed her arm. I don’t care what the situation is, as management, YOU DO NOT TOUCH YOUR EMPLOYEES IN ANY WAY. Latoya was seen crying as she left the conference room. Class act move bro.

Food came for our group then. Pizza was raw in the middle, crust tasted fine, it was a pepperoni pizza. All I can say about it. Pasta was bought in, not homemade, sauce tasted like vodka sauce with wine instead and a bunch of unnecessary herbs thrown in. Looked slopped on a plate. 5.5/10 overall for food. Others in our party spoke of overcooked dry chicken. Olive Garden quality overall, which is not a compliment.

As we were paying our bill, which, by the way, was handwritten and not totaled - nor did it include tax - we saw another large group attempt to get seated in this conference room. They wisely chose to take their business elsewhere. We all made sure to tell Latoya that she did the best she could and it was a terrible situation to be in.

If we had been told “sorry we overbooked and can no longer accompany your party” we would have understood. Would’ve been frustrating but it happens. My advice for Napolis? Fire that bald man - if he is an owner, buy him out and separate entirely. If that’s how he is when guests can see him, who knows how he is in private. Additionally, invest in a POS system and seating software. Open table has great options. Latoya, if you read this, you were great, but just say no next time they ask you to help out. It’s not on you to bail them out of their own failure. If ownership reads through this, you will see many many things line up with other reviews left today. Good luck,...