Napolese — Restaurant in Indianapolis

After months and months of saying that we were going to come here...we finally came here.

We arrived around 5pm and were seated right away. The first thing that I noticed was how small the place was. The tables were basically on top of each other. So if you are wanting a very intimate dining experience then this is not the place for you. We were sat next to two girls who had been friends for like 10 years...but hadn't seen each other in awhile. So that was fun.

Our server came over and took our drink order. Since we had not been there before we didn't have any idea what we actually wanted. As we reviewed the menu we learned quickly how expensive this place is. I am sorry but $15 for a small personal size pizza is crazy. I don't care what you put on it. As we continued to explore the menu we found that a lot of the pizza creations have things on them that we either didn't know what they were...or just didn't sound good. So we were going to do the build your own. The recommend no more than 3 toppings to allow the crust to cook properly. Well even with the three toppings these small pizzas would have been about $22 each. Needless to say that did not happen.

We placed our order and waited. Because of how close the tables were to each other I didn't want to look around too much. Didn't need these people thinking that I cared about their business.

Our food arrived in a reasonable amount of time. I will say that I enjoyed my pizza very much. It had good flavor and was cooked correctly. The toppings blended well together and overall was an enjoyable experience.

The toppings that they use are all locally sourced so I suppose that you are paying for the better more fresh ingredients. It really wasn't a bad place. The service was ok and the food was good. Just more of a sticker shock...

Disappointing. Have been going to this and MK location (similarly with Patachou) since inception— many years ago. The last 3 visits (in 3 months, both locations) have made us sadly decide to go elsewhere going forward. Have been out of country most of last 3 years, so hadn’t been for a while prior to 3 mos ago

Salads are still good, burrata bread inconsistent between locations (size/amounts, MK location made one so salty (butter on bread?) we couldn’t eat— and were never ones to send back anything to the kitchen

Pizza especially— Has something changed over the years? Crust/flour/baking method? I would invite management to sample some of the competition, as they seem to be resting on their (Patachou) laurels and focus on quality not there? Napolese feels tired.

A simple margherita with 3 basil leaves that arrives nearly cold, leaves you wanting. But the crust in particular just doesn’t cut it. Not what i’d call true Neapolitan, with respect to quality. is the mall location really wood fired? doesn’t taste it.

By contrast, King Dough (covered in basil, very good crust); Pizzology also good. Note that For KD, I can only vouch for DT location. A defensive response would only invite comparison to other very good pizza places around the world (and US), most not covered in my other reviews, but Greece, France, Turkey, and of course Italy come to mind— and some in more surprising places— like Japan.

Please consider this an objective critique as such, not a one-off dissatisfied customer

The mall location’s 4.5 rating I attribute to the mall crowd, not necessarily a...

We spontaneously stopped here on a Saturday night and got seated right away, which was great because we originally were going to try Seasons 52 or pf changs but they both had long waits. The service was pretty slow, but our server was very nice and accommodating. I got a mocktail, which isn't on their menu but was tasty and reasonably priced. We got the baked goat cheese appetizer, which I was surprised to see was mostly tomato sauce. My companion kindly pointed out that tomato sauce was the first ingredient, but I held to the fact that the title trumps the first ingredient listed 😋 regardless, it was tasty, if not exactly what I expected. We split the ready, set, bloom pizza. It has tellagio cheese which our server warned us is a strong tasting cheese but is well balanced in the pizza. I found that to be a good description. I could still taste the heaviness cheese in the background sometimes and it was not my favorite but usually it was not noticeable. The pizza dough and sauce was very nice. Overall, I did enjoy the pizza and my companion really liked it. I don't think I would order it again though. I would say one appetizer and 1 pizza is sufficient to be full at the end of the meal, no need for two pizzas, even though they are small. I am happy we visited and would consider going back under similar circumstances but it will never be my first choice of...