Napoli Pizza N Pasta — Restaurant in Melbourne

Napoli Pizza N Pasta- Beachside Melbourne- 4- stars.

"The thing that keeps a business ahead of the competition is excellence in execution." -- Tom Peters

As we regularly dine at Napoli's I figured it was high time I proferred up a review all professional and like. Located on the beach-side of Melbourne (not to be confused with Melbourne Beach), tucked somewhat beside Walmart is where one will find this gem of a regular eating establishment. As part of the Slice family of Pizza joints, one would expect them to be cookie-cutter production in all they spew forth from the oven, but that is not the case here. As I have mentioned over and over it's all about execution people.

As this is one of my go-to spots for a quick Italian-American meal, I was well known to the staff and was greeted like family. I asked my server for a Sausage and Broccoli Rabe sub sandwich, an order of Fettuccine Alfredo and one mushroom pizza. To be honest, I did not know that they were part of the Slice Pizza group, but that does explain the quality of their ingredients. While they are not bottom of the barrel type, they are not top-shelf either, but rather stuck firmly in the entry-level area. What does that mean? If one uses USDA grades as an example, think Standard which is one step up from Canner grade and two steps down from Prime. One would think with standard grade ingredients the victuals would taste sub-par. One bite into the Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Sub and I immediately knew that was not the case. For starters, while they may use standard grade everything else, they make their own bread in the back and it is awesome. This bread was the perfect sandwich roll with a slight break to the crust, a nice tear in the bread and a wonderful chewiness that was indeed scrumptious. Now, you put a well-prepared rabe on just about anything and I am scarfing it down. I just love that stuff and this was executed flawlessly. As if that wasn't enough, the spicy Italian Sausage just sent this over the top. It was cooked to perfection and just spicy enough to slap your taste buds around with a hearty, "Hey, Youse guys! Wake up!"

Next up on my epicurean journey was their Fettuccine Alfredo. The fettuccine was cooked to the perfect al dente and very flavorful all by its self. Now, you smother perfectly cooked and tasty Fettuccine with a tangy Alfredo sauce and you are speaking my language. This incredibly creamy sauce had a nice tang to it that gave it a nice finish on the palate. I know the sauce is from a can, but with this execution, it was as if the sauce had participated in an act of Hypergamy. Staying with the theme of execution, we come to the final item to be sampled, the Mushroom Pizza.

The mushrooms may have come out of a huge can along with the sauce, but their dough is original and incredible. Like the bread, it is obviously made fresh on-site and it is some of the tastiest pizza dough I have ever had. It is like no other I have experienced. The perfect thickness, the perfect amount of crunch to chew ratio and the flavor was truly unique. As with the previous items, as I have said time and time again, this pizza was made with industrialized toppings, yet executed flawlessly and so tasted extraordinary.

The Big Boy says, "If you're beach side and looking for a friendly family type atmosphere with exceptionally executed eateries, stop by Napoli's you won't be disappointed." #iamthebigboy...

So this just happened today. Ordered pizza online using this company's sponsored delivery service.

Patiently waited for the pizza. At an hour and half later, I called to see what the status of my order was. The email instructed me to call the restaurant, so I did.

A woman picked up the phone I let her know I did an online order and that I had not received it and wanted to know the status. She asked me no identifying info (name, order number, etc.) she just placed me on hold. A few seconds later a man came on the line and abrasively wanted to know why I was calling.Threw me off, because I wasn't expecting him or this approach. I again restated the purpose of my call. He asked if the request was through the online delivery service, which I confirmed it was. He then said that he doesn't have the order. He did not ask any identifying info, so I was confused how he knew if he had my order or not. When I asked him how he would know that he doesn't have my order as I never game him identifying info, he stated that he just bought the restaurant and is no longer using that delivery vendor, so I need to call them back and get a refund. I never asked for a refund and keep in mind this vendor is their relationship brought to the customers online; I didn't randomly choose some abstract third party vendor or Uber or Door Dash. Even weirder, he made zero attempt to take this problem and turn it into an active order. He could have taken my order and I could have dealt this the refund form the delivery service later, but he was completely uninterested in my business.

When I asked him why he hasn't disabled this feature so others are not in this same situation, he basically told me to call this vendor and deal with it.

I simply wanted my order processed and it never occurred to him to take it, so I didn't. He advised that he is a new owner. If this is actually true, he clearly didn't care about me as a customer. I have ordered from this place several times in the past without issues. I won't be doing business here any...

I wanted to like this place because I kept seeing such great reviews of their food, their service and just how much people love it.

I ordered delivery from their Facebook page - loved that I didn't have to register and have a username and password just to get a pizza. After putting in your address - it takes you to a map so you can pinpoint your exact location - which is perfect for me because delivery services can never find my house. 1st negative - the delivery driver couldn't find my house and was driving around the neighborhood looking for it. So after a phone call - he made it here and I mentioned that I pinpointed the house on the map and he said that he doesn't always see that. So why bother having that feature if the drivers aren't going to look at it.

I ordered a pizza and side of wings. The pizza looked ok - though very greasy. But neither my husband or myself enjoyed it at all. The pizza was extremely chewy and not the good kind of chewy that you want on the outer crust. The flavor and texture was just wrong. The wings were a disaster, when I opened the bag/container - grease everywhere - the dressing cup had opened up and was everywhere - the wings were lukewarm, slimy and the skin was really hard to stomach - I'd even say they were slightly undercooked or something.

A very disappointing meal - so much so that my husband said to not even bother saving the leftovers - so 1/2 a large pizza and 1/2 an order of wings in the trash.

I wanted to love the food and maybe another time it would be better - but tonight it was...