Naples Italian Ristorante & Pizza — Restaurant in San Antonio

Inspired cooking, and exceptional service! Naples is one of the few San Antonio restaurants that does everything right, and it has become our favorite Italian place. What sets Naples apart is that the chef (and seemingly the entire kitchen team) have genuine passion for the food they are making, and this passion comes out in every dish we've had here. But passion alone is not enough to make a restaurant great. They're clearly aspiring for excellence, for the sake of excellence, and the result is a dining experience that feels like a privilege. They focus on the perfection of simplicity and traditional Italian technique, yet are able to create addictive complexities in the subtle nuances of their interpretation of Italian traditions. They manage to impart a unique point of view while still satisfying the traditional expectations most have for Italian food. Everything is approachable, unpretentious yet elegant, and very reasonably priced for the elevated quality. The ever-changing specials are particularly inspired, and through these the chef's point of view is most clearly expressed. They particularly excel at seafood, with both regular menu items and specials. Most recently, their interpretation of Southern Italian pan-seared Halibut with spinach gremolata over garlic mashed potatoes is one of the best fish dishes I've ever had (and I used to live in Italy). The chicken piccata and the chicken parmigiana are particularly wonderful, as are their pizzas. The staff are incredible and either have impeccable training with great leadership or simply inherent exceptionalism (perhaps both). Everyone that walks in is met with a welcoming, authentic smile. Additionally, there is hardly no staff turn-over that we have seen, which is remarkable and speaks volumes about the individual(s) leading this team. The team wants to be there, they are engaged in a way that goes beyond simply satisfying the customer. They are shooting for something even higher than that, and it results in customers like us wanting to leave them such a positive, thorough review. Naples has been around for a long time, and we actually did not care for it very much in its previous location, but something changed when they moved, and I imagine what changed was the chef. Over the last few years, San Antonio has seen a tremendous decline in restaurant food quality--outrageous prices for low calibre, uninspired food. Life is quite hard these days, and it is understandable that most have run out energy to be passionate. However, Naples sets themselves far, far apart from the unimpressive mediocrity plaguing San Antonio restaurants. Other eateries should visit Naples and observe how amazing food and service can actually be when it comes from a passionate heart and an intention of collective excellence. Keep up the exceptional work, Naples Team! You're doing...

Finding excellent Italian food can be quite challenging. As a self-proclaimed aficionado of this cuisine, second only to Mexican (Tex-Mex), I hold high standards. Naples Italian Ristorante & Pizza, a San Antonio establishment since approximately 2016, prides itself on their use of fresh ingredients.

I stumbled upon this restaurant through social media, and it seems that Naples' marketing efforts have successfully reached food enthusiasts in San Antonio, Texas. My partner and I finally made time to dine in, and we were promptly seated upon arrival. The ambiance is casual, allowing guests to come as they are or dress up if desired; either way, you'll feel right at home. Our server quickly wiped down the table and took our drink orders.

We were presented with the regular menu, drink menu, and the specials menu. Being fans of off-menu specials, we both decided to order from it: Wagyu beef and black truffle ravioli, and Chicken Parmesan.

To our surprise, the Wagyu beef and black truffle ravioli dish contained no actual ravioli. Instead, it consisted of smothered steak and potatoes. While it was enjoyable, it didn't reach the level of excellence we had anticipated. Had we known it was a smothered steak, we would have requested it to be cooked to a medium temperature. Unfortunately, the server didn't inquire about our preferred cooking temperature. However, I exchanged my dish with my partner's Chicken Parmesan, which truly saved the day! The Chicken Parmesan was delightful and met our expectations.

In addition to our dine-in experience, we decided to order a pizza to take home for our family. The pizza resembled New York-style, which happens to be my favorite kind of pizza!

Overall, our visit to Naples Italian Ristorante & Pizza had its ups and downs. While the ravioli dish fell short, the Chicken Parmesan and the New York-style pizza were definite highlights. The casual ambiance and friendly service further contributed to our overall satisfaction.

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Pass. Perhaps they need better management and a new chef. Allow me. First, our server was pleasant enough, but she didn't seem well trained. We ordered the muscles and clams in white wine sauce, a large Greek salad, and Margherita pizza. Too easy and simple food.

Our salad came first, but the waitress offered us small bread plates. We asked for larger plates and were brought dinner plates. Not the biggest issue, but if serving salads to share, salad plates would be good. The salad wasn't too bad, honestly.

When the muscles and clams came, we were taken aback. The white wine sauce was different to say the least. It was not at all flavorful of a simple white wine sauce. It had a chicken boullion-like flavor and was a wird combination of clear with some suspension of brown areas, not opaque -cloudy or crisp like a white wine sauce. Not s speck of garlic or parsley to be found, definitely not cooked with any butter and I doubt there was any olive oil used either. The worst part was that three of the muscles were closed. Any high-school trained line cook knows that if shellfish don't open when cooked, they are no good and should not be served.

The pizza was different. While I'm sure there may be slight variations to Margherita pizza, this was the first I've had with 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick slices of tomato...covering the pizza. In fact, the slices were so thick that even at what should be 500° or more cooking temp, the tomato skins didn't even blister. There was no sauce either. That is the variation, I suppose. Rather, it seemed as if thick slices of cheap mozzarella were laid down directly to cover the entire area of the dough, less the crust. As such, the pizza had a rubbery quality. As for basil, I would surmise they used maybe six leaves and cut them in some fashion and randomly spread the on top of the now half inch base of cheese and tomatoes. I've had better pizza at a school lunch in 8th grade.

Wholly...