Napolatanos

The atmosphere here is great. The whole staff was very friendly and polite. I had the Alfredo pasta with chicken added. The chicken was delicious. The Alfredo sauce was a little bland with some type of chunky looking cheese or something. We also ordered the spinach and artichoke dip with buttered bread. Very very good dip and bread. Overall good experience. I will return to this restaurant.

I was really disappointed here. I had heard so many good thing but I didn’t see it.
Our waiter was extremely slow and keep coming back asking us again what we ordered. Took 10 – 15 just to get a to go box. I had the fettuccini alfredo and it was really the worst I’ve had, PastaRoni is better. There was no flavor to it at all.

Not impressed.
Food was bland and based on limited menu they should be able to execute the items flawlessly.
Prices are average for the area.
Pizza is good but you can get the same or better without having to fight the bar crowd here.
Haven’t been here in years and after our last visit I remember why.
Sad to see a once good restaurant become mediocre at best.

Napi’s is AWESOME!!! I came to see my friend play in the patio with his band, Just Maybe. The ambience was off the chain. Blackened chicken tortellini salad is incredible. Chicken caesar salad is the biggest disappointment of my life since I got picked last in kickball. Great area in the back to hang out and enjoy some live music. I’d come back!

Stopped at motel. Asked for restaurant nearby. Friendly clerk offered «chain restaurant». I said no, real restaurant, a local place. She then suggested Napolitano’s. Perfect place! Italian, bar and good food. Friendly waitress, mixed drinks good and food was good. Read reviews later and don’t understand ! No it is not gourmet but nothing else is within 100 miles. Folks if you want to nit-​pick yes there could be some minor things BUT if you want a good meal while traveling not much better than Napolitano! I will be back.

I was really hoping for this to be better. Went here last weekend and I ordered spaghetti & meatballs. I figured an Italian joint ought to put this together well… I had a few bites and let the rest go. The sauce had an interesting funky taste to it… really not interesting, more weird. The nail in the coffin was we sat in the bar and it was karaōke night… they left the lights on full brightness! Felt like a cafeteria in there. Sad because they had nice bar lights hanging low over the bar that if they left on and turned the overhead lights off, it’d create a nice mood. I asked our server why this was the case and she indicated management liked the lights on. Oh well… probably won’t be back… the food doesn’t create a draw and the atmosphere leaves much to be desired. Good luck!

Came here after UF graduation for a family dinner. 12 of us were crammed in a table. Service was great but the food was very poor. I ordered a chef salad that was basicly a bed of lettuce coverd with some cold cuts. Not presentable. We also ordered a pizza, which was mushy and the cheese fell right off. Will not go back again, nor would I recommed it.

Disappointing. Service was great, however the food was a joke. I came here for a mini-​banquet and wasn’t all that hungry so I ordered a meatball sandwich. $ 8.99 plus another 89 cents for cheese, not too bad. However what came out was hardly what I would consider a sandwich… There was 2 meatballs cut in half for the entire sandwich, not to mention on stale bread and barely any sauce. The others around us said their food was just okay at best. All in all, the service was great but I don’t see myself returning as everything looked to be overpriced for what you get.

Napolatanos is – at best – mediocre Italian food. The décor and service are very good, and they have a nice bar and patio area. The restaurant also offers private rooms for events and meetings. However, on the few occasions I have been here for business meetings, I found the food bland and boring. I ordered eggplant parmesan on my most recent visit. The salad they serve with the meal is just lettuce, cabbage, carrots, and a few tomatoes, and the garlic bread was just… terrible, really terrible. How hard is it to make delicious garlic bread? I do it all the time at home. It tasted over-​buttered and under-​seasoned. The eggplant was mushy, and the sauce used on the eggplant and the side of spaghetti it came with was strange. This place has the feel of a family-​owned Italian eatery, but the food is not up to par with that atmosphere. If you want GOOD Italian food in Gainesville, check out Francesca’s or Amelia’s. Their food will blow you away. If Napolatano’s wants to stay competitive, they really need to re-​vamp their menu or improve their recipes. I will not be back unless I am forced to go because of a professional event.

I’m sorry but not sure what the all hype is about. Just wasn’t good food at all. Sorry

Are you kidding me! This is a poor excuse for Italian food. The food ingredients were reasonably fresh, but had no flavor or authenticity to them. I am from NY and this place would be out of business in a day serving this type of food.

First time in YEARS because I moved away and came home.
Yum, yum, yum!!! Great service. Tasty food!
Will definitely be back!!!

I have seen many negative reviews of Nappy’s, but I have been coming here for over 15 years. Great family environment, good food, fun place

I had dinner here on may 3^rd for my brothers rehearsal dinner. I was just informed this business called my brothers wife to get her to lie and put up on their Unilocal site that their food was good and I was wrong. The lady said she was «hurtful and sad by what someone said in California». I think this is terribly wrong of any business to try to change their reviews or try to ask for good reviews from people who paid a lot of money and got poor quality food in return. If you want a change of review give better product!!! Very shameful of this business to do this especially when it was a rehearsal dinner and you are serving such poor quality.

This was my second taste of Napolatano’s food. The first was take-​out for my family of 6 — we ordered their family style lasagna. It takes about an hour to prepare, but that wasn’t a problem since we called ahead. The takeout was delicious. It didn’t taste frozen, and it was very reasonably priced for a family of 6. In fact, there was plenty of food left over at the end (I think it could have fed 8 easily!).
Service was excellent — we had several different employee’s chat with us and ask how our experience was. You could tell that the people that work here enjoy it, and they take great pride in what they do. Many chain restaurants train their employee’s quite well, but then you get a very dry and sterilized polite experience with a server that’s really just reading off the script from training class instead of being genuinely friendly.
The interior decoration of the restaurant is a welcome surprise. It’s clean and well accented. Decorations seem well taken care of, and do not show the signs of age and wear that many family run restaurants sometimes have.
I found the Italian menu to be rather expensive — $ 16 for eggplant parmigiana seems like a lot. Perhaps that’s a good price for amazing eggplant parmigiana, but I think that people are going to have a hard time shelling out that kind of dough for a generic Italian dish. They did have some reasonably priced items — the mushroom appetizer was delicious and I had a perfectly cooked 6oz Sirloin for $ 9.99. My wife had a delicious grilled salmon salad for $ 10.50 — a great price! The wine by the glass is rather expensive as well at around $ 7-​$ 8 a glass. We opted for a half carafe of the house Merlot which gave us nearly 3 glasses each. For a able wine the Merlot was acceptable, and I would recommend it as a good addition to your meal.
Dessert was quite a surprise –I highly recommend the calzone desserts. We had ours with chocolate cherry filling and it was delicious and unique — I dont think I’ve ever had anything like it! We ordered some decafe coffee and it was pretty watered down (i don’t believe there were enough grinds in the machine).
In conclusion, Napolatano’s is a fantastic local restaurant with a lot of local character. This isn’t NY or LA or Rome — this is Gainesville, and Napolatano’s had done a terrific job of creating a welcoming atmosphere for the local population. They have plenty of parking, a clean and well decorated restaurant, live music on many evenings, and service that makes you feel like part of the family. If the prices were more in-​line with people’s expectations, I think Napolatano’s would leave a better impression on new customers.

I don’t think this place deserves less than three stars.
I’ve been to Napolatanos mostly for events, so maybe I only associate it with good times. The food has always been decent for the price. When we would have events here, it would be about $ 20 a person including drink for a small buffet with two entrees, bread-​sticks and a salad. You could wind up spending that much at the olive garden and the food is definitely better here, although not stellar.
The service has always been good, but drink prices are hit and miss.
The dessert case looks awesome but I’ve yet to try any.

Just triied the seafood special of the month. Tons of shrimp, clams, and fresh cut veggies. Can’t remember the name but its a july special and is very good. it is served with fettucini but i asked for penne and they easily made it that way. the new girl (last name is Matthews) playing acoustic music on the patio was really great — first time i saw here there
The new speecials r great
Live music on sundays very popular… get there early

3 stars. not 2 like some reviews and definitely not 5
What you need to know first.
Yes this was THE SPOT in Gainesville many years ago. It burned down around 6+ years ago, they rebuilt. Not sure why they decided on the building layout they did. Yes it’s not exactly a nice layout. But what you have to understand is this is a Gator hang out place. Pictures of Steve Spurier line the walls.
The service tonight was very very good.
I’ve had everything from seafood, pasta to steaks here. All rating a 3, no more no less.
Yes they are pricey for what you get. But do they have a regular following and don’t seem to be hurting for business. They were very busy on a Tuesday night.
I asked if their Calamari was fresh not frozen they said it was, so we ordered, and it was very good. Hard to find fresh calamari these days. So I took this as a sign they are at least trying to do things right in the kitchen.
I got the seafood medley pasta, which was very good. Quality ingredients, they did not skimp. Lot’s of garlic breath after eating this thing. It was pretty tasty.
Like most I’m not sure what all the commotion is about when it comes to this place. It’s really average food. But the service is always good, everyone being very friendly and happy. They are a large supporter of things Gainesville, which I really like, they are involved in their community unlike other chain restaurants you might go to instead for a better meal.
So all in all a solid 3 stars. maybe even 3.5. You won’t walk out amazed, but you shouldn’t feel it was awful either.
I would say give it try and decide for yourself.

I’ve overall been rather unimpressed with Napolatano’s. The building and atmosphere feel outdated and worn, not comfy and established – just simply old. As Jim B. pointed out, they also betray many of the trappings of lower-​end greasy spoons (the packets of sour cream, in example) while having higher prices. The whole feeling you get is that they’re not doing too well these days despite having been around forever. For homestyle Italian standards, I would easily recommend Leonardo’s at Millhopper over Napolatano’s any day. The only good thing really about Napolatano’s is its location which is pretty good if you’re going to the Oaks Mall and then down Tower Road – not too many non-​chain choices on this part of town.
One other thing, notice that the glowing four and five-​star reviews of this restaurant are written by reviewers who have not reviewed any other establishments while the negative reviews were written by people who obviously have reviewed a lot of local places. I smell a rat. Those rave reviews also keep placing emphasis on the fact Napolatano’s is «family-​owned». .. maybe because these reviewers are like really really close to that family? I don’t know, but I very much dislike it when business-​owners try to create fake reviews and it’s very rare to see an authentic Unilocal reviewer who only reviews one or two businesses, gives stellar reviews to them, then never reviews anything again. Very fishy, especially this Jessica S. person who lives in Destin and yet, somehow, the only place she’s ever bothered to review on Unilocal is Napolatano’s?! No reviews for local Destin restaurants? Seriously?

Well, last night was my first and probably only visit here (I’m moving soon)
Honestly, all I had was a chicken quesadilla and a cocktail… and my bill with tip was 20 bucks. The quesadilla was decent, but for a place that this restaurant wants to be, do you really want to serve the sour cream in a squeeze packet? Kinda weak.
Like my martini. Weak.
Meh. Not terrible, but not fine dining either. 2.5 stars but I just can’t round up on this one.
Plus, its in a weird place — tucked away at the end of a really sad looking strip mall thing.
Edit to add: Funny the number of single review people that have popped up here with glowing statements. Maybe if they worried more about the food and service they wouldn’t need to plant shill reviews.