Napoletana Pizzeria Restaurant Review, Mountain View

Napoletana Pizzeria is a new Naples style pizzeria in Mountain View. This unlikely strip mall location houses a pretty authentic thin crust Neapolitan pizza place. We first learned about this place from a thread on Chowhound. As the waitress put it, these authentic pizzas cook for about 90 seconds in their 900° wood burning oven.

Cuisine – Italian
Chef – Vera Pizza Napoletana certified chef
Location – Mountain View

Opened – 2011

Decor, Vibe – Napoletana Pizzeria is a small restaurant with about 12 tables and a large wood burning oven in the back with stacks of Italian Caputo 00 flour next to it. The place was very loud when it was filled up.

Menu

Napoletana Pizzeria Menu has for salads, seven pasta dishes, and nine different pizzas. A much wider ranging menu then some pizza specialists.

Signature Dishes – Margherita pizza

Website Napoletana Pizzeria Menu

Full Napoletana Pizzeria image set

Picks:

Insalata Caesare ($9) with grilled chicken ($4) Romaine lettuce with croutons and parmesan in a homemade Caesar dressing bucks the trend of the heavily dressed classic Caesar. This excellent salad had a light dressing that was not creamy, crunchy romaine, and a huge layer of thinly cut excellent chicken.

Carbonara Spaghetti ($11) with pancetta, egg, parsley, parmesan and extra virgin olive oil surprised us. This very good and simple looking pasta was homemade, possess thin noodles that were cooked until al dente.

Margherita pizza ($13) Tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil, parmesan and extra virgin olive oil possess a wet and droopy center, a chewy edge, excellent mozzarella cheese, a light tomato sauce, very light charring, and a very thin crust. Clearly he knows how to make the pizza.

Napoletana pizza ($14) Tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, Italian homemade sausage, basil, parmesan and extra virgin olive oil was our favorite pizza of the evening. The same great crust and awesome cheese along with some perfect ground up sausage.

Prosciutto e Funghi ($15) Tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil, parmesan, mushrooms topped with Parma prosciutto and extra virgin olive oil was the weakest of the three pizzas. Although the crust and cheese were, the mushrooms seemed pretty pedestrian and the prosciutto wasn’t of the highest quality.

Tiramisu ($6) Layers of Espresso soaked ladyfingers, cream and mascarpone cheese dusted with cocoa powder was heavily spiked and clearly homemade. Very smooth and not as creamy as most versions.

OK: (Order if you like this dish)
None

Pans: (We would not reorder these dishes)
None

Service – The place had two servers that were overworked and still getting in sync, resulting in fair service. They tried hard but there were long waits with no contact and the food took a long time to arrive. With one pizza oven, this is a common occurrence.

Value – Prices are in line with our expectations and frankly a lot lower than artisan pizza places in San Francisco.

Alternatives – San Francisco’s Una Pizza Napoletana remains the king of Naples style pizza by providing a slightly better pie (but meatless) in a performance art environment. The Neapolitan pizza here is far better than most places in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Recent pizza and pasta restaurants like flour and water have more rounded menus and possibly better and more imaginative pasta, but don’t match the authentic pizza here.

Verdict – Napoletana Pizzeria serves up stellar authentic pizza sure to satisfy any pizza foodie.
Limited wine list with glasses of wine from $7, bottles of wine from $24.

$25 Dining Certificate for $5

Napoletana Pizzeria Overall Rating: (Very Good 2.5)

Come Back?

Food Rating:	(Very Good)
Service Rating:	(Average)
Atmosphere Rating:	(Good)
Value Rating:	(Good)

Guide: 0 = poor, 1 = Below/Average, 2 = Good, 2.5 = Very Good, 3 = Excellent , 4 = Extraordinary

Alcohol:	Beer, Wine
Attire:	Casual
Hours:	Daily 11 am-2 pm, Sunday-Thursday 5-9 pm, Friday-Saturday 5-10pm
Parking:	Free lot
Reservations:	No
Prices:	$11 - $15