Napoli Salumeria

I'm trying to be understanding. This new version of Napoli (there is a restaurant version in DC) is what they call a "grab and go". That meant the food I got, with the exception of the pizza, was cold and had to be heated. My bad for not understanding that. However ... the food wasn't great. Neither was the service. I ordered online and was told my order would be ready at 3:45. I arrived at 3:55 and nothing had been assembled and packed. Okay, they are new, still getting the hang of things, I told myself. Then, it turned out one of the ice creams I ordered wasn't available. Would I be able to wait an undetermined period of time for the manager, who had stepped out, to come back in so the charge could be voided? No. I selected a replacement ice cream, which the clerk hadn't thought to offer. It was now 4pm. As the clerk finally assembled the order (there was no one else there, so it wasn't, you know, busy) I looked around this so-called Italian deli. It was spare, to say the least. Two kinds of dried pasta, some snack items, that was pretty much it. ANY Italian deli in the area from the Italian Gourmet to Officina have better fare than this.

So, I get home, I heat the food. I got a caprese salad, a gnocchi with a basic tomato sauce (there were limited vegetarian options, even the arancini had meat), a margherita pizza and two 1/2 pint gelatos (and no, I didn't eat it all at one sitting). I'm used to portions being small and prices high these days, it is what restaurants are doing to stay afloat. But I was unhappy with the gnocchi portion, which was just teeny. The caprese salad, which is typically tomato slices alternating with mozzarella and topped with basil was an actual salad -- a bunch of arugula with some tomato slices and a chunk of burrata thrown in. I chopped the burrata up so that it would be distributed throughout the salad and tossed the whole thing with the dressing.

Nothing fared well after the prolonged refridgeration. The tomatoes in the salad were limp, the gnocchi glue-like and pasty. Everything was kind of bland and I had had to add significant seasoning. The pizza was the only highlight. It was a real margherita (so many places say they have a margherita when all they are giving you is a cheese pizza). It had plenty of the fresh tasting, almost sweet tomato sauce topped with mozzarella and basil. The crust appeared to be thicker than usual but turned out to be a kind of yummy airy thing not unlike sourdough. The gelato was superb.

Bottom line? I'm not going out of my way to go to this place again and if I do it will be for the pizza and gelato, period.

A take-out branch of the Napoli Pasta Bar in DC
1301 S. Joyce St, Arlington
https://www.napolisalumeria.com/

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