Dining in Naples
 

We will be spending some time in Naples this winter. Could anyone recommend dining spots which have a romantic atmosphere and/or have a great view? Thanks in advance. Gail

1. Chardonnay <BR>2. Campiello in the Third Street South shopping district <BR> <BR>Both are very popular and well deserving of their reputations. I prefer Campiello although it can be quite busy on a night in "season".

Both of the above mentioned restaurants have great food and atmosphere (Chardonnay is my favorite - make a reservation well in advance and ask for the garden room) but neither has a particularly good view of anything. I've lived in Naples for the last 25 years and it's surprising and disappointing that there are so few restaurants with good views. None come to mind. For good sunset views go to the beach/pool bar at the Beach Club (the real name of the place is something much longer but anyone who lives in Naples can tell you how to get to the Beach Club - Gulf Shore Blvd N at 7th Ave). LaPlaya Hotel, north Naples, has a good patio/bar on the beach. Great dining and great views are really two, distinctly different things in Naples. Also, there are so many tourists in Naples in the winter, everything is so crowded and the traffic is terrible. But it's still a great place if you're coming from Michigan or New York. Enjoy!

Have lived full time in Naples since 1977. I will probably never eat again at Chardonnay since having our souffles which had to be ordered before dinner served when we were less than half way through our entrees, having rare rack of lamb served very well done and being indignantly told that it was indeed rare, being asked to order and have our dessert and coffee at the bar (all 6 of us in a row) as the restaurant needed our table (no wonder, we waited nearly an hour after ordering before we saw our food), and many other problems. But Campiello is wonderful as are Chops and Pazzo on 5th Ave. South, both fun, albeit noisy, good comtemporary restaurants. Romantic? Many Preston's a small good steakhouse with plushy booths and the quietist atmosphere in town, or Sign of the Vine, a funky old house with mismatched table settings and the most expensive gourmet dining experience in town. Best view? The Crystal Room atop the Edgewater Beach Resort, reserved for hotel guests and locals who have joined their private club (this has to do with a limited parking problem), but you can probably dine there by calling and saying it was highly recommended and you would like to try it out. Have fun in Naples.

It's unfortunate that Patrick had a bad experience at Chardonnay. I have eaten there many times and have never had even a small complaint. The chocolate souffle is to die for! Yes, you do have to order it at the same time you order your dinner, that's because they're made from scratch and it takes time to make a souffle. I have one everytime I'm there and they are always perfect and served at the appropriate time. Restaurants are like trips, sometimes something goes wrong, but we don't stop travelling! Don't pass up a great dining experience because someone had one bad meal there. Enjoy!

Maybe I was unclear. Yes, one time things can go wrong, but I have eaten at Chardonnay at least 12 times. Many things went wrong at least 7 or 8 of those times. I failed to mention my favorite. Five of us were seated one night and waited and waited for a waiter to come to us. After over 20 minutes one of us went over to the hostess and asked to find who was to serve us. She got the waiter who came to us indignantly and informed us that he had been watching us ever since we got there and we had been talking. "We are trained wait staff", he said. "We don't interrupt our clients while they are talking". So a word to the wise. If you go there, make sure you don't talk or you might not be waited on. I have found that there are too many good restaurants in Naples to waste my time going to Chardonnay again, and being asked to to give up our table before we were finished with our meal really takes the cake. I also think you missed the point about the souffle. I have no qualms about ordering it with the meal. What I complain about is having it served before we are finished eating our main course. And worse yet, a waiter who would proceed to sit it next to our food as if there was nothing wrong, and then walk away.

Here are four places we had dinner when in Naples in December: Tommy Bahamas, Chardonnay (try the dover sole), Pazzo!Italian Cafe, Maxwell's on the Bay. Chardonnay was not all I had heard it would be, but it was fine. Tommy's was fun, the other two were quite good. <BR>

One word of caution. Definitely get reservations anywhere in season. We dine at Campiello frequently. Last Thursday afternoon I called to book a table for tonight (Thursday, a week later) for four people between 7:00 and 8:30. I was given a choice of 5:30 or 9:45. I was told that the next time I could get a table at 7 or 8 was 5 weeks away. Also, we've all missed talking about Roy's in nearby Bonita Bay. This is the newest branch of the famous Roy's in Hawaii (Roy Yamaguchi). It is fabulous. I used to want to go Hawaii, one of the few places in the world I haven't been, just to eat at Roy's, now I don't have to, we have one here. (Only kidding, folks, I still want to go to Hawaii.) But it is hard to book also in season.

To the top for Trish. I'm still looking for a more recent one I added to.