The One thing wdw can not get right.

jwutony16

jwutony16

Active Member
Original Poster
I love all things Disney, especially the restaurants. Each resort has their own little twists on typical fare but for the life of me why is it that Disney resorts can not perfect the pizza. They have all the right equipment and ingredients but the execution is flawed. I ordered a pizza last night at GF and it was awful. Any input?
 
networkpro

networkpro

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
Yes
Yep, there are too many regional variations to account for any particular "perfect pizza" some like toppings almost floating in sauce, other more minimalist with a few pats of cheese over a small smear of sauce on what looks like pita bread. So there's a question of which standard so they shoot for a "Middle of the road". They have plenty of talented Line and Sous chefs who are more than capable of putting out amazing food regularly.

It's not like it's Osso Buco, Lobster Thermador, or Beef Wellington. The ingredients are fresh and of good quality.
 
belledream

belledream

Well-Known Member
disney4life2008 said:
I have found the large pizza at sports to be delicious when freshly made. Otherwise, the pizza at Disney is yuck. HHonestly, pizza in Orlando is bad period. But im from Chicago and have lived in Manhattan so my expectations of pizza are significantly high.
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Funny you mention the pizza at All Star Sports because this was one of the rare times we actually ate at a resort food court. I completely forgot about it but now I have some memories of taste flooding back into my memory. It was definitely decently odd...and of all places!

The new pizzas at Pizzafari look okay from the menu pictures...but with so many other picks to eat around the parks, pizza is low on my list.
 
disney4life2008

disney4life2008

Well-Known Member
belledream said:
Funny you mention the pizza at All Star Sports because this was one of the rare times we actually ate at a resort food court. I completely forgot about it but now I have some memories of taste flooding back into my memory. It was definitely decently odd...and of all places!

The new pizzas at Pizzafari look okay from the menu pictures...but with so many other picks to eat around the parks, pizza is low on my list.
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Best to avoid the pizza. Im more of a chicken breast nugget person followed by caseys dogs and dole whip.
 
H

Hockey89

Well-Known Member
MansionButler84 said:
I enjoy it and I live in New Haven, CT.... It's a pretty close approximation of what I've seen in some parts of Italy.
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That's fine.... I live in New E too.... Have been to Pepes and many other great pizza places and could not disagree more... The pizza is terrible... Had one bite and wanted to leave.
 
Mr Anderson

Mr Anderson

Well-Known Member
Hockey89 said:
That's fine.... I live in New E too.... Have been to Pepes and many other great pizza places and could not disagree more... The pizza is terrible... Had one bite and wanted to leave.
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I don't usually enjoy pizza because a lot of places do it wrong, especially chains (see: Papa John's, Domino's, and esp. Pizza Hut - YUCK). But when I find a place that does it right, I could stuff myself to the brim. There are several places (mostly hole-in-the-walls) I've been to here at home in Texas that I would say put together an excellent pizza. But Via Napoli pizza is literally the best pizza I've ever eaten; it stands head and shoulders over anything else I've had.

But according to you, the pizza at Via Napoli is terrible. I've heard people say it's over-rated before, and that's fine. But... terrible? Really? Can you please help me understand what was so terrible about it? What was so bad that made you only eat one bite?
 
H

Hockey89

Well-Known Member
Mr Anderson said:
I don't usually enjoy pizza because a lot of places do it wrong, especially chains (see: Papa John's, Domino's, and esp. Pizza Hut - YUCK). But when I find a place that does it right, I could stuff myself to the brim. There are several places (mostly hole-in-the-walls) I've been to here at home in Texas that I would say put together an excellent pizza. But Via Napoli pizza is literally the best pizza I've ever eaten; it stands head and shoulders over anything else I've had.

But according to you, the pizza at Via Napoli is terrible. I've heard people say it's over-rated before, and that's fine. But... terrible? Really? Can you please help me understand what was so terrible about it? What was so bad that made you only eat one bite?
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The dough was so soggy/grease and sadly undercooked.... One piece of pizza would have no pepperoni, one would have a couple, and one with plenty... My wife and I were very excited about it and would rather have frozen pizza from whole foods... Very loud as well with slow service....
 
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Mr Anderson

Mr Anderson

Well-Known Member
It sounds like you had a solitary bad experience; sorry to hear that. I will say I have seen the random arrangement* of toppings before myself, but I've seen that at other great pizza joints, too.

In regards to your other complaint, I have eaten at Via Napoli on every single trip to WDW and have never had even one slice that was soggy, greasy, or under-cooked; it has always been perfectly prepared & crispy. Did you ask them to fix it or prepare a new pizza for you? Disney is well known for going above and beyond to fix things when there are issues that come up. I would certainly complain and ask for a new pizza immediately if I received one like what you described.

* EDIT - replaced 'assortment' with 'arrangement'
 
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ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
Hockey89 said:
That's fine.... I live in New E too.... Have been to Pepes and many other great pizza places and could not disagree more... The pizza is terrible... Had one bite and wanted to leave.
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I haven't been to Via Napoli in about four years. Perhaps the quality differs. Your description in your second post sounds gross but also doesn't sound like what I had several years back. Either it was a bad day for you or it has gone downhill, which would be unfortunate. Same thing happened to Spoodles, though. How I miss late-'90s Spoodles...
 
ekutchey

ekutchey

Active Member
Mr Anderson said:
It sounds like you had a solitary bad experience; sorry to hear that. I will say I have seen the random assortment of toppings before myself, but I've seen that at other great pizza joints, too.

In regards to your other complaint, I have eaten at Via Napoli on every single trip to WDW and have never had even one slice that was soggy, greasy, or under-cooked; it has always been perfectly prepared & crispy. Did you ask them to fix it or prepare a new pizza for you? Disney is well known for going above and beyond to fix things when there are issues that come up. I would certainly complain and ask for a new pizza immediately if I received one like what you described.
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I couldn't agree more with your posts. My family personally finds the pizza at Via Napoli to be excellent as in Italy but I can see how it differs (just like the pasta) from the different areas of Italy so I think the enjoyment of it may tend upon your plate. However if the pizza was as described greasy and soggy I am sure they would have replaced it, if it was brought to their attention.
 
jaklgreen

jaklgreen

Well-Known Member
I also frequent Via Napoli on our trips and I cant see any of the crust being greasy. They make fresh dough and sauce. But I don't usually get meats on mine so have never had a "greasy" element on my pizza. I think why some people do not like it is because it is not "American" pizza, just like people do not like traditional Chinese or Japanese food. Via Napoli is what real Italian pizza should be and I love it. My husband who was born and raised in the middle of the USA eating American type food where tater tot casserole was "fancy" does not like it either. I was fortunate enough to be raised by European immigrants and was raised on a wide variety of yummy foods. So I like a wider variety of foods then he does.
 
PEPPER2029

PEPPER2029

Member
I am from ny where NYC pizza is at every street corner. Unfortunately disney pizza reminds me of frozen dominos. Via napolis is not real pizza but more of a Californian flat bread.I stay away because I like pizza from NYC Boston and even chicago deep Dish. As a side note great pizza is uniform with a lot of cheese, sauce, and toppings with a thin crust.
 
Matt_Black

Matt_Black

Well-Known Member
I've heard others speak well of Via Napoli, so I'm inclined to believe it. (Considering the prices I hear, it BETTER be good!) For what it's worth, I quite liked the flatbreads at Pinocchio Village Haus. But then, I'm of the "Even if it's bad, it's still pretty good"; I've met few pizzas that I'd say are actually bad.
 
BuddyThomas

BuddyThomas

Well-Known Member
Mr Anderson said:
It sounds like you had a solitary bad experience; sorry to hear that. I will say I have seen the random arrangement* of toppings before myself, but I've seen that at other great pizza joints, too.

In regards to your other complaint, I have eaten at Via Napoli on every single trip to WDW and have never had even one slice that was soggy, greasy, or under-cooked; it has always been perfectly prepared & crispy. Did you ask them to fix it or prepare a new pizza for you? Disney is well known for going above and beyond to fix things when there are issues that come up. I would certainly complain and ask for a new pizza immediately if I received one like what you described.

* EDIT - replaced 'assortment' with 'arrangement'
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It's not a solitary bad experience- I had a very similar experience there. I've commented on this with photos of the substandard pie on other threads so not going to get into it again here except to say that Hockey is not alone in his opinion that Via Napoli is way overrated.
 
DisneyPrincess5

DisneyPrincess5

Well-Known Member
To me, the best tasting pizza is freshly made with fresh ingredients. The problem Disney has is that it has to mass produced, meaning it won't be as fresh/likely frozen first.

I think that's why Via Napoli is so popular-it's mostly fresh. I say mostly because in our one experience there years ago, we had a veggie pie that was all canned vegetables. Otherwise, I think it's pretty fresh.

Needs to be freshly made with fresh ingredients to be awesome food. Just like sit downs are fresh and usually taste better than fast food or quick service anywhere, not just Disney.
 

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