I had been wanting to visit A3 Napoli since I heard of their plan to open a restaurant that served Neapolitan snacks. And when I heard that they were also going to serve Neapolitan pizza a la Libretto – well, I was sold! Conveniently I recently returned from a trip to Italy, and on this trip I fell in love with Naples. So, fingers crossed that the food did in fact remind me of the amazing food I have in Napoli.

Two weeks ago, I got 8 friends together and we made the trek over to A3 Napoli on a Saturday evening. We agreed to meet for 6pm, and we squeezed in to a table in the back patio. Once everyone had arrived, we took turns ordering food. The process of ordering food was not as simple as I thought.

Picture this….

1. Cash register with menu behind it
2. Across from cash you have the kitchen
3. In the display you see some fried items and pizza….but there is no name for each item and so you find yourself trying to guess…
4. When you choose what you want, and if ordering fritti, they ask you what fried items you want. The problem however lies in the fact that there are no names displayed next to the fried options, and they also have options that they don’t have displayed. Argh
5. You ask for a list of the options and the people behind you in line groan. So you try to focus on the list being given to you – with little enthusiasm from the cashier I might add – and give the people behind you a dirty look!
6. You decide on your fried choices and whatever else you feel like – in my case I got a small pizza, three fried items, and no drink (they offer free water from a tank – serve yourself). The drinks were too expensive. A pint was $9!
7. They give you a buzzer and you wait for it to go off. Once it vibrates you go to the kitchen and grab your food.

Vedict

• LOVED the calamari
• Great portions
• Loved the batter used on the fritti
• Delish pizza, though not as great as the Libretto restaurants (though owned by the same folks)
• Affordable – everything under $20

What I did not love

• The arancini balls, which was a shame since I had the best arancini balls in Naples. The balls were dry, small, and the flavor was over-complicated by extra ingredients. In Naples it was about the tomato sauce, cheese, peas and meat. Nothing more.
• Beers were overpriced
• No name of the food in the display

Overall, I am definitely returning!

**Addendum

The menu has changed! Now if you want to order fritti, it is no longer by pieces. The menu now looks like this:

LAND   8
arancini, meatballs, mozzarella & seasonal vegetable served with marinara sauce
SEA   13
shrimp, calamari, baccala (cod) served with lemon aioli

For full menu, go here