[mulligan]

Originally Posted by Indydealmaker

I would like to see the city of Wildwood budget a portion of their increased tax revenue to developing their industrial job base by subsidizing technical school initiatives. Decent jobs will support decent standard of living.

And strong unions with effective apprenticeship programs would make it even better. They need to dump Florida's ridiculous right to work law, and change employer's ability to fire someone without cause.

[Moderator]

The topic is Chefs of Napoli restaurant. Please try to stay on topic.

[John_W]

I guess they knew they needed to call in reinforcements. Yesterday, when coming out of the new Publix on Hwy 44 there was a car stopped and a fellow with a heavy Italian accent was trying to find Chefs of Napoli. The people talking to the driver had no clue what he wanted. I gave the driver directions and he said, thanks, come by and I'll give you a free meal. Seemed like a nice guy, he was wearing his white chef's outfit.

[CFrance]

Originally Posted by John_W

I guess they knew they needed to call in reinforcements. Yesterday, when coming out of the new Publix on Hwy 44 there was a car stopped and a fellow with a heavy Italian accent was trying to find Chefs of Napoli. The people talking to the driver had no clue what he wanted. I gave the driver directions and he said, thanks, come by and I'll give you a free meal. Seemed like a nice guy, he was wearing his white chef's outfit.

Good job, John W. That was true The Villages spirit.

[Madelaine Amee]

Originally Posted by John_W

I guess they knew they needed to call in reinforcements. Yesterday, when coming out of the new Publix on Hwy 44 there was a car stopped and a fellow with a heavy Italian accent was trying to find Chefs of Napoli. The people talking to the driver had no clue what he wanted. I gave the driver directions and he said, thanks, come by and I'll give you a free meal. Seemed like a nice guy, he was wearing his white chef's outfit.

Nice job John W - take him up on his offer!

[ROCKETMAN]

They served 550 dinners on wed and the same thursday. My friends went there thursday and had a long wait. Owner apologized and all 4 had free meal and drinks. Have tp give it time to sort out things.

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by ROCKETMAN

They served 550 dinners on wed and the same thursday. My friends went there thursday and had a long wait. Owner apologized and all 4 had free meal and drinks. Have tp give it time to sort out things.

It's not even busy season yet. Can't imagine the wait in January

[Shirleevee]

Originally Posted by ROCKETMAN

They served 550 dinners on wed and the same thursday. My friends went there thursday and had a long wait. Owner apologized and all 4 had free meal and drinks. Have tp give it time to sort out things.

As a long time TOTV member, here is my Chefs of Napoli story.

We arrived at approx. 6 pm Thursday night and were seated immediately, placed our order and in 15 min got our soup and salads; After numerous failed attemps to find out what happened to our dinner, another waitress (not ours) named Carol was helpful in getting the Manager who promised that we would be eating in 5 minutes, again nothing happened and we decided to get up and leave. We were then approached by the manager and asked to please stay, another promise of 5 minutes.......nothing, so once again we were leaving when dinner arrived at 7:45.....they took 10% off the check and free desserts .......the only one who liked his meal was my husband. Should never have gone to a just opened restaurant, our waitress needed much more training and the kitchen was overwhelmed to say the least.........LESS SALT IN THE FOOD too. I might try it again in the summer when the Snowbirds are gone...........

[Shirleevee]

Originally Posted by KathieI

Quite a few of my friends were invited to the "soft opening" tonight. They have all come out and raved about it on Facebook. I'm so jealous.

Wait until it's old news Kathie, call me for my review

[Uptown Girl]

8 of us went last night (with reservations at 6 p.m.- a very busy time)
4 of us got there 15 minutes before our reservation time- we were welcomed and seated immediately at our prepared table, even though we were not all there at once.
Helpful for both them and us- and a good practice.
The rest of our party arrived exactly on time and found our table easily.

The place was packed and we were taken good care of in a timely fashion. Take out pizzas were being made non-stop the entire time we were there. (They must be pretty tasty!)
Our waiter was attentive and all our food arrived at the same time. Everyone enjoyed their choices, no one in our party had any complaints, whatsoever.

They had special, live entertainment, (which was a nice idea in theory, but added to the very busy atmosphere)
The place was immaculate, despite the hustle and bustle and the 'full house'.

They will do very well, in my opinion… and must be in happy shock over the welcome they have had so far.
I am sure if there are any glitches in their opening days, they will be worked out. Every restaurant makes adjustments in the beginning as they see a need.
The waitstaff was smiling and working hard, despite a possible traffic pattern backup from the kitchen.
I observed their patience with each other, allowing access in serving.
That's good training.

I wish them well! We will return again to Chefs of Napoli.

[SALYBOW]

Without a reservation we would have waited until 7:30. We went to Francescos and had a great meal.

[NYGUY]

We happened to be in the area today and decided to stop for lunch (thinking we might not be able to get in for dinner until season is over). Turns out they use their dinner menu all day on weekends rather than using a lunch and dinner menu. That was fine with us since it was 2:00 and we would just consider it our lunchner. The food and service were great....they will do well!!

[paulascorpio]

We are there on Friday nite. It was so busy and the kitchen was slammed. We were waited on promptly but then the timing went down hill.
My husband had the Fish Francaise. The batter and sauce were great but the fish was "fishy". He would have really enjoyed it if, it was made with fresh fish. He said it tasted like it was from frozen plus it had the fishy taste. I had a dish with a type of chicken parm with ricotta baked in the center and a side of cappelini. I had the marinara on both. I did not like their regular Italian sauce but I liked the marina. My meal was good. I also had minestrone soup, it was kind of odd. In a clear type of chicken broth with lots of string beans, corn and some pasta. It tasted sweet and nothing like minestrone. My girlfriend had a baked pasta dish with eggplant. She asked for the marinara sauce and they put on the regular. It was sent back and then, they forgot the eggplant. They took her meal off the bill. Her husband had pasta bolognese. It was served at room temp. It was sent back and and when it was brought back (after a 1/2 hour) there was hardly any meat in the sauce. He said it did taste good. We had the fried calamari for an appetizer and it was very good except for the regular sauce. Tasted like a tasteless pizza sauce. It took 3 hours for dinner. Kim our server was frustrated from all the mistakes, not only with our table but others. She was fried by the end of the evening. If, they get their act together, they have the potential to do a great business. They need organization which will come in time and some of the food needs tweaking. Luigi, one of the owners came over to apologize for the errors and the long wait. He kindly gave us some spumoni ice cream which was very good. I would go back and try it again but, maybe in a month when, they're more organized and the chef's can keep up with the customers.

[Bonanza]

My husband and I stopped there at 6:40. The only reason we got a parking space was because someone was just pulling out. We could barely get in the door because it was so jammed. After waiting a few minutes the hostess finally came up and I asked her how long the wait was. She couldn't even give me an idea but did say the people over there (she pointed) had a reservation for 45 minutes ago and still weren't even seated.

Hopefully, they will get their act together with reservations. No place is worth that kind of wait. It was so hot, so crowded and simply awful!

[rdhdleo]

I for one am so happy they are here. We were in Inverness yesterday and stopped by the one there because we had heard good things. OMG the food was incredible! BEST pizza since coming to Florida (from Chicago) and reasonable! love love love their sauce! Everyone at our table loved their food. The desserts were to die for the cannoli was excellent and the Lemoncello cake was melt in your mouth delicious! I had the Pizza Margherita got the 16" so I could take a lot home. Well it was huge and delicious! and it was only $13.25!!!! With fresh mozzarella and basil on it!

Please people give them a break, maybe if the entire Villages didn't try to get into a new restaurant the week they open restaurants could handle it better. They apparently had no idea how Villagers can be in that respect. I think they will do just fine. As for those that don't like it that's fine should free up a few tables