Napoletana

Previously, I mentioned a terrible experience my family and I had gone through at an Italian restaurant named La Dolce Vita, at the Jumeirah Beach Residence. And while I am sure there have been and will be many customers who will have enjoyed their food and their experience, the experience for us will be one best forgotten.

As we strolled away, slightly abashed after getting the phone back, the question was where we should try our luck. The wife wasn't so much in the mood to eat, afraid that the next place would be as bad as the last, so she lagged behind me as I soldiered on with a two foot whirling dervish, and a still sleeping tot in a a Phil & Ted's stroller.

Eventually we came upon Napoletana. It was an Italian restaurant, just like La Dolce Vita, with one key difference - it was packed.

That is usually a good sign.

So we went in, and our night went from bad to oh-my-God!

As in...Best. Night. Ever.



Instead of relying on low light and dark fabrics to hide dirt, this restaurant was awash with white. The reviewer in Time Out Dubai criticized Napoletana for it's sterile look, but I tell you, after seeing half a pound or whatever of dirt end up on my pizza at the last place, clean was fine and dandy with me.

We wasted no time telling our hostess the story of our misfortune, and a table was drawn up pronto. In fact, it seemed that half the staff wandered over to hear our tale of woe, and at least one manager was thinking on their feet that night, because they went out of their way to make sure that our experience with them was the polar opposite of what we'd been through.

And it was. The pizza had my wife flabbergasted. She went from monosyllabic grunts of pure enjoyment, to non-stop babbling about bringing her parents along, coming by for our anniversary dinner, and making this a regular stop from then until forever. And that was just three bites into her first slice.



The smells and noise woke the littlest one up in a hurry, and when she awakens, be at at home, in the car, or wherever, she gets testy of food isn't coming her way forthwith. Thankfully the other daughter was just waiting for her sister to wake up, so she could help her taste the wonderful food that had her mumma melting in her chair.



By the end of it all, we'd savored the bread basket with fresh oil and balsamic vinegar, more than enjoyed the pizza that came with a salad of rocket leaves and cherry tomatoes, and finished off a wonderful plate of fusili with rosee sauce, topped by fresh parmesan cheese.

One thing was for sure. We'll be back.