Date 1: Napoli's Italian Restaurant...The Great Local Food Tour 2020

I must say that I did not realize how predictable my husband and I actually are. Could we seriously have lived in PA for almost 20 years and always hit the same places? Seriously though! 

We were so excited when we came up with "The Great Local Food Tour 2020" for our next "Bucket List" idea as it will keep us on track every other week (date nights) to hitting all of these awesome establishments that we were obviously missing! Will we hit a few that may not be so hot? I'm sure, but we are determined to say that we did them all...good or bad!!! 

So, here we go....

Date 1: Napoli's Italian Restaurant

I guess we do not make our way around as much as we thought. The establishment is located just off of Rt 19 in a plaza at 2112 Park Place Dr. This little place is much bigger than it looks from the outside, with a bar area to the right when you enter and 2 dining areas to the left. I thought the decor was spot on, ivy murals coming from stone look painted walls and lovely light fixtures along the walls to give just the right ambiance. It was very busy that night, but we managed to get a booth off to the side which makes us the very happiest! 

When we go to a regular dinner place, we each get our own meal, but when we are doing something like this, we like to grab as much as we can to "taste test" per say, within our budget. We were able to get 3 different dishes and bellies were filled. 

Our server, Kodi was very friendly and right on par. She filled our water when they were down to half each time, food came out in just the right amount of time. 

We ordered the Pepperoni Roll, Meatball Casserole and a 9" Sicilian Pizza. 

Pepperoni Roll: Being a WV girl, this was the first dish that caught my eye. I had to taste the PA version of my hometown favorite. It was definitely different than what I am used to in WV as we do not put cheese on ours. This roll came with cheese melted on top, cut into pieces and served alongside their sauce. I did try with and without the sauce and just seem to go back to my roots....bare all the way, with the exception of the melted cheese. The plating was fun and this roll was extremely good! 

Meatball Casserole: I couldn't go to an Italian restaurant without trying "their meatballs" covered in their sauce. The casserole was 5 meatballs with lots of sauce and melted cheese over the top. I think it was just the right amount of firmness and had a nice taste. Oh and don't forget the slice of garlic bread....so good! 

9" Sicilian Pizza: This was a great choice! It came cut into 4 slices. It was plump and had a lovely crunch when you bit into it. I can honestly say that I loved this pizza. It bounced back just right after a bite, very light. Yum! 

I think that prices were spot on for this type of restaurant. They also have a Rewards Program that you can download to your phone.

The service was exceptional!  As I stated before, our server was fantastic. There was a constant server picking up plates as you finished. Another server immediately spotted when my arm accidentally hit my water glass (which did indeed spill) and promptly mopped it up and brought me a new glass of water.  

Here is their history (as per the menu): Bob and Diane Steffl always wanted to open their own restaurant. In 1988, after looking at several locations, they found Napoli Pizzeria in the Great Southern Shopping Center. Although it was 25 miles from their home in Wexford, they decided they could make Napoli into the restaurant, they always wanted. Together with the help of Diane's parents Nick and Madeline, and recipes of authentic Italian food, they opened their restaurant. At first it was just a pizza shop serving pizza and hoagies on paper plates. 

Their children Nicole and Bobby were only 5 and 3 at the time. They spent many days sitting in the booth doing their homework and making animal figures out of pizza dough. In 1995 they decided to remodel the restaurant and add a bar and lounge area. Today the menu has been expanded using the finest products available. Daily the dough, sauces and soups are made from scratch. Their children are now grown and are the third generation to operate the restaurant. Thanks to a very loyal clientele the restaurant is still going strong. 

26 years later and have made many good friends over the years. 

Now begins the next chapter with the additional location in Washington. ~

Check out their website here for hours and menu options: http://napolipa.com/?fbclid=IwAR1WWZ3r9arrqXy1nGhk2FA_2VZpQS1Bleow2ZKo9029RjtVmUtlnC2MvUU

Like their FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/napolirestaurantandlounge/

I know that I am excited that they decided to branch out. When you live in an area like we do, you don't always think to head further north to hit restaurants and may not have even known that they existed at their original location. What a treat that they brought their gift closer to us! So happy to have experienced Napoli's Italian Restaurant as part of our "Great Local Food Tour!"

We recommend! 5 stars! 

See you on Date 2! 

Welcome to Our Great Local Food Tour Bucket List!!!

Who loves a good bucket list?  My husband and I are all about it and how it can directly effect us as a couple! We believe in giving ourselves goals and having a lot of fun while working towards them.

Our last list was watching the "Top 100 Romance Movies on the Silver Screen". It took us 5 years to complete. The rules were that we had to watch all 100 from #100 down to #1. Even if a movie had been viewed before, we had to re-watch in order to properly complete the list. There was also no skipping the line if a DVD was not available...it had to be done in the correct order to get the right "feel" for how the lowest on the romance list was down to the top one!

We have 8 children and had to fit in a movie where we could. We were also having to receive DVD's from Netflix as our home is located in an area where streaming is not an option. There were some movies that were not even available with Netflix and had to be purchased on eBay, Amazon and in stores so you can imagine why 5 years flew by before the list was completed. The good news is that we had a time period in our head that we wanted to complete it, but luckily, we are not stress type people so we watched when we could and didn't fret.

We recently were trying to come up with yet another list and had so many ideas that it kept us thinking. We are WV raised, my husband and I. We transferred to PA in 2000 when my 2nd child was just born, my husband working in the Pittsburgh area. After living in Washington for 5 years, we made our way to what we considered "the country" to our current home in the Centerville area. After a lot of discussing, we realized that there are a ton of hometown restaurants that we had never been to. We tend to frequent our favorites. What have we been missing out on? We decided to find out!

Welcome to Our Great Local Food Tour Bucket List!!! 

As I stated before, my husband and I have 8 children which means a lot of running with them to sports, play practice, jobs, dance, family activities, etc...We have always allowed ourselves a date every other week to just enjoy time together...trust me, we all need it! We do not have a time limit on this list, but are looking forward to hitting each establishment (our mouths are watering just thinking about it!) We wanted our route to be a long one and found ourselves heading to the Washington area every time. We chose Route 19 as our road to follow. It is one of the busiest in Washington County and has a ton of fun along the way. Here are the rules:

1. Must be a non-franchise unless it originated in PA. That means no DQ, Taco Bell, McDonalds, Arby's...you get the drift.

2. Must be our first time there.

3. Must be dine-in. That doesn't mean that we have to have a server, just that there are tables available to sit and dine.

4. Can only spend $30 max, tax and tip included (hey, I'm not made of money you know...)

5. A blog must follow with our experience...food taste, staff, atmosphere. We are not here to give any negativity, but a basis of our own personal thoughts.

6. Give a star rating.

We are so excited to begin this list and have hit our first location this past weekend! Blog coming soon...