11 Best Restaurants in Toledo, Naples

Named for Neapolitan character Pulcinella’s girlfriend, this gem is in the one-time oratory of the adjoining church, which became a sawmill in the early twentieth century. The high tufo arches and period fittings have been maintained, and the food is to-die-for----pizza is the popular choice, with an adventurous menu, and there is also a selection of pasta dishes. The owners grow much of the produce on their farm in nearby Sant’Agata dei Goti.

Just off Via Toledo, this simple restaurant with outside tables in summer serves good pizza and other southern Italian favorites. Try the gamberoni alla Posillipo (prawns in a seafood sauce made with cherry tomatoes) or the pignatiello di mare (octopus, calamari, prawns, and other seafood on fried bread).

A hidden gem in the Quartieri Spagnoli, A Pignata is a favorite with locals for its typical Neapolitan cooking. Each antipasto of land and sea is a meal in itself, but save space for the grilled calamari or baccalà alla Siciliana, made with potatoes, tomatoes, olives, and capers. Wash it all down with a bottle from their extensive wine list.

Just off bustling Via Toledo on the basalti flagstones of a narrow Quartieri Spagnoli street, this small trattoria does superb-value, classic Neapolitan dishes. Take a seat at one of the small tables with checkered tablecloths and ask the amiable staff about the day's freshest seafood, meat, and vegetable dishes, while taking in the atmospheric surroundings.

Considered the birthplace of pizza Margherita, it's also one of the most picturesque restaurants in Italy. Set on a cobblestone alleyway just off chic Via Chiaia, with an elaborate presepe in the window, it welcomes you with an enchanting wood-beam salon festooned with 19th-century memorabilia, saint shrines, gilded mirrors, and bouquets of flowers, beyond which you can see the kitchen and the pizzaioli at work. However, most of Naples stays away from this place, as the pizzas are admittedly better elsewhere. But there's no denying the decor is delizioso and if tourists like Luciano Pavarotti, Chelsea Clinton, Bill Murray, and Gerard Depardieu have dined here, it can be worth the stop to see a slice of pizza history.

Just off Via Toledo, Ciro has been an obligatory entry on any list of the best of Neapolitan cooking (as opposed to cuisine) since 1930, when Toscanini and Pirandello used to eat here. Popular with business travelers, artists, and journalists, Ciro is famous for a variety of favorites, with an emphasis on rustic food, from very fine pizzas and justly famed versions of pasta e fagioli to the classic sartù—rice loaf first concocted by Baroque-era nuns—and the splendid pignatiello e vavella, shellfish soup. The menu, which includes gluten-free items, almost looks too large for all its items to actually be good, but the owners must be doing something right, as the place is often packed with Neapolitan regulars. The waiters are darling wherever you sit, but try to get a table upstairs, which has a more pleasant atmosphere.

The most famous coffeehouse in town, founded in 1850, sits across from the Palazzo Reale. Although its glory days as an intellectual salon are well in the past, the rooms inside, with mirrored walls and gilded ceilings, make this an essential stop. It was here that Oscar Wilde, down on his luck, would, for the price of a cup of tea, amaze Anglophone visitors with his still-intact wit. Disappointingly, it's not the best coffee in town.

At this perfect place for a lunchtime snack, you point to what you want in the tempting glass counter, and pay for it at the cash desk. Among the specialties are the usual frittura, tangy cheese pies (sfoglino al formaggio), pizza scarola (an escarole pie with black olives), and slices of omelets stuffed with spinach, peppers, or onions. If you can't find a seat, you can stand against the wall, as some customers do, or just get your order to go and enjoy your meal outside.

The classic address for sfogliatelle is Pintauro, which rarely disappoints. Try one of these fresh from the back-room oven.

This cheerful trattoria seems to be run for the sheer pleasure of it, and chatting locals give it a buzzy Neapolitan atmosphere. Try the excellent fish or the traditional (but cooked with a lighter modern touch) pasta dishes, especially those with verdure (fresh leafy vegetables) or with patate con la provola (potatoes and smoked mozzarella). Close to Teatro San Carlo and aptly decorated with playbills and theatrical memorabilia, both ancient and modern, this is an excellent place to stop after a visit to the opera house. Look for the entrance almost immediately on the right as you go up Via Nardones from Piazza Trieste e Trento; ring the bell outside to be let in.

Fans of rice will be spoiled for choice at this risotteria, the only one of its kind in the city. The menu offers 20 dishes, including vegetarian and gluten-free options. Order the crema di gamberetti (shrimp cream), pistachio or the specialty Risotto Vesuvio, with buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes, and watch the chef assemble the ingredients behind a glass wall. Valù is also a braceria, for meat-lovers, and has a vast wine list. They also have a branch in Vomero.