An agriturismo in my paternal grandfather's hometown, we discovered La Cantina di Baffone a few…read moreyears back and I have never gone for a visit without at least one meal there. Just down the hill from downtown Montecalvo, a small, hillside town 60 miles east of Naples, the restaurant seems to be far from civilization in a relaxed and peaceful setting surrounded by olive and cherry orchards ... AHHHHHHH! Owned by the lovely and very kind Daniela Racioppi, who does most of the interacting with guests, she greeted me warmly as usual and quickly gave us the menus. Knowing the menu very well, we quickly ordered some mineral water and a liter of the local red wine for the four of us as well as some bruschetta (€1.50/$1.75 - FYI: the "ch" in Italian is pronounced like our "k', so it is pronounced brew-sket-ah, not brew-shet-a) and a Caprese salad (€5/$5.75). The bruschetta was delish and the Caprese salad was bigger and better than most places that charge between €7/$8 and €12/$13.75. Having been born about 15 miles away, my grandmother's cooking was very similar to the dishes found in this region, so I always feel right at home here. None of the pizzas are over €5 ($5.75) and they are the cheapest I have seen in recent memory, here or in Naples, and the most expensive thing on the menu is just €7 ($8). Naples is chock full of fabulous pizzerias, so my focus on this occasion was on the cucina tipica (local cuisine), Montecalvese in this case. For our first courses (primi), my cousin Gino, nephew Francesco and I all had the Cicatielli e Broccoli (€5/$5.75). Cicatielli (dialect) is a local pasta that is known as Cavatelli in other parts of Italy. With just the right amount of perfectly cooked pasta, the broccoli leaves were not overwhelmed by the light, olive oil sauce holding the pasta together. Top it with some grated Parmigiano Reggiano and you have a delicious pasta dish that would easily cost two to three times the price elsewhere. As they say, "great minds think alike", so the three of us also ordered the Patane e Pupini (€5) for our secondi (second dish), a traditional combination of roasted sweet sausage, chunks of stewed beef, red and green bell peppers, and potatoes. My grandma used to make this and it was one of my dad's favorite dishes, and Da Baffone always does an excellent job in their preparation. Along with some local bread, I had to "fare la scarpetta" (to do the little shoe) with the leftover sauce, using a small piece of local bread to mop up the wonderful juices I could not possibly have left behind. My Italian-born wife always tells me that it is frowned upon in public, but I could not resist. Thoroughly stuffed, I had no room for dessert, but Gino and Francesco order the cheesecake (€2.50), a house specialty, one drizzled with caramel and the other a fresh fruit sauce with strawberry, raspberry, and cherry from trees in the adjacent grove. The graham cracker crust was perfect and the filling as good as any stateside restaurant, a dessert easily fetching twice the price at most places. Cantina di Baffone is a rarity and a place you can only find only off the beaten track in a place only locals know. The prices are ridiculously cheap, the portions big, and the food incredible. For a party of four, we ate extremely well for €15 per person, including drinks, making this restaurant an exceptional value. We only see my relatives once every year or two, but the next time we are in Montecalvo we will return to Cantina di Baffone for another inexpensive and delicious meal. This is as good as it gets folks! CombatCritic Gives Cantina di Baffone 10 Out Of 10 Bombs ... TravelValue Does Not Get Any Better Than This Folks ... More Bombs Are Better!

We found this casual eatery en route from the airport to Alberobello in Puglia. It's about halfway…read morealong the 6 hour drive & a very welcome spot for our first everyday taste of Italy. Great pizzas & most accommodating staff. Not at all fancy, just a neighborhood place to get a bite to eat. A couple of storefronts away is a pastisceria - perfect dessert for the last half of our car ride.

From the owner: Al Ristorante Limiti, in un locale elegante e sobrio, con un…read moreservizio ineccepibile, potrete gustare specialità di pesce cucinate ad arte. La materia prima è sottoposta a rigoroso controllo. La carta è ampia è propone una successione di antipasti, paste fatte in casa, secondi di pesce, cruditè e dolci di ottimo livello. In grado di soddisfare un ampio spettro di palati, la cucina propone piatti a base di pesce IL MENU propone una quotidiana selezione di pescato del giorno, cucinato al sale, al forno, all'acqua pazza, alla brace, in guazzetto o fritto. I fritti proposti sono sempre asciutti e croccanti. Ottimi gli antipasti e ampia la variazione di crudi. Il pesce acquistato sempre fresco, viene monitorato ogni giorno ed ogni stagione, per proporre alla clientela solo ciò che di migliore e più fresco il mare possa offrire. Su ordinazione si preparano anche piatti di carne.

I Masanielli is located in Caserta. The city is not charming in any way. As we made our…read morereservations months in advance, we were the first party called. Franceso Martucci, the pizza chef, is known for applying advanced culinary techniques. A large portion of the pizzas on his menu has dough that is fried, steamed, and then cooked in the oven. Did it make a lovely, light crust? Yes. Is it better or more tender than the pizzas we had elsewhere that had only been fried or had only been baked in an oven? No. APPETIZERS: FRITTATINA VEGETARIANA: Crispy potatoes sautéed in Normandy butter with red peppers, Salina capers, sun-dried Caiazzan olives, fondue and 28-month aged Parmigiano Reggiano Bianca, Buffalo milk cheese, béchamel scented with cubeb pepper, and fresh basil. This was just a single bite. POLENTA FRITTA. Corn polenta, wild garlic, cubebe pepper, pecorino cheese; served with onion mayonnaise (no eggs, with soy milk). Everyone at the table liked this, PIZZAS: UNA VOLTA Fior di latte cheese, Semi-aged Agnone Caciocavallo cheese, blue cheese by Fattorie Garofalo, marinated Scottona beef top round with garlic, olive oil and parsley, lime mousse, Sichuan pepper, cubeb pepper. The toppings were the star on this one, and it was not overly blue-cheesy. ASSOLUTO DI POMODORO: Roasted cherry tomato cream, piennolo tomato sautéed, yellow tomato sautéed, San Marzano PDO tomato mousse, dried piennolo cherry tomato, chips of red datterino, Piennolo tomato jam, extra virgin olive oil Matilde Misuraca. This was a tomato-forward pizza. Did I enjoy it? Absolutely. Was it better than a plain Cosacca that I had later that week at Pizzeria Salvo? No. VIA EMILIA  Fior di latte cheese, Mortadella Bologna PGI, flakes of 28-month-aged Parmigiano Reggiano made from Bianca Modenese cow's milk. Although my wife ordered this pizza, this was my daughter's favorite. It had the best bake of the pizzas we tried, probably because the toppings were added post-bake,

The best pizza I have ever had! Had 4 different kinds and the multi tomato pizza was the best! Wish…read morewe could go again before heading back to Texas!

Yelp Review #25 (2026)…read more Visited in June 2026. There are two lines when arriving. There is a to go line that's pretty short, an a dine in ticket line that you receive from the employee by the entrance. If you visit their museum to learn about the history of Antica, then your indoor seating is expedited. After the museum, we sat down and ordered our delicious pizza. They offer four different types of pizza.

Absolutely recommend crossing the street and heading to L'Antica Pizzeria - Tempio Della Pizza…read more It's the same menu and same pizza as the spot everyone waits in line for, but without the chaos. There's seating both upstairs and downstairs, and we walked right in with no wait. Like many other reviewers, we had the same frustrating experience outside. The crowd is huge and confused, and the number‑calling system feels totally random. The takeaway line was a mess, I stood there for about 15 minutes and it never moved. The pizza itself was basic but excellent. We ordered the Margherita, which had a great char and really showcased the fresh tomatoes. I do wish they added more basil, but it didn't take away from the overall experience. Service was quick, not particularly friendly, but clearly focused on keeping things moving. They do ask for a tip at the register, but it's optional. Go for the pizza, and expect a hectic scene.

The restaurant was quaint, but warm and inviting. A pignata, by the way, is a simple, tall clay jug…read morewith large handles on both sides used to drink wine or other liquids. The walls and shelves were adorned with pignate (plural for pignata), copper pots, a double bass (like in an orchestra), an antique wine press, books, bottles of wine, fresh fruit and vegetables and a large blue stained glass wall with the scene of a dear in nature. We started with mineral water and wine as is tradition in Italy. I asked for a vino locale (local wine), which is normally the house wine, likely made by the family or friends, and routinely quite cheap. What we got was a rather expensive looking bottle of wine, a Benito Ferrara 2014 Aglianico Campania I.G.T. "Passo del Lupo", a dry, smooth wine that is a deep ruby red with the "fragrance of cherries and violets". Made in Tufo, a small town of less than 1,000 between Benevento and Avellino about 30 miles away, I would hardly call that "local". Oh well. The server told us there were no menus, so he started suggesting antipasti. I understood that he was bringing us a simple prosciutto, salame, and cheese board, but what arrived was much more than I was expecting. He first brought us a simple pizza fritta, a small flattened pizza dough that is deep fried and topped with a dollop of tomato sauce. The massive wooden platter that soon followed was full of antipasti, including crostini (toast) with pancetta cinghiale (wild boar), salsiccia (sausage), salame (salami), prosciutto crudo (raw, cured ham), three types of cheese (fresh mozzarela, a goat cheese, and another I did not recognize), and pancetta lardo (a delicacy of very fatty lightly cured pork belly). He soon followed with a large dish of artichoke hearts marinated in local extra virgin olive oil (EVO) and red onion agrodolce (a sweet and sour vinegar and sugar reduction). It was nearly a meal in itself with the accompanying fresh, local bread. Then the next antipasto arrived. Beautifully presented in a bowl was a deep fried arancino filled with rice, funghi (mushrooms) porcini, pecorino (goat) cheese, sausage, and truffle carefully placed atop a base of a rich and decadent corn and saffron sauce. It was like no other arancini I have eaten, and I have eaten quite a few, being crispy on the outside, soft and slightly moist on the inside, and the saffron sauce was to die for. Then the next antipasto arrived. Another one? This was one I would not have ordered, had I ordered it in the first place (which I did not), paccheri (a large tube shaped pasta designed for stuffing) filled with a mixture of bacala (salted, dried cod), yellow tomato, bread crumbs, and "grano Senatore Cappelli" (a hard, old grain originally from Foggia). It tasted like dried cod, not one of my favorite foods because I do not like anything that tastes "fishy" and this was very fishy. Finally, the primo (first course) arrived, a hand made spinach papperdelle in a porcini mushroom sauce topped with an abundance of very expensive black truffles. It was a small serving, thank God, and was tasty, but somewhat bland and not very hot. I love all of the ingredients, but this dish did not rock my boat. To top off this massive lunch, Ezio insisted on bringing us their signature secondo (second - meat - course), agnello alle brace (braised lamb chops) in EVO and topped with fresh ruccola. We told him that we were stuffed, but he insisted that I (just me) at least try a small porzione ("portion" - aka one small piece) of their specialty. He arrived shortly thereafter with a plate FULL of braised lamb chops, there must have been at least eight of them and not at all what I would call a porzione. They were delicious as advertized, charred and basted in olive oil, eaten with the hands like fried chicken, never a knife and fork. The total came to €140, so €35 per person is not a bad price for such a massive and delicious meal at a Michelin Guide rated restaurant. We do not eat at such expensive restaurants every week (hence the blog's name ... TravelValue), but when we do splurge stateside or anywhere else, the bill normally comes to about $100, including a bottle of wine, making La Pignata a pretty good value. The thing that bothered me most was that the waiter brought us much more food than we wanted or ordered, resulting in a deduction of one BOMB in my rating below. CombatCritic Gives La Pignata 7 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More Bombs Are Better!

Food was delicious and the service was friendly. Calming atmosphere of the hustle and bustle of…read moreAmalfi.

Pictures sum it up. Service was friendly and quick. The bread at the beginning was absolutely…read moredelightful (light, crunchy surface, soft warm inside). We did manage to throttle back and not eat all of it lol, as we wanted to still enjoy our starter and pizza. The oils provided were the perfect compliment for the bread, the salad (and the crust of the pizza). Salad was fresh and light. Pizza rolled out next and we still believe this to be the best pizza we ever had. Not heavy, but filling. The flavors were so rich and bright. Of course I had to have a local beer which paired well. The seating was outside, which was covered in an ivy like feel. It was lemon trees providing adequate sun coverage and of course looked beautiful. We would highly recommend checking out Donna Stella if you're in Amalfi.

The owner Antionio was an awesome host. The food / burgers…read morewere done to perfection. Local home made wine and beers were tasty and yummy. The atmosphere was relaxed, comfortable and inviting. If you want great food, this is the place to come to.