I had a very enjoyable dinner at Sapore Di Napoli. We ordered two pizzas: the margherita as well as a sausage/onion pie. I felt both were very casual examples of the pizza I enjoyed in italy last year.

Is it the most authentic Italian pizza? Probably not.

Was it tasty, regardless of authenticity? You bet!

No undercooked blonde crust, a nice balance of sauce and cheese, and some nice depth of flavor to the crust (though not as smoky as Spacca Napoli.) The margherita even had a bit of a wet center, something I have learned to enjoy. And the when we ordered a pizza to go (for lunch the next day) the chef/owner personally came to our table to convince us not to slice it until the next day as a way to preserve the integrity of the crust.

Though it wasn't as good as the pizza I have enjoyed in Italy (which goes for everything I've eaten in the US - including Spacca Napoli and Pizza Bianca) I am extremely happy that SdN is now in my neighborhood and plan on visiting often.

Tonight, I had Sapore di Napoli's version of Neapolitan pizza. Like previous posters, my dining companion and I split the margherita and the smoked cheese with sausage and onion.

This is a most confounding pizza. The crust was thin, flat and almost cracker-y in the Chicago-style way. It also came to the table pre-cut (so much for preserving the integrity of the crust, as the previous poster stated). Yet, there was some wetness in the middle. The crust, however, was chalky, white, dry and flavorless, completely missing the hot bubbly air pockets and char typical of this type of pizza. The only char on the crust was residue from the oven itself. The sauce was sugary sweet. It's as if the chef devised a way to make a Chicago thin crust pizza with a wetness akin to Neapolitan pizza. In a word, it was weird. In addition to the odd crust, the oven evaporated the cheese into nothingness. And while I thought the sausage was sweet and fennel-y, my friend thought it tasteless.

As pointed out above, it sounds as if the flour used is not taking to the oven temp. The entire time I was there, the digital temp on the side of the oven hovered at about 640 degrees.

Although I didn't want to compare Sapore di Napoli's pizza to Spacca Napoli's, the insertion of Napoli in the name by Sapore's owners simply invites comparisons. After being thoroughly disappointed by Sapore's, my friend and I headed to Spacca to attempt a comparison. Unfortunately, Spacca had a wait and every table was filled. Hopefully, that is a sign that real Neapolitan pizza is appreciated in Chicago.

Would anyone recommend Sapore di Napoli for a rehearsal dinner, or know if they could accomodate about 35 people? Any other ideas? I'm considering also Spacca, Greek Islands, and Jane's. I'd love to hear your advice!

I had mine at Club Lucky in the back room and when I run into relatives, they always remember what a great meal and time we had there. Of course, that was forever ago....

fela wrote:Would anyone recommend Sapore di Napoli for a rehearsal dinner, or know if they could accomodate about 35 people? Any other ideas? I'm considering also Spacca, Greek Islands, and Jane's. I'd love to hear your advice!

Based upon the food, I wouldn't necessarily recommend Sapore di Napoli. Also, it is a pretty small storefront, so fitting 35 people in there might be kind of tight.

Finally tried them. Can't add any hard info to what's been noted, but we did have a very enjoyable dinner, friendly, attentive service.
Pizzas came out piping hot and certainly not smothered in gooey cheese.
Personally, I liked the combination of thinness and crunch in the crust. I'm ok with a bit of wetness in the center as well, but this didn't have it, and was also just fine. The basic margherita was simple and good. My salciccia e cipolle was also very good. I wouldn't call the sausage tasteless, as someone else did, but it definitely had a different character from the typical fennel seed version that usually defines "Italian." I asked the server where it was from but he couldn't tell me. I very much want to see what the "verdure" is like, with a description that looks like it could either be a mess of way too many different veggies, or, if handled well, really delicious.
I really do wish they would find a way to make a smaller size, or serve half a pie. With my wife and i each wanting different pies, we ended up with a higher bill and much more pizza than we would have preferred.
On the other hand, I ordered a gelato for my son, and, having seen others go by, was thinking that this was way too much gelato for him and would be sort of a waste (he wanted the mint, and I wasn't interested in pitching in). But, they brought a half portion (at half price) without being asked. I found that very considerate.
Overall, it was an enjoyable meal, and a pie that is distinct from the other versions around. At $50+ with tip, it was more than I'd like to spend for a spur of the moment neighborhood dinner, but I'd still go back.

Tonight was my first visit ever to Sapore di Napoli, and while I don't think the crust was Neapolitan (too crispy and chewy in the middle), I thought it was nonetheless very good. Several nice charred bubbles, sufficient charring underneath, and no blond pizzas like the ones pictured earlier in the thread. I had the pizza with arugula, cherry tomatoes and prosciutto and I thought the flavor of the toppings was delicious. I prefer Spacca's and Coalfire's crust to that of Sapore's, but I thought Sapore's toppings were superior to that of Coalfire's.

However, the real highlight of the meal for me was the fantastic pumpkin gelato for dessert -- perhaps served a tad too cold, but the flavor was fantastic.

I liked it. We sat at the small counter/bar and ate awhile back. The guy making the pizzas was from Milan, and we talked about calcio and Italian politics, so that was authentic.

The girl who owns the place is super-nice. She said her husband also works there too. Their oven is bad-to-the-bone serious hi-tech.

Closed.