Cafe Napoli

Have had sometime to think about this place and now take the time to write a review. I am actually surprised this resturant is open still. It needs to be inspected closely. The food is frozen and microwaved. The service is rude and callouse toward its customers and its owners head is stuck in the clouds and ignorant to the daily details. This establishment is just plain out of date as its food inventory. Its cooks are struggling to plate even bad food. I visited, disguised recently and was appauled to see in over a year it has not changed anything. Including its bad menu and blaine watery food. Also apparently the dishes STILL are not effectively being cleaned. I ran into another set of placement of food crusted sliverware and oily drink glasses. Flies still join you for the meal and there was a burnt cheese smell crossed with unemptied trash cans abd cigarette butts smell. Just gross. No where close to the tab I had to pay for my date and myself, who I was enbarassed to have brought here. Oh well fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me… never again napoli. I am calling a health inspector though. Just gross.

Had lunch there today and it was great.
I had the koobideh entrée with some yogurt. It was very satisfying and I will be back. The staff there are really friendly too. Small place but it has a lot of heart and character especially all the detail and art inside.

We’ve been here many times in the past and have always enjoyed the meals… HOWEVER, we made reservations on the phone for 6pm this past Saturday, and drove all the way from Roseville, only to find the doors closed which infuriated us. No call back, Unilocal showed it was open… this is terrible communication to patrons. My wife and I are very unhappy campers!!!

Mediocre food, sub par service. Sent our steak back three times. Couldn’t get medium rare. Came back burnt. Suppose to be a cooking school, but I don’t know what they’re teaching the students.

We walk in and the lady upfront did not know if they served lunch. WTF. Then she asks someone and sits us down. Took long time to get the food and I got the wrong sandwich. She told me they were out of tomatoes and she sent someone to go get some more. They had the same lady taking orders, making the food and was the cashier. My sandwich was dry as it can be. Had to dip it in my salad dressing so I can eat it because it was really dry. We were out of water and no one asked if we needed more.

Definitely not a good place for large groups. Came with coworkers for lunch. We were the only party in the restaurant so I expected things to run more smoothly. The food wasn’t brought out together, which is slightly expected with a large group of 15, but ours weren’t even close. Probably about 20 minutes between the first and last persons getting served. I ordered the Stromboli and it was not good. Very bready and not much filling. They automatically split the checks, which is ok, but it was a nightmare trying to pay them. I had to wait about 20 minutes to get my card back. Some folks just got up and walked their checks to the gentlemen at the register. So with service being extremely slow, and quality of food being pretty low, I definitely won’t be going back.

Their food is fine. I even took a cooking class here that was very enjoyable. I’ve only managed to eat one pizza here, for reasons I will explain, and it was good. Spectacular? No. But it worked out nicely for my evening. This review is primarily on their idea of customer service. This is absolutely insane. The LAST time I tried to order a pizza, I was told I couldn’t order anything because of an event taking place and no orders were being taken, not even takeout. TONIGHT, I call to order a pizza and I’m told that the guy who is apparently the ONLY one in the entire restaurant who is qualified to make a pizza had to leave. 7:30 on a Saturday night. Apparently no more pizzas. I am 1 for 3 in ordering from Café Napoli. I’m done with this place.

Without the Groupon, I don’t think I’d ever stop here. It’s buried in a corner of a strip mall behind another building labeled «culinary academy» aka cooking school.
I was surprised to see escargot and hummus on the same page, but they were on their menu. Mom got the eggplant parmesan. Thinly sliced, breaded and fried eggplant on top of what looked like spaghetti noodles. I got the fettucine carbonara. When it first came out, I thought the sauce was a bit thin (think milk viscosity), but the sauce was warm so I think it reduced and thickened up a bit as I ate.
In the picture towards the left are windows where it looks like classes could be taught. It did take a while for the food to be served, as I saw one chef and one host, but it was decent, if not better than decent in my book.
Portions were huge– we both brought food home. I brought over half of my meal home not because it wasn’t good, but because there was soooo much of it.
This is not a knock of the place, but it is not «upscale.» It is a place of learning apparently. I guess I’d say it was about on par with a Cheesecake factory in terms of food… minus the cheesecake. (take that as you may) And much much smaller… I just can’t think of another restaurant with which to compare this one.

Very disappointed in service and prices. Ordered a pizza to go. The menu states the pizza should serve 6 people and it cost a total of $ 22.68. The pizza only had only seven slices and is very small. Furthermore, to get half one type of pizza and half another, there was a premium which was not explained at the time of order. When I asked the server about this he was quite rude. I will never go back. I added another star because the inside looks like an interesting place to sit and eat… But I didn’t stay for that experience.

A cute little café and non profit cooking school. They teach a variety of courses such as pasta, ravioli, soup, dessert, pizza making, Russian foods, as well as Asian foods. My friend and I had a Groupon to learn to cook. We opted for the class to learn how to make cream of broccoli, ravioli, and cannoli with an option for a glass of beer or wine. This same exact deal is also available if you call them for a code to apply to your online transaction so that Groupon or living social doesn’t keep a portion of the money (it is a non profit). The director Hassi Mark is hilarious. He is the main teacher who is very direct and forward. In reading some of the comments here about him being rude, you have to understand that goes with the territory. He’s not really attacking anyone but just making jokes to keep the class entertained. If you have a sense of humor or don’t take everything to heart, you’d have a good time. The class starts with a presentation on how to cook the food, then you get split into three groups to head back into the kitchen to cook. People commented that the kitchen is messy and dirty. In comparison to your own house kitchen maybe so but the ideal home kitchen also doesn’t have everything a commercial kitchen does. 100 different ingredients? Several prep tables? 8 burners? Several ovens? Commercial grade pots and pans? As someone who’s worked in the restaurant industry, this is pretty neat and organized with everything you’d expect to find. Being split into groups allowed for team building, which I thought was a pretty good and fun experience. After cooking, they plate your food and serve it for you to eat. What our team cooked were delicious! In the end, you get to being home the recipe/​instructions but you pretty much may not need it has Hassi does a great job teaching it. I’ll come back for their pizza making class.

Went there yesterday. My 3^rd visit. Brought 2 friends, never been… We had the best Carbonara, and freshest! Enough for 8 people. She, Mercedes made fresh minestrone for my friend, due or clam chowder still being made for evening. Service awesome, and they will accommodate private parties if you need. Atmosphere like being in Italy. .
I suggest if you like your wine, bring your own. Only a couple of choices…

I come here with a groupon and it ends up being an amazing deal!
The food is very good as well (the good deal just makes it even better). I like their Persian food a lot and the Italian pasta is served in heaping portions! I also love their hummus!

Found this place on Groupon. Persian and Italian food. Yes, I know it’s weird, but I’ve seen a Peruvian and Thai place near Carpinteria and a Thai and Indian place in Concord.
That said, the food was nice. Our server was also our cook. I got the lasagna and my boyfriend got eggplant parmesan. We also got the beef kabob with saffron rice and shared a baklava for dessert. Very nicely done. Bathrooms are hidden. The inside decorations are fitting but a little gaudy… reminds me of an Italian place I ate at in San Diego in 2010, but I can’t remember the name. Owner was pretty friendly.
Overall a decent experience, if not a little strange. If I lived in the area, I might consider checking out their cooking classes.

Ordered a pizza. We wanted to try something different in the area & have been making our way around the different pizza places in our neighborhood. I have to say their hours are a little strange so it took me approx 3 tries to actually get an order in. I s should have looked more closely at business hours (my fault) I just assumed opened every night.
Anyhow to the pizza, it was a completely different tasting pizza compared to anything I have had before. My husband loved it. I am on the I cant decide. It was good just different. Lots of flavor however I didnt feel like I was eating pizza if that makes any sense.
But all in al we liked it, we will be back, we would like to try the restaurant out for dinner and try the other food, was cute inside.

Very good place to dine with a lot of variety to chose from. The price is inexpensive compared to other competitors.

Being a major foodie, my mother-​in-​law purchased two Chinese food cooking lessons for Café Napoli’s on
. I must say I was super excited, counting the days until I would learn how to make Wonton Soup, Orange Chicken, and Fried Rice. Last night the wait was finally over and boy was it a major disappointment.
All seemed well when my group of four arrived at Café Napoli’s. We were seated where the class would be held in the back of the very small restaurant. As we sat down, we first noticed our table was not properly cleaned. Pushing that aside, I tried to keep a positive attitude and open mind. A gentleman who works the bar area then took our drink order. It was a little humorous watching the confused look on his face as the four of us order sodas instead of an alcoholic beverage. All was well, until the class started.
Mr. Hassi, the director of the Culinary Academy and owner of Café Napoli, came in with a Britney Spears head set on and a glass of wine. He raises his glass to cheer with me until he realizes that I am not drinking his beloved wine. He then insults me and my group throughout his presentation about our choice in drinks. Through-​out his presentation and sales pitch, his blatant disrespect and insults were the only form of attention we were given.
After Mr. Hassi’s twenty-​minute spiel about how magnificent wine drinkers, his café and himself are, we move onto our instructor, Mercedes, who is one of the Culinary Academy’s senior student. Mercedes was fun and had a great personality, however, she was ill-​prepared for the class, lacked cooking knowledge and authority. I must say I was also disappointed that we only received a demonstration on the Wonton Soup and Orange Chicken but not the Fried Rice that they had promised with the excuse of «It takes too long.»
Finally, we are put into three teams to prepare our dishes. I was not prepared for what I was about to see. The kitchen area was a deplorable, disgusting, and filthy excuse for a professional kitchen. We washed our hands in a plugged up sink next to another sink filled with food caked dishes. Next we move to the crowded, film covered prep stations. The teams are then divided ad given a portion of the meal to prepare. My group was asked to do the frying for the Orange Chicken. In our corner, the stove was caked with grease and slime. The hood above the stove was covered in grease trapped dust and even the sprinkler system above the stove was covered in a mystery substance. That was just the surface of the kitchen. The utensils hanging up on the racks also had caked on food and dust. The floor was cover in burnt food droppings (at least that’s what I hope it was). It is beyond me how in the world they have passed health inspections.
Finally we are served the meal we made with a scoop of fried rice prepared by the kitchen staff. I could not bring myself to eat one bite after seeing that kitchen. My husband was brave enough to attempt the bland, lack luster food and regretted it.
Save your money people. Don’t risk the food poisoning or aggravation.

Fantastic atmosphere, we participated in the culinary cooking night. So much fun and great Chicken Caccittori, butternut squash soup, and Greek salad. Fun date night.

This was a five star experience! But I had to dock them one star for their awful registration process.
That said, once you get there you have a great time. I’m talking about the cooking class of course. The instructor is great. He has a cool sense of humor and a great approach to cooking. The class includes your choice of wine or beer and you eat what you cook– so ours was g

We came here a few months ago because we had heard their Persian food is super cheap and good. Upon walking in, we noticed how empty it was. The sitting area was small and dark and the décor was tacky. It’s a Persian restaurant but there were Italian decorations all throughout the place, which may seem irrelevant to mention but it was just so strange that I couldn’t help noticing it.
We ordered their beef koobideh, which was $ 4.95, along with a few Soltanis, and their Fettuccine Alfredo. We also ordered their hummus as an appetizer. They brought us out silverware, which was really gross. We picked it up to use and noticed food stains on all of them (we were a party of four.) We told our waitress and she didn’t seem surprised or too concerned, as she didn’t even apologize but rather, went in the back to get us new silverware. A few that she had brought out were still dirty, so it took her another trip to the back to finally bring out a decent set of silverware.
The hummus was very good and flavorful and was served with pita bread. Our entrees themselves were mediocre, at best. Nothing fancy or over the top but I guess for my koobideh, what did I really expect? I had only paid $ 4.95 but I had expected more because I had heard this place used to be really good.
None of us were wowed by anything we ordered. In the end, it made us realize that you get what you pay for. If you want quality Persian food, you just have to suck it up and pay for what it’s worth.

We liked it!
The exterior belies this very attractive restaurant. A photo of Café Napoli from the street probably would not find its way into an advertisement. Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing at all wrong with the view from the street it’s just that is can’t be interpreted as a beckoning call. Standing at the front door is nice enough; there’s a small fountain and some plants which altogether create a very pleasant sense of «welcome» but that detail is not seen from the street.
We were promptly and pleasantly greeted as we walked in and taken past a small bar to an interior courtyard exactly like one you might find in any city in Italy. We found ourselves in a large area, very thoughtfully and nicely decorated. The high ceiling combined with the well done decorations and appointments made us both feel just as if we were in an Italian piazza.
The menu is a combination of Italian and Mediterranean standards although the emphasis is on Italian. There are some kabobs, humus items, Chelo Kabob Koobideh, samosas, hamburgers and fish but also Spinach Lasagna, Italian meat loaf and Shrimp Fettuccini Alfredo, Spaghetti and meatballs and several other Italian dishes. I had the Spinach Lasagna which was good as opposed to very good, perhaps a little lacking in flavor. My wife had the fish (a liberal portion of tilapia, sautéed) which she reported also as «good.» My Caesar salad was excellent and my wife’s garden salad market-​fresh. We ordered a bottle of «house» Chianti which, served in a bottle, was lacking in depth. Overall the menu and wine list are short but that, I find, is generally a good thing.
Everything we had was fresh, nicely presented, hot or cold as the dish demanded and served promptly and in good manner. The service was excellent. We had arrived early on a Saturday and there was no problem finding a table. As it turned out, we thought the restaurant should have enjoyed more business than it was at that time. We shared a good-​sized slice of tiramisu for dessert; it was outstanding.
In sum, we found our experience somewhat less than stellar. We would have enjoyed the use of a deeper, more flavorful taste to our food using traditional spices. We agreed, however, there is a great deal of promise here but, as of our visit, that had not been yet realized.