We are in Padua with only a few days remaining in our Italian itinerary. I am very far behind on the meal reports, which may take the rest of my life to get caught up on. Here, for example, is only my third report, covering our very first meal in Italy, eaten just an hour after our arrival in Naples. We took a cab to our AirBnB flat, got checked in and then headed for Mimi alla Ferrovia. This is a Neapolitan institution. The name comes from the fact that the original proprietor’s nickname was Mimi and the restaurant is located by the train station (ferrovia). I got to it as well via Katie Parla’s website—she recommends it as a less informal place to get classic Neapolitan cooking. It’s not that I was looking for more formal places but the fact that I could make an online booking and be assured of dinner without a wait after arrival was very attractive. Our flat was also just about a 15 minute walk away. Our AirBnB host, however, dissuaded us from walking there—the area by the station can apparently be sketchy after dark—and put us in a cab. On our way back the restaurant likewise advised against walking back and called us a cab. Between cabs, the meal itself was rather good.

It’s a large restaurant, seemingly popular with tourists and locals alike. Indeed, while there were a few groups of tourists waiting at the door—some of whom seemed a bit disgruntled that we walked right in (reservations, look into them)—most of the diners inside the restaurant appeared to be locals. At least this was true of the large upstairs dining room (divided into a number of sections) where we were seated. We heard no English at any of the tables up there, only a lot of very animated Italian. There were a number of very large groups mixed in with tables of four and five and the energy was great. Indeed, the energy of the restaurant—and the feel and energy of the city as a whole—put me in mind of India. Certainly, the eating late part. Our own reservation was at 8.30 and when we left after 10 a number of large groups were only just getting started. This on a Monday night.

If the diners around us were not speaking much English, the servers were more than fluent enough in it for our non-Italian-speaking asses’ needs. And the menu too has English translations accompanying the Italian names and descriptions of the dishes. The servers are happy to explain further if you don’t know exactly what the components of every dish are (as we have some nut allergies in the party, we’ve had a lot of questions throughout the trip). You can also see most of the menu flying by on trolleys to other tables and point and ask the servers what things are. In my case, the servers, who were amused by my food photography, began stopping their trolleys by our table and inviting me to photograph their contents.

What did we eat? Three antipasti to start. First some excellent buffalo mozzarella with—it must be said—just about decent tomatoes. Bummer about the tomatoes but the mozzarella was great. The other antipasti were solid all around: crocche (or potato croquets) and alici croccanti (or stuffed and fried anchovies) with wasabi mayo etc. To follow, a couple of excellent pastas. First pasta mista (or mixed pasta) tossed in a creamy sauce of potatoes, guanciale and smoked mozzarella. Then a standout spaghetti alle vongole e pomodorini (clams and cherry tomatoes). Two secondi to close out the heavy eating: the grilled octopus with potatoes was just outstanding; the sauce apparently involved kimchi but we couldn’t really find any sign of it. Finally polpette al ragu, or Neapolitan meatballs, painted with basil, tomato and smoked mozzarella sauces. Also rather good.

We were dragging at this point and as good as their house-made desserts looked, we couldn’t bring ourselves to eat one. Instead we shared a plate of fresh fruit. That plus a half bottle of wine (for the adults) and a few bottles of still water rounded out our eating and drinking.

For a look at the restaurant and what we ate, click on an image below to launch a larger slideshow. Scroll down for thoughts on service, to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next from Italy.

Service, as I’ve noted, was friendly and helpful. It was also in general on the frantic side on the whole—not for our table so much as the general service feel in the upstairs dining area. But the place was crazy busy and the staff was being run ragged. Price? 130 Euros, including a 20 Euro service charge. This latter is something we are yet to encounter again on this trip. Every other sit-down restaurant charges a coperto or cover charge of 2-3 Euros per head which also covers the bread they set down. Anyway, it’s a crazy good deal anyway for the quality of the food, especially when you consider how much more you’d pay for inferior renditions of similar dishes in Italian restaurants in the US. We’ve certainly paid far more for just about passable Italian food in the Twin Cities. And the actual price would have been even lower if our server hadn’t taken it upon himself to size a few of the dishes up to better accommodate sharing by four people.

On the whole, a very good start to a trip of over-eating. The rest of our meals in Naples involved pizza (at Attilio and Starita for lunch and dinner the next day, as previously reported). If we ever get to come back we’d love to explore Neapolitan cuisine further. And for those who might be making their first trip, I’d recommend Mimi alla Ferrovia, unhesitatingly.

Alright, as this concludes the Naples eating, my next restaurant report will be of our first dinner in Rome, which remains as of this writing the best of our formal meals so far (and with only one more such scheduled before our departure for Ireland, odds are good it will retain that title). That’ll be next Tuesday. Probably.