Good Italian food is slowly becoming easier to find in the HD, slowly more and more restaurants are popping up and more of them are starting to bring better quality to the table. DiNapoli's is a firehouse themed Italian restaurant that started out in Barstow and eventually gained enough success to open another location in Apple Valley. DiNapoli's offers a great family atmosphere, homestyle italian cooking, and a beautiful dining area to keep your eyes busy while you wait for your food.
In my visit to the Apple Valley DiNapoli's, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful the dining area is. As soon as you walk through the door the first thing you see is an old model firetruck and tons of firehouse/NYFD memorabilia, the dining area is a New York themed room made to look like a street corner of New York (paintings of buildings, trees, etc..). I started my dinner off with a side salad, the waitress recommended the "house italian" for my dressing. When I received my salad I was a bit surprised at the bright red Italian sauce that was drenched on the salad. After my first bite I was absolutely stunned at how good this Italian dressing tasted, it tasted like a lightly-oiled dressing with marinara sauce in it, it was easily one of the best dressings that i've ever had. The shredded mozzarella bits and homemade croutons in the salad also kicked the flavors into high gear and made this side-salad pretty much the perfect opening for any italian dinner! For those of you that love getting salads as a main course, DiNapoli's house Italian dressing will easily make your dinner salad a wonderful treat.
Considering that DiNapoli's is a New York themed Italian establishment, it was only fitting that we try the cheese pizza! A lot of italian places are easily reviewed solely on the quality of their pizza pie. This particular pie came thin crust with a shiny coat of mozzarella and a healthy helping of marinara sauce. The crust on the pizza was thin, but still had a fluffy and steamy consistency to it while maintaining a strong crunch on the outsides of the crust. The sauce was hearty, slightly spicy, and had large chunks of tomato. The cheese was perfectly melted, and full of flavor from the parsley and olive oil dredged on top of it. With these culinary elements combined, the pizza came together perfectly and made me want to travel to New York to see how the real thing compared! The size pictured above is a medium and easily fed 2 people, while still leaving slices to take home.
When I looked at the menu, I couldn't help but notice that DiNapoli's offered mainly cliche italian items (fettuchini alfredo, chicken parm, spaghetti, etc..). I wanted to try something different, something that I feel could separate this joint from other Italian stops, something that could put this in the same league as the almighty Mama Carpino's a couple miles down Hwy 18. My eyes got big as I looked at the description for the Stromboli Mastacholli(Need a spell check on this one, sorry!). The menu item was described as a rolled up pizza crust filled with meatballs, marinara sauce, penne pasta, mozzarella, Ricotta, Parmesan, and spices. I couldn't help but order it, I was worried that it would be a rip-off of a basic calzone, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this blows the calzone fresh out of the water!
The picture above is the inside of the stromboli, this thing is no joke! The many cheeses combined with the tasty sauce, flavorful meatballs, fluffy pizza crust, and perfectly cooked pasta made this dish something special that I have yet to see successfully recreated in the HD. This dish alone gives more than enough reason to return for multiple visits to DiNapoli's. This dish has also sprung interest in trying the meatball sub that DiNapoli's offers. Overall the experience at DiNapoli's was pleasant and the food was great, The service was also very prompt and respectful. The check came in at just under $30 for pizza, stromboli, and drinks. DiNapoli's also offers a great selection of Chiantis and wine for anyone that would like to add an extra touch of party to their meal. DiNapoli's has 2 locations in the HD, the original location is in Barstow at 1358 East Main Street. The 2nd location (location in this review) is located in Apple Valley at 17856 Outer Highway 18 South.
