First off, if you are reading this it means that you are seriously contemplating a visit to The…read moreReal Italia -- the Mezzogiorno! Forget Florence and Pisa and Montalcino and head south to where the coffee and bread are ten times better. This second story gem is down at sea level in the port of Pozzuoli, and I have eaten there about twenty times. Be advised: the menu is very, very limited. You can get a starter of octopus or a plate of olives. There are a couple of seafood pastas and risotto pescatore. Then you can get some fish or some fried calamari or shrimp. That's about it.
But the guys who run the place are great, and I love to watch them interact with foreigners --- by which I mean anyone who lives more than ten miles away!! I first ate here in about 1986, and the young guy that was our waiter then was our waiter in April of this year, and one of the old cooks was still down in the kitchen. Don Antonio and his wife are long gone, but his son is still there every night it is open.
I highly recommend this place for an adventurous eater, but don't go there and waste a table if you are wanting some sort of special fancy meal. This is where small groups of old friends go for good food in a simple setting.