Intro: On a Saturday evening, after exploring the Pompeii ruins all day, I was more than ready to…read morehave a nice meal. The host of the apartment I was staying at in Pompei recommended Mercato Pompeiano and provided me with a 10% off coupon. That's all the motivation I needed!
Ambiance (4/5): Like most restaurants in Italy, you can sit inside but your better option is to sit outside on the patio for some al fresco dining. Which is what I did. There are a good number of tables outside and it's a lively street so I enjoyed the atmosphere.
Service (1.5/5): Your standard European service. My appetizer came out before my cocktail arrived. I had to track down my waitress twice. Not the most efficient but a bit friendlier than your typical service in Italy. We'll get back to the service in a bit.
Drinks (4/5): I had a special spritz that had red wine in it. I appreciated the creativity. Not cheap but a solid drink.
Food (3.5/5): I started off with the authentic version of fried mozzarella which was drizzled with a cream sauce. A bit different than mozzarella sticks in the States, both in terms of size and taste, but just as delicious. From there, for my main dish, I tried fried pizza for the first time which is a popular dish in the Naples region. My fried pizza had different types of pork incorporated into it and it was huge! I ate half. Not as good as regular pizza in my book but I was glad that I crossed it off of the bucket list.
Overall: Now here's where things fell apart. When I paid at the cashier inside, I noticed that they overcharged me one Euro. My cocktail was priced one Euro higher on the receipt than the price that was listed on the menu. The cashier took a look at the menu and then apologized. I don't know if this was an honest mistake (perhaps they upped their prices and forgot to update the menu) or if it was intentional (most people won't notice a one Euro price difference on a cocktail) but it's the principle of the matter. The apology was nice but I feel like they should have gone further. Maybe comp the cocktail entirely. Or offer me a free shot of limoncello or a dessert. Something to attempt to get it right. They did not.
