Rank the Italian Restaurants in WDW

[hosler427]

Put them in order of favorite to least favorite. Put any comments that you wish to:

Mama Melrose Ristorante Italiano
Tony's Town Square Restaurant
Maria & Enzo's Ristorante
Enzo's Hideaway
Il Mulino
Terralina Crafted Italian
Trattoria al Forno
Tutto Italia Ristorante

My father loves pasta but isn't an adventurous eater. As of now we plan on Mama Melrose out of convenience of being in the park but I want to get feedback. Personally I would rather try another one...what do you think?

 

[CynBeth]

Of your list we have only been to Tony’s and Tutto Italia but we love them.

 

[Dean Marino]

Il Mulino (swan) #1. The rest are poor imitations of Italian Restaurants.

SF, Sicilian.... It better be as good as my Aunt Rose's food .

All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.

 

[Disneylover99]

Of the 2 we’ve been to......

Via Napoli - #1 for the pizza
Mama Melrose - just okay

 

[DisBuckMan]

Il Mulino (swan) #1. The rest are poor imitations of Italian Restaurants.

Agree

 

[hosler427]

Il Mulino (swan) #1. The rest are poor imitations of Italian Restaurants.

SF, Sicilian.... It better be as good as my Aunt Rose's food .

All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.

We are going with a group of 9. If I were to choose it would likely be Il Mulino

 

[gatordoc]

So as a contrarian, (and one who grew up on the cooking of two Italian grandmothers, one from Rome and the other from Sicily) I'm just not fond of Il Mulino. Both times we've eaten there have been disappointing, both in food quality and service. On the other hand, we really like the pizza at Via Napoli, and have enjoyed our experiences at Enzo's Hideaway. Not really a fan of any of the others, although we do like the Tutto Gusto Wine Cellar (not really a full restaurant, though).

 

[gharter]

We've eaten at a few. Not real impressed with most of them.
To rank where we've eaten:
Il Mulino
Tutto Italia Ristorante
Mama Melrose
Tonys - much lower than this, but haven't been there since the new chef.

have not eaten at the others, but interested in Terralina, Maria & Enzos, enzos Hideaway.

 

[illinidp]

Il Mulino #1
Tutto Italia a distant second
al Forno is good for breakfast

 

[kiford]

We like Terralina the best so far although we've not yet been to Enzo's which we want to try. We felt that the menu was much more authentic when compared to our recent trip to Italy. Tony's was OK. We were perfectly fine with it for lunch. Mama Melrose had terribly slow service but the food was also perfectly fine. We've only ever eaten at Trattoria al Forno for breakfast and I'm disappointed that they changed that to character breakfast. We enjoy Il Mulino but they haven't changed their menu in forever and the service can be inconsistent between trips. Tutto Italia was OK but is always very busy.

 

[goofyintoronto]

Put them in order of favorite to least favorite. Put any comments that you wish to:

Mama Melrose Ristorante Italiano
Tony's Town Square Restaurant
Maria & Enzo's Ristorante
Enzo's Hideaway
Il Mulino
Terralina Crafted Italian
Trattoria al Forno
Tutto Italia Ristorante

My father loves pasta but isn't an adventurous eater. As of now we plan on Mama Melrose out of convenience of being in the park but I want to get feedback. Personally I would rather try another one...what do you think?

How is Via Napoli not on your list????????????????????????????

Here is my list:
Via Napoli
Trattoria al Forno
Tutto Italia
Mamma Melrose
Literally anything else
Then Tony's..... (Tony's should be considered only out of sheer desperation and if absolutely NOTHING else is open....not even Casey's).

I havent mentioned the others cause i havent been to them yet. But I would love to! Esp Il Mulino.

 

[Anthony1971]

If your Father Likes Pasta I would look at the menus and see which offers what he may like -- IMO any of the ones out of the park will better than the ones in the parks. To me Mama Melrose is at the bottom of the list and Tutto Italia is not far behind. IL Milano is not all its cracked up to be but maybe that is because in NY it is just average and overpriced but on the same hand for Disney (non Disney owned) it is better priced and better than others for Pasta Dishes for other dishes maybe not as much.

 

[DisBuckMan]

Just curious...why do so many think a restaurant has to be "just like was when we visited *insert country here*", or "just like my straight off the boat from* *insert country here* grandma's" to be good?

If the food tastes good, it tastes good. Doesn't matter if it's authentic Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc.

Seriously...this thread is about ranking the Italian restaurants in WDW...not how "authentic" they are or how they stack up against Italian restaurants in Italy...Greece...or New York...or anywhere else.

 

[shocker]

Tried Il Mulino this month for the first time based on rave reviews from these boards. Unfortunately, it fell a bit flat.

Pros- not on dining plan so wasn't busy at all (but do have TiW discounts), beautiful location with after dinner boat ride option, half portions avail. I highly recommend (prices not on menu, cheaper than I anticipated), & currently a complimentary starter for the table (their choice), huge & I mean HUGE wine list.

Cons-bread service is meh...there's olive oil but no spices or Parmesan cheese??, there's VERY few menu choices that offer a protein & a pasta (so no chicken parm on spaghetti, no spaghetti with meatballs, no lasagna, etc.), the most you can get is meat sauce. I picked the only one...seafood on spaghetti.
The tiramisu was not wonderful.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Just curious...why do so many think a restaurant has to be "just like was when we visited *insert country here*", or "just like my straight off the boat from* *insert country here* grandma's" to be good?

If the food tastes good, it tastes good. Doesn't matter if it's authentic Italian, Mexican, Chinese, etc.

Seriously...this thread is about ranking the Italian restaurants in WDW...not how "authentic" they are or how they stack up against Italian restaurants in Italy...Greece...or New York...or anywhere else.

Easy. It's a point of reference whether your start is Chef Boyardee, Olive Garden, that trip you took to Italy or the one you imagined visiting Grandma's/Nona's.

My WDW only list ranked best to last.

Il Mullino. Never eaten at the one in FL but have eaten at the original and spin offs in NYC. Should they stand up to the ones here and constant reviews say they do, It's where I'd go for a special Abruzzo cuisine dinner.

VN, the M+E, and Enzo's Hideway . 2 different cuisines: Neapolitan and Italian American. All equal in attention to food.

Trattoria al Forno. Middle of the road, tour of Italian dishes w/ no specialisation by regional cuisine w/ a goodly mix of Italian-American dishes. Family friendly.

Tony's, Mama Melrose. I'm not interested, will never eat there, and for the record I don't like Olive Garden either.

** Terralina and Tutto Italia**. Can't rate since I haven't eaten at either yet but my interest is piqued because menus read well, pictures of the food look enticing, and I hear good from people who respect and enjoy the food of this country.

 

[DisBuckMan]

Easy. It's a point of reference whether your start is Chef Boyardee, Olive Garden, that trip you took to Italy or the one you imagined visiting Grandma's/Nona's.

That's all fine, but like In America, I'm sure that there are differences in food throughout various kitchens even within towns there...not just regions. People who vacation there may visit a dozen restaurants during their visit...are those restaurants representative of Italian food as a whole...to the point that said people become experts on what "real" Italian food is?

There's really not very many people who have been to Italy overall, so it's a blind reference for most. I would venture to say that there are even probably some people who have visited Italy who actually may prefer "Americanized" Italian to what they had there.

 

[Micca]

I would venture to say that there are even probably some people who have visited Italy who actually may prefer "Americanized" Italian to what they had there.

That would be me. If I'm eating "Italian" food, I want the best quality Americanized version of it.

 

[NYCgrrl]

That's all fine, but like In America, I'm sure that there are differences in food throughout various kitchens even within towns there...not just regions. People who vacation there may visit a dozen restaurants during their visit...are those restaurants representative of Italian food as a whole...to the point that said people become experts on what "real" Italian food is?

There's really not very many people who have been to Italy overall, so it's a blind reference for most. I would venture to say that there are even probably some people who have visited Italy who actually may prefer "Americanized" Italian to what they had there.

Is "In America" a TV show I missed? I know the movie but not sure how it fits in to your thoughts.

Are there differences in foods by towns? Sure! Talk to the people of southwestern France about how to make a cassoulet. Makes for as good a fun and knowledgeable discussion as talking to the people of North Carolina about what sauce to use for pulled pork. However the town is part of a region just like the one next door to it. Using NC pulled pork again, in one area someone could add beer to the cooking liquid, and another water w/ caraway seeds. The two will argue the merits of what seasoning they use to cook with but unite in belief that a vinegar sauce should finish the meat as opposed to mustard. This is an example of regionalism at it's finest. Back to cassoulet, the regional authorities still haven't agreed what is the "right" way to make the dish and been arguing for in excess of 75 years; reminds me of their official dictionary, an idea complete with an authoritative association Napoleon thought up that still hasn't been fully printed .

Italy is in the top ten countries visited worldwide so I'd imagine a large proportion of US residents who like to travel internationally have been there. Could some come back or never even go and prefer Italian American food? A definitive yes. There are well regarded chefs who praise the beauty of what is essentially Italian regional fusion food AKA Italian American. However if a tourist comes back thinking Spagheetios is still all that and a piece of cake I'd think they were addicted to salt, sugar, mystery meat, and pasta mush.

 

[hosler427]

Thank you all for the feedback. As I stated, if it were just my wife and I, we would be far more likely to choose a Disney Springs place or Il Mulino. I am thinking of avoiding HS a bit for our January trip so I wanted to propose relocating our Italian meal. My family isn't nearly as open minded with food so it is easier to propose the basic options. As of now, I already talked them into a few things outside of their comfort zone like Jiko. I am getting greedy and going to try for another option...

 

[OrangeCountyCommuter]

Il Mulino (swan) #1. The rest are poor imitations of Italian Restaurants.

SF, Sicilian.... It better be as good as my Aunt Rose's food .

All personal opinion - I'm not necessarily right, no one else is necessarily wrong.

100% Agree