Napoli Artisan Pizza

Delicious wood-fired pizzas!

Napoli Artisan Pizza is a cozy little pizzeria in Wellawatta, down Rohini Road, that dishes up delicious pastas, soups, salads, and mouth-watering wood-fired pizzas. The name hails from the OG pizza country, Naples, and caters to that authentic thin-crust pizza loving market where most franchises in Sri Lanka fail to deliver.

The best part of the restaurant is that, unlike other authentic pizza joints, Napoli uses completely halal certified ingredients and even employs halal practices to make sure that their food is top quality.

Appetizers

Napoli has a range of appetizers from soups to salads to bruschetta and chicken wings that will get you quite stuffed even before you get to the mains.

Deep Sea Dive – LKR 550 

The Deep Sea Dive is a creamy soup with little bits of mixed seafood at the bottom. The concoction is quite rich and can be overpowering if you don’t pair it with a carb but is definitely fun to eat when you “dive” for the seafood at the bottom.

The Italian Farm Salad – LKR 650

A good salad is difficult to find in Colombo but Napoli does their salads right. The Italian Farm was a mixture of lettuce leaves, tomatoes, cucumber, black olives and the uncommon rocket leaves, garnished with a boiled egg and grilled chicken. It was tossed in a light but creamy coating of Napolitano dressing and came in a portion that was large enough to be considered a main, rather than a starter.

Mains

The Pastas

For mains, you can choose from a range of pastas or pizzas that come in 9inch or 12inch options.

The Meaty Bite – LKR 900

The spaghetti was much like a carbonara, a mixture of egg yolk, hard cheese and chicken ham in a huge portion of olive oily goodness. There may have been a tad bit too much olive oil in the mixture but the spaghetti tasted wholesome and the bits of chicken ham were a welcome bite.

The Pizzas

They have all the usual toppings inclusive of beef, chicken, seafood and vegetarian options with quirky names to go alongside it like “The Eye of Caprese” and “The Family Night Out”. They also serve all their pizzas with a portion of chilli flakes and their very own rendition of a kochchi-pesto dip that has a unique flavor, packs a punch and will be loved by any Sri Lankan palette.

The Hot Chick and Tiger Shrimp’s Leap Half and Half – LKR 1800

We went half and half on a chicken and seafood option that were both pretty solid choices. The Hot Chick was a spicy chicken with bell peppers and onions, the meat was succulent and the elements of the dish combined to make a spicy pizza that we would definitely try again.

The Tiger Shrimp’s Leap was on another level of delish though with the prawns being fresh and flavored well and the rocket leaves adding a unique flavor to the dish. Dip this in their kochchi-pesto sauce and you won’t even regret binge-eating the entire pizza.

Beef Milano – LKR 1550

The Beef Milano is what Napoli calls their beef pepperoni and is one of the most fast selling toppings they have, and rightfully so. The pepperoni is finely flavored and the pizza comes with a tomato base and mozzarella topping. It’s classic and it’s delicious.

The service at Napoli is pretty spot-on, their staff is friendly, accommodating, and makes great recommendations. The food arrives at your table pretty fast and you can even watch your meal being prepared because of their open-kitchen concept. They also have an upbeat and fun playlist that you can jam out to while you eat and a very rustic and underground ambience that we thoroughly enjoyed. They’re pretty new but they also have a delivery service so you can hit them up on 077 290 5000.

Tip: definitely try their kochchi-pesto dip but be careful, it packs a punch!