September 15, 2025
Napolinos Ristorante Celebrates 10 Years with New Leadership and a Fresh Look
By Gina Horan
Napolinos Ristorante Celebrates 10 Years with New Leadership and a Fresh Look
Wildwood favorite Napolinos has spent the past decade carving out its own identity after parting ways with the Chefs of Napoli group. Host Tony Pesci reimagined the restaurant with his welcoming spirit and vision, and though his passing left a deep void, the community continues to embrace the place he helped shape.
The milestone also comes with new leadership and a refreshed look, setting the stage for the restaurant’s next chapter. The philosophy remains simple: keep the favorites that locals love while listening to regulars and adding new dishes by request.
General Manager Madison Raber, recently promoted to her role, says she is eager for high season and the return of snowbirds.
“We’re testing out dishes for our daily specials now so they’ll be ready for season,” she explains. “Of course, we’ll still have all the classics like grouper Francese, veal Marsala and spaghetti Bolognese.”
Scratch-made dishes remain the restaurant’s calling card. The calamari are butchered fresh then dredged and fried to order. The creamy garlic dressing and herb dipping oil are made in-house daily and the bread is baked fresh every morning, courtesy of pizza maker “Papi,” who has been with Napolinos since day one. Papi’s pies are legendary and are ordered weeks before the Super Bowl every year.
Specialty pizzas include the Meatzza, veggie, crudaiola and house. The legendary garlic knots are some of the best in the area because they are knotted by hand, then baked and smothered in fresh minced garlic.
For those craving something comforting, the popular pasta fagioli is served daily. Chef Nina is known for her famous handmade soups and rotates daily recipes like lentil, Italian wedding, minestrone or sausage potato leek.
From the bar, guests can sip premium spirits, housemade sangria and enjoy a curated yet approachable wine list that pairs easily with both pizza and pasta. Specialty cocktails include Italian margaritas, chilled limoncello or tiramisu martini. Napolinos is one of the rare places in the area to pour Peroni on draft while you order delicious takeout. Bottles of wine are half off on Wednesdays.
They also have great desserts which include lemon blueberry cake, cannoli and the bomba, ice cream covered in a hard chocolate shell. A kid’s menu is also available.
Napolinos versatility has helped cement its place in the community. Large parties, catering orders and takeout through DoorDash are always welcome. The restaurant also proudly extends a military discount to show appreciation for those who serve.
As Napolinos looks ahead to the next decade, the entire staff is focused on honoring tradition while continuing to refresh the menu, the atmosphere and the guest experience. Ten years in, the Wildwood favorite is embracing change while holding onto the recipes and hospitality that made it a local mainstay.
Check it out!
9811 US Hwy. 301, Wildwood
352.399.6825
napolinos.com
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Gina moved to Central Florida in August 2021 from the San Francisco Bay Area. She has a degree in linguistics and worked as a fashion editor, photo stylist lifestyle columnist and food writer for the Knight Ridder Newspaper Group. She also covered and photographed music festivals, fashion shows and sports throughout Northern California. In 2000, she joined KSAN radio as a morning show co-host and produced the news and sports content there for four years. She later covered travel, events and the restaurant scene for KRON-Bay TV. A veteran bartender, Gina has worked in hospitality on and off since high school. She has been with Akers Media since 2022 and hosts the Healthy Living Central Florida podcast. Her passions include travel, road trips, baseball, history books and podcasts, tasting menus and arriving in a new city without a map or guidebook.
Not to be a downer but I worked with Tony for years and everyone loved him because what a great guy he is, so for whoever wrote this article to invoke Tony’s name and reputation to elicit an emotional response from past patrons who were brought in as a direct result of his touch and attention ,while having absolutely no affiliation or working experience with him at this restaurant is kind of disgusting. They almost make it seem like Tony is giving his seal of approval from beyond the grave.
What Tony did for that restaurant was above and beyond anything I ever witnessed while I worked under bobs ownership or even with Bel to be honest, after Tony passed. Bobs acquisition of that store had nothing whatsoever to do with Tony and not a single element of Tony’s approach had been implemented or preserved after his passing.
The welcoming atmosphere Tony brought to that place was a result of his specific influence and presence and it died the same day he did. Actually I can honestly say I witnessed and was apart of a variety of policies and practices and actions when i worked under Bob that Tony would of DEFINITELY been disappointed in.
I understand they are going over the history of the restaurant but its just real convenient that they minimize or dont mention any influence of the owners that the public did not like while maximizing the influence of an owner the public did like. Bob has nothing to do with any of them and implemented his own vision on the store almost immediately. Which he has every right to do.
Its just super misleading and downright manipulative to imply that any influence Tony had other than the customers memory of him exist in that store today and it really seems like they are playing on his good reputation and passing to drum up business from his fans by using his memory as some current endorsement of sorts and it feels wrong.
From my perspective from day one that I worked with Bob I noticed he was almost the complete opposite of Tony. For one Tony knew how to recognize talent in servers and took very good care of those people which made it extremely easy to pass that aura of pride and professionalism and enthusiasm to the customer and that was one reason the place had such a great vibe. Not to say there arent great hardworking servers there now,but I promise you its not the same.
Tony loved me a lot and really respected what I
With that being said I wish Bob the best and obviously I always hope its great and the customers are happy and the employees thriving and I dont mean to be negative for no reason but Tony did so much for me personally and our crew so to read the article worded this way made me feel like I needed to say something.