Longtime Naples restaurateurs have opened their third dining spot on Fifth Avenue South. Casa Neri launched the week before Christmas in the former Subway sandwich shop space in downtown Naples.
“It took a year and a half to open this spot, so it’s a little jewel in the heart of Naples,” said co-owner Francesca Neri. “Casa means home and Neri is me and my brother’s last name. It’s a small restaurant. It’s like a boutique restaurant because it’s very small. It’s like our home. That’s the feeling.”
Italian natives Francesca and Andrea Neri settled in Naples 13 years ago when they opened the former Rossopomodoro, an authentic Italian pizzeria franchise that became L’Angelo, the corner spot where Caffe Milano is today on Fifth. The Neris, who also co-own two other Naples restaurants, Molto Trattoria and La Pescheria, on Fifth Avenue South, opened Casa Neri on the eastern end of the multiunit building where they operate their Molto restaurant and bar on the south side of the street.
In July 2021, the Neris started renting the recently shuttered Subway space that had operated for more than 15 years on Fifth. The family originally had planned to open an Italian deli there until they met a talented chef in Naples, Italy, who they convinced to join them in Naples, Florida.
“We have a master chef from Italy who came and prepared his own menu—Italian, of course,” Neri said. “He has a restaurant in Napoli. It’s a great spot, actually. It’s very nice.”
Casa Neri veers from Molto, which is a simple, traditional, family restaurant. “This is the chef’s own creativity, so it’s totally different,” Neri said. “It’s Italian because he keeps the Napoli tradition of using a lot of escarole and eggplants and cod, a lot of tomatoes, nice desserts. Everything is made there.”
The dinner menu includes unique dishes such as Tortelloni alla Genovese, house-made pasta filled with white wine meat sauce and onion with buffalo mozzarella cream; Polpo Arrosto, roasted octopus on a bed of chickpea purée and rosemary; and Baccalà alla Parmigiana, cod with tomato sauce and buffalo mozzarella. The menu includes other dishes with freshly made pasta as well as pork belly, duck breast, Wagyu beef tartare and seafood such as branzino, tuna tartare and salmon carpaccio.
“We also have a nice wine list,” Neri said. “We do not serve alcohol because it’s so small.”
Casa Neri, 382 Fifth Ave. S., is open daily for lunch and dinner from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
