Hosteria Toledo, Naples, Italy

This was our second favorite restaurant that we ate at on a recent trip to Naples and because of the proximity to our hotel, we ate here more than once.

The first time we ate was on a week night and that was the very best--the restaurant is family owned.  While we were there on a Thursday night it was only ourselves and one other table--but we were not lonely, because many family members dropped in, came to chat, had presents to leave off, and it was a very homey environment.

The best dishes here in our experience had either shrimp or clams.  The clams are the smaller sized ones that I favor, and either alone or in a pasta vongole sauce, they were spectacular.  I have a slight preference for the pasta, because the overall sauce was quite good.  The shrimp are the far more flavorful kind that you can get in the Mediterranean and these I preferred all by themselves--taking off the heads, shelling them and savoring the highly flavorful meat, which is akin to the flavor of lobster but with a far more tender meat--is heavenly.  The Antipasto Toledo was a delicious medley of grilled and marinated vegetables, with the highlight being the grilled zucchini with mint--I wish I had the recipe for this, because I would make it year round.   We did not try the fish, but there were several dishes that we saw on fellow diners' tables that looked spectacular, and not a morsel was left on the plate.  Best of all, the food is quite reasonably priced, with a wonderful wine least that is equally affordable.  Don't forget to end the meal with limoncello.