Osteria della Mattonella

• Penne lisce alla genovese: the dish every review mentions. Smooth penne in the onion and beef sauce that cooks for hours.
• Pasta e patate with provola and a heavy hand of grated parmesan.
• Polpette al ragù and sausage with friarielli.
• Polpo alla luciana, octopus stewed with tomato and olives, and fried anchovies.
• Lentils with broccoli, braised beef, and zucchine alla scapece on the side.

The house wine is drinkable and cheap; the list has a good choice of Campanian bottles at fair markups.

No menu with prices is online, so here is what reviewers paid, oldest first:

• Dissapore, 2020: cover €2, starters €3.50, primi €6 to €8, meat mains €6 to €8, a half liter of house Aglianico €4.
• Scatti di Gusto, February 2022: €100 for four, with fried anchovies and calamari, fried mozzarella, four pastas, meatballs, vegetables and a €12 bottle.
• Do Eat Better, July 2026: €20 to €35 a person.

Two people with a starter, a pasta and a main each and a carafe of wine should expect about €60.

The osteria's own history credits Don Peppino Marangio, a self-taught businessman who turned a humble wine-and-oil shop into the osteria and died at 54. His wife and children run it now, and the site talks about two rules: honest dishes and looking after the customer. Scatti di Gusto in 2022 found it practically unchanged in decades, and meant it as praise.

The family also sells its sauces in jars online: friarielli cream €6, octopus alla luciana and squid sauce €9, and puttanesca, genovese and ragù from €8.50 to €15 depending on size. When we checked, every jar was marked sold out, so ask at the osteria.

The entrance room is the one with the tiles, with the kitchen at the back; you pass it to reach a second room downstairs. It is small, so book or arrive early. Because published opening days conflict (see above), call +39 081 416541 before you walk up.

Via Nicotera is a few minutes on foot from Piazza del Plebiscito and Palazzo Reale, on the edge of Chiaia. Combine it with a coffee at Gambrinus on the square below, standing at the bar.