Naples dances to its own beat when night falls and the party starts.
Mercato shopping and entertainment center in North Naples has become the after-hours hot spot, where crowds gather for dinner, martinis, margaritas, a wine bar, live and DJ music, late-night snacks and even a deluxe movie theater. You can drink, dine and watch first-run favorites, all under one roof!
Blue Martini is a nightlife mainstay at Mercato — Photo courtesy of Chelle Koster Walton
By day, Mercato presents a high-end shopping destination with a well-rounded selection of lunching spots that usually stay open through dinner. Restaurants circle the world’s most popular cuisines, with choices such as AZN Azian Cuisine, MASA Grille for fine Mexican cuisine, Bravo! Cucina Italiana, The Pub Naples for Irish food and atmosphere and Rusty Bucket Restaurant and Tavern for American pub fare.
Other restaurants cater to steak and seafood lovers.
TAPS Restaurant, Bar & Lounge “taps” into the beer drinking demographic, while the Wine Loft Bar & Restaurant attracts a different type of imbiber – pinkies up!
MASA, of course, is known for its tequila bar and inventive margaritas. AZN gets the party started early with R'AZN the Bar Happy Hour, starting at 3 p.m. daily, and then pulls a Reverse Happy Hour at 9 p.m. on weekdays and 10 p.m. on weekend nights. Sake and Zen-gria are among its cocktail specialties.
Some of the restaurant and bar combinations offer live music, such as the Wine Loft Bar’s Sunday jazz brunch and other weekend musicians, and rock bands nightly at Blue Martini.
Other spots draw nightlife diners who like to linger over a specialty cocktail or bottle of wine. The Counter Burger, for instance, serves what it terms "adult" milkshakes with its burgers. Take, for instance, the bananas foster shake spiked with vanilla vodka and dark rum, then topped with a sugared banana.
For a quieter brand of nightlife, movie-goers head to Silverspot Cinema, where capacious leather seats and dining and drinking options set it apart from your typical movie theater. Silverspot serves dinner in a sit-down restaurant and also offers sandwiches, salads and such that you can carry into the theater to enjoy during the film.
Two bars serve a full range of cocktails, beer and wine.
Mercato appeals to all age demographics. An older, mature crowd settles in for happy hour, early dinner and perhaps a turn around the dance floor at Blue Martini.
The same bar turns young at the stroke of 10 p.m., when local restaurant workers and other young partiers hit Mercato for late-night bites and drink specials and some youthful boogie.
