Hippo in Verona

“Ippopotamo” is a nice restaurant in Piazza Bra, 1 minute from the Verona Arena. Great location, good food, competent and friendly staff speaking different languages (English, Russian, German, Romanian). It is situated near the city´s main shopping streets and a bus station and taxi rank. If arriving by car, you can unload luggage just 10 metres away before parking in one of the car parking no more than 200 metres away. 

We enjoyed our food and our drinks on the terrace, overlooking the Arena and the Piazza Bra, people walking and taking pictures. It was a lovely spring day. It was nice we received some paper crowns, the map of Verona on the back.

The menu is huge and it has enough options, especially Italian dishes and many desserts. Burgers, chicken strips, curly fries, pastas, caprese salad, barbeque ribs, gnocchi with red meat sauce, pizzas, fish dishes, sandwiches are some of the dises one can choose. Not to mention gelato (icecream)! The prices were reasonable but it was good we received a card for 10% off the bill at the end.

In the center of the table there was a good selection of olive oils, vinegar and herbs. 

The pizza we ate (Rustica and Ippopotamo) was very filling and delicious. 

Pizza is an oven-baked flat bread typically topped with a tomato sauce, cheese and various toppings. The modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy, and the dish has since become popular in many parts of the world. Pizza is cooked in various types of ovens, and a diverse variety of ingredients and toppings are utilized. An establishment that makes and sells pizzas is called a "pizzeria".

The largest pizza was made in Johannesburg, South Africa, on December 8, 1990. According to the "Guinness Book of Records" the pizza was 37.4 meters in diameter and was made using 500 kg of flour, 800 kg of cheese and 900 kg of tomato puree.

The most expensive pizza was made by the restaurateur Domenico Crolla, and included toppings such as sunblush-tomato sauce, Scottish smoked salmon, medallions of venison, edible gold, lobster marinated in the finest cognac and champagne-soaked caviar. The pizza was auctioned for charity, raising £2,150.

The atmosphere is friendly and they have a children´s play area. A great place to relax.

The name of the locanda come from the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or hippo, from the ancient Greek for "river horse". It is a large, mostly, herbivorous mammal in sub-Saharan Africa, the third-largest type of land mammal after the elephant and rhinoceros. 

I recommend this restaurant to all visitors of Verona, even family with kids.