After the article on What to see in Palermo could not miss the one on the places to refresh oneself .. restaurants, taverns, bars, takeaways, clubs, etcetera etcetera (in Palermo there is really spoiled for choice!). I expected to find so much street food (Palermo is the capital!) And many trattorias but I was definitely impressed by the level of the restaurants and bistros where classic Sicilian cuisine is fantastically revisited in a gourmet key. For me, among other things, it is one of the best kitchens in Italy so ... I drooled from morning to night! If you don't want to miss out on any specialties, I suggest you study this article well and insert the various "food stops" within your itinerary.
NOTE: the best street food can be found at the Vucciria Market (absolutely try the stigghiola!), at the Ballarò and Capo markets (to try the sfincione, bread and panelle, crocchè and every other good thing).
Restaurants and trattorias in Palermo
- Horseshoe (la Cala): honest and sincere. A traditional trattoria where you can eat all the classics of Sicilian cuisine at a good price. You can book only for groups, all the others .. you get in line.
- Osteria Eat and Drink (Vucciria): very nice tavern in a small square of Vucciria with both outdoor and indoor tables. Very good and well served traditional dishes. Parmesan to lick your fingers!
- Trattoria at the Vecchio Club Rosanero (Via Maqueda): historic trattoria between Vucciria and Capo. Characteristic place, authentic food (nice generous portions!) And very honest prices. It is always full.
- Buatta (Corso Vittorio Emanuele): nice modern restaurant with open kitchen located between the Kalsa and the Vucciria (there are also several bars on the same street). Well done and well presented traditional dishes (pasta with sardines and top broccoli!). Level and price a little higher than the others but it deserves it both for the cuisine and for the service and environment. The Gagini (top restaurant in La Cala), Don't Mola (fish restaurant) e Bocum (a refined place where you can also drink very well).
- Nonna Dora (La Cala): traditional dishes excellent both for their goodness and for their course. A guarantee (evidenced by the fact that it is also very popular with Palermo themselves).
- Osteria Ballaró (Kalsa): very nice tavern located in the ancient stables of Palazzo Cattolica. Traditional dishes revisited. Prices a little higher but more than justified.
- Le Angeliche Bistrot (Mercato del Capo): a jewel behind the Capo market. A project created and managed by 4 women in a neighborhood that is anything but trendy. Beautiful place (complete with an outdoor "garden") where you can eat seasonal products that come directly from the market.
- Many many (Ballarò): another beautiful project in the heart of Ballarò (and linked to it). Moltivolti is a social enterprise founded in 2014 by a group of 14 people from 8 different countries: (Senegal, Zambia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Spain, Gambia and Italy) who have created a space designed and structured to offer dignity, citizenship and value starting from diversity. It offers Sicilian dishes revisited in an ethnic key, very nice even just to drink a coffee.
- From Enzo (Mondello): a Mondello institution. Excellent fish and tables also outdoors to eat with a view of the sea.
- The dolphin (Sferracavallo): another great classic where to eat seafood, in the fishing village of Sferracavallo.
- Totò Pizzeria (Monreale): very special and intimate location where you can eat an excellent pizza.
Bars and pastry shops in Palermo
- Cap (monumental district): the real Setteveli cake was invented here and is the best. Behind the Norman Palace.
- Bar Touring (Kalsa): the best in town for arancine bomba, the maxi version of arancina.
- The secrets of the Cloister (inside the church of S. Caterina): excellent sweets to eat there or to take away. Cannolo and biscuits with almond paste / pistachio to scream.
- Hooks (La Cala): excellent pastry / rotisserie with a wide choice of baked and fried products.
- The cooks (Politeama): historic rotisserie hidden in the courtyard of an ancient building that serves Palermo specialties in a miniature version.
- Weather in Brioscia (Capo): excellent ice cream shop where you can eat the famous brioche with ice cream.
- Nino U'Bellerino (New Town): the place to try the famous panino ca meusa (sandwich with spleen)
- Nni Franco U'Vastiddaro (Kalsa): the ideal place for a sandwich with pannelle and crocche 'to eat while walking along Corso Vittorio Emanuele or the Marina.
Bars in Palermo: where to go for a drink in the evening
The "hot" areas where to go for a drink in the evening are certainly the Vucciria (especially around Caracciolo Square, then Via Paternostro, Piazza Sant'Anna and Piazza Magione (alla stay) e Piazza Olivella and Via dell'Orologio (to La Cala).
- Taverna Azzurra (Vucciria): an institution of the Vucciria. This bar attached to Piazza Caracciolo starts to fill up as early as 18pm .. and at midnight you won't even be able to reach the counter anymore (in fact the whole street is filled with people).
- Bar Garibaldi (Kalsa): historic bar of Kalsa, with tables outside .. but you drink in the street with the glass in hand.
- Hardware (Vucciria): a former hardware store very well adapted, located in a beautiful square in the Vucciria. You drink and eat well too.
- The bad ones (Kalsa): very nice bistro in an exceptional location, the walls of the Cattive in front of Palazzo Butera (and you enter right from here). Perfect for an aperitif at sunset.
- The local (New Town): super hipster place near Via Cavour. Both food and drink are good.
- Colletti shops (Kalsa): historic wine shop and cocktail bar, next to Bar Garibaldi.
- 102 Factory (New Town): a place between minimal and hipster, very popular for both drinking and eating.
- La Rinascente terrace (Vucciria): nice rooftop bar on the top floor of the Rinascente in Piazza San Domenico. The view over the square and the Vucciria is beautiful.
- Seven Terrace - Hotel Ambasciatori (Quattro Canti): rooftop bar on the top floor of the Hotel Ambasciatori on Via Roma. Classy place for those who want to be pampered without giving up the view.
You might also be interested in these other articles I wrote about Sicily:
- Western Sicily: 3 days between Marsala, Mazara, Selinunte, Segesta and Gibellina
- What to see in Palermo in 3 days
- What to see in Catania and surroundings
- Favignana: the beaches, where to sleep and where to eat
- Marettimo: how to reach it, what to see and where to sleep
- Levanzo: how to reach it, what to see and where to sleep
- 10 beautiful farmhouses with swimming pool in Sicily
