Mercato Ballarò — Local services in Palermo

I was expecting much more from all the good reviews and hype about this place. It was my worst experience during a trip to Sicily. The food is disgusting, definitely not fresh as expected of a street food. Everything is so overpriced that it's more worth to go to the restaurant or trattoria. About the freshness and taste. All the fried seafood you see on the platters in front of you is fried a day ahead and is cold. I bet they buy frozen packets of seafood and sell it as fresh. If you don't like it, they heat it up in the microwave 🤢. We had calamari (7€ for like 7 pieces of calamari) and the batter was soggy and not crispy as it should be, furthermore it was in so much lemon juice that you could taste only that. Horrible. Never again. We also tasted the well known grilled octopus and the intestines. Firstly the intestine, it looked good on the grill, but the taste wasn't. The intestines were so chewy that you had to spit it out because you were unable to chew anything. The intestines are also filled with something unidentifiable, that has a really weird texture. Overall it didn't have much taste, the only one was from the burning of the grill. Secondly, the octopus. We were idiots and didn't ask for a half potion so we paid for the whole octopus 20€. Our mistake. Tbh, I was expecting something more, you get the whole octopus on a plate, it is not cut like in all the videos you see on the internet. The tentacles are burned from fire plus the taste is not that good too. It was again badly prepared, chewy, and not really well seasoned. On the other hand, compared to the other food we tried, it was edible. The only thing that is not a scam is the fruits and vegetables, definitely overpriced sometimes, but you can get fresh and nice ones. To add everything the food is displayed from the morning until night so you can imagine how the seafood will get after the heat for such a long time 🙈. About the pomegranate juice the ones for 2 € are usually diluted with water, if you want just the pomegranate juice it costs 5€ minimum. Just so you are aware of it. The only thing I'd recommend is to walk through, it looks nice and the shouting has something in it. Just don't be too soft and just walk or you'll get lured into their traps. And if you want to go to a really nice market go to the Catania fish market. Have been there several times and the people are much nicer and the atmosphere is...

Why is it that so often markets cost more or at best the same as a supermarket or a Restaurant? This applies to everything- food , trinkets, clothing, etc. Then why are the products not marked with a price? I bought an item for €5, then an English lady came along, and the price for the same item went to £10? I dont mind bartering and always go 50% of the asking price in markets and with street vendors. In my opinion markets must be a place to buy bargains, not rude vendors with bad attitudes, who make out as though they understand one but when the have your money, they can suddenly SPEAK English!! So my conclusion, this market is another one of those loud places where people shout over each other BUT offer no real bargains. I just go to say that I walked through the place but except for the occasional beer and something I bargained hard for, nothing extravagant get bought in these places. Remember THERE ARE COMEBACKS!! As a doctor, I must add that I find these markets MOST unhygienic, I dont see any water to wash hands and I dont know where the toilet facilities are??? Buying food can be hazardous! So go there but be aware and dont get caught up in the spirit of aimless...

We found ourselves entering the main market street from the south west and used the ornate dome of the Chiesa del Carmine Maggiore as a visual aid to find Balero Market to save having my phone out for maps all the time. Some of the streets in the area have locals peddling things from their apartments right on the street, spread on blankets or benches. Then you reach the market proper. It's a few hundred metres long and mostly on one long narrow street with stalls on both sides selling the usual tourist stuff but also loads of fresh-ish fruit and vegetables, spices and blends and street food aplenty.

It can be an over stimulating environment for those who feel any type of claustrophobia or cannot deal with tight crowds and lots of noise but the overall atmosphere was very jovial and friendly with plenty smiles and singing vendors. We played it saved with a couple of packets of pasta spices and fridge magnets. My advice for the streetfood is only to eat it if you can actually watch your portion being cooked, to make sure it's fresh and hot.

We had a great time and found that trying a little broken Italian got us slightly...