I Pupi — Restaurant in Bagheria

Very disappointing experience under various point of view. We had the 7 courses menu and most of the dishes had some fails in texture or taste balancing.

The chef version of the anchovies ball was very hard and not eatable, the bottarga pasta was as salty as the sea, and finally the tortelli with mozzarella and pepperoni sauce were tasteless. The desserts are not even worth to be mentioned because even the less popular Pasticceria in Sicily makes more creative and interesting desserts. The stuff was very kind, but not speaking English at all and not at a level of a Michelin Star Restaurant. And the wife of the owner was not polite at all and arrogant. We shared our critics only after paying the bill (interesting they charge 3 euro for coffee) and the chef who was around did not stop to the table for asking/explaining what happened which denotes also his arrogance and not caring for the experience of the customers at his restaurant.

As a Sicilian who really knows our traditions I deeply recommend to NOT go to this place and chose a simpler but for sure better place in Palermo, which is full of nice places with good...

My wife and I think that the last guy/girl who left a review was being extraordinarily kind when he/she says the food was okay. We had a very poor experience and we are very familiar with Sicilian food having visited several times a year for the last 15 years. We've eaten in very nearly all of the fine dining restaurants in Sicily. This restaurant is living on its reputation. We are English, the next table was American, the one after that Chinese and so on. There may possibly have been one Italian couple in that night so a pretty boring atmosphere. Tourists. All of us. The food is less than average (no outstanding flavours), the portions are microscopic (suggest you take a microscope with you should you make the mistake of visiting) and the pricing outrageous for food like this. We spent just under €300 for 2 with an average priced Carricante wine. There is much better food at much fairer prices to be had elsewhere on the island. Just ignore the Michelin guide other than La Madia which was outstanding apart from rushing us at our 2nd lunch. But the...

Oh Stanley Tucci, you beautiful man, you. We never would have thought to venture out to Bagheria (an hour from our hotel in Cefalu) had it not been for Tucci featuring I Pupi on his "Searching For Italy" program.

Leading up to our reservation (make sure to get one) at I Pupi, we began to wonder if it was really worth the Michelin star pricing. Were we going to regret spending the money?

Well, the answer was a resounding "NO." Every bite at I Pupi was a delight. We were there for three hours and would have happily stayed for another hour.

The service was the best I have ever experienced. The servers were so attentive and knowledgable about every single aspect of the dishes: where ingredients came from, the Sicilian connection to food, etc. We honestly felt like we learned a lot!

I can't even tell you exactly what we ate, but it was all so, so yummy!

If you're thinking about splurging on a meal while in Sicily, let it be this... and make sure to get one of the...