Vitaly Restaurant — Restaurant in Isola delle Femmine

I am going to give a detailed explanation to be as factual as possible.

My wife, 2 children (1 year old and 3 year old), and I visited this restaurant following the great reviews it received, including the fantastic reviews the owner in particular received.

We were unpleasantly surprised by the attitude of the owner. He clearly does not welcome kids to his restaurant.

We asked for 2 high chairs, but he only had one (we had no problem with this as our 3 year old sat on a regular chair). He did, however, make it a point to immediately clear the cuttlery and glasses from in front of our kids, who were very well-behaved. One of them was watching a cartoon on our phone and the other was playing with a puzzle.

My wife and I ordered a dish each. At this point, the owner sarcastically asked and I'll quote "So it's 2 dishes for 4 people?". To consider 2 young kids to be equivalent to 2 adults, says it all.

When we told him that our 1 year old and 3 year old will have some of ours, he stormed off.

We were one of 3 tables, the other 2 tables having 2 couples each, with no kids. He was perfectly fine with the other 2 couples. However, with us, he was utterly rude from the moment we walked in. I even tried breaking the ice by complementing him on his restaurant, but he simply shrugged it off. So clearly, the issue must be with couples having kids.

The food was good. But to be perfectly honest, it was nothing fantastic.

With regards to the atmosphere, although located close to the sea, the tables are placed on a platform, which extends the pavement. So cars are constantly driving by. This did not bother us. What did bother us was the owner's attitude, which made the experience an uncomfortable one.

I am not one to write reviews, but having read all the raving reviews, it's only right that we share our negative experience of this place and its so called pleasant owner, to bring down expectations when you are visiting this restaurant with kids.

On a positive note, the ice cream shop next door was very welcoming, especially to our kids. So I definitely recommend a visit to this ice cream shop, especially when travelling...

We went to Isola delle Femmine by chance before we fly out of Palermo. Saw Vitaly just where we parked and it has good reviews on Google. We were very glad that that we stopped by. Unfortunately we didn’t get the owners names. The gentleman was very kind and poured a small glass of complementary wine for my wife just so she can have a glass to cheer with me. He made us feel very comfortable and treated us with kindness and respect even though we are obviously non Italian. The food was delicious. We had “busiate with shrimp and mussels” and “mix grilled seafood”. The pasta tasted homemade with fantastic aromatic and umami. We found out after the meal the wife is the chef. The house white wine was also good and it shows the gentleman knows the wine and pair well with their food. The place is small with 7 tables but cutely decorated. We would definitely go back there just to dine with them again. Highly...

The food was very tasty but let’s be honest, dining out is also about the service. And this was NOT GOOD. We ordered 2 starters to share then 2 pasta, 1 risotto and a fish dish as mains (party of 4). One starter turned up with the risotto. About 10 minutes later the two pasta dishes showed up. I asked about the fish main and was assured it was coming. My family finished their meal and eventually (30 mins after the other mains arrived) the last main turned up with the other starter (and no chips which I also ordered). So for us - nice food, bad service. It wasn’t even busy. And it wasn’t cheap. What was most disappointing was the disregard the owner had for the problems, and lack of any...