Altri Tempi — Restaurant in Palermo

Last night we had a wonderful dinner at TrattoriaAltriTempi, a true locals restaurant in the Politeama. The menu is written in Sicilian, not Italian! Lucky for us, they had brand new English language menus.

As soon as you sit down, they bring out a pitcher of white wine and 2 bottles of mineral water - it’s very rare for alcohol to be served without food here.

To start we had panelle with fried cauliflower and cardoons as well as a cheese platter.

For our mains, spaghetti with clams, roast lamb with potatoes, and a roasted pork shank. I didn’t taste the spaghetti, but the meat dishes were amazing!

For dessert, they bring you a miniature cannoli + Regina cookies and fichi d’India (prickly pears) along with 3 digestivi to try: fennel, limoncello and laurel (bay leaf).

The cookies were terrific but the cannolo were not as crisp as they should have been (probably pre-stuffed).

The service was great too. Another neighborhood winner!

FYI - you pay for all the items they bring you so if you don’t want them, you must speak...

I'm from Palermo but not living there anymore, I've been at the restaurant for lunch with my mum and my wife (Japanese) last week. Good food but at the time of the bill, I left my wife to look after that cause I had to run to get back the car, when reached my family my wife said that "for some reason" the 5 dishes that were supposed to cost 8 euros each became a bill of 60 euros...just written like that on a piece of paper without any detail...I FEEL SO ASHAMED FOR MY HOMETOWN. looking at other reviews i get confirmation that they charge customers for some things they put on the table WITHOUT HAVING BEING ORDERED like TAP water, fruits or homemade limoncello, the kind of behaviour that makes me feel that my poor hometown will never develop till some people will be around pretending to be "business men" with the mentality that the tourist is just a chance make...

This is the place. This one. You know when you are looking for an authentic place where you can enjoy good local food, good local wine, with no frills but only substance? Ok, this is the place. Wonderful choice of spectacular food. Be prepared to be hungry. Because the size of the plates are the right one when you are hungry. Let them bring their wine. You don't have to choose in the wine list. What they bring is the right one. Fried vegetables. Stunning first courses. Fish or meat ( I have taken meat balls and sausages with sauce, wow!), Cavulicelli, and whatever you choose from the menu. Whatever you choose is ok. We had no dessert because we didn't have more space in our belly. Please, try, and tell me...