Bisso Bistrot — Restaurant in Palermo

Awful experience. I called in the afternoon to make a reservation for 9.00pm and asked for a table outside. I got almost yelled at over the phone for not giving my name fast enough for their liking. When we got there I was told there was a 10 minutes waiting time. After waiting for 25 minutes I went back inside and got brushed off twice in Italian by the owner with no apology and no offer to order a drink at the bar to help with the wait. After 30 minutes I walked up to the owner again and she asked for my name once more -seems like she had forgotten we had a reservation at all, when I had introduced myself twice already.

We finally got a table after that, but not one outside like I had asked. It was inside and was by far the smallest table in the place, facing a wall, right next to the kitchen and the toilets. After waiting for another 15 minutes a waiter came to take our orders, and we had to tell him no one had given us any menu, to which he answered by pointing to a small blackboard behind us with no apology whatsoever. There was no wine menu so we just asked for a light and fruity red wine. Waiter left before we could pick the food. Another waiter came back 10 minutes later with our glasses - wine was strong and not at all like what we asked. We were not given the name of the wine either. We were ready to order the food -after looking up every dish on google translate because nothing was written and/or detailed in english- but seems like the waiter, him, wasn’t ready, because he left before we could order. Again. By 9.50pm no one had been back to take our order so we considered finishing the wine and leaving, as I had tried to politely ask the staff passing by twice, and was brushed off with a waive of the hand and some more words mumbled in italian. I eventually decided to walk up to the lady behind the bar and ask her if they could send someone to our table, to which she agreed after looking at me like I had just insulted her - which I don’t quite understand, as I had asked very politely, and with an apology beforehand.

Food came pretty quickly after that and was delicious. We asked for some water and bread during our meal because we hadn’t been given any (and did so after seeing that every other table had some). It was hard to eat in peace as the kitchen door kept making a horrible wincing noise every time it was pushed, and waiters kept bumping into us while walking past.

We then left to get a last drink at another place we had stopped by for lunch, a couple hundred meters away from this one - service there had been so nice that we were excited to go back. :)

Some words of advice for your restaurant: Don’t take reservations if you can’t handle them. Don’t work in a touristic area if you seem to despise tourists that much. Don’t run a restaurant if you think putting food on a plate is the only thing you’ll have to worry about. And more than anything, as an owner, learn be kind, polite and respectful if you ever wish for your staff to do the same. Some words of advice for anyone who wants to eat...

Some call this the best restaurant in Palermo...

It may have been my fault for ordering everything raw but I just haven’t seen anything cooked that looked appealing. And I admit I’m being overly critical in rating this place a single star. The second star was for the atmosphere and the third star for house wine, which were quite nice.

Back to the food. The seafood salad had probably the most seafood I’ve ever had in a seafood salad (the couple of leaves of greens were bitter, which I’d like to believe weren’t intentional and the third leaf was stale but I wouldn’t downgrade despite the oversight) but I don’t judge a seafood salad by its greens, I judge it by the seafood. While as I said it was plentiful, it was quite bland, which kind of made the volume irrelevant. I would like to have had some vinegar, but I think they intended for it to taste natural. But if I wanted natural I would have gone for some sashimi, and had it with soy sauce and wasabi which would give it some flavor. The third thing I had was a raw fish combo, which also tasted like a tasteless tartar. I’m on it now, should I ask for something spicy to mix it with?

Honestly, I just want to get done with it and never come back. I can have great wine and atmosphere in numerous other spots. Who said Italy has amazing food? I’ll go look for some gnocchi.

Update: I just asked for some garlic sauce that’s on the menu, explicitly telling the manager this tastes bland and I’d like “some kick” and got a simple “No”

Update2: I tasted the raw shrimp and it was better than the tartar but when I saw it wasn’t deveined I wanted to vomit

Update3: I’m running to the bathroom

Conclusion: the bill was was so small I feel like I got it for free (still not enough to rate it a 4 cause of the Update3)

PS Sorry for the graphic detail, but I’m in the bathroom and I just downloaded it by a star. I hope it won’t ruin my night

PS2 I’m sorry again, but it’s been an hour and already my 3rd run to the bathroom. Have to downgrade by a star. I’m a bit drunk for the wine so pardon the graphic detail. Maybe other reviewer don’t have such a...

We dined here last week based on the good reviews. One can only assume that the restaurant owner has a lot of friends who have been helping him/her out with postings or that a series of famines in Palermo have made people less picky about restaurants. Our food was terrible (an impressive feat in Italy). A starter of bean pasta - the beans had been boiled to within an inch of their life while the pasta had been introduced to boiling water from the packet and then promptly whisked away. The vegetable fritto wasn’t much better. Main course we had the Seabass “special”. Granted the fish was clearly incredibly fresh as it entered the kitchen but was then put through a Spanish Inquisition torture of being dipped in a vat of boiling oil. Retaining it on the plate whilst cutting was a chore. More amusingly it was served on a bed of beans - yup the identical bean/tomato mush combo from the starter. It was supposed to come with an almond cream that may have saved the dish unfortunately the chef was keeping this back for another day. We had decided to not go for the house wine and took their suggestion - error. It was what could be described as “wedding” wine - wine you get served at a wedding which is often terrible but overlooked by guests due to their love for the couple in question. Sadly my feelings for the restaurant owner weren’t as strong. As others have stated it is indeed cheap but then again so is a kick in the balls and I don’t fancy one of those. For those who still want to eat here so that all subsequent Italian restaurants seem amazing, I salute your commitment. For those who want to attend towards the end of their holiday, I’m available for ball kicking...