Ciurma Palermo Maqueda — Restaurant in Palermo

Staff are friendly. Food, not so friendly. We had the platter of fried fish.(calamari, squid, anchovies, prawns, shrimp,cod). What seemed like a couple of pieces of cod was soft. Everything else was like biting into a tractor tire. I never knew it could be so difficult to chew seafood. When I notified the staff, he just smiled and shrugged his shoulders.Shame the staff are very nice, the couple next to us had the same platter, tried it and left everything. They didn’t want to complain. I am writing this as I am on the toilet with a case of diarrhoea. This is the only food I ate today. The reason I went to this place is that it was recommended by someone. However in my experience, that if a menu is in english, it is probably not worth eating at. These restaurants are ripping off tourists. Eat at authentic Italian restaurants and use google translate. Just to be aware, they charge a service charge per person on top of your bill maybe it is written on the menu? I may have missed it. Nevertheless, the two stars is only because the staff are really nice and don’t mind paying the service charge, but the food is complete rubbish. Will not go there again for the rest of my trip. Honestly, the way I feel this evening is not worth it. I should have rather taken that €30 and given it to someone homeless. At least I would receive a blessing thank suffer now...

This used one ok place in a very touristic stretch. However he fresh fish has now been replaced by waiters waiving the passer by. We had the apericena that was supposed to be 16 EUR (but it is actually 18, because of the 2 Euro per person of coperto, not advertised). When it arrived it was clear that the fish salad was off. We told to the waiter that told us "Well, but this is not my problem, it is chef's issue", and then he went to chase somebody from the street to get it seated. We told to another waiter, that didn't even apologize. The salad, that was obviously and clearly off, was served happily to new customers. The rest of the apericena was average (caponata) or below average (the fritto was not fresh either, the fish meat ball were not really nice) The owner at the moment of payment, neither could be bothered by the fact that he is serving rotten fish, and he offered to compensate for the small issue with limoncello. When asked why is he still serving the salad despite being off, he said that probably only ours was off, or we have particular taste (I am sicilian and I know my fish, but, hey...) He possibly he spend to much time at the gym, too little in the kitchen. Place absolutely to avoid (and honestly the whole area is now to avoid if you want proper food), expensive and serving old fish. We both spent the night in...

We were initially unsure whether Ciurma, as a fish restaurant, was the right place for us, as we are vegetarians. But the fish-free menu won us over! We enjoyed fantastic pistachio pasta and cacio e pepe. The cocktails were also great; we particularly enjoyed the non-alcoholic mocktails (one of us can’t drink alcohol due to chronic illness and it’s just nice to have an alternative to classical soft drinks like arancina or Coca Cola).The restaurant is centrally located in the old town - which naturally leads to "tourist prices" and a certain amount of noise from the street performers. Despite the noise, we were able to have a good conversation, and it was a truly lovely evening worth every penny. Special thanks go to the friendly young waiter who approached us in the pedestrian zone and, despite our rather poor Italian, was willing to speak his native language with us and teach us a few things. We are still learning the language and know that it is not the locals' job to teach us theirs. All the nicer that he was so patient and took the time for us without being annoyed by tourists (as we experienced in other places), not with arrogance or haughtiness, but with genuine kindness and authentic interest in his guests. 10/10 would go here again anytime we...