I Cucci — Restaurant in Palermo

Tl dr - this place is a scam and tourist trap. Stay away.

Detail:

Very nice welcoming with Italian hospitality in a nice plaza with street musicians. When you see the menu you understand it's not a cheap place might be reasonable as location is nice and waiters are very kind. They offer you a small glass of champagne as a gratitude starter.

After you order a 14 euro pasta which has literally 14 pieces, you may think wow this is a gourmet place but you are terribly wrong. This is no more than a supermarket pasta cooked in a student guest house.

And before finishing your 14 pieces of pasta, you will be harassed by a street magician who enters restaurant area without any protest of employees and moved from table to table (not a bad guy though), a flower seller trying to sell you roses (1 Eur piece), a Street musician refuses to leave unless you pay, and finally a toy seller. Well OK, no need for a big drama for these as you are in a plaza in Palermo.

But after ordering a chocolate cake which is without any taste and when you refuse to eat it, their explanation is "this is a special cake without any sugary and egg" . It takes 3 separate waiters to understand you refuse that cake and ask it to be removed from the bill. When you ask the bill you still see that 6 Eur tasteless cake is on the bill but they made a discount of 4.5 Eur. Then after arguing they accept to remove it completely. Then you realize there are 2 different prices for same items, when you ask waiter also gets confused. On third try you finally get the right overpriced bill for the mediocre quality food.

Money is OK and can be re earned, but the damage of wasted dinner of our only night in a such city famous for its good food and good people is not reparable. This is why I will never forgive this restaurant. Please also stay away from the opposite site...

We stumbled upon "Restaurante I Cucci" This place was fantastic. They had a good wine selection and the manager Alessandro was a fabulous host. This spot knows how to bring fun people in thanks to him. When seated you get a complimentary sparking wine and then the fun begins.

The beats on the menu are fabulous and flavourful. The Caprese salad had fresh tomatoes and homemade mozzarella cheese that made you want more. We had two Manzo Steak and they made it the way I like it. The steak melted in my mouth. Then they brought out the big guns the Steak Florentina OMG it comes out sizzling on a hot skillet and this sucker can feed 2 to 3 people on its own.

Then came out the Canolo and damn it was good. Then the tiramisu and I have eaten lots of tiramisu and this was not that crap lady fingers soaked in watery flavours. This was the real deal Holyfield and was made to perfection. The creamy and smooth flavors were as if it was sent from the gods. This has been the best one I have EVER had and it was so good I had to let them know. It was Tutto Bene!!! And absolutely divine.

All of the staff was very friendly including the cat that roams around Mykaela who was introduced to us by another server who was very good but I did not remember her name. While taking photos I spoke with the owner George and he was an amazing humble man and was so happy we enjoyed our time here. I highly recommend this spot because of the service, the food, the drink, and also the live music that calls you like a siren luring you in.

#icucci #palmero #italytravel #italy #tripadvisor...

Tourist trap!

This place was recommended by our hotel so we (foolishly) went without thinking too much. Before we had a chance to see a menu they were pouring us free glasses of Prosecco, and we heard them offering things to people passing by that weren’t on our menu. We decided to try to enjoy anyway, but the pasta I ordered had to be ravioli instead of cannelloni because it was “handmade fresh”, and my husband’s pork dish had run out, so he had to order one that wad 3€ more. Considering my pasta was 18€ and his meat was 25€, the dishes were very small, and whilst tasty enough, nothing special. Additionally, the menu they give you doesn’t have all the options on it, only the more expensive ones (as we saw after). It was fine, but avoid if you don’t want a tourist trap, the restaurant just next to it has yummier food for a better price.

EDIT: I wrote this before we had paid the bill. With the bill they tried to charge an extra 5€ for my husbands meal because they “forgot to tell us”, and we were given attitude when we questioned it but they took it off. We mentioned we were unhappy with the fact that they didn’t provide us with the second menu, and the staff were rude and claimed we had to ask for the “bistro” menu. Also, they will charge you 3€ per person for cutlery and “use of the table”, so be prepared for this too.

I never complain about places, so if I’ve come to do a review it’s because I really want to warn you...