Osteria Ballarò — Restaurant in Palermo

Second time visiting this gorgeous Osteria. This is one of our must visit places in Palermo now.

Absolutely loved the food.. delicious Sicilian cuisine in a very special setting steeped in history.

Dishes were very well thought out and the whole experience was just marvellous.

Highly recommend the cannelloni.

The staff were just exceptional! Everyone was just so charming and ready to help. You immediately feel welcome here.

We will certainly be back and would not hesitate recommending Osteria Ballaro as one of the top restaurants to try in a city full of gems.

Thank you for another wonderful evening!!

Update 2025:

We have been regular customers at this restaurant since 2022 having previously loved our experiences there. However, very disappointed this time round (we had recommended this for our family).

We had a table for about 8 people with a reservation at 7.15pm on the 1st August.

A few of the issues: not given menus until we asked for it not offered drinks while orders were being taken, each person needed to separately ask for a drink option (no non-alcoholic menu was offered). we had to ask for water bottles for the table (it was not asked by the waiter). no waiter to help during the meal. table kept very close to the drinks cabinet so everytime it was opened to take out wines etc, we needed to move while having the dinner. no greeting when leaving (we had become accustomed to the friendliness of the staff at previous occasions).

Very disappointed this time round and will not be returning after...

We did not have reservations but the staff was able to seat us right away. We ordered a sit down meal for 4 people. The order included 2 orders of lasagna which was taken by the head waiter, or a man in the suit, who repeated and confirmed the order. In about 20 min, 1 lasagna came out along with a non-ordered dish. When we refused the non-ordered dish, the head waiter came to the table, and didn't confirm that it was his mistake that two lasagna orders were indeed ordered, and certainly no apology for the misunderstanding. Consequently, the 3 other dishes ordered by my colleagues weren't served for another 10 min. or more; leaving me eating by myself as the others waited for their food to arrive. Thereafter service was minimal. Watching and listening, the head waiter was quite congenial to all the tables around us explaining what delicacies were in their dishes as the plates were served. That certainly didn't happen to us. He didn't ask if we wanted coffee, nor how we liked the food. Our table was small so one set of our dirty dishes were put on a shelf to the side to make room on the table. The dirty dishes were left on the shelf when the rest of the dishes were collected. After we decided not to have dessert, we waited for the bill. After 10 min. we had to ask for the bill since no server came back to our table. When we paid, there was no effusive thank you, nor any thank you whatsoever, or come again. Just a silent pickup of the receipt folder. Food is tasty, but based on mediocre service, I highly suggest avoiding...

We were looking forward a lot to this place as the menu and place were looking great. Our waiter (there were plenty running around) was nice, not too friendly but professionally nice. We ordered Risotto and Fettuccine as first dishes. Both was ok, nothing special. As the second plate, we had the Aubergine and "Masala's Shrimps". The Aubergine was a simple Aubergine/Parmeggiana dish. The Shrimps was a completely different dish. I had one shrimp on my plate plus some fish, fried (which I hate). Besides my food was also cold. When I told the waiter about it, he didn't really seem to care. Not sure if it was the lack of language or just his attitude. Nevertheless we decided not to make a big deal out of it and just asked the "fixer" of this place when ordering the bill. He explained (in a friendly way) that there was a mistake with the translation. Considering that this place is not cheap, I think they should be a bit more proper. The atmosphere was nice, but we were pretty disappointed at the end which is a shame when you want to have a nice evening. I can't really recommend this place if you are into good and fine food. Especially as there are so many amazing restaurants in...