Osteria dei Vespri — Restaurant in Palermo

Where do I begin... Arrived to a semi-empty restaurant (aprox 35% full) and was told without a reservation we would have to sit inside, which was understandable.  After being sat, we were told we must wait 20 minutes to place an order. This was the first red flag. Personally, I come from an Italian family who owned and operated a number or restaurants, and this alarmed me.. A restaurant that is a third full, which seats maybe 60, can't even handle a dinner order for 20 more minutes? My hope was that the food would be so good that takes such precision and expertise to craft.

15 minutes later after being ignored by four waitresses, I was able to get ones attention to ask for bread. I was firmly informed that I would receive bread with my dinner (okay.. maybe the bread is an intrinsic part of the meal and can't be rushed). I asked to order and the waitress said another person would be by to take my order. 10 minutes after, a woman arrived and asked what our wine order is. I asked to order food and she ademently insisted that she was the somalie and was unable to take a dinner order. However, she would send over a waitress. Another 5-10 min pass and a waitress finally arrived. Keep in mind this has been about 35 min since we sat. Luckily for us we passed our 20 min "no ordering" mark. Then the bread sticks came out. Yup. Bread sticks.

So here begins the food. I'm not a difficult guy to please. But the food was mediocre at best. Along with the house appetizer, the bread finally came out, which was basic white bread you can find at a supermarket.. and was not even warmed up! The portions we're small (which is fine) but if your going to charge 30 Euro for an appetizer, I should eat it and think, "Wow!" .. not that it tastes bland. Between the house appetizer, rabbit appetizer, squid and artichoke appetizer, lamb ravioli, truffle burrata pasta, baby goat entree, and pork belly entree, there was not one flavor which made this experience worth it. Don't get me wrong, the menu had great potential, with items which made me think that interesting and one of a kind dishes would appear. Unfortunately, aside from presentation, I felt that I could have cooked more flavorful food.

Postives about the meal.

-Everything was cooked perfectly.. nothing over or under cooked, but no  flavor as well.

-Best part of the meal.. the expensive bottled balsamic vinegar.

-Leaves you the option to grab a great pizza since you will not be satisfied afterwards.

Spent over 200euro between food and wine for two people, which normaly I wouldn't mind. But sadly I've eaten much better food at almost every other restaurant I've tried during my 2 weeks in Sicily. This restaurant perceives themselves to be high class and ahead of it's time but is unaware of it's own medicoracy. If you don't mind spending money to impress your date without getting decent food than this is the...

I loved my experience here.

The palette cleansers really stood out, the goat cheese with basil olive oil, pepper caper and tuna was superb as well as the butter jelly and fruit with fig cleanser later on - the fig was superb.

The egg souffle with asparagus was beautifully done and flavorful.

The main course I had the piemontese pork, the cheek it came wrapped in was flawless, the accompanied by perfect baby basil and a nuanced sauce. I would describe the dish as understated - some reviews have mentioned they're unimpressed, the dish doesn't pack a punch of wild new flavor but the quality and execution cannot be disputed.

Dessert - I usually never have but I was so impressed with the rest of the meal - I had the cinnamon, lemon, ricotta and chocolate one - recommended by the waiter - it was sensational - the preserved lemon and red wine reductions combined with gentle ricotta and cinnamon were out of this world.

They even had complimentary desserts at the end, one was a chocolate truffle ball, very delicately balanced and rich, another custard topped with currant and pistachio and the last a butter cookie (to my knowledge) - very high quality.

Overall, I think this restaurant allows you to experience the quality of the ingredients and the quality of the preparation paired with excellent service.

My only wish was that they had a wine list for glasses - they only had wines by the bottle and I saw a few people eating there solo. They also didn't really let me practice my italian, but hey, it's michelin and they want you to have a...

This was a hard one to rate. I will start out by saying that the location and setting (atmosphere) as well as extensive wine list deserves on its own a star. We reserved a table for 2 and were welcomed to choose from the available tables which was nice.

However, after we were ordered the water for the table (which soon arrived), no one came by for 20 minutes. No menus, nothing. Then the main waiter came by to take our orders, at which point we had to say that we did not get even a menu to look at. He was apologetic, but one expects better service for the rating this place has. We also ordered a bottle of wine at this point, and probably would have had two bottles during the dinner if it we didn’t have to wait 40 minutes after our arrival to receive the first one - so it’s a lost opportunity for the owner, really.

My starter (courgette) was super bland. I’m not a picky eater but nothing stood out despite the obvious attempt at sophisticated presentation. Lots of patrons were instagramming their plates which gave me a slight warning. It is like the chef forgot to touch any herbs or spices, not even salt, butter or oil. My main (fillet) was better and tasty but again slightly underwhelming given the way it is described on the menu. On the other hand, my companion really enjoyed both courses they chose, so it was a hit or...