Palazzo Sambuca — Restaurant in Palermo

Do not miss ristorantino Palazzo Sambuca unless you do not like neither pleasant people nor good food nor fresh products nor local products. Surprisingly all products were Sicilians, even the mineral water. I would like to mention that we are Basque people and, as Basques, we love good food. Last Friday, when I phoned to make the booking, a joyful and welcoming voice answered the phone call saying that yes, there was a table for my family……the last table, as we saw later. I got the felling the evening could be something different. Arriving to the restaurant, the voice on the phone got a face: Alessia was there, as welcoming as through the phone. The restaurant is a smartly decorated place but not the traditional Italian style, the modern one; an smart place with personality, like Alesia. She is the wife of the “cuoco”. Her husband could be called either “cuoco”, as it is said in Italia or, also, “chef”, for a simple reason: the food was delicious! When we sat, we saw the trolley with the daily fresh fish passing by to be shown to a nearby table. Good beginning! Alesia asked me what we would fancy for dinner; my answer was simple. I told her, my wife and me, we would like to have a lovely dinner but light and, smiling, I asked Alessia if we were at the right place. Smiling back to me, she glanced at me and with assurance and with elegance answered that we were at the perfect place. She proposed us to have some fish “polpete” and “scorfano” (in English maybe scorpion fish, this ugly, as ugly as tasty, red fish that lives on rocky coastal shores) with prawns but she told us that it will be raw fish. Honestly, I am not used to eat raw fish but why not. The “polpete” arrived first, they were lovely; the raw “scorfano” arrived just after with the raw prawns, they were both gorgeous. As main dish, she proposed us a “corvina” fish (I do not dare to translate it into English, sorry) with a typical Sicilian salad (fresh fennel with orange). Again, the fish, fresh fish, was delicious and the salad was, for me, a discovery as we are not used to eat fennel at all, even less with orange. Our sons were more conservative and had gnocchi and pasta (sorry we do not remember which kind of pasta, che peccato!) with octopus and fish. Both of them were very tasty and good. Desserts: We had a taste of three of them, a Sicilian “cassata”, a ricotta cream-based dessert and Chantilly cream-based dessert with red fruits. How could I describe them? In order, and to be short: excellent, gorgeous, superb (it is very difficult to find real good homemade Chantilly cream). Important to mention, the restaurant is a family run business, they concentrate on excellent product, homemade and lovely food and better service. Alessia and her sister-in-law Valentina are very welcoming people. Be alert it is slow food; for other kind of food, please, avoid this place. For the ones concerned about price, it was about 1,5-1,7 times dearer than a classical Sicilian restaurant with pasta and pizza; I mean Palazzo Sambuca is excellent value! HIGHLY RECOMENDABLE but only for people that enjoy good food and...

As a foreigner living in Palermo, my husband and I (who are both serious foodies) make it a point to check out the local “ristoranti." Well, happy to say, we have found a wonderful restaurant right around the corner called Ristorantino Palazzo Sambuca. If you want fresh local fish or ‘frutta del mare, then this is the place! No matter how it’s prepared, we’ve never been disappointed. Once we find a place we like, we keep going back. My husband says every time he orders their “polipo’ (octopus) how amazing it is! He is convinced theirs is the freshest and the best. Their calamari & shrimp are great too, and but whatever Enzo (the owner) has found at the fish market that day (“Pesce del Giorno”), take his recommendation! You'll not be disappointed.

Personally, I love their salads and grilled vegetables. And you’re probably thinking what’s so special about that?…. until you've had theirs! I order their grilled vegetables EVERY time I’m there because not only are the generous with the variety of vegetables, but the delicacy and taste is unparalleled. No doubt, they use a high quality grade of olive oil, because their salads (try the fennel and orange salad) are just yummy too! And really, who gets THAT excited about salads? But lest you think I can’t appreciate a good steak, their chef (Enzo’s son) prepares several different cuts, but his grilled steak with a honey red wine marinade is a must try!

The service is excellent. As it probably will be Enzo and his daughter looking after you; it truly is a family business. And after a meal there, you may even feel like part of the family yourselves. Especially, if you engage Enzo in conversation about his beloved Palermo, he may even show you a photo of himself as a young boy in book documenting Visconti's filming of Tomasi di Lampedusa’s “Il Gattopardo” (The Leopard). Proving he truly IS a local boy, and like all locals, he knows exactly where to find best ingredients, the best local fish, the best of everything!

Ristorantino Palazzo Sambuca has an intimate but elegant atmosphere, but it’s hidden on a little back street (Via Alloro), so pay attention as you won't...

The food here is amazing! We had the sashimi appetizer with red shrimp (apparently a Sicilian specialty), some fish of the day I didn’t quite understand the name of, and some white shrimp; it was extremely fresh with very interesting pickled olive-variant (doesn’t look like an olive but tastes a bit similar to but better than the usual pickled olives). We also had spaghetti with octopus ragu (with tomato sauce) and it was absolutely fantastic, easily the best octopus spaghetti I’ve ever had. For secondi, we had the special fish of the day, it tastes extremely fresh, with tomato-sauce-seared potatoes on the side that were very tasty. This restaurant is very small (“ristorantino”) so I do recommend making a reservation. They’re open for lunch and dinner. They have handwritten Italian and English menus. It is on a quiet side street next to some very beautiful ancient ruins with vines grown in. I would definitely...