Palermo Trattoria — Restaurant in Virginia

So this place has been highly recommended by some friends so we decided to give it a shot tonight!! It was a pretty typical Saturday night and they were busy in the dining room not just take out orders. We were greeted by an older lady whom was the hostess, she took our name and indicated it would be about 30-35 minutes for a table.. In reality it took about 45 minutes, but that's ok during this time the hostess was running around like crazy checking on tables, checking on guests, checking on the kitchen as well as seating people. There will be more on this later.

Moments after being seated we were greeted by a server who brought us wates and said your server will be with you in a minute. A few moments later our server Brian (maybe Bryan) greeted us, and went through the normal pleasantries and took our drink orders. They brought us out some bread (garlic knots) which were large, light and fluffy, and tasted great.

So for our meals we got an order of Mozzarella sticks, Penne alla vodka, Lasagna, and baked spaghetti with meat sauce and mozzarella cheese. I had the privilege of tasting all the meals.

Mozzarella sticks - these really should be called Mozzarella logs as they are HUGE each one is like 4 normal ones. They are hand breaded and the marinara sauce was robust and flavorful. These were just amazing.

Lasagna - this was a delicious looking dish served hot and fresh, everything was cooked to perfection and the sauce was well balanced and extremely flavorful.

Baked Spaghetti - as with the lasagna it was cooked to perfection and had a well balanced and robust flavor.

Penne alla vodka - this was my dish and also one of my favorite dishes to eat, when it first arrived the aromas were off the charts, the beautiful orange colored sauce lets you know it is there. From the first bite the broad rich flavor glides over your palate, the sauce so creamy yet balanced; it also hints at the fact it is a small batch made to order sauce.

Our experience here was beyond amazing and I wanted to let management know what a wonderful experience it was, so when I asked to speak with a Manager they asked will the owner do? Remember when I was talking about the hostess, well turns out that hostess is actually the Owner, a lovely Sicilian women. who during our meal we also saw her preparing food, baking rolls, and busing tables.

If you are looking for a place with a great atmosphere, great people, hard working owners, amazing food, and someplace you are treated like family then this is your place. You won't find better italian food anywhere else in the greater Richmond area.

P.S. - We tried their pizza too and it's...

This was by far out worst experience here. Have been numerous times over the years for birthday dinners but won't be returning....our waitress was an absolutely a gem, so nice and amazing to deal with and the low service rating only speaks to the managers not the waitress ....we ordered apps (mozz sticks and bang bang shrimp were tasty but the "pig and fig" special was not great and very sweet,don't need honey,fig jam and figs on something)and put my kids in order(Alfredo which was also good)immediately and everything was prompt and tasty overall and quick but from there is when things went downhill.....the restaurant picked up and got pretty busy and our mains took a good while. We ordered 3 pasta dishes....the papardelle Sugo,carbonara,some kinda al la vodka and I got the 3 meat special that were rollatinis....the Sugo was fine for what it was my mother said but nothing amazing....the al la vodka was ok but seemed to lack a little flavor other than cream tomatoe and the slightest hint of vodka....the 3rd dish was the 3 meat rollatinis special with veal,lamb and venison.....the lamb was solid but the veal was undercooked and made it very chewy and the venison was overcooked....all of them came with the same I believe red wineish reduction saw when really there could have been something to break up that same flavor, just was kinda flat and not worth the 45 price tag....the last dish was the carbonara and this is where the REAL problem is....it came out and it was so gummy that not one single noodle would come out with just twirling and was a complete salt bomb....we asked to have it removed from the bill but were greeted by the I guess manager (younger lady)who was immediately combative instead of apologizing in anyways shape or form and then stated that's how their pasta is because it's homemade(never had pasta this thick or gummy) and that they as a "family owned" establishment cant take it off the bill but did offer to replace it which at his point it was super busy and everything was taking so long to come out we just decided to leave...also during the discussion I guess the other manager or owner (older women) came by and reiterated what the younger woman was saying in which the younger women replied to her in a snarky tone "I was telling them that"....was just shocked they wouldn't consider even after it was a 200 bill.......overall just seems to not be as good as it use to be and the altercation with their "manager" just left us feeling a little put off.... definitely won't be...

Looking at pictures online this place seems to be a very nice Italian restaurant but those are a bit deceiving. The main dining area is nice but they put us in the box room which is very loud with the ambiance of a take out Chinese joint. They sat us down with the menus which were stained with wine and food on the inside, not something that gives you confidence in the overall cleanliness of a place. The service was just okay and they are very slow to clear empty plates and glassware from the table. We had to flag down a random server and ask them if they could take them away. We ordered the beef carpaccio which was very good but 6 very small pieces will cost you $18.00, a little pricy considering the portion. Next we ordered the bruschetta which was absolutely delicious, however it was way to much for two people as an appetizer. Turns out that you can get a half or full order, something that the waitress failed to mention nor was it an option on the menu. My wife ordered the Lobster Ravioli which came with a red pepper sauce. It was good but not great, the red pepper sauce was a little overpowering and I would have preferred a lighter cream sauce. I ordered the Lasagna which was decent but a little band, it could have used a zestier sauce in my opinion. Now lets talk about the garlic bread that comes with the meal. I will say it's probably some of the best that you will ever have. It's like little bread croissants dripping in garlic butter, this along withe the bruschetta was the highlight of our dinner. Last but not least was the wine list, a single sheet of laminated white paper. While the options were decent and I did enjoy my wines by the glass the overall selection left a little to be desired. Palermo could be a great Italian restaurant with just a little more effort and attention to detail but the place was very busy so maybe I'm just harder to please than the...