Osteria Ballarò

Really traditional Osteria, was recommended by a great friend of ours. The maître has a great personality. The food was ok, 4 shrimps perfectly cooked but slightly underwhelming flavor wise. The deserts were nice: The tiramisu was an interpretation of the desert, in the shape of a chocolate egg, not my favorite. but the star of the night was the wine, super crisp and mineral. Would not repeat even thought we are coming back to Palermo in 10 days

We had a very pleasant dinner. There are 2 place, one where you sit at the high bar tables and one at the dining table. We preferred bar chairs. First we drink negroni and then our meals. Although the entrecote was not on the menu, the chef made it special for us. I also ate swordfish.There is also a pasta with sardines, which is legendary. They were all delicious.

We had dinner at Osteria Ballarò yesterday. We’ve been having great foods in Sicily and compared to other places we’ve been to, Ballaro seems rather overpriced although the food wasn’t better. Two of us shared a seafood antipasti, melanzane, sardine pasta and a lamb dish. The pasta was somewhat watery, melanzane sauce too creamy. The staff was friendly, courteous but they seemed a bit chaotic in the end. Including one appetitive and two antipasti, one primo and one second the bill was 100 euros.

Beautiful osteria with a modern twist. The food was delicious and well presented. The stone walls of the interior added to the atmosphere.

Once a stable and over 600 years old, the Osteria Ballarò is one of the most beautiful restaurants in Palermo (after more than 600 restaurant visits, I have quite an overview here) - and the food is just as fantastic. If you love eating and drinking in a stylish ambience and excellent food, this is the place for you. This time I had the beef tartare and the lamb: both excellent. The service is multilingual (English, German) - very attentive and full of passion for this beautiful place as well as for the excellent food! Thank you, my new friends!

Osteria Ballarò came highly recommended, and we were really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the food didn't quite live up to the hype for us, even though we shared all the dishes we ordered.

Popped in unexpectedly and had their seafood set menu for lunch. The carpaccio was great to start with except for a scale or two. The seafood pasta tasted so good and fresh, I would have had seconds.

Beautiful place, excellent service, but overpriced and limited options on the menu. Gnocchi was around 25€, a glass of wine 7€ and dessert an average 10€ (tiramisu in the pic).

An upscale place for fine dining. We were greeted and seated immediately. The service was timely and friendly. Fluent in English. The menu was also bilingual. We ordered veal tartar for the appetizer. It was so delicious. For the main course we ordered tagliatelle de mazo and two fish dishes. They all were very tasty. For the dessert, we ordered tiramiseux. It was not as great as expected. The pastry shell was kind of thick and dominant. Considering the high prices, it makes me deduct one star. However, overall, we really enjoyed our experience.

From the moment you enter this gem in Palermo you'll be wowed by the lengths the staff go to make your visit enjoyable. We had a large table of eight people, not easy to accommodate but they went above and beyond. They made every effort to tend to allergy needs. This is a must stop location when you're in Palermo and feel like you want to have a fine dining experience for an average cost. The food is memorable and I dreamt about the food.

Outstanding menu with innovative "street food " offerings as well as other creative traditional Siciliano cuisine. The service is helpful, friendly and informative. The wine list is outstanding as well as the creative cocktail menu. The setting is chic and romantic and we had no trouble talking during our dinner. My wife and I enjoyed a filling meal with wine, food and dessert for €100 Definitely recommended

We recently enjoyed our last dinner in Palermo. This restaurant provides a lovely ambiance with perfectly appointed tables and lighting that sets the stage. Music completes the romantic setting. The personnel added the magic to the evening. The menu did not disappoint. We especially loved the caponata. Our daily outings explored the street fare but every once in a while you need to dress up and enjoy fine dining. Osteria Ballaro is fine indeed!!

Amazing! We went here on our visit to Sicily. The food was fresh and delicious! The octopus was fresh and cooked perfectly! The casssata cake was amazing as well!

Trying to elevate food with presentation and missing the mark on taste. Tourist trap.

Upscale Sicilian restaurant. Owners actively engaged with servers and runners. Diverse menu selection. Overall excellent food with good ambience. Can explore unusual flavor profiles. The marinated tuna with lime sorbet was a highlight. Basil linguini with shrimp was also very good. Main meal of shrimp, octopus with Sicilian bacon and a panella cube was beautifully plated. VAST wine selection and while they will help u pick, it helps greatly if you know what u are doing. Go early (7:30 PM which is late for many Americans) as will get more attention from the servers. When 9 pm rush starts things get a bit slow service wise. Had hotel make reservation and bill had 10% off total. One of the more enjoyable meals of our trip.

Fabulous ! I was in awe of the venue. What a lovely place. The owner is fully invested in his restaurant. The staff were very kind and professional. I ordered grilled octopus , delicious. For an entree tagliatelle with pork ragout and salada ricotta. Dessert was an almond parfait. I thoroughly enjoyed my dining experience. Best of luck and continued success with this restaurant.

First night in Palermo and this lovely joint was recommended to us. Got their late around 1030 and found ourselves eating a fresh raw seafood antipasti plate that was delicious. Highly recommend the red shrimp for din. Cool vibe. Great location in the center of the old city and all the ancient decor flavor you could ask for. Superb local wine selection. Excellent service too.

One of the best meals I have ever had. The food was fresh and just on point. Great ambiance and service. We made reservations and got dressed. Not too fancy, but I did put on real pants (not ripped jeans) and actual shoes. It's a nice place and unlike in Los Angles, yoga pants and high tops isn't actually acceptable as dress clothes. Price was about right. I feel like it was a deal and on the low side, but comparably to the cost of food in Palermo it's a bit more expensive. Menus have English translations and all the waitstaff spoke English(if that's something you're worried about). Just an amazing meal.

Beautiful restaurant and ambience. My travel roommate and I shared the octopus salad and seafood risotto with shrimps, sea urchin, clams and mussels. Both were delicious especially the broth in the risotto. For desert I had the watermelon gelatin with chocolate sauce. A wonderful and light dinner! The staff also helped with our wine selection. And we were both pleased with the selections.

Simply put: location 5 stars, service 3 stars, food 1 star. Stay away, tourist trap alarm! The pasta fritta (plain pasta with tomato sauce served in an individual pan) was burnt-black, and the few non burnt parts were tasteless. The pasta with capers, olives, octopus was non edible in that super salty. The panelle, quintessential street-food in Palermo (that's what the restaurant allegedly specialises in) were burnt and almost inedible too. We basically sent back half of the things we ordered (I never send back food in restaurants). The waiter was nice, he didn't let us pay for one of the sent back dishes. Still, such low quality at these prices (high!) is simply not acceptable. Traditional Sicilian food is something else, trust me, avoid this place.

Very old school and hip ambiance! Service was good, food was delicious and the wine list was varied with a great local offering. Smack dab in the center of the city, buzzing with energy.

Paccheri: delicious, Linguine: pass, gnocchi: delicious, burrata: delicious if you love sardine. Our service was hit and miss. Sort of ignored compared to other local parties in the restaurant. I would recommend coming here for the food!

delicious food and great choice of wine. do not miss the desert wines!!! Ballaró is a very beautiful location, wine bar and restaurant. Service is professional and the quality of food and wine is high. A bigger portion of friendliness and a five star rating for the service would be just.

I love fancy restaurants, and I can even tolerate arrogant service staff, but they have to balance it out with the food they deliver. This was not the case. We came in from the rainy street, too early for Italian standard dinner time, underdressed and were totally judged:) For the starters we had a mixed plate of street food palermitano (9 euros), which was ok, but not exiting. Another dish - the octopus tentacles on potato pure (13 euros) was very average as well, the octopus was rather chewy and the whole thing lacked flavour. The waiter was very rude when asked for wine recommendation. Bucatine con sarde (12 euros) was good, but I had better in the street market for half the price. Red tuna steak in a Bronte pistachio (Presìdio Slow Food) crust (16 euros) was totally overcooked even though I asked for medium rare...the waiter did not tell me it's served with no side, which I would have ordered. The canolo was average, the coffee was good. In the end, we were happy, as we topped the experience with digestivi. 80 euros for two persons with drinks.

On our second trip to the wonderful city of Palermo, we revisited Osteria Ballaro. We were a group of ten travelers on our first port call of a 7-day cruise. Outside my wife and me, this was everyone's first visit and they were impressed. It was the culmination of a 3-hour guided food tour in town. The staff started us with no less than seven apps: from caponata to a aranchine to focaccia to calamari to mussels to everything else on the menu. Each of us followed with our own choice of a main dish and not one could breathe on the way out. Traditional Sicilian fares ruled the day accompanied with the finest of Sicilian bianco, rose, and Nero d'avola. All in all a magnificent performance by the chef and a staff of three who served us. Moto moto bene!!! Must visit the Osteria. Highly recommended.

This is a new restaurant. Our group of 4 gives this place a 5 star for food, service and ambiance. We arrived early and they sat us anyway. We had a drink while waiting. Our dinners were delicious. The cannoli were the best we've EVER had. They were so delicious that we ordered extras. The wait staff was friendly and helpful explaining the different dishes on the menu.