I am traveling with a tour group to Sicily in December and most of the meals are planned as part of the tour. However, we do have several lunches and dinners on our own which I look forward to when I travel because it is an opportunity for me to dine where the locals do and on many occasions I find really friendly people to talk to using the few factured words I learn in the local language, sign language, or when I luck out they speak English. In this case I can butcher basic Italian but since Sicilian is different I don't even know if that will help.
I will be at AI Cavalieri in Palermo, The Mahara Hotel in Mazara Del Vallo and The Principe Hotel in Catania. If there are dining places in walking distance from these hotels that you can recommend for good food in a relaxed environment I would greatly appreciate it. Nothing fancy and not too expensive. Just good home cooking with more locals than tourists. Living in the U.S. I have always said that I could eat Italian food 7 days a week and now I get to live my dream.
Posted by
Michigan
476 posts
Palermo - We ate at a few places on Via Vittorio Emmanuele, which is the busy shopping/eating street. We liked Caponata , which has fish, pasta and pizza. Casual, mix of locals and tourists, nice wine list. We also liked A'Cala, which is along the water and had very good fish. A good spot for arancini is KePalle, but I don't think they have indoor seating so that might be weather-dependent.
Posted by
seattle
2144 posts
In Palermo we ate at Trattoria da Pino, open 12-3:30, closed Sunday. It is an extremely casual and traditional trattoria. Menu changes daily, but we found a waiter who spoke a little English and helped explain the offerings. The caponata was excellent.
Posted by
OP
Florida
135 posts
Thank you. That was exactly what I was looking for. I realized after your reply I should have labeled my post as dining instead of restaurants because I am open to all kinds of eating places. More suggestions from you or others would be most appreciated.