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Holy Mother of Saint Rosalia, the food is good here in Palermo! When we travel we seek out a variety of street food bites, local handhelds, fun lunches, iconic sweets, and nice dinners. Here are my picks for where to eat, and what to eat, in Palermo, Sicily.
Our Methodology, for you Foodies out there
During international travel, we stay in hotels which means no cooking, cleaning, or shopping. Woot! Woot! That’s three to five meals a day over five nights in Palermo. We tried to hit different spots every time, excepting the excellent breakfast at our stay, The Grand Hotel Wagner.
For us, a great meal is taste plus great service, customer-friendly logistics, and an awesome vibe.
Disclaimer: We are not Foodies
Sicily expanded our flavor palette like nowhere else. I like ordering widely so I can taste a place; CT found two meals he loved and stuck with them, which turned into a strangely useful “scientific” comparison across restaurants.
How to eat in Palermo
Meal Timing
I get hangry if I don’t eat on time. We learned quickly to buy some cheese and cold cuts on day one as back up. Large cities like Palermo and Catania have many more options within walking distance in the city center open for earlier meals.
Lingering at the Table
Lingering is the norm, and servers won’t bring the check until you ask. Our American “eat and run” efficiency earned a few looks. We found the easiest time to relax was a coffee-and-pastry snack or an afternoon beer or gelato—especially at piazza cafés with large outdoor seating areas.
Courses
Italian menus can feel course-heavy. We’re small eaters, so we usually picked one: antipasto (starter) or primo (pasta/rice), or secondo (meat/seafood), instead of stacking courses.
Dietary Concerns and Healthy Choices
Across western Europe, menus are good about listing allergens and dietary info. We also learned that pasta and rice dishes often hide a whole mix of vegetables and flavors that the menu barely hints at, while secondo meat plates tend to be straightforward.
Sicilian food we tried was vegetable-rich—never have I eaten so much eggplant! Salads appear on menus regularly. At home we eat salads daily, but in Palermo we saved room for seafood and pasta. Vacation logic.
Where to Eat and What to Eat in Palermo
I hope our experience of where to eat and what to eat in Palermo helps you—and that you’ll also wander beyond this list. Been to Sicily? Tell us your favorites!
Where to Eat Street Food in the Palermo Street Markets
Palermo has many open-air markets, at least three in the city center. I’ll be honest: I expected more food stalls but many were souvenirs and stacks of phone cases. Still, go—the food vendors you do find, plus the color of local produce, make the stroll worth it.
For street bites, try panelle: salty, crispy chickpea fritters that remind me of potato chips. Yet panelle are a healthy alternative since they are actually made with chickpeas instead. I loved them so much I make them at home now, thanks to this recipe.
Do I remember the exact stall? Nope—so you’ll have to sample your way across the city.
Where to Eat Handheld Food in Palermo
I imagine that every culture through time had its food-on-the-go. In Palermo’s it’s arancina. This grapefruit-sized ball has a crispy bread crust on the outside. When you sink your teeth into it—welcome to the flavors of Sicily!
As you stroll the pedestrian street Via Maqueda, you can’t miss Donnafranca serving 17 varieties of arancine. Inside is a sweets-and-bar set up with a few tables. Sit outside and let the staff come to you—perfect for people-watching.
Breaking our “never twice” rule, we went back to Donnafranca for more arancine. No regrets.
Which flavors? I didn’t write them down, but we tried four in Palermo and two more in Catania—every one excellent. At about 5 euro each, one made an easy solo meal. Read more about Catania’s arancino here.
Where to Eat Lunch in Palermo
Directly across from the Norman Cathedrale, is the Concetta Bistro offers authentic Sicilian Pizza with a puffier, modern spin. Sicilian pizza is an entirely different beast than the Napoli pizza we Americans are used to. It took some courage to order a pizza that uses potatoes as the sauce and the toppings a mix of savory and sweet flavors.
Our waiter’s New Jersey accent came through his fluent Italian. He had come to Palermo as a student to seek out his Sicilian roots. His recommendation was the pork pizza with potato cream. The sauce had an alfredo-like texture but with a totally different flavor that included a gentle sweetness—we loved it.
Pizza is easy to find any time in Sicily, and the typical size was perfect for us to split. Still, I didn’t want pizza every meal—there was too much else to taste. Thankfully, it’s an inexpensive option.
The Most Famous Sweets Bakery in Palermo
The best cannoli in Sicily (and therefore the world) is right here in Palermo. The name of the bakery, I Segreti del Chiostro, was a lot for my non-Italian speaking brain to remember. Here’s my tip: just remember that the bakery is inside St Catherine of Alexandria’s Monastery (Chiesa e Monastero di Santa Caterina d’Alessandria). See how easy that translates since the words are similar to English! More on visiting St Catherine’s and other points of interest in Palermo read here.
Cannoli are miraculous, but don’t skip cassata: rum sponge cake topped with green icing and candied fruit. Eat it in the cloister garden under the watchful eye of St. Francis—and the pigeons.
Are minne de Sant Agata worth the hype? Gorgeous little breast-shaped cakes, but a bit dry for me. Still—eat one and brag. That’s travel.
What wine to drink?
Local wine tip: order Nero d’Avola, a punchy red grown on the slopes of Mount Etna. I learned it’s “near-oh DAV-olah,” not “near-oh da-VOLA.” You can find it back home—try it before you go. Whenever we ordered it across Sicily, our servers lit up with pride.
Where to Eat Dinner in Palermo
We highly recommend the Trattoria dal Pescatore, an upscale seafood spot on Via Maqueda. Competition among restaurants is fierce, and most menu hawkers are upbeat college kids with quick language skills. Here, the hawker was a well-spoken man around our age (50s), with excellent English wrapped in an Italian accent.
Have swordfish in Sicily—Trattoria’s was perfectly cooked and beautifully plated. CT ordered seafood spaghetti (again) and declared it the best in Palermo after thorough “research.”
Mid-meal, the hawker stopped by our table. We invited him in, not sure if he was the owner or manager, and he asked how our trip was going.
I asked him, “What would you like for us to understand about Sicily by the time our trip has ended?”
He answered, “When you get home and people ask what is the difference between Italy and Sicily? Tell them a thousand years.”
Sicily’s cuisine carries its layered history: Spanish, Norman, Byzantine, Saracen, and later Italian and American influences. Sicilians didn’t swap flavors—they added them. Sampling a thousand additional years of perfecting flavor… that’s part of the magic of travel.
For more tips and reviews about Palermo and Sicily:
Looking for the top things to do in Palermo. Our post also gives an honest review of the Palermo Catacombs.
Looking for an amazing stay in Palermo? We know of one.
For all our Palermo highlights read full post here.
Find out more about how awesome Sicily is in January.
Travel tip… Pick up a planning map of Sicily before your trip!
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