Arrusti e Mancia

The ABSOLUTE BEST place for food in Palermo! I still think about booking a trip back to Italy just to eat here.
I think everyone can agree that when you go to a country you want to eat authentic food like a local… well you can’t get more local than this! I think it might be a stretch to call it a restaurant, but it’s more a grill on the side of the street with a few tables around it. And it’s simply amazing. If it’s your first time it might be nice to have someone Italian speaking with you (I certainly benefited from this).
The dining experience… they have no groceries. He literally just grills for you. So you’ll need to go to the fish or meat market in the neighborhood and buy some meat. You just bring it over to Michele and his son, and they’ll weigh it and charge you by the pound. It’s in the middle of a residential area, so you’ll see locals come up and ask Michele to cook up their dinner for them, and they’ll return a while later to pick up their food. They also make the most mouth water bruschetta you can imagine! Just thinking about it has me creating a puddle on my keyboard!!! What else do they do? On Friday and Saturday they become a spaghetteria. And boy do they make some great seafood spaghetti. If you get on good terms with Michele, he may even go shopping with you to make sure you get the best shell fish possible.
The venue… well it’s not a venue so much as the tables sitting outside, and (though I didn’t experience it) he supposedly moves down the street to another location later at night. I sat there from 7 to 10 pm one night eating, and never saw this happen. I love the atmosphere here. Purely as local as you can get, and the people are amazing. I took photos with all of them, and I even mailed a few photos back (at their request). They hope to cover the interior walls with photos.
If you’re in Palermo you MUST make a trip out here. If you don’t… your loss, but I’m already dreaming of another vacation there just to eat!