Palermos

One word for the chef — SALT. Everything was so bland! We were really hoping for a good experience as this place is super close to home and easy for dine in or take out, but the food (Pesto Chicken) was just mediocre and lacked any kind of seasoning. It’s really hard to make a bland pesto sauce…

I came to Palermos on Tuesday Feb 2,2016 for lunch. I was the only customer in the restaurant. I was alone and thus the waiter took my single lunch order. After I placed my lunch order two white men came and order two sandwiches/​lunches. They promptly received their sandwiches and continued to wait.
As a long time customer of Palermos I was extremely disappointed by the waiters lack of professional or even appropriate customer service.
When I Inquired as to how it was easier to prepare two lunches faster than the single lunch I ordered I received as a response from the very rude waiter «they were rushing me so whatever».
I now do not recommend Palermos as I once did. I will never patronize this establishment again.

I don’t understand how so many people had a bad experience here. I’ve come here with my boyfriend plenty of times since I moved to California in February. It’s one of our go to places. The complimentary bread and spread is amazing. The salads are refreshing with tons of freshly cracked peppercorns. Nearly every dish I’ve tried is good. The chocolate soufflé is the perfect end to every meal. I’ve just discovered their seasonal pumpkin walnut cobbler recently and it is the best thing ever. I’d be content with having only their bread, side salad, and desserts every time.

Cheating escort-​hiring douchebag’s favorite place to meet up with daughters from time to time and the only reason why I was even in Benicia.
Palermo’s offers good family dining for their spin on Italian food. The portions are huge (typical of suburbia dining styles) and the seating intimate. The staff are usually local kids working their way through high school and college so remember to tip well.
I would always order the salad with extra ranch since their ranch is pretty damn good. The chicken dishes were always on par, such as the Saltimbocca or Pesto. The sauces are flavorful.
However, I only have two things to bring up. The last time I was here, I found a long blonde hair in the sauce, which obviously did not belong to me. I discreetly brought this up to the waitress and she was apologetic and took it off the check. Another time I ordered the Fruit Cobbler with ice cream on the side and it was freezer burnt due to sitting in their dessert display case for who knows how long.
So while their items are great for those seeking an Italian dinner outing, I won’t be back because there is no reason why I would be there in the first place, and second, Benicia’s prodigal son might be playing his next hand of escort roulette.

Delicious food. The bread, the marinara dip, the minestrone, the linguini, everything was perfect. Will definitely be back!

I have only eaten here once and had a salad, my granddaughter had pasta. It was wonderful. The salad was great and the pasta was al dente and steaming. I am going back at my first opportunity.

I just had the best caprese salad ever. I also ordered a seafood pasta dish… it looked fantastic, but it’s sitting in my fridge because I was too full from my salad. What was I thinking!!! LOL. I did pick the seafood out and eat it, and it tasted fresh. I’m looking forward to many more meals here.

Great for a date night. Their sun dried tomato sauce for the bread is delicious and they serve it with the pizza for dipping the crust. We were never disappointed in our many visits.

Honey likes pasta gabriella and watch out if they have the cioppino on special that night u’d be in for a treat… no one can top it! salmon dill. or the salmon dijon u can have it w. chicken and the veggies are done to perfection… superb! the dinners come w choice of soup or salads … their ceasar w extra fresh grated parmesan always take me to a happy place! kids wud love their selection of pizzas. and the calzone is xtra good… although not the most attractive location like its sister restaurant (ventticellos) on 1^st street (Palermos is better) parking is easy + their open kitchen and italian décor make up for the atmosphere and the food is worth coming back again and again… so healthy and delicious and very satisfyiing! Their staff is worthy of mention Diego, Omar. Guillermo…

We go here at least once a month. Never had a problem with service — we are always greeted warmly. Quality of the food is great — never have had a bad meal yet. Small Quaint restaurant in a small quaint town! Excellent value for your money!

By far the best Italian hands down. Authentic sauce, great portions– entrees include salad, and the tastiest fresh sourdough bread and sundries tomato spread ever. I dream of Palermos. The owner, Guillermo is the most accommodating and hard working guy. Anytime I’m in Benicia, this is my go to spot! Salad dressings are fresh and cheese ravioli sauce the most amazing ever!

We’ve been there twice now and the place is an instant favorite. The food is really damn good. You can tell much about a place by how they handle appetizers, and at Palermo’s you get a beautiful and fresh display that tastes great. Service takes time because this is a smaller end operation, but the staff is attentive and they are great about timing the meal to come as you are finishing your appetizers. This is the place to go if you want your food hand crafted by a talented chef. Desserts are great too. The bad reviews that I’ve read on this site seem to focus on how long it takes to get food to the table; don’t go to an artisan if you are in a hurry on a Friday night. For my money, I’ll kick back and enjoy conversation with my wife over a glass of wine while some of the tastiest italian food on the east bay gets handmade for me.

We tried to get some dinner last night but ended up leaving the restaurant hungry. We were there for over an hour and a half and the chef had not even started cooking our meal. The two wait staff was terrible and cam across as we were offending them with our presence. After the first 20 minutes of no service, my husband asked if we could get some service and the waiter rolled his eyes. The young lady never gave us a moments notice and I believe that we were in her section.
When we finally said that we were leaving, the chef cam over to apologize and said that they were overwhelmed. We said that we understood but that the wait staff were rude and never made an effort to wait on us.
I am never going back and will let everyone know that this is a horrible place to dine.

We dined here this evening and we will not spend our money here again.
It took them over an hour to serve our food after we had ordered, and our orders were not taken until 20 minutes after we arrived. The service was nothing to write home about, but the meal was good once we finally got it. In the end, the food alone was the only redeeming quality and it wasn’t enough to inspire us to go back. Big time bummer. They need to step up their game and get food out faster, and the dude with long black hair that served us acted like he was stoned out of his mind and that it was a serious inconvenience for him to have to be there. He poured the water like he couldn’t care less about what he was doing.

I come here quiet often so I am really comfortable with the atmosphere and the people who work here. In my humble opnion everyone is nice and friendly, the bar is a little small but I can live with that.
Love their pizza, usually get pepperoni with feta cheese.

We went on the evening of Friday, 17 Oct. The food was good, but the service was terrible. They were only 70% occupied, yet it took 35 minutes to get our appetizer, another 25 minutes to get our salad, then another 20 to get the entre. The only time our waiter ever even looked in our direction was when he was finally bringing something to the table. He only asked once if we wanted something more to drink. We were never offered more bread.
We ate outside. That was a horrible decision. The gas station/​minimart, Oil Changers and everything else was so noisy, I had to keep asking my Wife to speak up.
My Wife tipped at 15%. I would have left a nickel to get the point across.
My wife said we will try again sometime soon. But, if the service takes anywhere near as log, we are going to walk out.

Called to order take out 1) marinara pasta 2) fruitti de mare
Picked up after 20 minutes … order no where to be found
A man entered the door complained about wrong order and true enough, my order was given to him. That solved the mystery of my missing order!
Bill came to $ 29.13 … asked for a receipt and the server/​cashier bluntly said «if you pay cash we don’t issue receipt» I said, I needed one as it was a business expense. She wrote one hurriedly with an attitude. I handed her $ 30.13 and had to ask for the $ 1 change back or otherwise would have been pocketed, I supposed.
It is now past midnight and I am still awake. My stomach has been turned upside down. Stomach ache and diarrhea followed. I hope I am not a victim of food poisoning.
Please be very careful about this establishment.

Love this cozy, casual, little gem of a restaurant. We reserved the back room for our private party. Wonderful.

I ordered their meatballs with the angel hair pasta. I got FOOD POISON last night. I’ve been vomiting, have diarrhea, chills, stomach ache the whole night. We used to love this place, we always go here not until this happens last night. I don’t know how you guys handle the food there. But please kindly check everything before you serve the food. Check the quality of your meat, the temperature, maybe the shelf life of your stuff before you guys serve some food. It’s not a joke to make other people sick just because you did not carefully prepare the food. Now I’m absent at my work coz I’m sick. I seriously take my time to write this review to warn all the food handlers on this place to be more cautious next time. I paid for my food not to have diarrhea.

Was so disappointed last night…
The only good thing was their soup and bread… Seriously!!!
The male waiter/​busser was very attentive unlike the waitress… She didn’t even say hello when she first came up to us… Just a «what can I get you?» We should had just left then like another couple that came in after us…
I started with the grilled prawn caprese special… I could had made better… It literally was a row of tomato, row of cucumber and a row of mozzarella with the prawns wedged in between… Then covered in a really runny balsamic dressing… The prawns were flavorless… Seemed like the rest was already cut just sitting in the fridge…
Hubby ordered the mussels to start… They looked yummy but again, under seasoned.
Next… Soups… Both were delicious (minestrone and a cream of spinach)… The only good thing about out whole dinner… It’s the only thing I’d come back for… Repeat ONLY (and I’d take it to go)
Entrees…
Veal scappolini (sp?) under seasoned again… Veal was literally so paper thin, it had more breading than meat… But it wasn’t terrible… Needs some work
Spaghetti and meatballs: under seasoned but otherwise fine… How could you mess this up?
Frutti de mare…
Now this LOOKED great when it came out but I could smell the fishy-​ness from across the table… Husband took two bites and was done… It tasted just as fishy as it smelled… Scallops must have been old…
We were done ready to go… As the waitress came to clear our plates my husband told her the food was bad… No response!!! Oh wait she smiled and asked if we wanted to take it home?! What??? Hello??? Knock knock??? Are you freaking serious!!! Girl I don’t know how you are a waitress but I’ve never had one so dull and uncaring about her customers… I’d rather be waited on by the busser who was constantly refilling our drinks and bread basket!!! She didn’t even ask what was wrong with it or offer to take it off the bill… I understand you make your living off tips but get real! You just lost out…
I hope the owner reads this!!! You need either a new waitress or you need to re train her!!! And you need a new cook! Not once did I see him taste his dishes for flavoring! No wondering everything was so bland!
We will NOT be back nor recommend this place to anyone!!!
STAY AWAY!