Grand Palladium Sicilia Resort and Spa

"On our second evening at the resort, we reserved at the Portofino restaurant, one of the à la carte restaurants in the resort. The greeting was warm and welcoming. We were shown our table. The regular menu is included in the package but there is a "premium" section of special dishes that are available for a small surplus. They also offer fresh fish and seafood that can be prepared to your liking. We order the culatello with tomato and the tuna ceviche as appetizers. Both dishes were flavourful and beautifully presented. We order from the premium wine list which boasts many exceptional local Sicilian wines. We opt for the Arianna Occhipinti SP68 bianco. What a revelation! We were so pleased. To continue, we order from the premium menu: spaghetti with truffles and lemon as well as a grilled dorada. Both were exceptional. The pasta is sprinkled with a generous serving of truffle right at the table. The fish is presented whole and expertly filetted table side. Special request for the head and the skin are gladly granted. We had an amazing meal and I would like to thank the whole staff that were so helpful and courteous. Hanin, Angelo L., Francesco, Giovanni A and Giovanni G. all contributed to make our evening so special. I would like to thank Alessandra, our server that was so kind, so helpful and so perfectly professional. I highly recommend Proto Fino"

"Our experience as a family of 9 - ages ranging from 3.5 to 78 - was mostly excellent. After some deliberation, we decided to splurge on the signature level, and we really believe it’s worth it. The rooms, pool, and service were absolutely excellent. The rooms were clean, well-stocked, beds were comfortable, and A/C worked well. We didn’t experience any outside noise which disturbed us. The signature level pool was great with kids and very convenient. It also had its own bar where you could get ice cream, coffee, and all sorts of drinks. Thank you to Anjelica for taking such good care of us! There were many kids at this pool but it didn’t feel crazy or chaotic. They also had lifeguards on duty. The beach was nice but very pebbly - it had a great breeze going and there were planks going across that allowed for easy entry into the water. However, I strongly recommend water shoes as it’s very pebbly. There is also no service at the beach. The breakfast service for signature level was excellent - great, fresh selection of food and brilliant service. A special shout- out to the hostess Viola, and waiters Carmelo M. and Giancarlo La Fata. All our needs were catered to in a very considerate and patient fashion. Lunch we mostly ate at Portofino, which was lovely but incredibly hot - again, the service was great here and the food was tasty, but the little kids and older grandparents did struggle with the heat (as did all of us!). They also had a lovely gelato service which sadly was available only 12-3. Dinner choices were varied and our favourites were Portofino and Chang Thai, where we were looked after incredibly well by Giovanni G - he recommended excellent wine. We didn’t love El Dorado - the food was average, even when we ordered from the pay extra menu. We also spent one evening in the Xtra Time pub which was a great alternative and we were very well looked after by Miriana, Nunzio, and Gabriel. We absolutely loved the sunset boulevard where you pay extra to sit outside and watch the sunset - the service by Alessandra V was excellent and very attentive! We enjoyed the evening entertainment though did find that it was on a bit late and were disappointed that kids couldn’t dance while watching the shows - it meant that our younger children would just want to leave rather than participate. We were however very impressed at how hard the staff worked on the kids’ and adults’ entertainment. The only downfall is the extremely expensive taxi service to/from airport and to the nearby town - we had to pay €140 one-way to drive half an hour away which felt like a massive rip-off! The service was great but very expensive."

"Good and service was excellent"