A pair of classics in their respective cities (1 of 2)…read more
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What? Why aren't there more reviews for Caffe' Parisi?
Caffe' Parisi has been around for at least 50 years and is in the Fontanarossa area right outside the Catania Airport property. It's to its east, just past the rental car agencies. You can walk there, although the sidewalk is rough and crusty, just like Catania itself.
Caffe' Parisi has a counter to pick up things like pizza by the slice, arancini, desserts, and drinks. You can take them to go or you can move further in to the large eating area. If you do this at night, you can only go so far into this eating area. Then, upon once visiting it during daylight hours, I learned that you can go much further in and, there, they have a section for "gastronomia" (sort of like a "tavola calda" with trays). They do a good job with both the things up front and with the "gastronomia" toward the back. Items are fairly priced.
The service is friendly enough and, on one occasion in the back, the guy started to speak to me in his marginal English (with extra vowels that don't exist) and I told him to knock it off. He did. It looks like this is a business that has been handed down and a woman who may be closer to the founders and its founding times is sometimes there. One time she was the cashier and, with me and everyone else in line, she went about her work with this sort of scowl. As I got up to the cash register, something got me to say, "Nun ce bisognu di esseri sgrevita." I was looking to get her to laugh, or at least be less uptight, but she did look a little surprised to hear that from a customer. You won't find this in Italian, because it's the local lingo and means "There's no need to be cranky."
I think that covers it. I've mentioned Caffe' Parisi's food (including the lunch "gastronomia"), the large eating areas, the prices, and the service, which is "mostly" good. They see a lot of people - both locals for whom it's a hangout and people who do wander over from the airport. That means they've seen it all and the world weariness here is what makes this place humorous.
You can find it right at the traffic circle that has a large metallic airplane in its center, where Santa Maria Goretti intersects with Giuseppe Alla Rena, which runs outside of and in front of the airport. There was a symmetrically placed traffic circle in front of the airport, and it used to be empty. In it, packs of stray dogs would just lie there all day. They have now spruced it up and put an airplane in that traffic circle, too. I asked some employees where the dogs went. One person told me they got moved, or moved themselves, to the streets around Caffe' Parisi. They were harmless, sort of timid, and have seen hordes of people since they came into this world. However, they could be goofy and, sadly, I didn't see them near Parisi.
I'm giving Caffe' Parisi 4 stars instead of 5 stars because their pizza slices, which are too thick for my taste, weren't the tastiest and it's far from fine dining.
If you have some time and need to eat something, especially during lunch, leave the airport and come here. I have on a few occasions. Also, the ownership and staff at Caffe' Parisi should gloss over my smart-alecky comments about them and their restaurant because, after all, I'm sending them customers!
