They really DON'T like Americans here lol. This didn't bother me much. Catania reminds me much of my native land New York. Strangers cutting their eyes at you when you say hello. The doorman rolling his eyes when you ask him a question. Very New York here. I wandered around the city and found this quant little restaurant. Inside was packed with patrons so I took a seat outside. It took about 20 minutes to get a server. The outside area was busy as well. When I got a server I asked for a cheese pie. He looked at me a little strange. I further explained i wanted no meat. There was a bit of a language barrier but I thought he understood. Well I got my cheese pie. ALL CHEESE! Lol. The cheesiest pizza I've ever had. It was good but SUPER RICH! We don't have cheese like this in the states. This was the real deal! I wasn't used to it. And after a while it was a bit overwhelming. I didn't finish it so I took the rest back to the hotel with me. Pretty confident I over paid. My card wouldn't work there. The only cash I had was a $20 bill. So I gave it and told them to keep the change. Yep, spent $20 on a $8 pizza in Italy. What a life! #ashsaidit read more

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So we decided to go to Catania for Valentine's Day and since we had to have a romantic dinner for four...us and the two kids, we needed dinner served early. I really would love to give this place more stars but the service was slooowwww and even though they opened early for us we were the only ones in the restaurant-so service could have been a little speedier... The hubby had been here several times and raved about it. So he was so anxious to take me here and I think he was more disappointed than I was in the service. I was just thinking it was typical Sicilian style service...sloooooowwwwww. We had attempted to stop by a week prior but it was busy-so this place is popular. English is spoken here-and menu accommodates. 5 stars for the charming decor and architecture and the location. It's located down this tiny charming walking only street with other super cool restaurants surrounding it. And the music playing was super cool jazzy stuff-really complimented the decor. Old World! Polptteria means Meatball Place-Polpetta-is a meatball. This is their specialty and they make them in a variety of ways: Seafood, Vegetarian, Beef, and I think Pork. We had a variety and my son had the spaghetti. I have to say I was less than impressed. I had the beef stuffed with cheese-it was like a Gorganzola, it was okay, I mean it was good it just didn't make me jump up and down. The kids pasta was tasty. Microbrews are another specialty so we had a bottle, very good, but I think the slow service was a turnoff and hard to enjoy when they take forever to bring the beverage service out. I ordered the red house wine and I got white wine. I drank it and it was good, but when the restaurant is empty and you still can't get good service? Maybe it was an off night. read more

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Ordered food and waited 1 hour to get it back. Turns out the waiter never wrote our order down and when I asked about it he lied and asked if we remembered the order to order again... read more

Visiting from Naples Florida USA and had a wonderful meal! The 5 meatball sampling was wonderful for a few people. We will be back!

Found them open on Saturday around 2pm, thank goodness cause I was hungry. I couldn't decide which to order so I got the meatball sampler & am super jazzed I did! The waiter described everything and was very helpful! I definitely will head back here for more, minus the horse...lol! read more

Went here for dinner last night. The decor and atmosphere in the restaurant were nice. Service was a little slow, but the food was ready quickly. Extensive menu including pasta and meat mains. Lots of interesting meatball options and pizzas. If you order meatballs you get a plate with 4 decent sized meatballs. I got grilled vegetable and cheese meatballs, they were delicious. My husband got a meatball pizza - also delicious, nice thin base and good size - it was bigger than the plate. Overall a good place to eat read more

Polpetteria - Meatball pizza - it was too big for he plate! - Italian Near Me - Catania, Connecticut

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I agree with the negative reviews below. The service was slow and the food (meat or vegetable balls) no culinary delight. The nice location and neat interior looks inviting. I would, however, recommend to avoid. read more

Waited 15 mins after getting seated and no one came to us but they came by to the table next to us and took their orders, etc (3x) They didn't appear to want our business. At first look, the menu didn't even look that great. Went down to Fud burger bar down the road and had a great time instead. read more

The five vegetarian meet balls were very good but a bit dry. Could have been improved with a tomato sauce. Service very good and quick but then I did come in the early evening. It was great to sit outside on the beautiful little side street. I would recommend this for vegetarians though I would try another fish next time read more

Not the end to our Catania tour we had expected. This city has been so wonderful to us, and as we finished off a great trip with our last meal, I can honestly say it left a poor taste. So poor, in fact, that I'm not sure we'd even return to Catania. We arrived to a busy street and decided to try Polpetteria, quietly situated at the end of the street. At first, we were excited to try this interesting restaurant. The waitress that greeted us was quite friendly, and may be the reason for the extra star. Now, we are American, but never expect that when we come to another country people will just speak English. So, of course we try our best to respect the language and culture of the place we are guests in. Apparently, neither one was good enough for our servers. While we were looking over the wine menu, an impatient server tried to push us for our order. We broke the ice by asking him for a wine recommendation. He gave us the most expensive bottle on the menu, which was fine because it was good. My husband is a chef and I spent over ten years in hospitality, so we appreciate good food and drinks, and always like to talk and ask for recommendations. Right after our wine, another incredibly rude and impatient waiter came to us. He was actively expressing his annoyance and discontent that we weren't ready to order, right in front of us. We had no time to decide, and we were spending money. Instead of trying to help, he just kept asking for our order and complaining about us to the other waiter...RIGHT IN FRONT OF US. We understand enough Italian to know that he was an asshole and we were unwelcome. It made us so uncomfortable and put off that we couldn't even enjoy our meal. Our pasta came and it was very good. Pizza was decent, but the meatballs we ordered, the chefs selection were horrible. The only flavor was the sour taste that was common to all 5 we tried. So disappointing. As the server cleared our first course, the pasta, he grabbed the plates so fast that he smacked into our wine glasses, and took off before he even apologized, again looking annoyed. Sorry, forgive me for visiting your city, respecting your language and spending money in your establishment. We arrived in a great mood, left ready to pack our bags and never come back. We received the check and Kindly asked our initial waitress to cork our wine so we could get the hell out of there. She told us no, we couldn't take away because it was glass? Last time I checked you could drink a glass beer in the street, and even in NY you can cork your wine and take it away. She came back a few minutes later and told us she was mistaken, probably because the waiter inside told her to get rid of us. Honestly, we are restaurant people, educated tourists too. I wish we never spent a single cent there. We have no issue with the price of a good meal, and would have spent double for a good experience. The service was horrific and the food decent at best. Congratulations, you got our €86 (which included a €2 cover charge per person BS), and ensured that this is the last time we'll ever visit you. This establishment ruined an incredible day and trip filled with the experience of meeting the kindest and most welcoming catanians. I urge anyone to avoid this place read more

I just had a really unpleasant dinner at polpeteria. Me and my husband came here based on the reviews and the menu and got seated outside in this really cute street. When the server came my husband ordered a bottle of wine and pizza and I ordered the tuna steak, now when I ordered the tuna I asked my waiter if it could be cooked seared and he said no no, his English wasn't the best but he could understand and speak some. So then He asked how did I want the tuna cooked well done or medium and I said no no, I want the rarest possible then. Another server came with our wine and bread that we were later charged €4 despite having had one single piece of it and haven't even ordered it. When we got our meals the pizza was delicious and the tuna was over cooked. I felt so bad about that as I truly dislike those moments when you have to send food back (I am a server) but in this case I felt like I couldn't eat it and at €20 for the dish I had to say something. So I called the first waiter and very apologetically tried to explain, after 3 words he called the other waiter to talk to me, the other waiter spoke Spanish (I speak Spanish) and somehow he knew I did. So I explained to her in Spanish what happened and the other waiter just stared at the back intensely and I was so apologetic about having to send it back and she kept going back and forth with the other waiter to translate and giving me attitude about doing so and finally said they'll make it again with the worst customer service I had. Their rudeness made me feel like I was doing something wrong. No smile no apologies. When they handed me the new tuna the 2 servers never came and asked me how it was they kept walking around us and just ignoring us completely. read more