Palazzo Ristorante Italiano

On top of that, I brought guests for their first visit. The poor service didn’t help at all. Wanted to impress but it backfired.

This place is really great. Food was really ono, and the servers were really nice and fast. I had the Fettuccine Carbonara and I was supper satisfied. I would recommend this place to anyone looking for a great Italian restaurant.

Just tried Palazzo for the first time and our experience was outstanding. I ordered the chicken alla puttanesca, and it was so good. Our waitress Janice, was super nice and friendly. I can see why there are so many regulars that come here. Can’t wait to come back and try the rest of the menu.

Loc the waiter is always busy but always has good customer service. I had the chicken special of the day and my coworker had the chicken ala piccata which was delicious. The bread is always the best here, soft in the middle with a perfect crunch on the outer, I wish it was bottomless. Also, can’t go wrong with the house salad. This restaurant is walking distance from my working place, which is a bonus. The prices are reasonable especially during lunch.

Once again, an hour of driving and trying to decide on what to eat for lunch had finally led me to Palazzo Restorante Italiano.
I perused through their extensive take out lunch menu for over 40 minutes because there are no pictures and each item’s description had different heavy sauces consisting of butter with red or white wine, garlic with anchovy, and tomato sauce. After reading through their menu, I finally had to ask if any of the item’s sauces can be changed. Yes, to a hard core Italian chef, that request would be unthinkable and an insult to a possible tried and true family recipe. Thank you Palazzo for the accommodation.
I ordered their Chicken Alla Puttanesca and requested to add a spicy tomato sauce to the anchovy and garlic sauce. To those that had never eaten here before, do expected the majority of their selections to be heavy and filling. Do expect a 20% off on take out orders. Take out entrees come with complimentary dinner roll and butter and a table spoon size container of cheese. You have the choice of starch of pasta, potatoes, or veggies. The take out entrée container was saran wrapped to avoid spillage. I do appreciate that attention to packaging.
My order of Chicken Alla Puttanesca consisted of three pieces of flattened pan fried circular chicken breasts, the size of McDonald’s hamburger patty. They were perfectly cooked – slight crunch outside and tender inside. They were embedded in the tomato garlic anchovy with capers and olives sauce. Underneath all that is a bed of linguini. The sauce as expected has a briny taste from the capers and olives with a slight spicy and sour-​fruity taste from the tomato sauce. The after taste is garlic. The chicken is seasoned and is a momentary relief from the briny sauce. The pasta was filling and helped sop up the extra sauce.
While waiting for my order, sitting near the entrance, I can hear the various conversations of the diners and soft Christmas music coming from the kitchen. The dining room has no music playing. This place is like a library without the librarian. The exceptions are the vases of flower on each white linen covered table.
The server is very attentive, knowledgeable, and professional. There’s only one server during lunch. I suggest having some patience with him.
I thoroughly enjoyed Palazzo Restorante Italiano’s take out experience and food. That said, do take your time when deciding in what to order. Otherwise, you will be too stuffed for the rest of the day. I will be back for more.

This is a quiet little Italian restaurant with a lovely ambience. Great for couples wanting to celebrate a special occasion. Loc & Kristin provided great service! They were very attentive the entire time and I didn’t have wait too long for anything. The calamari was excellent and the lasagna was pretty good as well. Definitely recommend!

I remember coming to this restaurant BEFORE management changed and before it was called Palazzo. The former restaurant’s name was Alberro’s. We came here often and loved every visit. When it closed down, we supplemented with trips to Assaggio’s and Paesano’s. Both places are great, but had a tendency to be overpriced and our experiences were never consistently great.
Anyway. We were hungry and we were in the area so we decided to go check it out. When we walked in, there was a small group of people already in the middle of their meal so the smells coming from their table set me at ease. We saw that the layout or design of the restaurant hasn’t changed — small two-​four seater tables, white table cloth, single rose in a vase, and a candle to set the mood. Since it wasn’t very busy, we were seated right away and our server, Loc, was quick to bring us water and ask if we wanted any appetizers. Again, we weren’t sure if it was going to be like our visits from before it was Palazzo’s so we opted to look at the menu for our main entrée. What do you know, it was exactly the same as when it was Alberro’s. Lol… this made it easy for us to decide on our entrees as we always got the same thing — chicken saltimbocca. It is chicken breast with a layer of sweet fried eggplant topped with prosciutto and white cheese (not sure which one). It is cooked in a white wine, garlic, and butter sauce. So simple but PERFECT every time.
While waiting for our pasta we were provided with a warm, fresh-​out-​of-​the-​oven basket of bread. The bread, oh my god, the bread! We like just putting our hands over the cloth napkin but we are weird like that. This place really engages all of the senses! Anyway. We ate the first two loaves of bread fairly quickly and by the third basket our pasta had arrived. My bf and I took our first bites and didn’t talk for the rest of the meal. That’s what happens when you get food as great as the first time you had it and it had been about 5 to 6 years since you last had it. After our first visit back, we were hooked! We go there at least once during the weekend.
Pros:
–Lots of parking
–Great customer service
–Servers are attentive and refill your water without being asked
–Free bread
–Lunch portions are half the size of dinner portions, but still a great price
–Relatively small restaurant but this means the staff is better able to serve their customers
–Food is cooked to order, perfectly seasoned
Cons:
–They have two operating times: one from 11 – 230 and the other from 500‑1000. This is con because I finish work at 3 and don’t want to wait til 5 (and deal with traffic driving to aiea) to eat there. If it were open all day then I would probably eat there at least 3 times a week :-)
Recommendations:
–Calamari fritti
–Chicken saltimbocca
–Stuffed eggplant sorrentino

I want to give Palazzo a 5 star rating so, so badly because my first visit was amazing but after last night, I have to give it a 3.5… Maybe even a 3. But I’ll average it out with my first experience and give it a solid 4.
My first visit — perfect. Warm bread, consistent attention without it being annoying, food was amazing (I can’t remember what I got lol), I left happy and cannot wait for the next visit.
Second visit — we ordered takeout. After we put in our order, the worker said, «It’ll be ready in 45 minutes.» Wow… 45 minutes? Okay…
We went into the restaurant after 40 minutes expecting our food to be ready for pickup within the next 10 minutes but ended up waiting 25~ minutes making it over an hour for our takeout to be brought out to us. O k a y… Kind of wish we got something extra for the extremely long wait but ok.
Our pasta was kind of underwhelming. My eggplant provenciale and my friends chicken saltimbocca was great but the pasta and sauce itself was meh.
With other places, I can rate this place based off this experience a solid 2, but Palazzo’s customer service is usually great. Maybe we just came in on a junk day.

Great little Italian restaurant in Aiea. Located in a strip mall, so its not fancy décor that earns the ranking. Hands on approach by owner assures good customer service, food is prepared with care and skill, and prices are entirely reasonable. Takeout gets a 20% discount which is helpful because parking is the only downside to this restaurant.
I had chicken parmigiana and my wife had eggplant parmigiana. Son had lasagna and stated it wasvery good. Since that’s his go to dish, very good is a high bar to reach.

What brought me here was paint night with Wine and Canvas. We painted in the bar area, I didn’t expect to eat here, but since I was here with my sister and she was hungry, I decided to join her.
My sister had the Clam linguine, which she loved. I had the carbonara, which was okay, not something I’d try again. It was actually kind of difficult to enjoy which painting, so I had just a few bites, and didn’t bother to bring the leftover home.
The waiter managed to serve all of us, there must have been 14 – 16 people? not positive. But it must have been hectic for him because the room was very crowded with our paint set up and such.
I do appreciate Palazzo (Aiea) for allowing Wine and Canvas to set up, I love paint night and it was a good change from having to remain in town to enjoy.

If you are looking for a hidden gem that has good food, great drinks, awesome bread and INCREDIBLE service, then you need to go to Palazzo.
Keep in mind, this place is not a fancy restaurant and is most certainly not situated in an elegant, eye-​pleasing area. Like, at all. Not at all. I actually only frequent this «shopping plaza» for three reasons: island yogurt, trina beauty and Palazzo. There is, otherwise, no reason to go there.
Soooooo, after that being said… I encourage you to close your eyes and imagine that it is pouring rain outside. It’s raining so hard that you can barely see the car in front of you besides his lights and the lights of the oncoming traffic. It’s colder than usual and you want to find a quaint, cozy restaurant to just sip on some wine in. You think, «Hmm, Palazzo is just around the corner– we should go there, honey» And so you turn in and find parking. You grab your partner by the hand and run to the entrance of this little Italiano hole-​in-​the-​wall, trying to stay as dry as possible. You forgot your umbrella and the two of you are soaked. You both laugh at each other’s disheveled appearance. You walk in. Loc, Marc, Amy or Kristin greet you. They are clearly not Italian, but their friendly smiles and the wafted scent of fresh hot bread distracts that thought away and you follow them to sit at one of the few tables of the dining room. At the table, there is a single red rose, freshly cut and a lit candle next to the salt and pepper. You take a look at the menu and you notice a lot of garlic, butter wine sauce and pasta… You aren’t afraid. You are not afraid to carb it up today, because you are happy to be served by such amazing waiters and you are cozy and comfortable in this fun-​size restaurant.
You are in fact, curious about Loc’s margaritas. How does he make them so well?!? Best margaritas of my life. Margaritas?! At an Italian restaurant?! They aren’t even on the menu! But, you order them, Loc brings them and you are sipping on a drink made with love. You take a look at the wine list and realize, «Hey, they have a $ 14 corkage fee! I can bring my own bottle of wine!» And so you run across the street to Times, leaving your partner there to wait. You come back with something delicious, but little did you know, Loc brought you that incredible bread and soft butter to your table in your absence. You sit and allow Loc to open the bottle and pour your choice in the long-​stemmed glasses. You proceed in choosing the delectables for the evening.
The *BRUSCHETTA you ordered is to die for. Crispy bread on the outside, topped with fresh and sun dried tomatoes, soft feta cheese, slivered olives and basil strips topped with olive oil drizzle. You are in heaven right now. You don’t want the bruschetta to end… But then, the *FRIED MOZZARELLA arrives… And it is melted goodness in a crispy coating. That’s all you can say about that… And you are getting full, you are… But your order of the *PASTA CARBONARA [no onions] is set down in front of you. You take your first bite, twisting the pasta onto your fork and trying to catch as much bacon as you can on it… That, too, is divine. You partner ordered the *CHICKEN PALAZZO from the specialties menu and you can’t help but pick at forkfulls of that masterpiece, too. It’s incredible. Everything is incredible and as you are ordering your CHEESECAKE and TIRAMISU, you are already organizing your next trip there. Tomorrow. Because, you HAVE to. It’s important… Very important to become regulars here. The service is just TOO good and the prices are so very competitive to all other similar restaurants on the island. Good prices, great portions, DELICIOUS food and incredible service. THAT is what you get when you come here, sooooo, you become a regular and Loc knows you by name and the waiters and waitresses already know what to bring you.
**What You HAVE To Try At Palazzo**
From the appetizers…
*BRUSCHETTA
*CARPACCIO
*FRIED MOZZARELLA
*CLAM CASINO
Main Course…
*CHICKEN PALAZZO
*CHICKEN PARMESAN
*CARBONARA
*ALFREDO
*EGGPLANT PARMESAN
*CLAM CASINO PASTA
*CHICKEN PARMESAN SANDWICH
Dessert.
*TIRAMISU
*CHEESECAKE
BTW: YOU GET 20% OFF YOUR CHECK IF YOU ORDER TAKEOUT.

My family and I have been coming here for years and it is because of their great service and awesome food. Loc is the owner and I swear he hires the most friendliest and personable people because each of them are all so sweet and polite.
I absolutely LOVE their bread! Their butter spreads easily and isn’t frozen like CPK’s. But ask for oil and vinegar. It is so good with their bread. I think it’s amazing that I don’t even have to ask for it, Loc and his staff already know to have it ready on the table :)
Appetizers:
I love their escargot and calamari, but you must order the house salad. The dressing is delicious and it is just the right size. Not too big and not too small.
Entrees:
I always get either the shrimp scampi or chicken piccata (Yes, I’m a Plain Jane, I know). It is my usual and Loc and his staff know my order already because I get the same thing every time. But there are the few occasions where I also like to get their chicken anchovy olio and their steak and shrimp scampi special. Their steak is pretty darn good. It is cooked in a red wine sauce, but the portion is humongous! I recommend sharing because the steak and shrimp scampi special is literally a meal for two.
Dessert:
We’ve tried their desserts, but nothing to actually die for. I am completely and beyond full for dessert anyways.
Parking:
Parking is terrible here. There are times where I am lucky and find a spot right in front or within the shopping center. However, there have been times when I have to park at the shopping center on the other side (where the old Price Busters is located). I am not sure, but is it the same shopping center? They are literally on the same street.
Overall, this place is a family favorite and we love to have dinner here. I recommend reservations on the weekends because this tiny place get packed!

After having a bad experience, my best friend wanted to celebrate her birthday here so we had to give this place another chance. The staff were accommodating and helpful towards our crazy and large party. They always came to check up on us and made sure our glasses were full.
The food was much better this time then the last, which totally changed my view 180. Everyone was content by their meals and desserts. It was a «I’m so glad to try this place again» moment for me. The restaurant even gave the birthday princess a dessert on the house with a candle!

MAMA MIA! DIS DA BEST PASTA: D
I came here twice but if I could, I would go almost every week! I first came here with a friend for our friendaversary x) and I couldn’t stop thinking about the pasta since hehe. The ambience is kind of small but has a very calm feel to it especially with the background opera music. They even have a rose and a candle lit (depending on the time of day) on your table! I went during lunch time twice because the prices are way cheaper but I wouldn’t mind trying to come here for dinner because the portions are supposedly bigger :3 more pasta, more better right?
The first time I came here I think I got the special of the day: pasta with chicken, shrimp, mushrooms, spinach, and tomatoes that was cooked in a wine and butter sauce and that was super duper delicious! The pasta was cooked perfectly ^_​_​^ al dente is the way to go nomnomnom. There was not one thing I hated about my dish, everything was superb! Don’t let the size fool you either! I was pretty stuffed after my meal (but I still wanted more LOL) The second time I came here I think I got the linguine primavera which is basically linguine with garlic, broccoli, mushroom, and zucchini with a an egg and butter sauce. I definitely as not disappointed the second time around :) if anything, my expectations were surpassed! Just everything about the food is so damn delicious, I always struggle with choosing what menu item I want to try next.
The wait can take a while but that’s when you know your food is fresh! And it’s definitely worth the wait plus you have complimentary bread and butter to satisfy your belly for the mean time. I don’t know what they do to it but the bread + butter tastes so amazing. How can something so simple taste so wonderful :3 I can’t wait to go back! My pasta craving has been growing

Unilocal 100 Review Challenge 2015: ⁹¹⁄₁₀₀
My visiting friend from out of town treated me to Palazzo for dinner this past Tuesday. I could say that there is ample parking but it’s rather tight and since we went on a Tuesday, I can imagine the parking lot could be easily filled on a weekend. Nestled in this small shopping plaza, among miscellaneous stores such as nail salons and antique stores, is Palazzo. The interior is small with several 2 – 4 seat tables lining the walls. From the outside, one wouldn’t expect the dim lights, white table clothes and roses which give this restaurant an «Assaggios Restaurant» feel. Seemed like a good place for a romantic, low key dinner.
My friend ordered the Chicken Palazzo while I got the Fettuccine Carbonara (small, $ 12.50) which was too oily for my liking. The complimentary bread & butter was delicious and light which compensated for the oily carbonara. My friend easily finished his dish as I was left with about ¹⁄₃ of mine before I called it quits.
The service was impeccable as we were informed of the daily special and were checked up on promptly throughout our meal. The restaurant was nearly empty at 5pm (opening) on Tuesday which was perfect for us to chit-​chat and catch up. But near the end of our meal, a large party that filled half the restaurant started piling in, so that was our cue to exit. I am definitely willing to return to try another, less oily, dish because the service and atmosphere is wonderful.
Yay for local businesses!

The bread was really good and the pastas were sooooooo tasty! And the portion is big!
The service was really really slow: waited for 10 mins to be seated and waited for 50 mins for the food to come out. I would have pissed off if my friends weren’t working there lol
But the food is worth the wait and the price is reasonable for such a big portion! I also like their environment! Nice restaurant!
Recommend u to go there if u are not that hungry: p

I’ll be honest, we ate here purely by accident one evening. After attempting to satisfy my sushi craving and seeing a what appeared to be at least an hour and a half wait, we meandered the shopping plaza playing a game of «what would you settle on for dinner» since neither of us wanted to drive any further.
Since we had recently stuffed our faces at Hughley’s, and my husband vetoed Mexican, and scary Unilocal reviews vetoed most other places in the shopping center, we walked in here hoping not to regret our decision.
We were immediately greeted and seated and given water, menus, the daily specials and the wine list. I was immediately impressed at how friendly the staff was and it was pretty apparent from the interactions at other tables that most diners were regular customers. Our server came over and reviewed the specials with us and offered to answer any questions we may have about the menu. They also were able to accommodate a menu request by my husband to add chicken to a pasta dish which made him a happy camper.
We ordered a house salad, fettuccine carbonara (added chicken) and chicken saltimbocca. The salad dressing was a bit odd somewhat of a cross between Italian and French dressing, but it was good nonetheless. The carbonara did not appear to be a traditional carbonara and looked a bit more oil based than traditional carbonara sauces, but my husband didn’t complain and that’s all that matters. The chicken saltimbocca was good but a little under seasoned and I personally prefer Ricado’s. The complimentary bread was delicious. Crispy and soft and served with soft butter for a perfect balance.
We ordered regular sized entrees and had enough food left over for at least two more meals. The service remained attentive through out our dining experience, and our waters and my iced tea never went less than half full.
As we were leaving another obvious stream of regulars came in, and it’s easy to see why this restaurant has such a strong customer base. Fair prices, good food and most importantly great service not just for regulars but for first timers ensuring a second visit.

This is probably one of the better inexpensive Italian restaurant I’ve been to. It was my first time here as it was recommended by one of our friends who’s been here quite a few times and always had her coming back.
We had reservations set for 8pm and arrive there about 15 min early and our table was already ready for us to be seated at. Considering it was on a Saturday night, I was glad we didn’t have to wait around since I didn’t see there was a waiting area for people to wait aside from standing outside.
Although the restaurant seems small and the outside is a bit sketchy being that the location is in that area, the set up inside makes you feel like you’re in a small area in Italy. It’s pretty much a hole in the wall hidden gem in the Aiea that will not leave you hungry.
We first started off with some fresh delicious house bread that was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I always look forward to some good bread especially bread that could go well with pasta and these sure would complement your pasta well. We immediately were offered water all around and a drink menu while we waited for the rest of our party. The staff was really friendly and attentive.
After going through some Unilocal suggestions, I decided to go with the chicken marsala, small portion. Thank God, I didn’t get the regular portion, I could barely finish my small portion plate. It was so filling and really tasty, I had no room for anything else after. The prices for food and wine were pretty reasonable and worth the price for what you get for.
Definitely worth checking out if you’re craving for some Italian food.

the food is good, but the service is not so great. i’ve been to this place twice and both times, i experienced the slow service.
coming on a weekend, you can always expect for it to be more crowded and slower service. but coming on a week night, it’s not as crowded, so service should be quicker. or at least that’s what we thought… my friend’s and i came here on a tuesday night to celebrate a birthday. it’s a tiny restaurant with 2 levels. i had made reservations that day for 7:30pm and we arrived promptly at our reservation time. we got seated right away on the 2^nd level but it took them almost 20mins to take our order. we were the only ones on the floor, so i don’t know if they forgot about us, because it definitely wasn’t busy. we at least had our waters and bread, but we were starving! finally when they took our order, we got our food about 30mins later. our server barely came by to refill our waters, which was a bit frustrating.
the food though was pretty delicious and the price is really reasonable. my stuffed eggplant parmigana was under $ 13 for a small plate, while the rest of my friends got the regular sized plates which was around $ 15-​$ 19.
i would have given this place a 3 star review, but our server surprised us by bringing my friend a slice of cake for her birthday. when i called to make reservations, i forgot to mention it was for a birthday. but the server was observant and saw her birthday card, and so he took it upon himself to bring us a complimentary dessert. that was very sweet of him and ended our night on a different note.
i’m not sure if i’ll come back here, but they do offer 20% off on takeout orders. so that’s always an option since it was the food i liked more than the service.
#25 out of 100 Unilocal Reviews in 2015

Palazzo has been on my bookmark list for forevs & so I was pretty excited when it was chosen as a dinner spot for our long overdue GNO.
We had reservations for a Saturday night & it was a pretty full house. My friends were there before me & already knew what they were ordering so when it was time for me to let our waitress know what I wanted, I squealed cause I still wasn’t sure, but I ended up making a decision & I got a small order of the pesto linguine with shrimp & zucchini (with a glass of wine on the side).
Our orders came out pretty promptly. When mine arrived, however, it was missing the pesto sauce. Our waitress sent it back & I got my pesto (hopefully nothing extra lol) & it was yummy. We all agreed that the small portions were larger than we expected, but I still wish I opted for the large haha.
Wonderful service, fresh complimentary bread, yummy pasta for pretty decent prices… Great dinner!