Sicilian Trattoria

Don’t do it! This was our second time. We thought we would give it a second chance after not so good of an experience the first time. The service was so bad that my husband and kids left because they were thirsty (the waitress didn’t refill the water) and they walked home before she ever came back. The «salad» was 8 dollars and consisted of leaves of Romaine stacked around the center of lettuce head that no one eats with a drizzle of bad dressing and one (?!) croûton.
See photo. Don’t go here!

The food here is incredible. Service is awesome from the moment that you walk in the door.

We sat outside in the «Piazza Elkins Park» on a beautiful spring evening and had a great time and a wonderful meal. We had a tortellini with sun-​dried tomatos and peas that was house made, very fresh and tasty. Also a dover sole with risotto special that was excellent. Service was perfect. Next time I’m trying the pizza.

I so wish I could give this a higher review because the ambience is lovely, and I think the restaurant could be such a great addition to Elkins Park! But unfortunately, the food was supremely average. The roasted vegetable salad was bland and boring, despite the fact that the vegetables had (allegedly) been cooked in the wood-​fired pizza oven. And the dressing on the calamari salad was spicy but overly and unpleasantly lemony. I wouldn’t order either again.
The one saving grace was the pizza. We ordered the white pizza with sausage and broccoli rabe, which was actually quite good. Admittedly, we had to eat it with a knife and fork because it was impossible to pick up, but the flavors were on point.
My advice? Ditch half the menu. It’s WAY to long, and clearly the kitchen has issues executing some of the dishes. Instead, they should focus on the pizza and a few solid, authentically Sicilian starters, salads, and sides (and maybe a few pastas). If someone could just straighten out the kitchen, it could be a decent place. It certainly has the perfect atmosphere.

We were hopeful for a great dining experience since it’s so close to our house but unfortunately we won’t be back. Let me say, the server was friendly, attentive and professional. She repeatedly refilled our waters promptly and checked on us several times. We sat outside and enjoyed the patio and atmosphere.
Unfortunately, the quality of food didn’t match the service. We ordered a pizza and pollo al diavolo. First, the food took about 45 minutes to arrive. When it finally arrived, the food was bland and the chicken was extremely dry.
I’m hoping management reviews their menu and kitchen and makes some changes because I’d love to return since it’s so convenient.

I live in NYC, but I ordered dinner through Food Cab for my grandparents tonight. They called me and could not stop talking about how delicious their food was. They had mussels, vegetables and dessert. They said every thing was beautifully presented, arrived hot, and absolutely delicious. They live in Elkins Park but had never order or eaten at Sicilian Trattoria, they will certainly be enjoying their delicious food again soon!

We were surprised how lovely our dinner was after reading negative reviews. The server was friendly … the food good and the best desert ever… Prices fair. and byob… What more do you want. The next week we went with another couple and all enjoyed.

I had high hopes for this place when I saw it on groupon. Let me start out by saying the service was good and the staff was attentive. We chose the specialty bruschetta as our appetizer and received regular tomato bruschetta… not a big deal and it was pretty good. My boyfriend ordered the clams and linguine and I ordered the special, which was the Grilled Veal with olive tapenade and grilled veggies. The clams and linguine tasted average, we have definitely had better, and the pasta was certainly from a box and so were the clams. My meal came out tasting and looking like a sliver of thin rubbery chicken with no
had to be sent back to be cooked over again, which the staff handled in a very accommodating manner. Veal special round 2 was edible but once again a sliver of poorly cooked meat with a few straggling veggies and no tapenade for $ 26 left us sad and starving afterwards. If ordering anything just get the pizza it looked delicious and everyone around us who got it looked satisfied.

I think it awesome, never had a problem with my redeeming my coupons the food is very good the pizzas are incredible we love going there and always feel welcomed by the owner and the wait staff

I really like this place. The food is very good, the décor is pleasant, and the service is great too. I’ve had the Salmone alla Griglia and the gnocchi, and both are excellent. My dad says their chicken parm is the best he’s ever had. The complimentary bread with olive oil and butter is a nice touch. And it’s BYOB, so that’s just the cherry on top!

Metagon, capisce?
I hate to give a bad review to a local place run by real people but… OM (F)G! Yes it’s a very nice room, there is a lovely patio (that was ‘the sidewalk’ a few years ago — just like Paris, NYC and Palermo) the service is personable and the busser is a junior volunteer fireman but… the food just doesn’t cut it.
The pizza crust was nice and not overcooked so it was like a pita chip, but there was not much taste from the sauce, or the toppings on our Quattro Gusti pizza. Imagine pizza for, say, some mythical place in middle America where no potentially offensive flavor whatsoever is imparted to the food normally and then a customer orders the food ‘mild’.
The Chicken Cacciatore was sad. As with the pizza the ingredients seemed of good quality, like the pizza the term ‘assertive Italian flavors’ does not apply, and unlike the pizza it was not cooked well. I may have no delusions that I am a DIY version of Anthony Bourdain, Eric Ripert, or Thomas Keller but I have prepared a version of Chicken Cacciatore straight out of the (web) pages of Epicurious. It’s good, the wife and family claim to like it. Here is the link if you want to try it.
This is the extent of my technical skills when making Chicken Cacciatore. The point here is that you fry the chicken for a bit to brown it then let it simmer for a while — till the chicken is done, not till it’s a stringy fall off the bone watery overcooked mess.
I might try it again — they are so close to being a good place — some real authentic Italian flavor added to their already decent quality ingredients would do it.
Currently it’s a nice place serving tasteless food. If they had a liquor license and were in a more waspy neighborhood cooking american food they would have a license to print money. Sadly, I don’t think the greater Elkins Park population will stand for tasteless food.
Sicilian Trattoria please hire a skilled chef who could turn the place around in a week! You’re almost there, so close yet so far.

Don’t bother.
We first tried this spot when it was leilas and loved it. Went back last night and found it had changed hands, decided to still give it a try.
There were families eating outside, all the tables were full. No problem. Seemed promising. We were stopped on our way in the door and asked if we wanted to sit inside or out, said inside was fine. Waiter continued outside and we were left standing in the restaurant for several minutes with no direction. No biggie. On his way back in he gave us a table.
We were given water and our wine was opened. We reviewed the menu. All very heavy, cheese laden typical American Italian choices, plus specialty pizzas. Highly priced for what they appeared to be. Salad selections were completely uninspired. $ 10 for romaine with orange slices?!
We waited for 20 minutes for anyone to come back to us.
It appeared that there was 1 waiter on for the entire restaurant, both inside and outside. 1 bus boy, 1 younger woman who stood at the desk and fiddled with papers the entire time, and an older woman (owner?) Who spoke at length to the table next to us and walked around but did nothing else to help the struggling waiter.
If they had not opened our wine, I would have walked out.
We eat pretty healthy and generally do not have problems picking something off of the menu when we go out to eat. I decided to splurge and get a pizza since this was presented as really good pizza. I ordered the Margherita with black olives and a side of the sautéed spinach with sausage. My husband ordered the mozzarella, tomato, and basil appetizer and traditional lasagna.
Spinach was a side dish ($ 6), small in my opinion, but not terrible. Maybe it is because it was good that I was wishing for more of it.
My pizza was not good. The crust was ok. Sauce was pretty bad. Tasted like straight tomato sauce out of the can that someone added some sugar to, no spices or anything else. Cheese was fine. Black olives were at least the good Italian salty ones, but there were so few, it did not impact the pizza in any way.
My husband’s mozzarella dish was mediocre at best. The lasagna was small and $ 18. The sauce on that was also terrible– could have been ragu.
This turned out be a moderately expensive mistake. I should have abandoned the bottle of wine and walked out when I wanted to.
But. Now we know..

Cute place for dinner! Nice outside seating for good weather, and good service. the salmon was delicious

We live in the neighborhood and tried this restaurant for the first time and had a wonderful meal! We went with 4 friends, we shared our delicious salads including the fresh tomato, mozzarella and basil, boiled and chilled calamari salad, and the fresh romaine with oranges and balsamic dressing. All of our entrees were steaming hot and tasty– including chicken dishes and the Salmon. The atmosphere was very laid back– we could have stayed all night. I would have loved some bigger portions because it was so tasty.

Lovely little restaurant in the heart of Elkins park! Despite some of the negative reviews on here, my husband and I decided to give Sicilian Trattoria a try last night and certainly enjoyed it. It was a beautiful warm day, and the outdoor seating area was packed, but we got there early enough to squeak in a two-​top on the patio. (Note to everyone: if you want to sit outside in the nice weather, make a reservation. Once we were seated, it was more than an hour wait for outside.)
The staff were all very friendly, and stayed upbeat despite the crazy pace they were working at. There were 2 servers for the whole restaurant, and a woman (the owner?) and busboy who would help refill drinks and bring people their bread and packed-​up leftovers and such.
The food was very good — simple, tasty Italian fare. My husband started with the romaine salad, an entire head of romaine sliced and arranged artfully with homemade caesar dressing. I had an app special, delicious little pasta pouches filled with pears and cheeses and served with a carrot dipping sauce. For entrees, I had another special, chicken breast rolled up with spinach and cheese and topped with a fresh chunky tomato sauce. Husband had veal with arugula; he had ordered the scallopine and accidentally got the wrong order, but it looked so good he decided to stick with it. Our server kept trying to give us a free dessert to apologize for the mix-​up, but we were too full and enjoyed the veal so we told her there was no need… she took the charge for our drinks off of the check instead without telling us. It was very thoughtful and appreciated. :)
We will definitely be back, especially to sit outside on the patio! Lots of happy diners, drinking their BYOB red wine and having a good meal in the sunshine… lovely way to spend an evening!

Expect the worst. Jerry the daughter is a great and understanding person who realizes these numerous bad reviews are a problem; however Josephine her mother thinks that we are delusional and should remove our posts. This place did not know how to use their own coupons, took 45 minutes to serve me uncooked food that was the smallest portion I have seen in quiet sometime from an Italian restaurant, for the most money I have been charged from a suburban Italian restaurant, was told to shut up by a waitress not my own because I was loud when they wouldn’t honor their own coupons yet only to be sent a nasty message from that waitress and when telling Josephine about sending me this she could care less. REVIEWS MATTER AND IF YOU CAN’T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR RESTAURANTS LACK OF QUALITY AND CONTROL THEN DON’T ASK ME TO TAKE DOWN A BAD REVIEW!
If you see the groupon for this place don’t bother a good deal doesn’t mean a good eat.

Favorite new restaurant & will Definitely be returning again! I love local BYOB’s in the neighborhood, Staff is excellent and great service!

If I were rating this restaurant soley on food, I would rate it a 1. I bumped it up to 2 stars due to the pleasant service.
So, we were started off with bread. The bread was not toasted or seasoned. It was literally sliced from a loaf and placed directly into a basket. However, the waitress was very accommodating when I asked for some butter. I ordered a pasta dish with steamed clams in a garlic white wine sauce. There were plenty of clams but little linguini. The sauce did not taste like garlic or white wine at all. It just tasted and looked like melted better. It was not worth $ 20.
The pasta selection is pretty sparse. FYI, the menu online is not their current menu. There are a lot of pasta dishes listed on the menu, but they’re all very similar. Most of the pasta dishes are either in a plain tomato based sauce or in a garlic white wine sauce, which I have already commented on above. However, they also have a selection of pizza, chicken, and other meat dishes. I just prefer to order a pasta dish when I visit Italian restaurants. Also, on behalf of the quality, I do not feel that the food is worth the price (average $ 18-​$ 26).
The service was great. My waitress stopped by our table numerous times to check up on us and refill our water glasses. She was quick to bring out butter for the bread upon my request, as well as a chiller for the wine (it’s a byob). There is also outdoor seating, which has a cute set up, but the view is of the train station so it’s nothing spectacular.

Food was delecious, service was good. Very cute restraunt. It has a feel that would suggest a nicer dress code, but other patrons seem to miss that. I’d come back, and suggest you give it a try.

Sorry We Went
This cozy restaurant with a view of the bustling Elkins park train station recently changed names from Leila’s Trattoria to Scillian Trattoria. We had been disappointed in its previous incarnation but decided to try again.
The menu was limited and only modestly interesting. I chose spaghetti with fried eggplant, tomato sauce, shaved dried ricotta and mint – which promised a refreshing meal on a very chilly early spring evening. My fiancé decided on the grilled swordfish, and we started by splitting a hot vegetable salad, which turned out to be the star of the night.
Served piping hot, the salad was a nice mélange of hot roasted root vegetables and green beans tossed just before serving with a crisp spring mix. It was presented with cold, nondescript, just-​okay bread, but was so tasty we didn’t miss the good freshly baked bread we always hope for in Italian restaurants.
Things went downhill quickly. My fiancé’s fish arrived at the table flopped onto a too-​large platter, with a sparse handful of lettuce dumped around it. The fish looked gray and fatty. It was. Even worse, it smelled the way only a no-​longer-​fresh piece of fish smells. As a side, he was given merely a salad that appeared straight from a bag of mixed greens. No potato, no pasta, no other component but fish and uninspired salad.
My entrée was also a disappointment, but not an inedible one. I had hoped for al dente pasta topped with crisp fried eggplant slices and sprigs of mint. Instead, the pasta was soggy, clearly heated-​up rather than made to order, the eggplant bits were small and, if fried, it was impossible to tell as they had been tossed into the over-​abundant sauce. The shaved dried ricotta was nice, and there was a hint of mint in the dish, but no visible mint to be seen. All things considered, it was passable. It was also $ 19.00.
My fiancé – who loves fish, knows fish, eats lots of fish – sent his swordfish back and asked for a menu from which to re-​order. Our waitress at first seemed stunned by this, then smiled and brought a menu. We heard distinct criticism of the decision coming from the door to the kitchen, in which the entire staff was clustered, glaring at us. Unacceptable! If there’s ever a time for the chef to come out and ask what is the problem, saying a piece of fish has gone bad is that time. It used to be that restaurant staff were told to take these issues seriously because you never knew who might be a restaurant reviewer. Well, today we are *all* restaurant reviewers!
The next entrée out was gnocchi with a creamy mushroom sauce. «It’s like canned Cream of Mushroom soup with gnocchi,» my fiancé whispered. I think that says it all, although I will add that the gnocchi themselves were excellent. The bland sauce simply needed some pizazz.
One final question: Why don’t restaurants try to offer at least one lactose-​free dessert? Scillian Trattoria doesn’t, so we didn’t order dessert as we like to share, and I’m lactose-​intolerant. This is not unusual, however, or specific to them. It’s still a mystery.
To sum up: The service was good at first, then ruined by what we overheard. The food was not good, and the prices were ridiculously high.