Hostel Palermo Baia del Corallo

The setting is nice, but that's about it. For a Friday night after-dinner drink the place was half empty, which says something. You pay €10 per person for the first drink as soon as you sit down, even without a special event, and adding cake service brings it to around €16. The prices feel way out of line with the menu and service, and you can't even check the menu by QR code.

The spot itself is worth seeing, but the seafood aperitif let us down badly. There wasn't much of it, and the quality wasn't good either. Our wine came out warm, and my husband's mojito had no real taste. The benches they seat you on are uncomfortable too. Such a shame.

The sea is lovely, and there's plenty to see with a mask on. The platform could be cleaner, though: there are bottles and lots of cigarette ends, depending on whether visitors bother to dispose of them. I've only stopped at the hostel for coffee now and then, and the prices seem average apart from the very expensive sweet breakfasts. I can't really speak to the hostel beyond that. The cleanliness and management keep this from five stars. There's a patch where you can often smell sewage, as if some is leaking into the sea from time to time, which really shouldn't happen.

The aperitif and the setting were fine, but the customer service was practically nonexistent. Three cocktails got spilled on us, and glasses broke. Nobody came over to apologize, and we weren't offered any discount for the trouble. Accidents happen, sure, but someone should at least say sorry.