Shady Palms Cafe & Bar — Restaurant in Brisbane City

Even a casual glance at the reviews for the Shady Palms will reveal a very common theme; almost all the negative reviews mention this mysterious and elusive “older man”. He is like Bigfoot – bounding into the fog of poor customer service, contempt and outrage. His appetite for chewing out and ruining the evenings of unassuming customers is never satisfied. His dedication to making your experience uncomfortable, painful, albeit memorable is second to none.

The Shady Palms has been a hangout of mine for some time now. So this review isn’t about one specific incident, but rather a series of observations of said “older man” over a period of time. In fact, I believe that adds credence to my review, as this is not a one-off moment, an isolated experience or regrettable trespass when someone is having a bad day. No – this is typical, predictable, patterned behaviour from the same individual over many years. And it’s now time to also call him on it.

The reviews you may have read about “older man” are likely very true. Let me also confirm, he is rude. Abrasive. Condescending. Abrupt. Belligerent. There’s an old saying that the customer is always right. Well, in “older man’s” world, the customer is always wrong. And he will make sure you feel this way. Whether it be a dismissive remark, a gruff quip or a thorough rolling of the eyes, he will ensure your self-worth is lower for having interacted with him.

I must say there is something ironic that a visit to the Shady Palms could find oneself receiving huge amounts of shade being thrown on you by your unfriendly neighbourhood bartending hero –...

Cool little bar with decent food - it's a shame that on multiple occasions we have dealt with the older man making us feel uncomfortable that many of the other reviews also describe.

The last time we visited for happy hour, we ordered a couple drinks about 5 mins before the end of the happy hour; the younger guy at the bar proceeded to make the drinks (only basics so quick and easy to make), and then fluff about for several minutes until the clock hit 6:00, at which point he charged us full price. When we questioned this, he essentially told us it was too bad, and that we could either pay full price or leave the drinks behind. We left the drinks (that he then poured down the drain), and went back to our game of darts.

When our other friends went to order a couple minutes later, we told them not to get any drinks as we weren't happy with the service and that we were about to leave as soon as we finished our game of darts. At this point the young guy behind the bar kicked us all out for "discouraging paying customers" (our friends) and refused to compensate us for our game of darts.

Won't be returning here as there's plenty of other small local bars in the area much more deserving of our patronage.

EDIT: I'm editing my review from two down to one star as the owner in their response has been caught in a lie! We visited the bar on 22nd December 2024 (not nearly 2 years ago as they've falsely claimed) and there was indeed a 3-6PM happy hour which our group was there for the duration for. Yet another example of the "Shady" Tactics that this...

Very grumpy older man who is the owner/manager. I'm sure he can be nice when he feels like it, but not this time... A few months ago, I went there with my girlfriend and ordered a pint of beer during happy hour, having seen a big sign with the happy hour pint price listed on it. The pint was charged way above the happy hour price. When I asked why, he then changed demeanor completely, and angrily grabbed a small sign from behind the counter that he had clearly forgotten to put on display. This was the sign that actually specified that only certain tap beers were part of the happy hour special. He didn't offer any apology for not having the sign up yet, or offer to change the beer, or to charge us the happy hour price. Instead, he was super condescending, acting like we should've known that only certain beers apply to the happy hour 🤯. We just wanted to get away from his grumpy demeanor so we just paid the full price. We sat down and felt hurt and uncomfortable after that interaction. Decided to just return the beer to the counter and politely explain that we didn't like how he treated us, which he received with a condescending, incredulous look on his face. He didn't apologise, he probably thought we were silly young women who were over reacting. However, being rude ruins the vibe, and I've decided others should know about our experience, and visit this venue on their guard! Can't wait to see what sort of response I get to this review. I hope it is understanding, and not condescending 🧐. Maybe it will prompt some private...