The Palms Sydney — Restaurant in Sydney

In short, what a disappointment. We were so excited about visiting too, having enjoyed driving past several times and seeing the fairy lights being tested. We decided on a mid week late morning visit given it had been so busy on the weekend.

A summary of our experience:

1. The smug fellow who was at the front of house yesterday? Let’s call him Basil. A gentle reminder that this is not the eastern suburbs. It’s been a while since we received such an unfriendly and indifferent welcome to a new venue.
2. AFTER we sat down, Basil decided to then tell us there was no sourdough bread. Didn’t bother to give us menus though, as he did the people who were behind us in the queue. It was then up to the waitress (who turned up more than a few minutes after we sat down……with menus) to then tell us there was also no rye, croissants or quiche. Surely Basil should have been aware of this as well. How this is possible at a venue which is run by a bakery, and this early in the day, I’m not sure. Thankfully the second waitress, who came to our table to take our order, after the first one who delivered the menus and took our coffee order completely forgot about us, showed some genuine embarrassment with the situation and tried to help us as best she could. This is the reason you get 2 stars and not 1. She is a keeper….make sure you take care of her.
3. We weren’t offered any table water, yet all the tables around us were. Pretty basic stuff these days.
4. The guests at the two tables next to us, who arrived after we sat down, were not only served first, but their food (involving far more complex orders) arrived a good 10+ minutes before ours. Amusingly, one of these tables managed to secure the last piece of quiche.
5. The team still managed to get our coffee order wrong, bringing out small coffees instead of the large we clearly ordered.
6. On the way out, Basil didn’t even bother to ask how our meal was, and was only focused on collecting our payment. If I was running a new venue, I’d be asking EVERY single guest if they had a good experience. Clearly he couldn’t give a s**t. If he was paying attention like a proper host, and was monitoring what was going on, he would have known our experience was appalling.
7. The morning menu, at this stage, is not particularly child friendly. Perhaps they’re not targeting families, and that’s their choice if so, but some of their better competitors nearby do, and they do it EXTREMELY well.
8. Speaking of my young daughter, just as we were about to sit down, she picked up a sharp jagged piece of metal mixed up amongst the pebbles next to the table (just near the waterfall). Lucky she didn’t injure herself.

Are we going to go back soon? Not sure. Do we hope they pick up their act and pull it off? Genuinely, yes we do, as it has a lot of unrealised potential and we would love to support a thriving local business, as would all our friends in the area.

But not until we are made to feel a lot more welcome than we were...

I really want to give 5 stars but I just can't.

The wait staff are so lovely & caring but clearly are not receiving any support or training. If they only invest more time into the staff it would improve dramatically and avoid these reviews.

The three stars is really for the amazing decor and initial ambience when you arrive but this quickly fades through sheer frustration and disappointment on the food and service.

First time we came for breakfast, food was delicious, small portions but very fresh, coffee never turned up after chasing several times. We left without the coffee order.

Second time, sadly for a very important birthday the entire meal and service was deeply disappointing.

The burger came out rare (like blood dripping rare) and it seems the chef likes to cook the patty this way. The wait staff won't warn you so if you order it make sure you make it clear how you like your meat cooked. Otherwise I think it would have been delicious. To their credit the brioche which was charcoal burnt they replaced it immediately but should never have sent out anything that burnt from the kitchen to begin with.

The very simple basic things you won't find here. It feels like you're trying to be trendy for the sake of being trendy. Whereas the area really just needs good food, decent portion and importantly variety.

They "don't do vanilla ice-cream" a basic stable in any café, I was told they don't do iced coffees, smoothies or milkshakes so have "no need' for vanilla ice-cream but instead have one flavour of fig to suit all.

We ordered the fig ice-cream, only to ask 5 times for a spoon which finally arrived as the ice-cream had melted.

The bar staff need training in regards to the cocktails, honestly for the price, it's so important, even Terrey Hills Tavern can make a great cocktail.

The cod $40 was overcooked and rubbery with a basic broth. Again not warned or advised by the wait staff if you're hungry order a few sides.

There is no kids menu. So make sure you review the menu before coming with kids. My son ate a croissant which I guess could be worse.

We paid and left, but unlikely to return for a few months.

I received a text from a friend today who wrote "you are right, it's so sad, they just couldn't get it together for some reason, so disappointing".

Please Bar Berkelo listen to the feedback, read the emails, we desperately want it...

Absolutely beautiful place and the food was delicious 😋, we went here on Tuesday so the Two Course Tuesday caught our eye 👁 😀.

There was only one item mentioned as gluten free on the 2 course deal so I asked about options for an entrée that was gluten free, I was offered plain oysters instead of the ones listed but hate oysters so I wasn't keen. Our waitress went and returned with an alternative entrée of the ocean trout crudo which we went for instead and my husband decided on the same, my father-in-law, who is not gluten free also decided on the 2 course deal and had a different entrée (arancini - not gf) and also said it was delicious. Main meal we chose the pork cutlet. It was advertised as with a mushroom ragu but they came and said that the menu was incorrect and it was actually with a baked peach 🍑 flavour and baked potatoes and i honestly think even better than perhaps what we'd read in the menu. It was absolutely beautiful dish. We chose house red shiraz with our meal and as much as I would have loved dessert 🍨 afterwards (affogato???) We were too full!!! There is an amazing shop here selling all things fabulous as it's a nursery, homewares store, plants, as well as restaurant, bar etc open from 10am-10pm and bookings are recommended. We sat next to an awesome fig tree inside, water feature complete with koi in the pond and resident water dragon - i think called Boudge??🐉. My husband and I actually got married here almost 16yrs ago and the original building was called the Buddha Belly Restaurant and there was a 100year old Samatran House behind it with gardens and koi... it since burned down and more recently The Palms 🌴 has been established in its place. I was under strict instructions I wasn't allowed to go crazy in the homewares but my goodness so much to check out and see!

If you're over this way definitely recommend 👌🏼 we didn't order but I did pass the pizza oven prep area and the smell of the pizza was amazing, they do gf pizzas too - probably go with this...