Palm's restaurant — Restaurant in Basse-Terre

You can clearly see how a simple review can ruin the whole reputation of a restaurant. I almost didn’t visit palm’s due to the reviews and some people i’ve met on the island but to be honest i’m quite glad i didn’t listen to them.

Firstly i would like to talk about the name of the restaurant, i know from where he got the name of the restaurant as me and one of the owners are originally from the same country, i’m not gonna blame him for copy/pasting the name as it is quite catchy and it represents the island very well (especially with this beautiful logo of a palm tree), maybe i wouldn’t give this commentary if i wasn’t from the same country as for the lack of originality.

I visited palm’s a first time last week, i asked if there was room available as i came without a reservation during a weekday, the man at the entrance (with long blond hair) told me no as they were fully booked so i’ve let it slip as i didn’t really like the way he said it to me (i got used to the hospitality in france, it’s terrible), it’s all good.

Decided to give it another shot today but made sure to call and reserve before coming, the phone call was very smooth, called him, the man on the phone was very friendly this time, i do believe it was Mr long hair again but with a different attitude this time, i guess it was because he wasn’t that pressured as i called him early, booked for 2 at 7:30pm, got there at 7:45pm due to the traffic, still same man very friendly this time took us to our table where a lovely lady took our order 5-10 mins after we sat.

The design of the restaurant is lovely, the lightings are bright, there’s a good vibe and most important, IT’S CLEAN (main priority when i visit a restaurant).

Something i have noticed is that on the menu, english and french are mixed, just a small reminder not everyone does understand english so i think that a menu fully in french and another one fully in english would’ve been more appropriate. Additionally you should state that your burgers do come with a side (i almost added 1).

The restaurant was not empty it was quite busy. I took the suggestion of the waitress and We ordered: -the fish and chips -the truffle burger -the chicken burger Water pitcher

To our surprise, the fish and chips and the chicken burger were out very fast (I believe it’s because it’s fried food as the truffle burger took way more time).

After taking the suggestion of the waitress I ordered the fish and chips because she told me it is quite generous and filling. To be honest the fish and chips was average, firstly because when you think fish and chips I instantly think about HUGE PIECE OF FISH, instead i just had a big bowl of fries with tiny pieces of fish on top, i think the fish could’ve been served with some lemon to cut on the greasiness of the oil. I would suggest to improve the ratio of fish/fries.

Brioche buns, finally! the chicken burger was great! I loved it! The curry spices within the sauce was light and greatly complements this juicy piece of fried chicken breast (which most restaurants hardly nail! Restaurants here tend to serve you a chicken breast drier than the sahara desert).

Finally the truffle burger is the one that surprised me the most, i wasn’t expecting to find a piece of actual black truffle inside of the burger (even tho I believe they could’ve been a tide bit more generous with it, i know truffles are expensive but one slice and call it truffle burger come on), the sauce was exquisite! What bothered me tho was the doneness of the meat, it was well done, i would’ve preferred it medium-well, it’s sad i’ve had it served well done as you can feel that it’s good quality meat.

Now the water pitcher, easy, the waitress forgot about it, we did not complain because we were satisfied with the food.

I do believe that the price is fair for the quality of food you get (we paid 60€ for all 3). but i do believe there’s still some room for improvement and this restaurant still did not give its full potential, wether it’s about the service or the generosity of the staff. I would still...

So I'm going to start with the negative part of my review and the reason why it got 4 stars instead of 5

So firstly prior to our arrival we booked the oval table which was confirmed via booking on arrival this was taken, the server did apologise in regards to this Secondly, when the drinks menu was brought to our table while we waited for the rest of our party, I ordered a Moscow mule at this stage without looking at the menu, I then waited 50mins to get the drink a long with the rest of the drinks for our table after everyone arrived and even though all the drinks came together which is good they could Have had an extra drink ordered from me

I understand that they were busy as they had a very large table in

The food came out quickly and no complaints about any of the meal and the cocktails were balanced. I took the tuna toi which I thoroughly enjoyed

I didnt catch the servers name but the gentleman who apologised to us for the table is a credit to the team, huge smiles and...

Une expérience culinaire unique ! Mais alors pourquoi 1/5 me diriez vous ? Eh bien parce qu’en allant dans ce restaurant, vous en prenez plein la vue. Le décor et les serveurs sont sympathiques avec un petit côté chill et… ce sera tout. Côté bar ça donne quoi? La réponse est déjà dans la question. Les cocktails servis sont tout simplement fade. Ils m’ont rappelé les jus de fruit qu’on vous sert à l’école, vous savez lors du goûter. Aucune épice perceptible, des glaçons en quantité industrielle (Une piña colada avec ou sans rhum vous ne sentirez pas la différence). Hormis le côté désaltérant, il vous faudra repasser ! Ah mais ils cuisinent aussi, je ne vous l’ai pas dit ?Concernant les plats, ils sont donc en parfait accord avec la note globale. 1/5. Je n’ai pas retenu le nom du plat, ni même sa saveur. Je ne saurais donc vous orientez pour un meilleur choix… Tout ce que je peux vous confier, c’est que promouvoir le poisson, le quinoa et le basilic servi en sorte de pâté dans une même assiette, c’est osé. En tout cas, je tiens à remercier cordialement le serveur d’être venu à notre secours avec un peu de citron et de poivre pour sauver la soirée. Je ne vous parle pas non plus de la quantité servie dans l’assiette, ni même du prix… L’équation est donc très simple : prévoyez un second repas dans un autre restaurant ou préparé par vos soins dans un Tupperware (oui oui, vous pouvez faire mieux qu’eux). Et N’oubliez pas surtout de défiscaliser l’addition afin de se dire « bon, j’ai mangé mais j’ai pas trop perdu d’argent sur ce coup! » Sur ce raisonnement la, on peut le dire, Palm’s Restaurant c’est sans doute bien pour prendre un café et profiter de la déco. Et rien que pour ça, je reviendrai dans 10 ans,...