Soho Garden Palm Jumeirah — Restaurant in Dubai

Palm Vibes – A Promising Venue with the Wrong People at the Door

I’ve been visiting Soho Garden for a while now, and I can confidently say that no one in Dubai can compare—the energy, the crowd, the music, and the overall experience are simply the best.

Recently, I’ve also started checking out Palm Vibes. It’s a good place with potential, and I believe they will eventually get things right. However, my experiences there have been far from welcoming, all thanks to one specific bouncer, Hamid.

First Visit – Unnecessary Hassle at the Door

I arrived at Palm Vibes around 11 PM after being at Surf Club, just to support some young DJs and capture videos—something I regularly do at Soho Garden. I was with my girlfriend when Hamid stopped me at the entrance, asking for ID. Fair enough. I showed him my digital ID on my phone, but he insisted I was lying, assuming I wasn’t even 21 (I’m over 30!).

At first, I took it as a joke, but as the conversation went on, I noticed his condescending attitude. Even after showing him my Instagram page, driving license, and proving who I was, he kept demanding more—he even asked for my passport. Who carries that to a club?

It was clear to me that he was expecting a bribe, something I had already heard from friends who faced the same issue with him. After making me wait for 20-25 minutes for no reason, I simply lost interest and left.

Second Visit – An Unprovoked Confrontation

The next time I visited, another staff member recognized me, smiled, and let me in. Their manager was there, and I had a quick chat with him before heading inside.

Later, as I was leaving, I jokingly asked the security guy why he didn’t check my ID this time. We laughed, exchanged goodbyes, and I was on my way. Out of nowhere, Hamid appeared again, aggressively telling me to “just leave and go home”. His tone was unnecessarily rude, and the hostility was uncalled for.

I didn’t want to create a scene, so I chose to ignore it. But in the back of my mind, I was already sure—this place was not worth coming back to.

Third Visit – The Last Straw

Despite my previous experiences, I gave Palm Vibes one last shot after Amore (a young DJ) insisted I visit. I had been at Surf Club and planned to stop by VNYL to support Imen and Kaytek, but I changed my plans just for him.

When I arrived, I spoke to a manager who knows me well from Soho Garden and got permission to take videos from the backside of the venue. Everything was going smoothly—until Hamid showed up once again, shouting at me to leave.

I tried explaining that I had already gotten approval from management, but he wouldn’t listen. He embarrassed me in front of the crowd, some of whom recognized me and knew how connected I am in the hospitality industry.

In that moment, I felt like all the respect and credibility I had built in this industry were being stripped away by one rude, power-hungry bouncer.

Once again, I chose not to create a scene and left.

The Bigger Issue – Corruption & Racism

After speaking to people at the venue, I learned that Hamid has a history of demanding bribes—charging people 100 AED just to enter, even when he’s working at Soho Garden. Worse, I also heard about his racist behavior, making guests feel unwelcome and disrespected.

The sad part? I have proof of his behavior. He was too dumb to realize I was recording when he shouted at me the third time.

Final Thoughts

I love Soho Garden, and I don’t want anyone to ruin its energy and reputation. People like Hamid do not belong in hospitality, especially in a city like Dubai, where nightlife thrives on good vibes, inclusivity, and respect.

I will be reporting this to management because Palm Vibes has potential—but with staff like this, they’re only pushing away the very people who...

THIS PLACE CAN NOT BE MORE WORSE!

I made a reservation for 8 of us, on Saturday evening, so as a host I have to look from where all my friends can get in easily to the place. after struggling with no proper directions from the website, I called 2 hrs prior arrival to ensure that I can coordinate with my friends.

Reservations agent answered, “ go to nakheel mall park on the B2 and you will see the entrance of soho garden and comes up with elevator.” So i said, i know nakheel mall has lots of entrances, so from which entrance? West or east? So she said you will see our signs everywhere! So i asked again, where should i pressed on the elevator? Ohhh its a rooftop floor, she replied! Well guests what? I TRUSTED HER! So Is my friends!

Upon arrival, i parked where she directed me. There were one sign just in the middle of no where, I asked severals securities around ——— no one knows from which elevator.

So me and one of my friends decided to go up from the elevator near where we parked ( Make sense )

I was with 12 inch (so kate) went up to 2nd floor because there were no sign of rooftop.

Walking with this heels, went crossing the mall found the entrance of the rooftop- With no signs of SOHO GARDEN!

Went to the rooftop with an empty landscape, So we went down again and found the information in the middle of the mall with party dresses and heels, just imagine the embarrassment that we ve been trough,

The informant said you were at the wrong side soho garden entrance is on the west side! We are now at east side 😂😂😂😂!

So we go all over again to another side of the mall walking, because going back down to park and another hustle was not an options.

FINALLY, we found one signage just ONE before the elevator going up to the rooftop at the west side.

I wasnt able to give my feed back at the door because i have 6 ppl that i need to coordinate to, so that they will not go through what I ve been through!

All of us arrived approximately around 10 pm, I already am upset. So I tried to enjoy my nights ordered foods and drink.

So we order 10 types of food, a beer, a glass of white wine, an old fashioned, passion fruit martini, cosmopolitan, and i ordered appletini ( in their signature menu ) 2 large bottle of water.

After they brought beer, white wine and old fashioned, they informed me that no more appletini, so the waiter suggested espresso martini —— wanna laugh? Please feel free!

So i said which one is available? Do you have lychee martini? - he said he will check.

20 mins passed— so we asked where is the rest of the order? Which is cosmopolitan, passion martini and lychee martini. He said he will check!

35 mins passed, the food arrived, with no drinks still!

I start getting more frustrated and ASHAMED! Because I suggested this place!

45 mins passed, we asked where is the rest of the drinks???? He said coming… and i asked for the manager to him, he answered : “no need for manager, its fine!”

I STARTLED!!!

Someone came to our table to check if everything was A okay? — so my friends started to speak in arabic that 3 of the drinks hasnt been arrived since 40 mins ago, he said okay let me check what was your oder he asked, its cosmopolitan, passion fruit martini and lychee martini he was like ohh but we do not have lychee martini, so why no one hasnt been getting back to us in 5 mins upon taking the rodeo now it has been 45 mins.

So I changed to daiquiri.

So finally, after 55 mins we got all the drinks!

ANY WORDS TO SAY!? I GUESS JUST...

Review

Last Thursday I visited Soho Garden in Nakheel Mall for the ladies night. Overall it was very disappointing.

When we came in we were greeted friendly and brought to our tables. (We were the only ones there) We were informed about the ladies night offer and were told which drinks were included (house wines and spirits). When asking the grapes of the wines, the waiter (although very friendly) was unable to give the answer and said: I’ll just bring them to you so you can taste it and see if you like it. I told him he could also bring me the menu and he said he didn’t have.

A few minutes later he came back with the glasses of wine for me to try. I picked the rose and my friend ordered a whiskey on the rocks. He left and came back again a few minutes later mentioning that ladies night would not actually start until an hour later but that he had a happy hour available. Not a problem at all. We asked what was included and if he had a menu, which he again responded to that he didn’t have. So we just ordered the rose both of us.

After both having had two glasses of wine, an hour later ladies night officially started. The food platter that was included with it was brought to our table and consisted of 4 panko crusted prawn bites with a sauce that was hard for us to identify but I would say a pumpkin puree, which did not go well together at all, 3 bites of fish tempura that were soggy, 2 bites of chicken spring roll and 4 very dry cooked salmon sushi.

My friend who is not at all a seafood lover was a bit disappointed with the selections as you can imagine but tried everything nevertheless. But of us were not impressed with the quality. Overall the food tasted not fresh but frozen, dry with little flavor.

The whole place was still quite empty at that time with only 2 more tables occupied.

My friend posted her feedback on the Soho Garden page. A few moments later the manager came all of a sudden and offered a glass of champagne to us and if we wanted to try the wagyu sushi and some other items they were preparing in the kitchen. When he left, we saw that the post was removed. Coincidence?

When the manager came back I gave my honest feedback of our experience. He was very friendly and even invited us to come back which I might have taken in to consideration if it wasn’t for what happened next.

Another friend of hours joined our table. In the rest of the evening, she did not receive her food. Apart from the drinks that were included in the ladies night, we also ordered 3 shots of Jäegermeister with a can of red bull, in other words Jagerbombs.

At the end of the evening the bill was presented. And the shots came down to AED120 per person! We asked one staff member how much the shots cost and he said: AED70 and then an extra AED50 for the Red Bull. So it should be AED86 pp.

Along with the fact that our friend did not receive the food and the bill charged for food and drinks separate, we really felt they were ripping us off.

Plus all the prices were inclusive of VAT but then at the bottom of the bill VAT was charged again!

The supervisor or assistant manager that was there really was not happy with us asking questions about the bill and showed it in a rude way. I’m sure he thought that because we had a few glasses to drink that night, our brains would not function as they should.

Overall very disappointing and I would never ever recommend this...