Palm Pavilion Beachside Grill & Bar — Restaurant in Clearwater

Vince can kick rocks, but TQ was great! I went with my fiancé’s family who only speak Russian and very broken English. It was their first time here at Clearwater and the beach. We were extremely excited to have arrived from our long travel and couldn’t wait to get some food and have a round of drinks. Our party started with five while the rest of the crew made their way into town. When they arrived, the remaining five met up with us at the restaurant, caught up and were shortly on their way to set up at the beach. My fiancé‘s father, never really interacting with seagulls or experiencing the beach, got excited seeing seagulls so close. He threw a seagull one french fry. Of course, this caused a few more to come in our area. The seagulls did not make a ruckus or bother other diners. In fact, they didn’t even enter the outdoor dining area and stayed in the sand. Within seconds, the manager, Vince, came over and told us “you guys can’t feed the seagulls. If you do, I’ll kick you out.“ My fiancé’s father had his back towards Vince and was facing the beach, distracted by the seagulls. He speaks very little English, and not understanding what was said to him, threw the last french fry that was in his hand. Vince then said “he just threw a fry after I told him not to.” my fiancé’s family member, who doesn’t speak very good English, could sense that something was upsetting and apologized. However, Vince left and within 45 seconds our waiter (TQ) came with our check, apologized and said that it wasn’t him, but the manager wanted us to be given our checks. I don’t condone poor behavior within customers. I’ve been in the service industry & the customer is in fact not always right. However, this interaction happened within less than 5 minutes and did not need to be raised to the level it did. Vince showed no patience, no understanding, and not even an attempt to speak with us in a calm manner. We were not a rowdy or the obnoxious group. There was a clear language barrier between the majority of my group and it happened so quickly, even I couldn’t translate it to my fiancé’s father. I want to emphasize that TQ was great, which is why we tipped him almost a 30% tip, but it’s a shame that it was the manager who acted poorly in this situation. I hope, if we come back, that there are signs with pictures that say don’t feed the seagulls. Clearwater is a touristy beach and I’m sure many patrons don’t speak English. Signs and compassion would’ve gone a long way in this situation. Thank you TQ for being great. Vince, you...

I have been coming to the Palm Pavilion for over fifteen years. Each time, their food has been fantastic as it was this time. We had this amazing server named Cassidy, and she made an excellent for everybody. Between the food and Cassady, it was a perfect time.

But I guess they have made too much money over the years. The management needs to address this issue:

If you have a party of say 12 people and you are not all there, they will not seat you. When I spoke to the woman at the door, a very unpleasant lady, I asked if we could be seated comfortably and place our order and enjoy the occasion.

She, on the contrary, has said no. My reply was : I was gonna leave. An expression from someone who drove from St Pete, hungry, and just want to celebrate with family.I did not make the reservation, it was my brother in law who did. She outright canceled our reservation without notice. We were seated just right in front of the entrance, so she could have called our attention so we would not be wasting our precious time awaiting to be seated. We could have walked out and go to a nearby restaurant.

We later learned when one of our guests approached the same woman at the entrance to get the status of our table reservation, only to find out that she decided to Cancel . JUST LIKE THAT. Her trivial reason was she did not like the way I asked her why we could not be accommodated when we were waiting for over 30 minutes already and everyone, more than half a dozen of us, were already famished. This was a gathering to celebrate a relative visiting from out of town. We all came from different locations in the Tampa Bay and St Pete areas therefore it is unlikely for everyone to arrive at the location at the same time. Let alone, on a Saturday night, the parking was a circus. We were expecting to have a good meal however it turned out to be a horrible experience. The same hostess made a new reservation which made us wait for a grand total of 1 hour and a half. We arrived at your location before 7 pm on October 7 , we were seated after 830 pm.

Either the management needs to find better people at their front desk and provide them with proper training or they need to close the door.

The food and the serving lady Cassidy were fantastic. But the front desk people were atrocious. You would have to bribe me back to Palm Pavillion.

I make it a habit to only leave good reviews but this was purely insane on the front desk people and a rule to limit...

Stunning spot, beautiful views and a fantastic environment surround however, very disappointed how I was treated by a member of staff and my son, by the manager. On arrival we were advised we could sit at a table by an employee at the entrance. My son and my Mum went to the bar to order a drink, me, I went to use the facilities. On my return to the table, my son and my mum went to the loo, it is important to add, the restaurant was not busy at that time.

It was during this time I was approached and told that I am sitting I am eating area and I need to move back to the bar where , apparently, I came from. I was also told that I had moved twice but despite this, so would be allowed to sit at a different table as it was for people to sit at and eat?

I attempted to clarify that I had indeed, gone to the toilet and returned to a table that my Mum and son were sitting at, following standing at the bar to purchase drinks. I went in to try and explain that my mum and son had now popped to the toilet and that we had not moved twice. The older waitress interrupted my clarification of the situation , telling me in a very harsh tone, that I had indeed moved twice and this was not advised and should not happen. I was very uncomfortable with how I had been spoken to. The waitress then left. On his return my son attempted to clarify the matter with the manager, the manger was very rude and dismissive toward my son, this is not good enough and demonstrates poor management and very poor customer service skills which was very disappointing. Not happy with the whole attitude and service we were receiving I politely approached the waitress in question. I politely explained that there seemed to have been a miss understanding which I would like to discuss. I highlighted that I did not feel that it was appropriate to be spoken to the way I had been and it was not appreciated and wanted this to be highlighted , no apologies were given. At the end of the day, we were only having a drink in what was at that time, a very quiet bar / restaurant. I will not visit this bar again and will feedback my experience to others. I find it very disappointing that individuals who are meant to promote customer service feel it is appropriate to speak to service users in such a disrespectful , dictatorial and unprofessional manner, it is such a shame as it is a beautiful spot which does not need to have such a set dynamic, perhaps a...