Palmer Place — Restaurant in Lyons Township

I'm writing this review based on my first and last experience with this restaurant.

I was planning a celebration with about 15 people and I was told that Palmer Place was the best establishment to hold such an event. I gave them a call a week in advance and asked if they did any reservations for parties. The woman who picked up the phone rudely answered that they don't do reservations and just hung up the phone. That should've been a red flag but I let it go because I really wanted to give this establishment a chance. The day of my celebration, I called Palmer Place in the morning to confirm if they could actually accommodate 15 people for later that night. The woman who answered the phone this time was confused at first but assured me that Palmer Place could accommodate all of us and she would even talk to her manager to set up a room on the side for all of us. That also should have been a red flag on account of how she didn't ask for a name nor did she check with the manager first before ending the call.

Later that night, I show up with a few people who are in my party of 15 and I walk up to one of the waitresses in front. I simply state that I had called earlier and I was told that a room would be ready for my party of 15. The waitress looks at me with utter confusion and annoyance. She tells me to wait and after a few minutes she tells me that it will take five minutes for them to set something up. I saw no issue with that so we all waited until our table was ready. Let me just say that the waitress we had was an absolute delight and she went above and beyond for us. The food was also very delicious and everyone got what they ordered with no complaints. My problem stems from the fact that every person from the staff gave my entire group a dirty look. It was as if our presence was a complete inconvenience to everyone and they constantly sent people to check on us. Not for service but to see if we were leaving yet. It was my first time at this establishment and I have never felt so unwelcome in my life. I will not be coming back and I truly hope that Palmer Place improves over time. You can go for the food but I wouldn't expect any warm...

I have been going to Palmer Place for years now. Myself, about 10 years, my girlfriend and her family for about 25, 30 years. During that time, I have had about every item on the menu – especially the burgers. One of my go-to burgers is the Three Cheese Mushroom Burger. Always a great, gourmet burger! Juicy meat, heaping, bubbling cheese, mushrooms - Wonderful taste!

Last night’s version was horrible. Nothing was prepared “together.” The cook took a plate, placed an untoasted bottom bun on it, then a tasteless patty, then some greasy mushrooms cooked separately, then three extreme thin, vinyl-looking pieces of cheese right out of the refrigerator on top of that, then an untoasted top bun to finish it off. NOTHING was prepared together, but rather added to the plate “separately.” So I bit into a warm-ish hamburger with warm-ish greasy mushrooms, refrigerator-cold cheese, all between a room-temperature bun. It was awful. No flavor to it at all. That was enough for me. “Would you like another one prepared?” What, have him/her make me ANOTHER terrible burger? No thanks.

I couldn’t believe it. I’ve NEVER had a bad meal here! THEN I find out the original owners sold the place. It’s the same old story. Typical thinking by the new owners: Let’s cut corners, use sub-par ingredients, either fire the chefs or make them cook the food OUR way, etc., etc., etc.

The waitress – who was extremely professional – deducted my uneaten hamburger from the bill. I appreciate that, but I went there for a meal, not a deduction. It’s okay, I guess. New places are popping up all over La Grange surprisingly. We’ll give the Elm a shot. Heard good things about them. Regardless, Palmer Place just lost some very longtime customers. We...

Dave, Thank you for your response. I must respectfully disagree with your version of events. At no point did we call the manager names or threaten to call the police. We were simply trying to understand the situation when we were treated dismissively. To clarify, when the manager insisted that my friend couldn’t be served due to her age, we asked for an explanation of the policy—specifically, “What is the policy on this? Do we need to call the police for you to scan our IDs?” Since no explanation was provided as to why our IDs couldn’t be scanned or properly processed, we felt frustrated and dismissed. While we understand the importance of following liquor laws, the way the situation was handled—without any effort to explain or resolve the issue professionally—left us feeling disrespected. We were open to clarification but were instead met with a condescending response. Your response to my review is very telling of both the atmosphere you foster at your establishment and the level of professionalism you expect from your staff. It further reinforces the negative experience we had, and I believe it speaks volumes about how you treat your customers. We still feel the experience was unnecessarily uncomfortable, and I stand by my review of the...