The Islander Grill and Tiki Bar — Restaurant in Palm Beach Shores

I TOOK MY MOM FOR A WONDERFUL MOTHER & DAUGHTER DATE TO THE MANATEE LAGOON & DINNER AT THE ISLANDER & TIKI BAR RESTAURANT. WHAT STARTED AS SUCH A FANTASTIC DAY ENDED UP RUINED. AS MY MOM & I LOOKED OVER THE FOOD MENU BEFORE ENTERING THE RESTAURANT, A LADY STOPPED TO CONVERSE WITH US TO SAY HOW MUCH WE REMINDED HER OF HER & HER MOM WITH SO MUCH LAUGHTER & JOY. SHE CONTINUED TO TELL US THAT SHE IS 91 YRS OLD & SHE WAS MEETING HER FRIEND THAT TURNED 98 YRS OLD BUT SHE BROKE A LEG & COULDN’T MAKE IT. SHE WAS SUCH A JOY, MY MOM IMMEDIATELY SAID YOU CAN JOIN US SHE GLADLY ACCEPTED. AS WE SAT, MARCO THE MANAGER CAME TO US & ASKED WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO ORDER & BY THE WAY WE ALL KNOW RUTH AND ASKED HER ARE YOU OK, YOUR SURE YOU ARE OKAY? AT FIRST, I WAS GLAD SHE NEW THE EMPLOYEES. MARCO CONTINUED COMING OVER SEVERAL TIMES ASKING RUTH THE SAME QUESTION. WE KNEW SOMETHING WAS WRONG. MARCO SHOWED US THE ENTIRE TIME HOW IGNORANT HE REALLY WAS. MARCO THEN PROCEEDED TO HUDDLE WITH THE STAFF WHILE LOOKING BACK & FORTH AT US. WHILE STARRING, HE EVEN HAD A STAFF MEMBER POST AS A WATCHMAN TO WATCH US. WE THOUGHT OF ENDING THE CONVERSATION WITH RUTH & MOVING TO ANOTHER TABLE BUT WHY SHOULD WE MOVE BECAUSE WE DON’T LOOK THE NORM. MY MOM WAS HURT & FELT DISCRIMINATED AGAINST. WE WHERE EVEN ASKED WHAT ARE YOU DOING AROUND HERE? THEY MADE MY MOTHER & I FEEL SO UNCOMFORTABLE! MARCO MADE US FEEL LIKE SO MANY PEOPLE DO WHEN THEY ARE JUDGED. WE DIDN’T GET TO FINISH OUR MEALS. MY MOM ASKED FOR THE CHECK, SHE NOT ONLY PAYED FOR OUR MEAL BUT ALSO FOR RUTHS. VERY DISAPPOINTING HAVING MANAGEMENT TEACH STAFF TO BE PREJUDICE BY JUDGEMENT. WE TRY UPLIFTING PEOPLE OF ALL AGES, WITHOUT PRECONCEPTION. MANAGEMENT IN THE ISLANDER IS TEACHING HATE & INEQUALITY. IT WAS SO SAD TO SEE MY MOM LEAVE IN TEARS....

My fiancée and I are so delighted that we found this wonderful restaurant while on vacation in Palm Beach Shores. We enjoyed it so much on our first visit that we have returned three more times to date. The food has been consistently delicious, well-prepared and well-presented (the lobster tails are perfect!). The service has been consistently excellent, and they must give each prospective server a “niceness“ test before hiring them, as the servers have been incredibly friendly. One of our servers, Lori, deserves special mention, as she is absolutely delightful! Lisa, who works the outdoor tiki bar, is also incredibly friendly and outgoing. The daily entertainment is also terrific and varied, and there is a large dance floor which is often filled with people having fun! There truly is a fun atmosphere at this restaurant. On top of everything, the prices are reasonable and the daily specials that we have tried are excellent. I must not fail to mention that the owner, Niko, is a really nice guy who has treated us wonderfully and made us feel special. Marco, the manager, has also been wonderful. If you are like me, you probably like to give your business to nice people who appreciate it. Such is the case here. I recommend this place highly. It is definitely worth a visit and, as this is a popular spot, I would suggest that you make a reservation. Let me assure you that I have no personal connection to anyone at this establishment, and I rarely take the time to write reviews, either good or bad, but our dining experiences here have been uniformly excellent!

to date. The food has been consistently delicious,...

We went in on a Monday night, which is perhaps our own fault but when we got there, they were doing maintenance on the terrace at which we sat so we had workers above our head for part of our evening. They decided not to continue because they were working literally above us, and so after the first 30 minutes or so we were left at peace.

The waitress was extremely kind and told us that she had more tables than she could handle and things were going to be slow. I really appreciate the heads up for that but why was staff being managed so poorly?

We ordered Panko shrimp and when it came out the person running the food told us it was coconut shrimp, and it was a clear miscommunication and I’m not sure if there was a language barrier or not, but it was challenging for us to understand what we had ordered based on his description of our food.

The entrées were great. We both had fish dishes and they came out lovely. No complaints at all at the quality of the food.

When you pay the check, it was very interesting because it was a non-typical format where it appeared that an 18% gratuity had been added to our check despite us not having seen anywhere on any of the literature that an 18% gratuity was required. Because the server was so excellent throughout, I have no issue paying the required gratuity however it was quite alarming that that was a seeming requirement on the bill when we had not been otherwise in introduced to it.

I think the food is good here, but I would use caution before selecting it unnecessarily because their management seems to be...