Colony Club Restaurant — Restaurant in Palm Springs

We went to this restaurant for my friends bachelorette. We had a big group, which meant we needed to plan with the staff ahead of time. Here are the highlights of our terrible experience:

⁃ Adriana forced us to select only four main dishes to choose from for a ‘fixed’ menu, and then gave us a menu that was presented as a three course meal, all at a fixed price. We all were pressured to order each course, not knowing it was a la carte. This was, at minimum, $150 a person. We tried to order just a few appetizers to share and was told this was not possible, it was a fixed menu and EVERYONE ‘needed’ to get an individual appetizer. She was very rude, she claimed we had to do this because of how busy they were, it was NOT busy. The entire inside of the restaurant was empty.

⁃ Service was very very slow. We had a bus planned to pick us up after 2.5 hours, and we weren’t able to eat our dessert at the table. We then had to wait to get our dessert to take home (it was awful as take out). We had to pay MORE for our party bus because we were so late to leave. We went 15-20 minutes without water at a time. Drinks were wrong. Most of us only had one drink because of how slow it all was (again, we were there for 2.5 hours).

⁃ We received a call at 10:30pm (maybe an hour after we left) from Lourdes that they charged us incorrectly. They then proceed to ask us for another THOUSAND dollars. We found this completely unprofessional.

⁃ When they sent the itemize SECOND bill, they charged us for all of our still waters, a Prosecco toast that Fabi, our server, presented as complimentary for the bride.

⁃ Mind you, our menus were ‘custom’ and did NOT have prices. Do these people really think we would pay $100 in bottled water and $370 per bottle of Prosecco? We are not in Mexico where water is not clean…or Europe where bottled water is the custom. This is totally unacceptable.

We were charged 25% automatically for tip, originally told 22%. Also, we were charged an additional ‘kitchen appreciation fee’ on top of the tip.

⁃ We told the restaurant that this additional bill was their error, we felt taken advantage of, and that we would not be paying the bill. At 11pm, a member of our group RECEIVED A FRAUD TEXT THAT THE RESTAURANT TRIED TO CHARGE HER CARD. This was not authorized. We called the restaurant and they denied that they tried to do this.

As a large group of young women, we felt like they saw as an easy target to take advantage of. Please check your bill before paying. They were completely unprofessional, and the food was...

We came here for their guest chef event featuring Chef Vanda Asapahu of Ayara Thai in Los Angeles. It is a beautiful setting. The facility changed hands during Covid and has been remodeled. It is lovely and we always enjoy the environment and dining poolside. There were four of us and we wanted to participate in the 5 course chef special meal they were offing that night for $98 per person. One of the gentlemen in our group had an allergy to shrimp and crab and they flawlessly accommodated him and substituted other items. Overall the food was sublime and the service was excellent. This is a story about how the little things can spoil the whole evening. Everything was wonderful until the server brought the check and informed us that she had added the 'large table gratuity' to the check. She commented that we could add more if we chose but it was not necessary. At first blush I didn't think much about it. Although I didn't think a table of four should qualify as a 'large table'. Then I noticed that she had added a 25 percent gratuity. Now, I might have chosen to add a 25 percent gratuity anyway, but the idea that it had been thrust upon me for our table of four really irritated me. Friends of ours had dined here a few weeks earlier and said they were charged $3 extra for the blue cheese stuffed olives they requested with their martinis that little incident ruined their experience to the point that they said they would never come back. This type of greed/gouging might be fine with the tourists who may never come here again, but for locals, it is a real turn off and spoils what would have otherwise been a...

We called for a reservation. We were told originally there’s nothing until 11 o’clock. We asked if there was anything earlier and were told eight or 830 they could save a table. When we arrived there were at least 10 table empty plus if there was nobody there to see us we had to go find somebody. We finally got seated poolside ordered coffee and juice asked if we wanted to menu we said yes and they brought us one menu to share. My husband and I ordered different meals. When the meals arrived in a timely manner they were exactly the same except for the potatoes. My meal said it came with hash. Their version of hash yes potatoes with brussels sprouts. My husband‘s details were grilled and we both asked for eggs over easy which came out quite firm. We have a hard time trying to get a salt and pepper shaker which we finally did plus my husband and order the third egg which she did not get finally came out and it was over hard. We were never offered a refill on coffee Orange juice. We used to eat here at this restaurant under the previous owner and never had a problem. Granted they have only been operating under the new ownership since March 1 and I will actually give them a pass because I am a former restaurant tour. I will say it was a decent breakfast but not worth $50 for...