Palm House — Restaurant in San Francisco

It’s been awhile since I last ate at Palm House. My colleagues from other locations were coming for a statewide conference here in the city, and it just so happens to be SF Restaurant Week. The menu looked good so after showing it to my colleagues, we decided to have dinner there.

Well, looks like there was some miscommunication. The waitress said that the kitchen found out last minute about the restaurant participating at restaurant week and so they ran out of many of the items on the restaurant week menu, so they stopped serving it…. I appreciate the waitress apologizing on behalf of the restaurant and promoting the menu so we can come back later on in the week. Well, the conference ends on Tuesday afternoon, so unfortunately my colleagues won’t be able to make it as plans for dinner for the time here have been set.

So we ordered off the regular menu. I got the Luau Bowl with teriyaki chicken. It was okay. The teriyaki sauce was more on the sweet side, which is fine, and on the thicker side. Chicken was a little dry. The edamame and pineapple didn’t have much flavor. I enjoyed the salad. I did eat almost the entire plate as I was hungry.

I also ordered chips and dip to share and that was pretty good. The chips were very crunchy and the dip was nice and oniony.

Menus are now available when scanning a QR code and you can easily split the bill. This helps since we’re here on business and we can easily pay for our own portions and get reimbursed accordingly. But since the menus are online, we didn’t get much service, aside from finding out they stopped the restaurant week menu. No one checked on us to see how we were doing.

I like the tropical vibes of the Palm House. It would’ve been nice to sit on the patio to dine al fresco, especially because it got so noisy inside from just one party celebrating a birthday. But it was chilly and they hadn’t turned on the heat lamps. Plus, the bartender said we can choose from one of the three tables, so we just sat there.

Whenever I pass by the Palm House during brunch hours, the place is always packed. Considering I had a mediocre experience for the two times I’ve dined here for dinner on a restaurant week, I should probably try their brunch on a regular day.

A lot of my friends ask me for restaurant recs, and I’m a bit embarrassed for recommending this place out of the many menus I looked through for restaurant week. I was hoping things have changed since the last time I ate here years ago, also during a restaurant week. Restaurant week is supposed to showcase the restaurant and a chance to get more regular customers. I had a mediocre experience the last time 9 years ago, and unfortunately I had to delete that review to make room for this one. I’m disappointed I had a mediocre experience again.

But maybe brunch is...

Let me preface by saying I'm not from around here. I ended up in this neighborhood due by happenstance and started walking around for a while, searching for food. I saw the unique exterior of Palm House and it's 40+ foot palm tree and immediately added it to my short list. After walking around a bit more, I made my way back to the cozy eatery. I was greeted promptly by the bar tender, and, being alone, sat at the bar to get some food and a drink. I started by ordering a Palm House Slushy; unfortunately they had just turned the slushy machine off for the night. No worries, he recommended the Southern Vacation cocktail to me and I went with it. This was a fantastic cocktail, meaning that it actually tasted good and was not overpowered by the bourbon within. Whilst I sipped on the Southern Vacation, I ordered two tacos: The People's Taco and Hawaiian BBQ Pork. Fewer than 5 minutes went by when two tacos appeared in front of me. The tacos were a bit smaller than I expected, especially for nearly five dollars each. That said, I'm aware this is not a cheap area and prices will reflect that. Any concerns of price immediately vaporized after my first bite of The People's Taco. This is a BBQ brisket taco in a crunchy fried shell. I ate it too fast to really pay attention to the flavors in much detail - not because I was hungry, necessarily, but because this was the best damn taco I've ever eaten in my life. It definitely had me wishing it were larger. The Hawaiian BBQ Pork taco, a more traditional street style taco, was also excellent, especially with a squeeze of lime on top, though not quite on the same level as the People's with it's crunchy shell. One more drink and another taco, please! I absolutely recommend Palm House to those looking for a place to eat and drink - if the rest of the menu is as good as what I sampled, you...

[Ambiance] Moved to this neighborhood recently and was looking forward to exploring the weekend scene. Just a casual walk on union street and this seemed to be most happening spot on Union street. The reason? Fancy tropical like vibes for outdoor seating living upto its name and lots of goreous lights. It seemed pretty busy but they had an indoor table available right away, we were a party of three and wanted to wait for outdoor seating which took about 20 minutes. The hostess was super friendly and cheerful and texted us when the table was ready. [Drinks] The drinks were AMAZING! Tried their special chipotle mango margarita with a spicy rum and it was yummm! As a mezcal and spice lover, couldn't pass on the other highlight from the menu which was Paradise Cantina. It has mezcal and the right flavors of jalapeno. [Food] For the food, being a vegetarian, I ordered the sweet potato fries with the veggie fajitas which was shared between two of us and the portion was pretty reasonable. Overall limited vegetarian options on the menu. The fajitas came with a side of rice, beans and sauces and the dish was pretty average, I felt that the veggies were too dry, and should have a little saucy. The rice and beans weren't as fresh as well. The sweet potato fries were BOMB, and highly recommend trying for the right amount of crisp and soft and flavor. I would probably go again just for the fries and drinks. [Covid guidelines] Staff wears masks, menu is scanned on phones through a QR code which is great. I don't think the tables were too far...