Las Palmeras — Restaurant in Sunset Beach

My daughter and I were eating and I said to her, this is my favorite restaurant around here, because I really liked my food..... THEN!..... My daughter points to a roach! LA CUCARACHA! Instantly, I was done with 5 shrimp to go and half of the 1 beer. I had. I pointed out Steven to staff and was instantly told that a manager would be alerted to which no one came to discuss it. Finally our apologetic server returned with an excuse of they sometimes come in the produce and that the restaurant is clean. Oddly enough, I have quite a bit of knowledge about restaurants and I stated to her, that this was not about cleaning. She returned with a bill. My daughter and I looked at each other having a complete mental conversation. As you read this, whatever you are thinking, we felt the same. The roach was on the wall, then behind the wall trim, then I to the napkins, around the salt, then back in the wall. We all saw it and I received the bill with no discussion with leadership. My 15.00 tip I had planned was reduced to 4.00. I paid the $44+ change tab and we departed. The cost of not thinking my daughter and I were worth time is this review. It is 2023. We deserved far better than we received at this establishment. I do many things and have to soon update my own ServSafe for supervisors, in my case, owner. I consult in business for a bakery, and I also own a multi-service company that includes pest control with a public health pest certification. I have cooked in many restaurants. I can tell you with all certainty that if a roach is seen in the front of the house, not only is the infestation out of control; it is also a neglected problem and every patron is unwittingly consuming them in whole(s), or by part(s), totaling the same. It is my recommendation that any future visits to roachville be eliminated. I have seen roaches in restaurants that are so prolific and neglected in treatment that albinoism is present. In higher breeding rates these roaches may at times turn green in color with high populations. I can go on but I should not. I need to stop thinking about it. The apathy of it is really disturbing.

Answer to reply: I am not a keyboard warrior, but again as previously explained, this is not about cleanliness. Clean all you can, and desire to do so with your whole heart. My solution remains the same. Mitigation is your first step. Ensure insect prevention protocols are in place and followed to the letter. Then lose the apathy and take care of those who bring considerations to you that actually pay the expenses and salaries(customers). Insects like everything a restaurant has; warmth, food, and moisture. Seal all cracks and intrusions. Affix and seal all loose trim. Repair any loose drainage pipes and leaks. Ensure seals to walk in function properly and are free of grease and debris. Get on a good pest management plan and listen to the technician. You can't clean infestation away. Take better care of your customers. We choose to give you our money. I am aware that if I wanted to eat rice, beans, salsa, and a few shrimp at home I could do it much cheaper than what I choose to pay when out. Love that place so it can love you back. Take care of...

So, let me preface by saying, we have eaten here countless times over the years, and this last visit, will surely be my last.

Sitting down, THE MENUS are GROSS, food all caked in them and sticky, if you can't clean a menu, how clean do you expect the rest of the restaurant to be? It took 10 minutes for someone to come to the table. She was very misunderstanding of what we wanted which was simply Modelo, a Margarita, and 2 waters. Sure, English isn't her best suit, no problem. The dishes for our salsa had bits of stuff in the bottom of them, kinda sadly easily wiped out, but the bottles of salsa had crust on the inside of them at the rim, gross. At least the chips were hot.

Waitress brought out drinks in a few minutes, then immediately left again for 10-15 minutes. Came back to take our order, we all ordered pretty simple, I asked for an additional side of beans with mine.

20 minutes later, the food arrives, my plate came with rice on it and a side of rice. I asked her about the beans, and she argued with me saying "you did not ask for that, you asked for rice" I mean really? Then takes the extra plate of rice from in front of me. She did come back with beans hot and cheesed. Kinda frustrated to be argued with over beans but whatever.

I had ordered the fajitas quesadillas, with shrimp and chicken. 1 of the 3 shrimp was undercooked, still blueish/translucent, and the fajitas were literally 60% bell peppers with a whole slice of tomato in one of them. They taste pretty decent though so there's that. The sour cream salad came with guac which was usually extra and was a nice touch, but that's about the end of it.

The food was alright but cleanliness was NOT, and the service was just terrible. ALSO the prices??? This place used to be the cheap place to go, now it's $21 for shrimp fajitas, that aren't even that great???? Go to Shallotte instead. A 16 oz Margarita was $8.50, the 32 oz was... $21.99???? That was on the menu, and what was charged. None of their prices make sense. It seems to be close to $20 for anything decent on the menu, and at that point, there are EXTREMELY better options around, and for cheaper.

Overall I just cannot recommend this place, and it seems lots of others who have eaten here for the first time, and those that were regulars at some point, are now disgusted when they eat here. I wouldn't be surprised to hear if they closed down for health concerns, you leave feeling like you need a shower lol.

Sorry to say this place has ended up in my do not...

A bit lengthy, but here goes. We have dined here a few times and really liked it-was my wife's favorite Mexican restaurant. It's about a half hour to 40 minute drive to get there. We arrive around 5:30 and it's mostly empty. We get seated immediately, waitress takes our drink order-I order Modelo on draft-she comes back-were out of Modelo Especiale on draft. OK Dos Equis is fine-they have that. We all place our orders- I ordered the Fajitas Texanas-same as always. The rest of our party-6 Ladies order also. Waitress brings our food out shortly- hands me the rice, beans and guacamole. The rice and beans are not even warm to the taste-she brings out the rest of the food except for one of the ladies in our party. I ask her to please take my food back and heat it because the food is not hot. She brings it back, but the plate is hot, and again, the food is not. She finally brings out the rest of my order along with the other ladies dinner-which was not what she ordered. She sends it back. Now anybody that goes to a Mexican restaurant and orders Fajitas can hear that skillet sizzling when it comes out. Mine was not sizzling, was not hot, and the portion size was not what I was used to receiving there-my dinner was almost $21.00. I ask her to take it back and bring it out on a sizzling plate. She comes back- again plate not sizzling-food warm. Now-the whole time we are waiting for our food and drinks-the entire staff was sitting and walking around a booth diagonally from us. They were eating, conversing among themselves, playing on their cell phones. I've NEVER been to a restaurant where this was allowed. So, finally I get up to look for a manager because our waitress never came to check on us. I walk up to a younger guy with his hair pulled back and dyed red and ask him if the manager was in so I could speak to him. He said no the manager wasn't and is there something I needed. He said he was the owners son. I proceed to tell him what transpired, His response "I don't know what to tell you" I asked him you're the manager and that's your response? He said I don't know what to tell you". I thanked him and told him we won't be back-he said goodbye! I don't know what happened to this place but safe to say not coming back and won't recommend it to anyone. I'll go to Adela's in North Myrtle Beach....