PALM HOUSE

Our favorite place in downtown San Francisco! So UNIQUE and WONDERFUL food and beverage choices! Dog friendly with doggie menu! Exceptional attentive and friendly staff! Priced right! Very reasonable!

Bonne ambiance pour un verre en famille

I came here with a fellow foodie to try the SF Restaurant Week dinner menu on the weekend. We had a reservation, but they informed us that they had already sold out of the items. Unfortunately, there wasn't an option to reserve spots specifically for the SF Restaurant Week set meal.

While we were disappointed that we couldn't try the items on the special menu, we found several other items on their online menu, available via QR code on the table, that sounded good. We tried the brussels sprouts and coconut shrimp as appetizers and got the pineapple fried rice as our main dish to share. All the food was great and priced fairly.

What's nice about the online menu is it allows you to request certain ingredients of the dishes be put on the side and even split the check with other dinner guests. This place gets an A+ for service and efficiency.

The only issue other than the SF Restaurant Week menu not being available was the high level of noise inside the restaurant. I sometimes had to yell a bit to talk to my friend, so it would've been nice if things were a bit quieter. I think next time I would opt to eat outdoors when it's warmer, as it seems calmer, and the outdoor patio in front of the restaurant is beautifully decorated and gives a vacation vibe.

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 their forte.

Really fun spot! Loved the laid-back vibe. They have a pool table too in the back. Service was great and staff was knowledgeable on various vegan options. Got the vegan harvest burger but unfortunately I didn’t really like it as the combination of flavors in the patty didn’t work well together in my opinion. I’ll be back to try other vegan options though!