The Palms

Nasty and horrid. First of all, we sit down and discover part of the "charm" of this place is that you cook your own steak (unless you choose the pricey option of pairing it with another entire entree.)  FYI; I go out to dinner to be served and take a break from cooking......So I chose the more expensive option, shrimp paired with a filet mignon. What a joke! My steak was definitely not a filet cut I can tell you that. It was a somewhat large, flat, thin, super dry and completely flavorless something. The worst steak I have EVER had. The coconut shrimp was super sweet and tasted like pink cool-aid or something. The salad bar was mediocre at best, not much selection with super greasy croutons and NO fresh green vege's (but tons of beets). The atmosphere is what was considered chic dining in the 50's maybe and did not seem very clean. The service was friendly when we first sat down, but she never came back to ask how the food was or if we needed anything else. Even at the end of the meal, sit was pretty obvious  we were not at all pleased so she just dumped the check and left. We would NEVER go back to this place and we visit Carpinteria often.

My family and I have been coming here every summer for years. It's a great place and a unique experience. All  those reviewers who were horrified about cooking their own meat should have looked more closely at the menu. There are plenty of choices that can be prepared for you, but to me that would defeat the reason for coming here. It's all about the experience!

This place was a bizarre experience. When my family and I arrived I was surprised to see that the menu called for people cooking their own meals. I had a problem with this for several reasons.
First the grill was not clean. Do I  want to dine out and cook my own meal? No I want to take a break from that. I am not talking about cooking it by handing it to the chef, I am talking about actually walking across the room and cooking it on a tiny grill.  There was not an adjustment button to control the flames. How can I cook a good steak on a one temp low temp grill? On top of cooking my own meal the idea of cleaning a restaurant grill first before cooking the meal doesn't sound appealing. .
Second, why on earth would there be the option of chicken, seafood, or steak to cook on one grill next to each other. That is a recipe for food poisoning.
third - the salad bad that we decided to go with -out of safety- turned out to be comical. Iceberg lettuce mix with the choices of cucumbers, black peppercorns ( that looked like seeds) chickpeas, beets, carrots, and several dressings. There were no tomatoes. I do have to say the croutons were delicious. Then the other station was the backed potato and red beans.   I ended up trying to fill up on the potatoes. I went back for a second and they were out, but after a good laugh with my sister the potato tray we refilled.
The staff is very friendly but the inside of the restaurant needs some updates. My sister actually shut off the lights to our dinner table when she accidentally tripped over the power cord and unplugged it. This really wasn't my scene.