The Palms

The best thing about this place was the customer service! We had a big party and I have to say they were on top of everything. I didn’t cook my own steak but I had to spicy hot wings and I really enjoyed them! I will probably come back if I’m ever in the area! They also offer a great salad bar! Check It out

The prices are reasonable for decent quality meat that you are responsible for cooking yourself. However, their decided lack of baked potato fixings was egregious. I am a person who likes cheese in general, but I found it off putting that they had a strict no cheese policy. Just sour cream and butter. The salad bar was also just iceberg and red cabbage, the service was great, but the waitress who got mildly indignant with me for asking for cheese was disappointing. I will come back, but I will also bring my own cheese.

The palms is comfy and homey. Grill your own steaks. We asked the waiter if the shrimp coctail shrimp were fresh and he said yes but they tasted a bit thawed out and rubbery. Ordered Margaritas and they came in a water glass. Ugh, that is a major pet peeve of mine. (I bet they don’t serve martinis in anything other than a martini glass).

We Frequent The Palms A LOT It is by far my favorite steak house. Jessica makes a KILLER drink «my dirty martini on the rocks» …and Dave and Danny! The salad bar is the BOMB. The atmosphere is so fun and laid back. Love this place :))

I’ve visited the Palms three times and had the salmon each visit. I’m not enthralled about having to cook my own salmon, and one time almost spatula’d the salmon into the embers below the grill. It was a close call. The salad bar is okay, not great. The ambience is old fashioned, 1970’s, which is very comfortable. But the noise level is quite high. We had trouble hearing one another over the roar of others’ conversations.

Yummy. Love this place and we had ribeye salmon and sirloin… Just so outdated but expected in such an awesome lil town

We recently went to The Palms for dinner — this place never disappoints us — it is a hometown restaurant that the locals hang out there and has been there for many moons. From the outstanding wait staff to the friendly atmosphere, to the wonderful food we had — it was a fun food-​filled evening! We opted to have the Salad Bar that comes with baked potato with the works and /​or beans with salsa along with buns. I love their salad bar — it doesn’t get any better than this — yummm — homemade croutons, large black pepper, with many condiments to go with the so fresh lettuce mixture. They have a couple of other types of salad. They have a full bar for those who want to imbibe. Hope you trust our judgement and go have a wonderful evening!

This is one of my favorite places in town. Cheap steaks that kick ass, grill your own food, amazing salad bar, amazing Bloody Mary, live bands. Ignore the Unilocal haters, this place is amazing and a staple of carp

Excellent Customer Service!!!
The moment I walked through the door, I assumed the staff knew me. They were very accommodating and knowledgeable about when to transition their clientele from the bar to the dining area.
While at the bar, I ordered a Vodka Cranberry. Afterwards, I moved to the dining area and placed an order for Hot Wings with honey dipping sauce. My waitress was very courteous and friendly. A smile never left her face and she seemed a natural around her clientele.
I didn’t stay to watch & dance to the live music but perhaps next time.

What a fricken joke. I walk in and it’s dark and dank. Feels like an Elks or Eagles club with the added benefit of having to cook your own steak. The salad bar was a joke and the bartender was as rude as I’ve encountered. We asked if we could be seated in a quieter section of the restaurant because my wife is deaf in her right ear so it’s difficult in loud environments. The host told us the restaurant was full (while I was staring at an tire section that was empty). Immediately after we asked if we could sit at the Bistro tables in the bar and eat, the bartender shouted across the bar that he «sure wish I could encourage you to sit at the bar». When we said the host had told us we could sit at the table and eat, the bartender said, «fine.» And slammed down the placemat/​menus (classy) and butter plate.
This was a dinner for my birthday and my wife wanted to make it special. This place was definitely the exact opposite of special, it was a frickin disaster. As we were leaving, the bartender shouted across the bar, «Goodnight folks!» What a douche. Then, as we were leaving we saw the two locals who followed us in seated in the section that was empty when we were told the restaurant was full. Total Bulls**t! Do not continue to support this rat bag restaurant. Instead patronize Rincon Brewery where they went out of their way to make this a special night!

This may be my new favorite restaurant. The salad bar is delicious, potatoes are great and you cook your own filet, so seriously if you don’t like it, it’s probably your own fault. I will say that the experience does «sort» of depend on what server you get… But for the most part it’s good food for a great price! Also we just went last night, which was a Thursday and they had line dancing. It was so fun to watch them!!!

Là je dis oui !!
C’est trop cool un restaurant où l’on me sert un morceau de viande crue, à faire griller moi-​même comme je veux ! :) J’étais trop américaine sur le coup, je me serais crue être Omer Simpson devant son barbec’, en plus classe, et pas dans un jardin en fait…
Le personnel est sympa, l’IPA fraiche, et le cheesecake est awesome (du coup, j’en reprends deux fois, oooops).
On prend son temps ici, l’ambiance est au top, aussi chaleureuse que les endroits que je fréquente habituellement en Europe.
Une adresse à retenir !

Salad bar had the most delicious croutons. Cook your own Texas toast was a fun adventure. Cook your own entrée was fun too. Nice selection of entrees. We both had the filet. It came wrapped with bacon. You season at grill to your liking and grill away. The grill has 3 levels of cooking. Our filetS were grilled to perfection our way. They also had a pot of beans to scoop your own and top with their yummy spicy salsa. Already baked potatoes await you as well.
The menu also had options they serve cooked already. We opted for the full experience. We will be back. So yummy and reasonable for the serving size.

we always have a great time in this historic landmark
wonderful martinis and cook your own steaks! we enjoy the live bands and dancing
fun time every time!

We’ve been to the palms before and everytime we go it’s a very crowded the wait today was an hour due to the festival was extremely crowded in there and tons of people in the waiting area for the bar made it very noisy
We had the 8oz and 10 oz steak everything was really good salad was fresh, the salad bar was kept up, the potatoes are really good I didn’t really care too much for the beans but my husband did like them. It was delicious

Strong drinks, fun live music! And Natalie the cocktail waitress is the best! So sweet!

Our family loves the Palms! The salad bar with the homemade croutons is the best! Part of the entrees are cook your own on the grill the other choices they cook for you. The rib eye steak dinner is our favorite. All meals come with salad bar, beans, baked potato, French bread and yummy salsa! The Palms is a must try!

I’ve had dinner here roughly 5 times in 5 years and it’s always been a great experience. Cook your own steak concept is unique anymore these days and the salad/​hot bar is great too.

$ 14.95 for the Ribeye dinner? I’ll take it. Very indicative of Carp’s laid back style. Salad bar, Texas toast, beans, baked potato…
You’ve been warned — you cook your own steak.
Have them bring it out absolutely very first thing so that you can get it to room temp. Rub in some salt & pepper — wish they had olive oil to drizzle as well. Medium rare is about 3:00 to 3:15 per side for a ribeye thickness — center of grill. Using that two tined fork is verboten.

You know, I had fun here.
I was meeting my friend here for dinner because I had heard about The Palms. She had, too, but just as I was approaching the restaurant, I saw her go in and jump right out!
She came up to me when I waved at her, and said, «It looks weird inside. I’m not sure about this.»
I told her it’d be fun!
I checked out the décor… seemed like nothing much has changed since maybe the 50’s or 60’s? It looks almost like a busy but depressed Sizzler’s or Denny’s from when I was growing up, but what the hell, this place is an institution!
I went in, our server was super friendly and explained how things worked, and we ordered. Yes, we cooked our own steaks (which I had never done before). Before that, we made our own salads (I think that’s called a salad bar ;)), and the fixings were fresh and basic.
The meat was fresh and I loved having all you can eat baked potatoes. Some of the bottoms of the potatoes were a bit burnt (not so good), but who’s complaining when you can get more? I honestly think that was my favorite part of the meal. Now, if they only had green onions or chives, that would’ve been great (who serves baked potatoes without green onions or chives as a basic topping?), but I had sour cream to tide me through.
In the end, it was an affordable meal and I’d go again without hesitation if somebody wanted to experience it, but I don’t think I’d crave going there (well, maybe for the baked potatoes). I left thinking I enjoyed myself, but couldn’t I have just made steak at home and saved even more money? In a Korean BBQ they marinade and cut up the meat, so that’s work the restaurant does for me. Plus those little dishes. I digress.
My friend and I had a good time, I chatted with some of the other customers (one told me about the excellent french fries, which I’ll have to try next time), and generally, it was a cool experience. Afterwards, I went for a walk through the sleepy town, all the way to the beach. Nice.

What an awesome concept… Cook your own steak! My fiancé and I visited a restaurant similar to this one in downtown SD with the similar concept of cooking your own food on a community grill… & we absolutely feel in love with the whole concept.
Walking up to the restaurant, it has such an old school vibe, located in the heart of Carpinteria’s shops/​beach location. The attire is super casual, chill and kick back. The inside my look a bit «dated» to most, but I just think it goes with the vibe of the restaurant. So it fits.
They have a bar to the left along side a wooden dance floor. That to me got me super excited. The drinks are pretty stiff, a good stiffness.
Our server was very nice. She knew almost everyone that came in, meaning people came to the restaurant more than once because it had to be good. I loved the small town feel our seating area felt.
Now, lets talk FOOD. (I posted a pic of the paper menu, please be advised) my fiancé an I ordered the yummy, one and only RIBEYE Steaks! Good size and not that fatty, $ 14.95 per steak. Included with this price is unlimited salad bar, unlimited bake potatoes, bread and homemade beans. You definitely get your money worth at this restaurant. We will definitely be back and highly recommend this place to anyone an everyone!