Review Cafe Palms - Essendon

Cafe Palms is a traditional Italian restaurant and is owned by a lovely italian family. As you enter you have a nice welcome by one of their friendly staff. The menu has many options to choose from. if you have any Allergies or dietary requirements such as Gluten free most of the meals can be easily adjusted to your requirements. They offer vegetarian and pescatarian. I ordered the flavourful avocado pasta and loved it for its creaminess. It was so good we tried to work out the recipe. I came back and ordered the same. It took about 30 to 45 minutes for the food to come out after ordering. The average price for a main meal was about $20. The service was amazing the best service I have ever had and the staff treated you like family. I barely noticed the time that went past due to the Liveliness in the restaurant and all the family photos in Italy on the wall. I recommend not going all ready staving due to the wait but the wait but it will be worth it if you do.

Just wanted to say thank you so much for the hospitality received for the is amazing place!!amazing food and family friendly where they have amazing food!! Thank you to the owners that have been amazing and highly recommend people to come try out there food.

Overall amazing experience would highly recommend feels like I’m in a small town Italy , service was lovely and warm food was absolutely amazing will definitely be back

Dropped in on strength of Google review for a late meal. Was very happy with the service and meal. Thanks!

Great place and friendly accommodating staff. Food never fails to please.

Delicious Italian food served by a lovely Lady Can't wait to go back and try the Seafood Risotto as they had run out on the night i was there...must be popular....so it must be yum 😄

First time their. Good old fashioned Italian restaurant. No complaints. Big meal sizes and good service. The night that I was their it was very much an older crowd of dinners. I think that most have been going their for years. The owner informed me that the resterant had been going for more than 30 years. I will go back. It's walking distance from my home

As always the food and service where excellent. Would recommend them to anyone

Great family run restaurant, delicious food and friendly service. Date night was full filled with garlic prawns, antipasto and gnocchi bolognese. Devoured tiramisu for desert which was the best I have ever tasted. Definitely will come back again with family or friends.

Expensive place and not enough food. The old lady start to forget to put meat in the plates. NEVER go again and I can’t say a good work to locals. Lucky we have many choices around. <br/> By fake smiles eaters can’t be happy. <br/>

Whilst the pasta and gnocchi were quite good, the evening was spoilt by the poor service: inordinate delays in getting any attention, very slow delivery of meals (20 minutes for a basic dessert), billing for larger serves which were not asked for, but were charged. Attention paid to regular customers; but only slight regard for others. And certainly not "kiddie friendly" in terms of prices. Overall disappointing - good chefs let down by the inattention and indifference of the waitress.

We have been going here for years. Service is always good likewise the food. Last night I had the flounder - it was delicious- my husband had the avocado chicken and really enjoyed his meal- the place was fully occupied and no wonder.

My wife and I have been eating here for many years, Michael and Maria are very good people but more importantly they are great hosts, always willing to make you welcome, if you get the chance to eat here, try the veal scallopino and the tiramisu for desert.

I suggested Cafe Palms for a quick informal catch up mid week. I was a little worried when I read the reviews. I need not have worried. It seems the owners have, on this occasion, heeded previous reviews and improved the service. Food was served quickly. We ordered pasta and each of us enjoyed our meals. The staff happily accommodated requests to 'share desserts.' Coffee was good. Prices very reasonable. The rating is for what it is: a local, friendly cafe. We intend to eat there again for a quick, informal, casual meal in a welcoming environment.

Poor. Took an hour and a half to get mains, don't get any service unless your Italian. Last time I checked pasta and sauce dosnt take this long.

Not impressed. We got there at the appointed time of 8.30 and had to wait for a table to vacate.<br/><br/>8.45 ordered meal <br/><br/>9pm asked when meal would be ready and was told by owner not long.<br/><br/>10pm got served............need I say more?????

When we go out for a meal, it has to be better than what I can dish up at home. So this place is my "go-2" place when I can't cook for some reason. Authentic Italian meals your Nonna would whip up. Nice serving. Yes, owner pays more attention to her friends but I'm out of there once we've eaten.

I am currently sitting at my table waiting for (no exaggeration) my food which is two hours late. Our reservation was for 6:30 pm and we arrived on time. It has taken 50 minutes to even order out food and we are still waiting. We have been approached about there not being enough gnocchi and changes had to be made to orders. I am absolutely disgusted in the lack of service and not one apology has yet been issued. This food better be bloody top notch.

Went at palms few times and I always had a great service and fantastic food!<br/>Starters are awesome,especially the lovely bruschetta and oysters.<br/>I had an entree of pasta the first time and gnocchi the second time I went there and they were absolutely delicious but what really impressed me was the meat!! So fresh and well cooked! Definitely back again!!

Service very slow. We are fairly regular diners here, and service tends to be on the slow side. Last night was an exception - service was deplorable - 40 minutes after seating to ordering is not acceptable. Normally good bruschetta was poor. Mains were the usual good home-cooked Italian fare, that we go for.<br/>We will go back, but better service is expected.

Food lacks flavour and ridiculously overpriced. There is nothin authentic about any of the 4 dishes we tried. Could Make something much tastier with packet pasta and a can of tomatoes.

Terrifying. I would like to talk about the food, however we never made it to being able to order. We were seated near the entrance and ignored. I don't want to sound like an annoying restaurant goer, because I'm not, but this service (or lack of) was disgusting. We ended up just grabbing our bottle of wine and taking off. Nothing from the staff. No-one seemed to care. After reading that others noticed the staff playing favourites, I would have to agree. <br/><br/>Sharpen up Palms. Or you'll be gawn!

Went here for the first time service is very slow but food was good they were polite but a bit slow every thing was good mains and desert except for garlic bread and coffee both were terrible overall it was an okay evening I would give them 6.5 out of 10 :) worth trying

Great old style Italian food. If you love traditional Italian dishes that are big and full of flavour, you'll love Cafe Palms. We dined here recently for a birthday celebration and the food was lovely. The service is friendly, although they do allow you probably a little bit too much time between sitting, giving you menus then taking your orders. Maybe so as to not have a huge rush of orders in the kitchen? Not sure, but the food is worth the wait.

Love this restaurant! Make sure you book a reservation. Staff are always friendly and food is great!

Great place to eat!. Love the food, atmosphere & owners treat you like family! Everyone needs to have a go! Love it!

Great location for a restaurant just pity about the service. Went there for a birthday celebration, location good decor good service atrocious and food mediocre. The one waitress mesed up our order forgot to get our wine, got the wrong order. We intended having a great night out but we cut it short and had dessert and coffee at another restaurant. Seriously I could not recommend this place.

Lack of service. Food mediocre and unless you know the owner service is terrible. Owner focuses on her friends and pays no attention to other diners. I could cope if she at least showed some care but after taking a group there once never again

We think it's ace. We go to palms as they always remember us, we are treated like family and so are our 5 children. Traditional Italian home made pasta. Gnocci is superb!!