I have lived in Ypsi for almost seven years now, and Palm Palace (PP) used to be one of my family's few go-to restaurants locally, and since I have gluten and other food intolerances, this is one of the few places I can still frquent. Unfortunately, as decent as the food may be (from one visit to the next, not so consistent anymore), it is no longer worth the drive from East Ypsi to be treated with such incivility, disdain, misandry and outright disrespect from their staff, specifically from Hoda, who has been there forever (way too long!) and who curiously seems to get almost all of the patrons in her section. Why do you think that might be, given her horrible track record at customer service. Her own managers, hosts and fellow servers have even told me outright that there are many patrons who refuse to be served by Hoda anymore. Why is that?
Hoda has twice ruined my birthday meal over the years with not so much as even an apology for her rudeness and nastiness, not to mention her way too frequent incompetence. I swear, I have said from my first visit that this woman is being protected by someone in management, if she's not sleeping with him. Why else would she great her loyal customers so horribly and with such impunity? I have also seen her treat civil and construction workers like dogs and gotten away with it, and she has on many occasions treated me just the same.
Three times I have called Hoda out to her managers (Dalia, Abdul & Joseph), and even got a Facebook message from the owner, Ahmad Hodroj, but when I told him I wouldn't give him my phone number over FB, that I had already given my business card already to Dawn, my last server there, he got funky and filed a complaint with Facebook against my review post and had me sanctioned. How rich! And, how easily he will dismiss such a well documented complaint--at his own peril, of course.
This is exactly how I would expect an absentee restaurateur to act when he's had his deficiencies called out by an unsatisfied returning customer. I even tried to alert the "fancy-dancy" Ann Arbor Townies community page on FB about PP, but they didn't want to hear it. Just covered up for this POS and sent me a funky sanction notice. You can't make this crap up. But, I will tell you, anyone who tries this hard to cover up for and defend such a vile, loathsome waitress who treats men like dogs at her feet, should have their business license revoked.
Bottom line here is, if you want good food AND good service in Ypsilanti, then find another place to eat. I have seen the reviews online about Palm Palace getting steadily worse over the years, and they all seem to be calling out their slow, poor and inconsistent service more than even the food, which itself has become mediocre at best in recent months. I hope all this helps. This is my first food review on Yelp, if that tells you anything. When the owner refused to even look into these issues, it spoke volumes! Time to take action and move on! read more