You're right - you don't need to print anything. Just dine by 8/19 which is the last day of the deal. Enjoy!

Well, I usually like to give a place more than a couple chances so Mrs Sweet Willie & I went to the Palm this evening. I was inspired by this thread. Having not been impressed with the Palm's steaks, I thought we would go for the lobster.

Bar was hopping, restaurant was dead at 6:30pm on a Thursday night. Only 8 other tables were filled.

Ceasar salad was quite good despite no anchovies. Wife said the house salad had way too much dressing.

We chose a 5lb lobster which when it came had the body of a 5lb but not the tail. I've had more meat out of 2lb lobster than what we experienced this evening. This lobster had been sitting around for quite awhile and with no exercise, the tail muscle shrinks to the skimpy thing it was.

Hash Browns are 1/2" strips of red potato and were good but SWIMMING in butter

Grilled Asparagus were quite tasty, done right ^

so-so wine list, not a wide selection for a steakhouse.

This last experience has pretty much made up my mind that I will not be returning to the Palm.

--

Were the claws of decent size at least?

Where Where Where Where?

Always looking for new places up there.

I see that you are in Laguna Niguel...It might be easier to come on down to SAN where they just opened near Petco Park/Gaslamp. I drive up to San Clemente/Dana Point several times a month and it rarely takes me more than 45-60 mins and it is a much much more enjoyable drive.

I have a reservation for tomorrow @ L.A. On MapQuest it was a few miles closer and then I thought it might be nice to try one of the original locations.

However, having read the notes above by Sweet Willie....I'm a little skeptical now

I also was not thrilled to call the other day and hear their corkage fee is $30

Tie on a bib, grab a table and enjoy.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/hBqDQGJcIfi3XyKYbZKhJg
So helpful....a site with TWO reviews of the Palm in L.A. -- one good & one bad

http://www.frommers.com/destinations...es/D40901.html
But Frommer's likes it

Oh well....I guess I'll get the real story when I go tomorrow

Yes, atrophy had played a part here was well but not near to the extent that was present with the tail.

They can be overcooked. It's criminal.

Had a reservation for 7:00 but traffic delayed us till almost 7:15. When we went to the front desk, I gave them our name and asked if we could have �somewhere quiet�. He offered �quietER� and I said OK. My husband came in 5-10 minutes later from parking the car and we were seated. Either the guy at the front didn�t remember the �quietER� part or just blew us off because we were seated at a small table in the very middle of the restaurant

My first impression was it was MUCH noisier than I expected � so much so it made conversation difficult. And although I had briefly noted a photo of the restaurant on their website, it really looked nothing like I thought it might. Instead of a �nice restaurant� it came across more as a loud pub.

I had picked a Thursday night thinking it might be less crowded and easier to get a reservation than Fri or Sat. I was wrong. Although there were not crowds waiting to get in, it looked completely full inside. Half way thru dinner, a huge group of Japanese people filed out from upstairs and go onto a bus waiting outside!

We chose the 5 lb lobster for two, with caesar salad, fried asparagus, and �half & half� (half onion strings and half potato chips). Unusual side dishes for us actually because we don�t order much fried food. We also decided to skip wine (which is also unusual for us) and have water.

He told the asst waiter to bring us water + maybe he didn�t hear him. Then our waiter was nowhere to be seen. Then we asked another waiter for water. Then our waiter returned and apologized profusely and we ended up with TWO glasses of water.

I had read reports of snobby waiters and we were lucky that we had a good waiter. He asked us if we had been before + we said no. He said, �You�re not from L.A.?� We told him �Orange County�. He said they have been there 30 years, where have we been? He couldn�t believe we hadn�t been to ANY of their restaurants ANYWHERE. However, the asst waiter must have been perturbed that we had to ask for water twice because he never gave us the time of day after that.

The salad arrived very quickly. It was not very large, was below average and didn�t impress either of us.

Then came the bibs and utensils, followed by the side dishes. The �half & half� is a plate stacked 6� high and the fried asparagus (fortunately) was very lightly battered.

Then came the lobster. It was already split down the middle and each person is served one half on a silver platter. The claw is detached and the asst waiter breaks it open for you. The body of the lobster was stuffed with some sort of spinach mix (that wasn�t really appealing even tho I like spinach). There was a dish with at least 6 oz of butter for EACH OF US.

My first impression was that the tail didn�t look very big for a 5 lb lobster. I had envisioned left-overs because a 5 lb lobster dinner sounded very large to me�.but turns out it wasn�t.

The fried asparagus was good, the fried onion strings were good � but neither were great. The lobster was very good, which I guess is the most important thing.

For us, the loud chaos of the restaurant really detracts from a having a relaxed enjoyable dinner. So while we enjoyed the lobster, I wouldn�t say we enjoyed the environment.

As all the food came so quickly, I couldn�t believe we had been seated, ordered, and eaten in barely ONE HOUR. Turns out to be a good thing we had skipped a bottle of wine, as I�m not sure we�d have had time to finish it.

The manager came over, introduced himself, and said he heard this was our first visit + welcome. This was followed by the �where have you been?��. He told us he was giving us a complimentary cheesecake and hoped we returned. I told my husband that free cheesecake had been mentioned in some reviews.

The cheesecake that arrived was a huge portion and very very good.

Then the bill arrived and we found we were charged for the cheesecake�.so we had to wait while we flagged down the waiter and got it revised.

All in all, the lobster and cheesecake were the highlights of the evening. Were they worth driving an hour to L.A. for? No. I�m sure they serve great steaks there, but there are plenty of places in Orange County that do, so we won�t be trekking to The Palm to try theirs.

We appreciate a nice dinner out and this did not feel like a nice dinner out. As for leftovers, we left the 2 lbs of fried onion strings and potatoes behind, easily ate the lobster we were served, and came home with half a piece of cheesecake

When in college, Waltham market sold large(5-9lb) lobsters very cheap($0.59-0.79 a pound). they were considered much less desirable than small 1-2 lb lobsters as they were tougher, and less sweet.

we bought many, steamed them, and chopped them up for salads, chinese, etc.

A 5-9 pounder would yield very close to 50% of weight in meat. A 5 lb lobster should have over 2 lbs of meat, not counting the stuff in the legs

It DEFINITELY didn't I guess you have to take their word it's 5 lbs, but I would guess that on my plate the tail portion was maybe 6-8 ounces and the claw portion was about 4-5 ounces. Neither of us felt it was difficult to consume our half and neither of us left stuffed. When my husband gets back, I'll ask what his estimate of the net portions were -- you know how men and women view measurements differently It was tender tho, so that's very important ^

because of all the cracking of crustaceans? Thanks for the report.

Cute Asked hubby and his estimate was that we each had about 8-12 ounces of lobster meat. Absolutely no way there was 2 or 2 1/2 lbs of meat from the lobster. Guess we should've ordered the 6lb'r