Palms Grill

Have been to this place twice. It’s average. Not good and not bad. Not sure how much they charge since the reason I’ve been their was for baptism parties. Overall it’s ok. I wish the quality of food is a bit better.

The place seems like a men’s social club, with card playing and tea drinking, and Arabic TV on the big screen, but they do serve food. The sampler plate was very nice fresh and tasty, and the service was good. Paying was the most difficult part since no one seemed to know how to run a credit card

Some say I’m an adventurous person… other say I am very random. In an attempt to broaden my understanding of the growing middle eastern influence in El Cajon, I visited the Palms Grill with my mother (a woman).
We stepped in at 6:30PM on a Friday and saw several large tables filled with men playing cards to the left (no one eating) and empty tables on the right. No one was there to seat us so we walked up to the counter and had to ask to eat with a response of «what do you want.»
The food was ok, the «bread» was burnt as if it was cook directly over a stove flame. The beef kabob was dry and served with steak sauce (WTF?) and the veggies seemed old.
As the restaurant filled with about 40 people all playing cards, I noticed that my mother was the ONLY woman in the place. No one else was speaking English and no one else was eating. Skip this place entirely and enjoy Ali-​Baba down the street if you want a good meal.

We went here based on the review from San Diego Reader, and it did not disappoint. The owner is welcoming & food is excellent. You can’t ask for much more. We had a sampler plate and everything we tried was fantastic.