The Joel Palmer House offers an Oregon dining experience like no other. They blend tradition and innovation in a seasonally changing prix-fixe menus, forest-to-table wild mushroom dishes, and unmatched cellar of Willamette Valley wine. Chef/Owner Christopher Czarnecki’s four generations of family restaurant experience guides a dynamic team in ensuring every guest comes away with the glow of warm hospitality and a true taste of place.
About Joel Palmer House
Reviews & Ratings
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July 13, 2025Michelle NTerrible
This place is the worst restaurant I have ever seen in my life. They set over-charged pricing on terrible service and appetizers. We waited over an hour for a drink, and were still waiting 2+ hours after a salad. PASS
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June 9, 2025daddyrusses1Great concept, poor execution.
We chose the Joel Palmer House because of the unique Omakase tasting experience, which is a 10-course, chef-curated menu. We also chose the location for it's extensive wine collection as we are all wine lovers and a good Sommelier and a great collection usually make the dining experience a memorable one. The evening started off well with a proper greeting by our Sommelier who would also serve as our main server for the meal, with other Jr. servers handling the delivery of many of the courses. Unfortunately, that is where the evening started to slowly go downhill. The first few courses were spot on. The presentation, flavors, and temperature were all good. We started with a nice bottle of sparkling wine (not a proper Champagne but méthode champenoise nonetheless). We then discussed the white wine that we wanted next and described in detail the White Burgundian style that our table was looking for. Not a light Chablis and not over-oaked. Bright and well-balanced is what we wanted. What we got was flat, one-dimensional, and lacking any character. The wine wasn't served in a proper Chardonnay glass, it was served in a Riesling glass, which is much smaller and does not have the opening required to properly enjoy the nose. We all agreed that the wine wasn't spoiled, but it wasn't a $225 bottle of Chardonnay either. While we were still charged for the bottle, we were offered a small pour of a local Chardonnay ($75 per bottle) as a consolation. This time, the head Sommelier came out and accommodated our request for the correct glasses. In addition to the Chardonnay, we had chosen a 2003 Arcus from Archery Summit. I asked our Somm if he would recommend decanting that particular wine or not. He said he would absolutely decant that wine due to its age. I was skeptical, but wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. Fortunately for us, he forgot and did not decant the 2003 Pinot Noir, which was solid in its own right. We had three bottles of wine. Two of which were recommended by their Somm and the 2003 Arcus was a wine that I selected myself based on the winery and the specific vineyard. As the night moved on, the courses slowly degraded to the point where one of the courses was inedible. The final 4 courses were obviously prepared in advance and held either under lamps or other holding mechanisms to be kept warm. The sturgeon was so tough it had to be cut with a steak knife, and was so chewy it had to be spit out. The Duck was so dry and the sauce had sat on the hot plate so long it had coagulated. The steak was served between room temperature and lukewarm. I will pay handsomely for a great multi-course meal and love the excitement of not knowing what the next course will entail. But when I spend $900 for two people, you simply cannot miss and this night contained more misses than it did hits. Great concept, poor execution.
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October 24, 2024alanlY6330ZW
Not worth it anymore
I used to love this restaurant. The food is still good, but the service is pompous and the Sommelier was useless. The wine list is so long as to be unnavigable even if you have some wine experience so you really do need help. The service staff hovered over the other table in our room and pretty much ignored us. The fixed price menu forces you to eat (and pay) more than you want.
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May 2, 2024HollyC757
Wanted to like it more
First the good things- the desserts were great ( and the best part of the meal). The ambiance is pleasant as is the waitstaff who are young and a bit unpolished but trying to do their best. We were looking forward to mushroom- focussed dishes but often the mushroom flavor was missing or was an afterthought. One dish which was more mushroomy was the mushroom soup and it was good. The beef stroganoff with mushrooms was in a creamy herb sauce and that dominated the tastes, not the beef or the mushrooms. The sommelier had suggested a Pinot noir to pair with it ( naturally- we are in Pinot territory here) but we did not feel that worked well because the flavors weren’t deep. We also had the scallops with pea shoot pesto- it was nice, presented in a very pretty way with flowers, but not about emphasizing mushrooms and not really a knock out dish considering the price. And in the end, that’s what it comes down to- we thought the food was a B+ and as it was expensive, not worth it. We also weren’t impressed by the suggested wine pairings but we were impressed that the prices seemed quite high! One last caveat- we weren’t particularly hungry when we went for dinner and we got the simplest 3 course menu (which was plenty of food)maybe if we’d been hungrier the food would have tasted better. We would not go back but as others have given it good reviews, would not dissuade someone from trying it.
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June 22, 2023gernert l
Not up to par.
Not a good experience, mushroom soup was horrible. Very salty. Would not go back again. Way too expensive for the experience.