Barbuda Beach Mallorca — Restaurant in Calvià

Eating at Barbuda left me and 6 others underwhelmed, disappointed and dis-satisfied.

With the location, atmosphere and look of Barbuda being great, my group had high expectations. Yet there were frustration signs. While we got a booking quickly when we visited the restraunt, I had no personal communication from Barbuda through online booking before. Similarly, while staff were polite and friendly, we had to wait an hour and 20 from sitting down to getting our starters. While these things discredited Barbuda, we were not discouraged, as we understood the busy nature of the restraunt business. Our disappointment truelly came in the food.

My tuna stake looked lovely. It was presented professionally, with neat slices, flowers and a delicate tower of quinoa... but having waited 80 minutes, recieved it somewhat cold, to taste NO SEASONING, with a basic dollop of guacamole as the sauce to complement it... I was underwhelmed. This cost me €23. I could of made it at our AirB&B for €6. I would have understood the issue if it was singular, but both of my friends recieved well done burgers, not the MR they ordered. Similalry my friends pizzas came out cold, having had us staring at them on the pass for nearly 10 minutes. This was not a single failure then, but a great limitation to the way the kitchen was running that night.

For a average "bar & grill" i wouldnt of complained, and prehaps my expectations were too high going into the restraunt. But too pay nearly €40, for a late, bland and somewhat cold meal was not for me. There's potential here, with good drinks, polite staff and a gorgeous location, but don't go expecting food anything better than the other "bar & grills"...

Having been at the neighbouring hotel for almost a week we have intended to come to the restaurant to have a couple of cocktails as the atmosphere seemed good and the location is great. We did decide to come for an iced coffee on our first morning which was great and staff were lovely.

We finally decided to come in tonight for cocktails only, and were asked by the front of house staff if sitting at the bar was ok due to other tables being reserved for food. We were happy with this as typically we like the social aspect of sitting at a bar for drinks anywhere, however when we were sat down we were handed a drinks menu and were not acknowledged from that point.

We could see that the bar staff were busy making cocktails so did not interrupt, however would have expected to at least be acknowledged at some point. We continued sitting there for roughly 20 minutes, and saw that a member of the waiting staff and the bar staff had looked at us and pointed - so were well aware we were still waiting to be served and yet still did not acknowledge us directly. As we had been sat there for a while, we put the menu to aside and decided to leave. We still do not know who, out of the bar or floor staff, were supposed to serve us as we were seemingly sat and forgotten about.

I am sure the restaurant itself, drinks and food, are lovely… however find it a shame that the staff were not at all willing to speak or serve us at any point. A simple “we will be with you in a few minutes” would...

We visited for dinner yesterday.

I asked the server if any seafood dishes could be made gluten free, and specifically the sea bass. The server told me they can switch out the mash for fries.

When the food arrived, it came with a sauce on the side. I've had celiac disease for 15 years, so I was suspicious of the sauce immediately. We asked the hostess if the sauce is gluten free, and she asked another staff member, presumably manager. The manager checked and told me it's not gluten free and quickly apologized and was about to run off. My husband had to basically exclaim them to give me at least ketchup with the fries. These sort of mistakes cannot happen with allergens, and I felt that the apology was rushed, nearing on begrudging, and the oversight was not taken seriously. I understand that gluten free demands mean extra work, but as their menu has some gluten free markings, I would expect them to then be able to deal with gluten free guests.

Overall the restaurant was overly busy too, our table got pushed around by servers midway through our meal, and servers started asking if we were done barely 30-40 minutes into sitting down. Food did come almost questionably fast after ordering, but this is not a spot for a nice calm meal, which is what I'd hope for with these prices. Cocktails were great though, no...