Il Tano - Santa Ponça — Restaurant in Calvià

I’ll tano

Il Tano: Where the "Mamma Mia!" Applies to the blandness of the food.

I recently went to Il Tano and had a letdown of an Italian dining experience. I ordered a carbonara that was so bland that it left me speechless. I have noticed that the owner, Francisca, claims that this can be prevented by adding salt to the dish, but the owner might not be to familiarized with Italian cuisine because that is a HUGE RED FLAG in Italy. In an authentic carbonara, salt is handled very specifically during cooking, not left for individual adjustments at the table. Salty Ingredients: Key components of carbonara, like guanciale (cured pork cheek) and pecorino romano cheese, are already quite salty. They contribute a good portion of the flavor without needing additional table salt. Pasta Water Seasoning: The main salting happens when you cook the pasta. Properly seasoned pasta water (think "salty like the sea") adds flavor that gets absorbed by the pasta itself, creating a foundation for the sauce. So, if a restaurant owner (Francisca) tells you to fix a bland carbonara with table salt, it's a sign they are not even familiar with the traditional approach. I also don’t believe that they use guanciale for your carbonara, but I’m sure Francisca will not address this. Furthermore, the pasta was mushy and overcooked, it should have been al dente. Al dente is an Italian term that literally translates to "to the tooth." In Italian cooking, it refers to the ideal texture of cooked pasta. Overcooked pasta is soft and mushy, which is not desirable in Italian cooking. (just a hint to the restaurant since I know the owner is going to read my review) Don't get me wrong, the owner is passionate. Passionate about arguing with every customer on google reviews and taking no accountability whenever they mess up.

Besides this, we got served lukewarm water which is amusingly inconsiderate considering it was 30 degrees outside. Next time try to chill the water overnight ? I could also go on another rant about how boring the pizzas were, but in short: mine had undercooked bacon, not enough leopard-spotting on the crust and they finished it off by dropping raw uncut cherry tomatoes which is the most boring finishing touch ever. The pizza was so bad that we returned one of them immediately and left the other one midways through to go eat at another restaurant. I have eaten at many Italian restaurants and this one is by far the worst one.

Francisca, I will happily go into further details over a friendly phoencall where I can share with you how to properly cook your dishes....

Where to begin... We walked into the restaurant, and it was unbearably hot. We had to ask the waiter to turn on the fans since there was no AC. There was no drinks menu, which was just strange. The waitstaff's service was inconsistent and slow; they took forever to take our order and were unwelcoming.

We ordered a glass of vermouth. We have many tried many restaurants in Spain and we always get a full glass, but here we were given only a quarter of a glass for the same price.

Then we ordered a pasta carbonara as an appetizer. It took them over half an hour to prepare and serve it, and it turned out to be incredibly bland. Carbonara should have crispy guanciale and salty pecorino Romano, but the pasta we were served tasted like cheap Grana Padano, soggy cured bacon, and overcooked pasta. The carbonara was not authentic at all and we know this because we have been in Rome many times and had authentic carbonara.

Next, we ordered two pizzas. Just like the pasta, we waited another 35 minutes. According to AVPN International, Neapolitan pizzas typically take just 90 seconds to bake. I would like to point out that everyone waited a long time to get their food.

To make things worse, my partner's pizza arrived with undercooked bacon. We pointed this out to the waiter, who offered to make another one. However, after all the delays, we didn't want to wait another 30 minutes for a pizza that shouldn't take more than 5 minutes.

This was a disappointing experience on every level. I wouldn't recommend this restaurant to anyone: long waiting times, poor service, and...

Lo peor en servicio en bastante tiempo, estuvimos casi media hora esperando por comida, cuando preguntamos nos dijeron que se había perdido la comanda, después de en total 50 min un pan de focaccia para entretenerse, desde haber llegado sin una segunda ronda después bebida nadie nunca preguntó ni ofreció nada, UN DESASTRE….. No merece más explicación ( ya que se la dimos a dos trabajadores después bebida nadie ahí) pero sin mucho interés. Comida nada extraordinario pero un plato de pasta boloñesa te cuesta 18€ Bueno no lo recomiendo, si tienes posibilidad de ir a otro sitio pues tómalo en cuenta

Como veo que los trabajadores te mienten, te voy a detallar lo ocurrido y te adjunto el ticket.

Este día llegamos a 15:10 aproximadamente, comandamos bebida directamente, pasado no más de 5 min ya sabíamos lo que queríamos comer, la persona que tomo nota de bebida no es la misma que comanda bebida, esperamos por el, pasado un rato llego y nos pidió nuestros platos ( me sorprendió que viniera sin un comandero) pero bueno, esperamos hasta 15:45 y preguntamos si faltaba mucho, ya que en ese momento solo había tres mesas sentadas, de los cuales los únicos para comer éramos nosotros,viene el mismo camarero de la comanda de bebida y me dice que la comanda se había perdido , que que habíamos pedidd, se lo dijimos si viva a tardar mucho y dice si queremos cancelarlo lo podemos hacer, le contestamos que ya que habíamos esperado tanto queríamos comer, ya que eso es lo que queríamos. Casi 16:00 llegó nuestra comida, a todo esto por nuestra mesa pasaron camarero varias veces y aún nunca se ofreció otra ronda de bebida y nos marchamos del local reclamando lo mismo ( las ventas fatal) pero buenos la comida no es para tirar cohetes el precio ya se ve que en ticket no es barato y no es nada tan especial. Pedimos nota a 16:15 y explicamos todo esto al chico que vino a con la nota, después vino una chica a escuchar lo mismo y nos dijo que al pan estábamos invitados, le explicamos que pedimos solo uno y no dos igualmente dice pero se lo estamos invitando, OKO NUNCA PEDIMOS Y NOS INVITARON A CAFÉ, como puedes ver en el ticket, pagué 50€ y me fui súper decepcionado, espero que esto sea lo mismo que te explicarán los trabajadores con que hablaste...