Mercader del Mar — Restaurant in Calvià

AVOID, AVOID, AVOID - I do not recommend this establishment at all. From start to end, the whole thing was an absolute show.

To start with, when we arrived (having booked a table), we were told to sit and wait 10 minutes for table. Fine, no problem. However the atmosphere created by the stressed head waitress was palpable (shouting, running, barking orders at the other staff).

We eventually got seated and waited 15-20 minutes to order drinks. There were 3 large, powerful fans blowing on us from 3 directions (it was night so not hot). It felt like we were at sea with the wind because they were so strong. I asked could we move seats, we were ignored. I asked to turn off the fans, we were ignored. Until eventually we asked the head waitress. Her response was basically “no we won’t turn them off”. She said abruptly “es que hace calor” several times (it’s hot). It was not hot, nor was she the paying customer sat where we were. Only when I said we would go elsewhere to eat did she let us move seats. (I wish we had gone elsewhere).

The starter was fine (pan, alioli, aceitunas). We waited then a lengthy time for our main (arroz negro). This was fine as it stated it could take up to 45 mins as it was “made freshly”. However when it arrived, it was cold. We had to ask for it to be reheated. We finally got to eat about 1 hour after ordering and it was very average. The fact it arrived cold does not instil confidence that it was freshly made.

Our main fault with this establishment was the treatment of the staff by the chief waitress and the boss. Openly shouting at their staff, who were absolutely run off their feet, and doing an excellent job. We overheard the boss shouting at one waiter (about his table setting) (in Spanish, “this looks like absolute insert word beginning with S that google doesn’t want me to write,”

Perhaps this boss/ owner should understand that good customer service is more important than a napkin being 1cm out of place.

The tension between the staff and their constant shouting at one another made it truly the opposite of relaxing...

I do not recommend this establishment. From start to end, the whole thing was an absolute show.

To start with, when we arrived (having booked a table), we were told to sit and wait 10 minutes for table. Fine, no problem. However the atmosphere created by the stressed head waitress was palpable (shouting, running, barking orders at the other staff).

We eventually got seated and waited 15-20 minutes to order drinks. There were 3 large, powerful fans blowing on us from 3 directions (it was night so not hot). It felt like we were at sea with the wind because they were so strong. I asked could we move seats, we were ignored. I asked to turn off the fans, we were ignored. Until eventually we asked the head waitress. Her response was basically “no we won’t turn them off”. She said abruptly “es que hace calor” several times (it’s hot). It was not hot, nor was she the paying customer sat where we were. Only when I said we would go elsewhere to eat did she let us move seats. (I wish we had gone elsewhere).

The starter was fine (pan, alioli, aceitunas). We waited then a lengthy time for our main (arroz negro). This was fine as it stated it could take up to 45 mins as it was “made freshly”. However when it arrived, it was cold. We had to ask for it to be reheated. We finally got to eat about 1 hour after ordering and it was very average. The fact it arrived cold does not instil confidence that it was freshly made.

Our main fault with this establishment was the treatment of the staff by the chief waitress and the boss. Openly shouting at their staff, who were absolutely run off their feet, and doing an excellent job. We overheard the boss shouting at one waiter (about his table setting) “esto está hecha una m*da”

Perhaps this boss/ owner should understand that good customer service is more important than a napkin being 1cm out of place.

The tension between the staff and their constant shouting at one another made it truly the opposite of relaxing...

We had a horrible dinner experience at Mercader del Mar this evening. We had to wait a long time before we even could order anything and were promised to have our dinner served in 40 minutes because the paella takes long to prepare. In the meantime we ordered nachos which we had to wait 20 minutes for. After that we had to wait another 30 minutes for our main dishes. When the paella finally arrived the waiter started slopping it on our plates without saying a word. The paella was cold from the start. One of us ordered lasagna with a side of garlic bread. 10 minutes passed and no garlic bread was brought so she had to go up to the waiter and ask for it. After a while he comes to our table and tells us it’ll be ready in 2 minutes. No one ever apologized for anything. 10 minutes pass and we get the garlic bread but at this point the lasagna was cold and we had finished our paella. We decided to go to the bar and pay because others had had to wait for several hours to get any kind of service. We complained about the garlic bread and the waiter was so unapologetic and went to get the lasagna to see what was wrong with it and then blamed us for not bringing it back? Once again didn’t apologize or even took the time to let us explain what the actual issue was. He gave us the bill, turned around and left again. This wasn’t a cheap dinner to begin with and then we were slapped with a 6€ service fee which we definitely didn’t want to pay because we didn’t get any service and the little interaction we had with the staff was unbelievable unpleasant and unprofessional. We left with a feeling of disbelief and felt like we had wasted our money. The food also wasn’t anything above basic and some parts of the seafood in the paella was highly questionable. Would never recommend this restaurant to anyone, please...