Born 8 — Restaurant in Palma

Tourists don't bother!

This place caught our attention this afternoon as we were walking by looking for a place to stop for a drink. It was busy, so we weren't expecting to get a table immediately. We walked in the front door and it took some time before someone attended to us - this led to a group of several confused patrons mulling around the front door waiting for a seat. Instead of reassuring us a table would be available shortly, we were rather aggressively told to get out of the way (there was one waitress who was particularly rude). We decided to put this to the side and continue to wait. However because there was no one attending to incoming guests, people from the street continued to push through and take recently vacated tables. The staff didn't do anything to stop this. We continued to patiently wait. Eventually we got taken to a table. The next part of the visit was pleasant - rest assured they do know how to make a decent cocktail. We ordered some drinks and enjoyed the atmosphere for the next hour or so. Where they sat us it was right up the back - no real issues there save for that waiters didn't frequent this area too often. For this reason, when we were ready to pay and go, I ducked down to the bar near the entrance to politely ask for someone to bring us the bill. I was greeted by the same unpleasant lady who looked at me blankly following my simple request and then proceeded to pass my request on to another waiter (who wasn't paying attention). I then asked politely again if she wouldn't mind bringing us the bill. She relluctanly agreed. I went back to my table and patiently waited. And waited. And waited. Nothing. My partner and I then got up and proceeded to the bar, in an effort to pay the bill. Again, more blank stares by the waiters, but eventually they agreed to get our bill. Just when I thought the experience couldn't have gotten any worse - I feel quite a forceful nudge in my side - guess who? Grumpy waiter lady. Rather than politely ask me to move (she was retrieving some drinks from the bar) she shoves me (several times!). I proceed to tell her that she was being rude, but she didn't seem to care. To be honest, I got the feeling (whether or not this is the case I'm not entirely sure) that she just didn't like tourists - this is certainly the vibe I got. They then tried to charge us an inflated rate for the drinks (ordinarily I wouldn't have made a fuss, but after the whole experience, I corrected them on this).

All things considered we wouldn't go back. The place does have a good atmosphere, but the staff are rude and could do with some etiquette training. Don't bother if...

A disappointing lesson in bad manners — with a side of imaginary laws

We recently visited Born 8, expecting a relaxed afternoon coffee, instead, we were treated to a frankly unpleasant encounter with a remarkably rude waiter and a manager who seems to be running a café based on laws that exist only in their imagination.

We ordered non-alcoholic drinks, coffee and soft drinks, thinking that this would be enough to enjoy our time at the table. Apparently not. We were told, that we had to order alcohol or food, otherwise we’d have to leave.

In reality, while venues may require some form of consumption, they cannot legally demand that it be specifically alcohol or food. Even house rules must comply with Spanish consumer protection law — including the Ley 7/1996 de Ordenación del Comercio Minorista and the Ley General para la Defensa de los Consumidores y Usuarios, which state that any conditions must be clear, reasonable, and non-discriminatory.

So unless they’re secretly running their own government from behind the counter, this excuse was as invalid as their attitude.

Not to our surprise, the café was half-empty, and it was 4 PM, not exactly lunchtime, more the hour when most people are enjoying a relaxed coffee, not a full meal or a cocktail. So the idea that we were disrupting some imaginary dinner rush makes the whole situation even more absurd.

In short: we consumed, but apparently we didn’t consume correctly enough to satisfy the bizarre standards of this place.

The whole encounter was embarrassing. I sincerely hope the owner is aware of how damaging it is to let staff and managers behave like this. If you’re trying to build a reputable business, it helps to start by not driving out paying customers with fake laws and forced...

We came to born 8 expecting good things from what we’ve seen on social media, that was where we went wrong. Our most positive experience was being seated, after that appalling, our table mats were thrown down onto the table, soon following our cutlery which was also thrown onto the table, the waiter was clearly in a bad mood and not up to providing good service and after reading a few reviews on here I’m thinking he may need to start working in a different sector. None the less we were excited to try our food, we ordered fish and chips and a burrito… the fish was half a COD fillet… chips were cold and again small portion. The burrito wasn’t all bad but it was cold and so were the chips. We then asked the waiter to heat our food up which we done with no problems, but again it came back medium warm and it really lacked flavour. No one came over to ask how our meal was, we were waiting about 30 minutes after eating before deciding we’d go up to the bar and pay. We did mention our complaints in a well mannered way and was met with hostility, the waiter ran over to our plates grabbed them and showed the fact we ate all our food, we followed by stating of course we’d eat it as we are planning on paying, albeit we are not happy with the service nor the quality of food so not full price. The Bald angry waiter then printed off our receipt and ran off huffing and puffing. We were left to deal with a gentleman behind the bar who was actually quite pleasant and ended up giving us 20% off the meal after a few back and forths. Overall the food was below average , expensive pricing for the quality and service...