La Bodeguilla — Restaurant in Palma

This was quite simply the best and best value meal we’ve had on Mallorca. I found this in the Guide Michelin app (free - great resource). They don’t have a star but it came highly recommended and the reviews on Google and TripAdvisor also checked out.

We booked for 19:30 on the day and it was quite full and got fuller - I’d recommend reserving.

They have an extensive tapas menu u and as always it’s hard to know how much to order. As my wife wasn’t super hungry we opted to share a tapas as a starter and go with two mains. She has a lactose problem which we noted on the reservation and which our server proactively asked about.

We started with the partridge and carrot salad. One of the reasons is I like to try dishes that appeal to me that I’ve not seen elsewhere and that was certainly the case here. The partridge was cooked to perfection, the dressing was amazing and the highlight were little “molecules” of vinegar that burst when you ate them, combining really well with the dressing.

For the mains I went for the lamb shoulder - I love lamb and we don’t often find it in Germany outside of spring. The first thing that struck me was the size - the shoulder bone was about 6cm across meaning this was definitely a young animal and that was apparent in the taste of the meat. An older lamb can be a bit “sheepy” but this tasted anything but.

My wife had the beef cheeks which were equally well cooked. The highlight were the potatoes - waxy, thinly sliced, layered with the occasional onion, and melt in your mouth. They really complimented the dishes we had and meant that we didn’t need a lot of sauce.

For dessert I had the lemon meringue cake with a sorbet that was one of the best desserts I’ve had in a while. The base was crumbly, light and crispy, the meringues were cooked to perfection and the lemon curd was just the right balance between sweet and citrus.

For drinks we had a bottle of San Perrigrino, a cava, glass of red, glass of rose, and I had a sweet sherry to finish off the meal. Total came to €140 including tip.

I would thoroughly recommend La Bodeguilla to anyone visiting Palma or even the island.

Thanks to the team for a...

Avoid if you got small children.

If you don't want to serve family with small children, please say so before we come in. We would not mind finding another restaurant who can accomodate us. No need to acted passive aggressive to us during the whole meal, it was uncalled for.

The moment we stepped in, they put us at the very back of the restaurant, which was fine, we understood children could be noisy and we didn't have a reservation.

But the manager and waitress were very reluctant to give us high chairs but asked us to put the stroller away at the same time. It was dangerous for small children to sit on normal chair, we would whether they sit in the stroller for safety reason. We ended up compromised, we folded away the stroller and holded one of our children while the other sit in the only one high chair.

Our children were on their best behaviours, sitting properly, being quiet as they could be. We didn't recieved any complains from nearby diners.

When we asked for the drink menu, the waitress who served us shrugged in reply saying something like we have regular stuff like soda drink cola, sprite etc. instead of giving us the actual menu. We insisted, we really wanted to try some local wine. She ended up give us a drink menu cover without any content inside. Was it a mockery?

That was really unprofessional.

We didn't want to cause a scene and said nothing. We eventually got the menu from another server but we lost the mood to order anything else.

Needless to say, we lost our interest for the entire meal, we did not enjoy our food at all. The food looked great but we lost the appetite. It was money ill-spent.

And you know what we saw when we on our way out of the restaurant.

A small lovely family with a small child sitting on a stroller having their meal ...

It can happen to anyone . I had made arrangements to meet some dear friends in old town Palma .I wanted to share a fantastic space with my international travelers from a sleepy coastal village in South Africa ..Kalkbay ..I wanted to brag a little as Kalkbay is world famous and nominated for best village in the world (in fact won best village in the world ) so as I have now made Palma my home ...I wanted to show off a little .. anyway I am in a meeting and I look down at my phone and notice I am meant to meet my friends at the restaurant at 6 pm ..I have 10 min to get through old town . I leave the meeting abruptly must to the consternation of the group and make a mad dash . I arrive on time ..choose an amazing table for three and order a fantastic glass of wine ..totally lost in the atmosphere and the romantic setting of it all ..it really is special, an upmarket type feel with out meaning to be ..I now notice it's actually 6:30pm ..so I send pics of restaurant .."I am here " ..phone is about to die . And think ..I'll order a little tapas and another wine while I wait . Then it turns 7 pm . So I think ..OK. .they forgot ..maybe they fell asleep . So reluctantly pay and leave ..everyone is sorry for me ..like I have rude friends who stuck me up lol..so, I walk home . Stop in at a bar and have my favourite beer 1906. I am sitting there thinking to myself ..it is very light outside for 7ish? ..it ask the barman "what time is it ? " he says it about 18 min past 6pm!!!! ? My phone was on the wrong time zone ..but 6pm at la Bodeguilla was the best hour I have had ..even on my own ..stunning place and people...