Restaurante Bahía Mediterráneo — Restaurant in Palma

Welcome to the Twilight Zone. Let me set the stage. You’re walking along the ocean when the map app says you should have arrived. You look up a row of less than pristine condo buildings and wonder if maybe you’ve put in the wrong address. Could it be the wrong side of town? But no, there’s a stairwell and next to it a menu. You take the stairs. Three flights. The whole block looks abandoned. It’s the scene of a zombie apocalypse movie, the moment a character emerges from an underground bunker, the return after aliens take over. Everything feels OFF. You reach the top of the stairs and the whole building is eerily quiet. You wonder if maybe the restaurant closed years ago. But no, there are people seated outside. So you wander indoors and look around for someone to help you. Aside from the patio, the place is empty. Stained armchairs are scattered haphazardly around a baby grand piano that looks like it hasn’t been touched in two decades. There are no tables with chairs, no dining areas or lounge areas clearly designated for guest use. Dozens of empty wine and water glasses cover tables scattered about the room. You start to worry that you’ve interrupted the clean up of a private party. When the host arrives, he is out of breath and flustered. You tell him you have a reservation and he tells you it will be ten more minutes and instructs you to sit, but you’re not sure where. Was there a wedding here just minutes before? A conference? You take a seat in one of the dirty armchairs, trying not to touch anything. Ten minutes pass. Then twenty. There’s a table ready, the host says rushing back. You follow him outside to a table where crumbs still linger from the previous guests. Everyone in the place is frowning. You see three other employees only. The sunshades are stained and faded and the whole patio is about two seasons overdue for bleach. The host rushes away after he brings you water and as you wait for the waiter, you notice all the other patrons waving for his attention. The glasses of guests around you are all empty. Plates are empty. The three employees grab a few plates from a nearby table, saying nothing to the guests as they do so and then proceed to stack them on another table, not bothering to remove them to the kitchen. Everyone is looking around. The waiter hasn’t moved. There’s a bartender running around but you’re not sure where. He makes no contact with the tables. More time passes. You peruse the menu, decide on items, look for the waiter to order. But he won’t even turn your direction. In fact, he’s drinking wine at a table nearby. The other two staff are running around, sweating profusely like they’re several stimulants deep at a 90s rave. It’s been ten minutes then twenty then nearly thirty. You haven’t placed an order. The tables around you also go unnoticed. They’re frowning, muttering, waving their arms to get attention. So you do the math. It’s been 45 minutes since you arrived and you haven’t even ordered. Do you walk 30 minutes back and get dinner elsewhere or do you stay in this time forgotten party from 2002? You know the answer.

TL;DR: outdated, creepy, understaffed, overpriced, beyond weird experience. Avoid unless you want to feel like you’re in an episode of...

We entered the restaurant through the entrance on ground level, very dark, the fountain was spraying water on all sides and overall it didn’t look like the restaurant was open (which it was). The restaurant elevator was broken so that you were redirected to an abandoned, once again dark entrance hall of the residential building next doors, where you could then go looking for the elevators yourself (not a big deal but still not a great first impression).

On entering the restaurant we were greeted by a waiter, which was wearing a very ill fitting suit with stains all over it, which certainly wasn’t a great second impression either (to be fair, he changed into a cleaner suit afterwards so that’s that). We arrived shortly after 7 and there was ONE single table occupied, which says a lot (I know 7 is early and it’s Spain but the restaurant opens at 6:30 and to be walking in half an hour after opening with the restaurant being empty certainly is kinda weird). The restaurant looks great on the website, but in real life much of the furniture has clear signs of wear (chairs, tables, wallpaper etc.). Overall it looks very worn down and renovation worthy. The menu cards were wrinkled.

The view is fantastic, 10/10, nothing to complain about. There is extensive construction going on at street level, which slightly disturbs the picture perfect view, but depending on where you’re sitting you won’t even notice. There is also no construction noise since nobody is working in the evening which is great as well.

Service is ok, the waiters are polite but some definitely aren’t trained properly. Food was alright, but the presentation was very disappointing. I ordered tagliatelle with truffles and I’ve honestly never seen such a sad plate in my life (see picture). Prices are quite good, but then again, as a Swiss I am used to paying insane amounts of money for the most mediocre things back home so I am not the best person to ask about what might be an adequate price for something.

Long story short, Bahia Mediterraneo is a great place to snag a couple of pics for the gram, eat ok tasting food and pretend like you just dined at the top adress in town. The restaurant has potential, but needs an extensive upgrade on all levels. Give it a try if you’re staying in Palma for a couple of days, but don’t go if it’s your only night...

TERRIBLE DISGUSTINGLY RUDE DO NOT COME!!!!!! I don’t usually post negative reviews so as to not waste my time but this place needs to be VERY much reviewed The steps up to the restaurant are extremely uncomfortable and no signs to tell people where to go - I had to call the restaurant to ask The moment I walked in the greeting wasn’t very nice, I also asked to be seated closer to the view and the waiters rude response was “yeah we’ll see once a few tables leave” why a few? My wine (WINE, not cocktail - a simply poured WINE) took 30 minutes and when I asked the response was also unprofessional and the waiter said “there’s so many people” - not sure how that makes sense but okay For some reason there was screaming inside (the manager I assume) was screaming at the top of his lungs at someone and made everyone seated outside uncomfortable I ordered 3 oysters and a ceviche and after 25 minutes it still hasn’t arrived I don’t even want to wait to see how long my main is going to take but all tables around me are empty so I assume they always have delays Terrible, terrible service, terrible attitude

UPDATE I ordered 3 oysters they all came DRIED OUT completely (I’ve never seen a dry oyster) The ceviche was dried out as well I ordered a new glass of wine the waiter came and poured the wine so quickly a few drops came on the table I don’t even pour WATER in home that way. Also 2 tables have complained so far while I’ve been here and I’ve barely been here for an hour. ANOTHER UPDATE: When I told the waiter the oysters were dry he removed them off of the table. When I asked where he put them he said he took them back since I didn’t like them and didn’t even tell me???? He started yelling at me and said if I didn’t like it I can LEAVE. As if it’s his restaurant????? I ordered a rare rib eye steak - it came UNCOOKED. UNCOOKED. When I complained (AGAIN) another waiter came and brought me the check technically KICKING ME OUT.

Message to the owner: close down. This place is a lawsuit...