Restaurant Laudat — Restaurant in Santanyí

Myself and three others had dinner at Laudat last weekend, and I am still angry about the way we were treated. We’ve eaten in Michelin star restaurants in New York, Tokyo, London, Spain, Paris, etc., and always been treated with the utmost respect. Laudat is not a Michelin restaurant, just a village restaurant, but their treatment of us was so far below what we expect that it has left us fuming a whole week later.

We live on the west side of Mallorca and were spending the weekend on the east side. We chose restaurants based on recommendations of the Michelin guide. We had a reservation at Laudat for 8:30, but we arrived early at 8:00. We asked if we could come in early. They said yes. There were tables available. The restaurant was never full during the evening. We sat down. They brought us the water we asked for, but we were then ignored for the next half hour. Fair enough, we were half an hour early.

Access to the menu was given at 8:30. We ordered. Nothing happened until 9:00. Again, we were ignored. Just left sitting there with empty glasses. At the same time, the wait staff were hovering over the other guests, chatting, bringing bread, bringing drinks, bringing food. So extremely attentive to the other tables, and yet we didn’t seem to exist. Starters came at 9:00. Wait staff were very short with us. Compared to the way other guests were treated, it was shocking. The dishes were lukewarm. The scallops were over cooked. In general, the food was OK, but not great. Plates cleared away, and then we began the one hour wait for our main dishes. Yes, one hour! Again, we were ignored the whole time. We could see other people coming in, getting good service, and leaving while we waited. We could see the same dishes that we had ordered going out to people who had come in after us.

Finally, my husband caught the attention of one of the waiters, and politely pointed out that we had been waiting a very long time. Instead of apologizing, he said, well, you did come in half an hour early! So ridiculous and unprofessional. The food came just before 10:00. And again, it was lukewarm and nothing special.

The four of us had a long discussion afterwards about why we were treated this way and no one else was. The restaurant was never full, so it wasn’t that. The big difference that we could see was that the other clients all appeared to be wealthy Germans. We were a mix of English speakers and locals. And one other difference, which may account for all of what happened. Two of our party had visible tattoos. We didn’t look like we belonged there to them, and we were treated accordingly. It is 2021, and this is a stupid attitude. We routinely eat at the Michelin starred restaurants on the west side of the island. We are even friends with some of the top chefs there. Never are we treated like this anywhere we go. And, of course, we will talk to people, including other chefs, about this incident. So shortsighted...

We had a reservation at Laudat and arrived right on time. At the entrance, we were told that our table wasn't ready and that we would need to wait 5–10 minutes. There's a small wine shop at the front, so we browsed for a bit and then sat on the armchairs near the entrance. Unfortunately, no one followed up with us during this time — no water offered, no updates, no interest shown.

Eventually, we were seated and placed our order. While waiting for the food, we received an amuse-bouche from the house (salt, oil, and a cheese cream), which initially gave us hope that this was a place focused on quality and details.

However, from that point on, the experience quickly declined. It took an incredibly long time to receive our food — more than 2.5 hours just for one starter and a main course. When the dishes finally arrived, the quality was, at best, average. In the days before, we had far better meals in nearby restaurants at similar or even lower prices.

To make things worse, we were charged for three glasses of wine we didn’t order or receive. For what we got, the total bill of €220 felt excessive — in my opinion, the dinner was worth €80 at most. We didn’t feel like arguing, so we paid the bill, skipped the tip, and left with a strong sense of disappointment.

This place seems to rely heavily on presentation and location, but lacks the service and culinary quality to justify the fine dining prices. Sadly, it felt like a tourist trap rather than a memorable...

So they just do everything right. Service was amazing, never a hesitation with any of our request. The house wine is really good, not a normal thing in the states.

Food was killer, we made our own tasting menue. After going here, I would not hesitate to put my dinner in the hands of the chef and staff. Not one complaint, not one, and I enjoy complaining 😉

The fish was our favorite, the broccoli cheese soup was killer, the fish soup (yellow potato) was good, but the mackerel appetizer was probably the one that surprised us in a good way. It was as good (different) as Le Bernardin in NY. Fish quality = yes. Usually mackerel is a no go for me, but i would tell people to try it.

The off the menue fish special of the day we liked more then the one on the menu, but both were good.

We did the American time (6 pm reservation)

This is a one star level place, if they dont have one now, they are being cheated.

Food / dish balance, presentation, effort, service, quality of ingredients.

Worth every penny.

Would prefer to pay any percentage in gratuity on the bill and not be asked at the end of service. Happy to do the 10% but I dont like being asked, just want it on the bill and stated...