Returned from our annual pilgramage to Pollensa recently and we were lucky enough to be able to
stay for a month this time - late April to late May. My wife and I are both "oldies" - 60 this year - and one of our great pleasures is eating out. In fact we did not cook any meals in the villa this year except the occasional egg for breakfast.
I want to say how useful we found the restaurant recommendations on this board and without the advice from here we would have missed some real gems - thank you everybody for contributing.
We started as usual on our arrival night with the Balaixa where Arnie and Mandy greeted us warmly as always. The Balaixa saw us at least three times a week for either lunch or dinner and we paricularly enjoyed the party atmosphere that Arnie created when we had a big group of friends and our sons with partners to join us. I do understand that some people may be put off by the presence of the animals but have to say that it does not worry us - in fact we became very great friends with Frankie (the soon to be very Great Dane) and the ginger cat without a name - now adopted by Debs. We followed the drama of the acquisition and development of the
Cala San Vicente branch of the Balaixa brand and admired the courage, determination and initiative of Arnie and Mandy as they did so.
On our last night as we sat outside in the glorious evening sun at the Balaixa, just as my steak was served, a geko fell from the canopy right into my sauce and splattered me completely with gravy! The frightened geko then ran onto me and down my open neck shirt, finally lodging himself around my waist band. Arnie and Ma were marvellous in looking after me and even offered me one of Arnie's shirts to wear to replace my gravy spattered one - they could not have been more considerate. As Arnie remarked, he did not know how much to charge me as "Geko" did not yet feature on the menu!
Other favourite venues included Can Costa in Pollenca, that we had not heard of until reading this board. We had dinner there a couple of times, met the English owners and were introduced to the chef. The food was superb; service immaculate but lacked atmosphere as on both occasions it was very quiet. I am sure it must really buzz in high season.
Also visited after reading about it here was Es Convent at Alcudia. Very different in style to Can Costa, and certainly Balaixa, we enjoyed the formal style that was nevertheless welcoming and efficient. I was impressed that when I asked for a recommendation for a bottle of Cava - I was looking for the driest available - I was not directed to the most expensive but almost the cheapest! The same thing happened on another occasion with Rose wine - well done Es Convent.
We also tried Los Zazarles following comments read here. We arrived early for dinner and the food was good although the service was very slow - staff seemed more interested in stocking up than serving. Ironically, as the restuarant filled as it got later, service seemed to improve - often the way! We went back for lunch one day on the recommendation of a fellow diner and this was remarkable value. However, it took forty minutes between completing the starter and the main course arriving, with only one other table occupied. The food was also cold on arrival so clearly we had been forgotten. Naturally we did not return but perhaps we just struck a couple of off days and that the norm is much better.
Somewhere we would recommend is the Can Furios
hotel at Binibona - some way from Pollenca and aiming primarily at hotel guests but excellent food and service - just like being a house guest in a country home. Booking in advance is essential.
Again some way from Pollenca but a regular haunt of ours on a fine day is lunch at Es Vergeret at Tuent - turn left off the road on the way to Sa Calobra near the bottom of the descent (well signposted). The location, overlooking the bay is stunning and the food, at very reasonable prices, gets better each year.
Sorry to have rambled for so long but hope some of our experiences might be of interest.