Ibiza benefits from some superb restaurants, offering fantastic dining experiences to those of its visitors that enjoy the finer food in life. From humble-on-the-outside cafés to truly sumptuous haute cuisine, Ibiza offers memorable meals of every shape, size and budget. These are our picks of the island’s best eateries – sit back, relax … and eat well.
In many ways, Aubergine Ibiza can be described as the quintessential Ibizan experience. Part of the famous Atzaró Group, the restaurant is housed in a traditional finca, and its ingredients are sourced fresh from the surrounding fields – it’s a peaceful sanctuary where the atmosphere is palpably authentic, and yet it’s so much more than that.
Located on the main road from Santa Gertrudis to San Miguel, Aubergine Ibiza has its own dusty, rustic outcrop to call home. A place that sings with passion for healthy food and a penchant for hosting one-of-a-kind gatherings, it brings together a community of like-minded people on its lush, bucolic land.
The star of the show is a farm-to-table, day-to-night seasonal menu, which features deluxe salads, sharing plates, mains and kids’ meals. Wine is organic, and water is purified onsite via a hi-tech osmosis system. All this is relished on the vine-covered alfresco terrace, or indoors, where in winter the space is kept cosy with a roaring fire.
Ibiza’s worst kept secret is where you’ll find its best-tasting food: a legendary local spot set beneath lantern-strewn orange trees on the restaurant-packed San Juan Road. They only serve grilled meats, and the lamb chops are finger-licking good, but first-timers should try the towering mixed grill (ask for it sin conejo if you’re not a bunny-boiler). Side orders of hand-cut potato chips and an oil-slicked tomato and sweet onion salad are superlative, the best you’ll taste anywhere.
Established in the early 1990s, El Olivio Mio is another fantastic dining option within a reasonable budget. Located in Ibiza Town, the quaint setting is just one of the many attractions of this great restaurant. Having undergone a refurb in 2016, this venue offers a taste of Spanish tradition, both in its menu and with its décor. The menu includes wild sea bass, rib-eye steak, monkfish and pasta dishes and also offers a children’s menu to ensure it is perfect for families as well as couples or groups.
No prizes for guessing that this is a restaurant specialising in fish dishes! There’s a lot more to this place than seafood alone, however. This beachside restaurant is popular with celebrities despite not being a traditional high-end style restaurant. Fish Shack serves fresh fish only, and rather than having a set menu, it offers the widest selection of seafood that has been caught on that very day. There are few places around the island that can compete with Fish Shack in terms of serving fine fish and popular dishes include grilled squid, prawns and sea bass.
In San Lorenzo, the famous La Paloma café nestles in a little village at the centre of the island. This family run café has been around since 2008 and provides dishes inspired from places of all corners of the world. They also cater for a variety of diets, with vegan and vegetarian options. The tranquil setting feels quite different to the cafés in the more popular locations of Ibiza.
The candlelit garden, adorned with orange and lemon trees, make this the perfect place to try a nice meal with a different vibe. The good news is that throughout the winter you can still enjoy the La Paloma experience – but with the benefit of a cosy fire in the indoor café.
Deep in the countryside of San Antonio, La Torre is a hotel that is also open to diners looking for an excellent meal. Perhaps one of the most peaceful and tranquil spots to enjoy the Ibizan sunset, La Torre is located in the hills above the sea. The menu is a mix of local delights and internationally inspired dishes including tapas, seafood and gourmet dishes to complete the full sunset experience.
When you are looking for a good food in a stunning location, Los Pasajeros at the Ibiza Marina is a great choice. The restaurant receives rave reviews for a great menu that offers Mediterranean, European and Spanish dishes. This is the best pick of the island’s reasonably priced restaurants, and many of Los Pasajeros’s reviews on TripAdvisor comment on how high quality its food is for the price. It is a fairly small and intimate venue, perfect for a romantic evening out or grabbing a meal before heading out for the night.
This venue is one of the places to be right now, serving Lebanese cuisine on a roof-top that offers amazing views, throughout the day and night. It is one of the optimal spots to catch the sunset and its name alludes to the arty, design-focused vibe that makes it so popular for chilling out. Located in Talamanca Bay, you can enjoy fine food and drinks at Patchwork, listening to music into the early hours.
It’s a million-dollar view past the super yachts across the Med to Dalt Vila, but there’s one venue in the glitzy Marina Ibiza area where you don’t have to glam up too much to enjoy it. Sa Calma is a gorgeous yet casual bar and eatery, popular with locals for meetings and catch-ups with friends, and the boating set for après-sea cocktails.
Start with an early morning breakfast of tostadas and pastries, followed by a lunch menu heavy with Spanish classics – naturally, seafood features a lot. With a view like this you’re advised to order some cava, darling … Especially as you kick back and enjoy the spectacular views as the sun sets.
Casa Maca is one of Ibiza’s most fashionable gastronomic destinations. From its spot atop a hill on the edges of Ibiza Town, the restaurant enjoys truly breath-taking views of the famous Dalt Vila skyline, Casa Maca’s location as part of a boutique hotel of the same name also means its guests have access to the Airstream bar and laid-back chillout areas – meaning guests don’t need to leave early.
Offering al fresco dining par excellence, Casa Maca is open to the public and to the glorious Ibizan sun – but its expansive covered terrace, surrounded by fragrant beds of lavender, offers a peerless dining experience at all times of the day. From breakfast – served daily until midday – to à la carte lunch, gourmands are in for a treat: local, organic produce, much of it harvested from Casa Maca’s on-site farm, is the base of this exciting menu.
By night, the open-air dining space comes into its own. With views over that farm – and an imposing grill placed centre-stage – beautiful meats and fresh fish combine with ripe vegetables over the smoking fire to create a truly unique and evocative atmosphere. Covered with twinkling fair lights, this glorious space is filled out by love artists and DJs playing perfect chilled-out sets (and by craft cocktails, of course!)
Casa Maca is the fullest expression of the friendly, social vibe that Ibiza is known for the world over. Relaxed and informal, the restaurant is nevertheless a foodie’s dream – and regular events such an open-air cinemas and craft workshops only add to the fun of this very special spot.
Locals Only is a restaurant and wine bar that has proven extremely fashionable amongst Ibizan’s style- and sustainability-conscious foodies. With a focus – as the name suggests – on local produce, Locals Only is a true “farm-to-table” restaurant. At the heart of Ibiza town on Plaza del Parque, it is the ideal spot for coffee or lunch, dinner or cocktails – and it has the feel of a real neighbourhood eatery.
With brunch at the weekends, and kids always welcome, the informal air of Locals Only is the work of Tito Piazza, originally of Venice and then New York but now a fully adopted Ibizan. Opening for the first time in 2014, Locals Only develops on everything Piazza learned while executive chef for Cipriani group for two decades.
That makes for a truly world-beating Mediterranean-influenced menu, with a good deal of Italian influence. Fresh organic produce is the base of the restaurant’s menu, which is attractive in its sophisticated simplicity: healthy salads sit next to gourmet sandwiches as lunchtime snacks, and in the evenings things get very special.
As you’d expect, Locals Only’s extensive wine and cocktail lists are on point, and features – of course! – local organic wines at its centre. Unpretentious but deeply chic, Locals Only is both a true hot-spot of Ibizan culinary culture and a truly relaxed spot for diners who know their food.
Ibizan charm is combined with the best of Japanese culinary tradition at Nagai, where the finest Japanese organic rice allies with a wonderfully broad sushi offering. All tastes are catered for at this beautiful restaurant, where silky tuna, turbot and salmon complement the finest Negithoro Rolls topped with ginger and tobiko. Nagai’ Dragon Roll, meanwhile, is renowed amongst Ibizan foodies for being so good that one is simply never enough!
Nagai isn’t to be missed in more ways than one: standing proud of the other eateries on Ibiza’s famed San Juan ‘restaurant road’ thanks to its eye-catching geisha wall-painting by the world-famous artist Findac, the restaurant also delivers once you’re inside, with a menu the likes and quality of which you won’t fund anywhere else.
From the lightest imaginable tempura to plump gyozas; from signature ceviche with lemongrass and ginger to a very special carpaccio of yellowtail with fennel, Nagai delivers. Caviar and ponzu jelly; Alaskan black cod marinated in miso; Wagyu beef tatami; copious vegetarian and vegan options … all are present and very much correct.
Sake and cocktail enthusiasts needn’t worry, either: Nagai’s expert mixologists will deliver bespoke cocktails and complementary sake all night long, while a Brazilian-themed band, local DJs and live musicians provide the perfect soundtrack to your meal. Alongside an exclusive, stylish boutique and a gallery of fabulous artwork, Nagai’s food, drink and ambience really does make for a very special dining experience.