IBIZA - EIVISSA (IBIZA TOWN) - COMIDAS BAR SAN JUAN

Aug 3

4 min read

COMIDAS BAR SAN JUAN UPDATE AUGUST 2026 – Comidas Bar San Juan remains closed. Despite suggestions that the premises might eventually reopen under new ownership, we can find no confirmation of a new owner or reopening date.

The Marí family shut Bar San Juan down in December 2024, ending a business that had operated since 1874. In February 2025, Carlos Marí stated that the family had decided it was time to cease operations, and the report clearly mentioned it would not reopen under the same management.

Review from 2023 The owners of this unpretentious tapas bar remain impervious to Ibiza’s trendiness, refusing to change its wood-panelled décor and traditional Spanish menu. It has always been one of the cheapest places to eat in Ibiza (Ibiza Town).

There is new staff at the bar San Juan in June 2024, completely different opening hours, and a moderate price increase. They are now open Monday to Friday from 1:30 to 8:30.

When you order two glasses of wine, you get the whole bottle left on your table at €10, and the beer is on the house.

It is still one of the cheapest, if not the cheapest, places in downtown Eivissa. Try the Caldereta Cordero (Lamb stew with boiled rice) €16.50

Dorada (gilt-head sea bream with chips) €14

Traditional Flaó for dessert(made with fresh sheep’s or goat’s milk, eggs, sugar, and mint).

Certain days have specials, like Fridays, when they offer the special paletilla de cordero (roast lamb shoulder).

Other classic dishes include whole-fried fish, squid, and paella. No reservations are accepted, and be aware that you will be sharing your table with others in the traditional workers’ way.

Our friend Jonathon Lipsin was there.

Just before catching the ferry back to Formentera, we decided to have lunch in Eivissa at Comidas Bar San Juan, tucked away on a side street.

This place is reminiscent of Ibiza’s past, before the influx of glamour and tourists. It’s a family-run establishment with two small rooms, serving as an honest working-class restaurant where locals dine—exactly the kind of place I typically look for.

It’s the type of spot where my socialist house painter grandfather would have felt comfortable. Whenever I arrive in a new town, I always ask the locals, “Please, show me where the locals eat.”

In San Juan, you can enjoy authentic, traditional island cuisine at prices that are 30% lower than those in tourist spots. You have to wait for a table, and when one becomes available, you share it with others, often local fishermen.

The meal was rounded off with this delicious homemade caramel flan for about €2.

They used to open at 08:30, but times have changed dramatically: they are now open only Monday to Friday from 13:30 to 20:30, and you can’t book.

Try to use Spanish (if you have any). They speak English, but it’s polite to do so here.

Two people can eat a starter and a main, along with a bottle of decent wine (about €20; house wine is much cheaper but not as good), and a few chupitos for under € 5!

A later visit,

It’s my last day in Spain, so I decided to have a good lunch. I walked for half an hour in a desultory manner, meandering here and there down side streets and back alleys, taking everything in. Then I remembered Bar San Juan, located in the serpentine alleys fronting the Old City of Ibiza.

I deftly ducked down one street and made a quick left, and here it was. It isn’t fancy, but it’s honest and boasts some of the best food in Ibiza port for a third of the price.

I surveyed the daily specials after choosing to eat in the back alley, out in the open air. Most tourists don’t know about this place, and it’s here where locals and labourers eat. They mostly sit together, sharing tables.

They had paella for €5. This sounded impossible, but I trust them. I ordered that, their aioli, and a shandy.

The shandy came unapologetically as a can of beer and a can of Fanta lime, which I shared in equal proportions in a glass, and got four glasses out of it. The aioli was excellent, as was the crusty bread.

The paella arrived, and I looked at it suspiciously. Yep, all the usual delicacies were to be found. Octopus, chicken, lamb possibly, lobster, shrimp, red peppers and mussels.

The rice was cooked perfectly, and I tucked into it with little ceremony. It wasn’t a fan, but it was a quarter of the price, had more seafood than others, paellas, and this was as close as you get to a working man’s paella because af, after all, that is where the dish came from in the rice fields of Valencia when the fishermen would get together after morning’s work.

I remembered their flan (crème caramel) from last time and decided to splurge. It was good as usual.

The bill for aioli and bread, paella, a can of beer, a bottle of lemon Sprite, and flan came to €14.

I was talking to the waiter, and he said, “Elsewhere, you can find more expensive paella, but ours is just the same.” I heartily agreed. Another excellent food memory is made. Anywhere else, the bill would have been €35.