Hotel Rural Sant Joan de Binissaida

Saint Joan de Binissaida is a lovely agriturismo just outside Mahon. We booked the Wagner suite with its large terrace overlooking the glorious countryside and hoped for a warm, relaxed few days. But this notion was shattered when we saw the building works immediately opposite, which we had not been advised of, even upon check-in. A large crane arrived on the first morning and there was loud, constant noise all day, not just from the works, but from the builders themselves shouting amongst each other. It was truly awful, and very stressful. Thankfully, the third day was a public holiday and so we managed to have just one enjoyable, relaxing day. As for the restaurant, again, a beautiful setting. But for the first 2 nights many items on the menu were not available, apparently ‘as it is the end of the season’ - yet miraculously, there was a fuller menu available on our last night?! BIzarre! The rice dish with squid and prawns at Euros50 was absurd - there were just 2 or 3 prawn heads in it, no actual prawns (!)and it was so salty we could not even eat it! One evening we had to wait 40 minutes to get a cocktail at the poolside bar as the bar person was late for her shift..….. Most of the staff were very charming and helpful, but overall the whole experience was disappointing and amateurish. For the sake of one week (which it turns out it was), it seemed crazy that the hotel could not have liaised with their neighbours and agreed to start the building works once the hotel had closed. All of the above was relayed to the hotel staff at the time. It is such a shame that what could have been a magical break, turned out to be the complete opposite.

What a disappointment. There were only 2 courses on the meat section the others being unavailable. The oddest thing is that both of these came with crisps no vegetables. When this was queried we were told the crisps were chips. No atmosphere and grumpy staff.