Casa Julio

"A lifelong eating house" is how it describes itself, and that's exactly how it works: on a narrow street in the centre, a few minutes from Plaça Major, Casa Julio fills up every day thanks to two set menus that already feel like they belong to another era in central Palma. The simpler one, around €16, includes a starter, main, drink, pudding and bread with aioli; the other, at €24, steps up to griddled seafood and meat: king prawns, cuttlefish, entrecôte or shoulder of lamb. Tables are almost touching, the noise is that of a full dining room, and the seasoned waiters get plates out fast.

The cooking is home-style, generous and unfussy, best represented by the Mallorcan dishes and stews: arroz brut, the island's soupy rice with meat, vegetables and spices; potaje (bean and vegetable stew), fried eggs with sobrassada and pork knuckle. Beyond the menus, the list of raciones is good for sharing: spinach croquetas, cuttlefish pica-pica, well-battered calamari, Mallorcan pâté and fried fish. For pudding, homemade flan, and to drink, if you like, the house wine with gaseosa (lemonade), the old way.

Popularity has its price: without a booking there's a queue in the street at peak times, sometimes over an hour, and when the room is at capacity service speeds up. It's not the best choice for coeliacs, as the fryer is shared. For a cheap, filling, Mallorcan meal right in the centre, few places like this are left.

Reviewed in November 2026