Ibiza has more good kitchens than its reputation suggests. The useful way to sort them is not by cuisine but by the sort of evening you want: a fish lunch on rocks, a village square, a long table in a garden, or somewhere you booked a month ago. We have grouped them that way, so you can match the table to the night rather than work through a list.
The other thing worth knowing up front is the season. Most of the coastal places close from roughly November to April, and the village kitchens are the ones that stay open.
Lunch on the rocks
The island's oldest kind of restaurant is the fish shack: a shed on a cove, a short menu, and whatever came in that morning. El Bigote at Cala Mastella is the purest version, a handful of tables on the rocks with one dish. Es Torrent below Es Cubells, and Es Boldado above Cala d'Hort with the Es Vedra view, are the same idea at a larger scale.
These are lunches rather than dinners, they are weather-dependent, and most of them take cash and bookings in person rather than online.
The village kitchens
Inland, the villages hold the restaurants that are open in February. Bar Costa on the square at Santa Gertrudis is the institution, hung with hams. Can Caus on the same road works its own land. La Paloma at San Lorenzo puts its tables among citrus trees, and Es Pins on the San Miguel road is the old roadside one in the north.
San Rafael has the densest run of them for a village its size, which is why people drive out from the town for dinner.
The long garden tables
The agroturismo restaurants are the island's particular thing: an old farm, a garden, and a kitchen that has grown out of it. Atzaró on the San Juan road is the best known, with a spa and an orange grove around it. Can Muson and Terra Masia work the same way on a smaller scale, and both do the farm-to-table thing without announcing it.
Where you book ahead
At the top end, the town and the marinas hold the tables people plan around. Lío at the port is a restaurant, a cabaret and a club through one evening. Casa Jondal at Cala Jondal is the smart beach lunch. Sublimotion is the outlier: twelve seats, a staged dinner, and a booking made months out.
Quick answers
When do restaurants close for winter? Most coastal places from about November to April. Village kitchens stay open.
Do you need to book? In July and August, for anything good, yes. In May and October you can usually walk in.
What time do people eat? Late by northern European standards: nine is normal, ten is not unusual.
Where is the best fish? The shacks on the coves, at lunch, and Es Torrent and El Bigote in particular.
What is an agroturismo? A farm that takes guests and usually feeds them, often with a garden restaurant open to non-residents.
Is there anywhere open all year? The village restaurants, the town, and Santa Eulalia.
Working it into a week
The pattern that works is lunch on the coast and dinner inland, because the coastal places are at their best in daylight and the villages are at their best after dark. That also keeps the drives short at the end of the evening.
If you are picking an area to stay in around where you want to eat, our advisors book across the island all season and will tell you what is worth the drive.