Do yourself a favor and stop here for torrija. I would recommend taking it to go or seeing if you…read morecan snag a spot upstairs. This place gets busy and packed and was hectic when we stopped in. The torrija was one of, if not the best one we had while in Madrid. The service was quick and friendly at the to go counter for me.

La Mallorquina came as a recommendation from our hotel when I asked for a local bakery with coffee…read more I'd had a long list of places I wanted to try but always like to ask as well. We happened upon it and I was so pleasantly surprised. I think we went three times during our time in Madrid. I loved the counter experience, I'd definitely recommend that option. I wasn't looking to sit down and do all of that upstairs so my review is solely based on counters on the first floor. The locals love this spot and that is quite obvious. I was told in advance that they do and coming here was very enjoyable. The pastries and coffee are very yummy, you won't be disappointed. Makes for the perfect spot if you really want to get your day started but want to grab a quick bite before doing so.

Really enjoyed Mercado de San Miguel, even if it's the more touristy food market in Madrid. Came…read morelater in the evening. Must gets include - jamón ibérico from Puesto Carrasco Ibéricos - olives and vermut from The Hour of the Vermouth - wine from Pinkleton & Wine - codfish from La Casa del Bacalao There's also a Spanish omelet vendor but it was okay. Great energy in the market. Can be difficult to find a seat at a table but there's plenty of standing counters along the perimeter.

So this was one of the places everyone recommended we had to stop at while we were in Madrid for a…read morecouple days on our way to Portugal, and one of the most disappointing. Don't get me wrong - they do indeed have a whole bunch of food vendors that all looked extremely good. Some of them were tourist-priced (ok, a majority of them were tourist-priced), but none of them looked *bad*, just not *necessarily* worth the price, when you could go any number of places nearby and get food as good, for cheaper. But there were definitely some hidden gems, including one absolutely wonderful tapas place that we ordered a bunch of little tostas from, of all different sorts, that we were absolutely impressed by and happy with all of. And of course, the vendor I had originally been most excited about, La Hora del Vermut, which does indeed offer both very inexpensive, great "house" vermouth, and very affordable fancy vermouths. I would've loved to hang out at a bar like that... if I could do so and also *move*. See, the thing is... this market is absolutely not big enough for all its accolades. As Yogi Berra may or may not have ever said, "No one goes there nowadays, it's too crowded." At least I probably wouldn't ever go back there... we could barely hear to order tapas at the tapas place, and good luck finding a place to eat if you're not taking it to go. Good luck actually making it to one of the vendors further away from the entrance, either. It was an absolute madhouse, so we ordered a bunch of tostas at once, I braved the insanity to get a couple glasses of vermouth and met my wife outside the actual market to eat them on the steps. And that was the *off* season - if it's like that in January, I could only imagine it in May! Great vendors, but as a market, they really need better crowd management / foot traffic control.

Awesome chocolate truffles. Stopped here twice. Friendly and…read morepatient service. Brightly lit as you would expect.

I couldn't believe it when I paid 16.8 euros for twelve amazing truffles--say whaaat?!read more

What a lovely way to start the day! The 2 of us enjoyed a wonderful cup of coffee, a cappucino, and…read morea choco croissant - couldn't have been more pleasant. The decor is lovely with a lot of attention to detail (see photos); we were transported to France, as we savored the ambiance and were delighted with the sweet offerings. The service was pleasant and friendly - enough for these Americans who don't know much Spanish. Loved it!

While visiting Madrid I went to explore San Aton market and stumbled upon this place. I saw the…read moresweets in the display and just knew I had to have a taste. I settled on the macarons out of all the deserts they had. I have to save that they were the best macarons I've ever had! Unique flavors. The texture of the macarons was incredible (slightly flakey). They even looked beautiful. I wish I could ship some back to the states.

I am convinced this might be the best dessert spot in the city. There are so many choices of…read morebeautifully crafted desserts. From cake to crepes, they have alllll the sweets you could dream of. I went in on a Saturday at 1. They looked like they were just finishing their rush. The inside is cute and antique-y. They have a lot of their desserts on display so you can look before you order. What I ordered: I wanted a ratatouille, but they were all sold out. It looked like they were sold out of a couple of things. I got a Brie and tomato sandwich and the healthy cheesecake. The sandwich was okay, but the cheesecake was a stand out! I WILL be back.

This a fantastic bakery created by Alejandro Montes, one of the top pastry chefs in Spain…read more We ordered a raspberry croissant, a classic croissant, their bretzel arandanos, a latte and an americano. The raspberry croissant was decadent and flaky. It was excellent. The classic croissant was not as good. It was not as crisp or flaky. The Bret always was interesting. It tasted like a heavily fried and dense version of a palmera and was covered in glaze, chocolate and filled with raspberry. It was a little much for me. I would only order the raspberry croissant again but it alone is worth returning for. Everything looks amazing.

I've made it a point to try and stop by a McDonalds at every country I go to…read more Food is always good, and there's usually a different menu that focuses on that particular region. This McDonald's had some different burgers and adult happy meals (for the Stranger Things premier). Very very busy place, and I was surprised it was so pricey.. like €10+ per meal. The only thing I didn't enjoy, is that the tables and all feel cramped, and also the patrons didn't clean up after themselves. It was unkept, but not for the lack of the employees trying.. it was mostly due to the customers leaving all their trash behind.

McDonald's was our first stop after getting off the train at Grand Vía station! It's right outside…read moreof the station. This was my first time trying McDonald's in any country in Europe, so this was a treat! It looks quite nice from the outside & on the inside too. Well air conditioned space & has 2 floors of seating available if you choose to eat here. We ordered off the kiosk & our order was done within minutes, which was impressive since it was super busy... this would not be the case in the US LOL. We ordered a three burger meal, which included three sandwiches of our choice, 25 chicken nuggets, three fries, & three drinks of our choice. For sandwiches, we ordered a McCrispy, a McChicken, & a quarter pounder. We did two normal fries and decided to try their wedge fries. Everything was great for a quick meal, ordering was easy, and did not have trouble finding a table to sit at.

The antipasti at beata pasta was delicious. Would recommend while overlooking the views of the…read morearea.

The view and the vast food choices makes this a recommendation. To find the entrance, go to the El…read moreCorte Ingles entrance opposite the Cines Callao. This is important as afterhours, El Corte Ingles keeps this one entrance open to access the elevators to get up to the Gourmet Experience. Once the doors are open, you have seemingly endless choices of food and drink to choose from. Most people congregate near the window to take in the views with their meal. We had a gelato from Amorino and it was good, but not as good as the views!

Interesting concept for a restaurant, but ultimately I felt that the experience and taste fell a…read morebit short, especially for a Michelin star restaurant. In terms of food, there were some great components--the snout was super tender and the sauce that came with it was very flavorful. However, I found that some of the other dishes were chewy in texture, and that the refinement of the flavorful was lacking for a menu of this price. The idea of using offal for dessert is certainly interesting, but it felt like they were adding ingredients for the sake of creativity, and felt like they didn't actually belong in the dish. I had an early reservation compared to local dining habits, so the restaurant was very empty during my dinner. This probably contributed somewhat to the service feeling a bit uncomfortable, but overall it was a bit cold and it felt like the staff were staring me down as I ate my meal.

We stayed at the Hotel Sardinero in Chambri where there are more Michelin Star restaurants within a…read morefew minutes walk than there are within an 8 hour drive of where we live in Milwaukee. But most of them average a months pay but this one is only a little expensive (under 200 Euro for two). We were able to make reservations on their website, it's very close to the Nuevos Minesterios Metro station, though you need to pay attention to signs, that is a huge station. Near a beautiful high end shopping mall if you need a Rolex or the like. When we got to the restaurant it seemed oddly familiar, yes we knew it from Eva Longoria's travel through Spain limited series. In the Madrid episode she looked like she really enjoyed the food here in spite of the fact that it is locally sourced offal. Of course she's an actress but it turns out she wasn't acting, the chef is a brilliant creative Spanish chef who has been inspired by traditional rural cooking from poor areas that learned to make every part of farm animals and weeds taste good. The many courses sound pretty scary but try to ignore what they are made of and savor the unique complex flavors, it's ecstasy. Unlike high class restaurants in the States, a couple of glasses of good wine will not significantly add to the bill. Don't fill up on the delicious bread. Even dessert was a complicated combination of flavors I've never encountered and I've eaten a lot of different meals around the world. Every course was a work of art, visually and to taste. A place like this is why I don't like to dole out 5 star reviews like that's the norm. This is a definite 5 YELP star dining experience. The chef and many of the staff from the television show were here, his book is for sale and he will autograph it. However if it puts you even a kilo over your luggage limit, TAP Air Portugal will nail you with a 100 Euro fee.

Came here without reservations for lunch around 2pm on a Saturday. There was not a wait so we were…read moreseated quickly, but our server was not very attentive--had to wave him down a couple times. Just a reminder that portions are small since these are tapas! We ordered three for two people -- tostón hawaiano, velas d'arrós negre and bombitas de camarón. We also ordered two bottles of water and two glasses of wine (I got the rosado-sospechoso '15 cuenca). The tostón hawaiano was my favorite tapa, and the bombitas de camarón was pretty good as well. I was not a fan of velas d'arrós negre--it literally tasted like styrofoam. The wine was good though!

Very good fusion restaurant with nice interior and great service…read more For lunch you can decide between a few aperitivo, primero, segundo and postre. Dishes are small but tasty and overall the price is fair (EUR 11.95) and worth to try.