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For restaurants in Madrid, unfortunately I can’t remember anywhere I ate back in 2010 other than when I went on a tapas tour. My only record of restaurants are from three separate one day trips in December 2016, October 2018, and July 2019.
El Café de la Ópera
El Café de la Ópera is a good restaurant in the historic city center. It’s only a few steps from the Royal Theatre and Plaza de Oriente.
They have a good selection of tapas, paellas, main dishes, and fixed price menus. Breakfast is served from 8am to noon, lunch from 1:30pm to 4pm, and dinner from 8pm to 11pm. The cafeteria and gastrobar are open from 8am to midnight.
I had a fixed price menu consisting of gazpacho and potato purée wrapped in zucchini and topped with tomato sauce. The manager brought over a complimentary tapas dish as well. The meal was excellent and the price was reasonable. I would happily eat there again.
En Copa de Balón
If you want to try a bocadillo de calamares (calamari sandwich), a typical meal in Madrid, we enjoyed ours at En Copa de Balón on Plaza Mayor. This small lounge also serves up tapas and has a good selection of wine.
El Camarote
Another place I tried a bocadillo de calamares is at El Camarote in La Latina. It’s a simple place with decent service and outdoor seating, but the sandwich wasn’t nearly as good as it was at En Copa de Balón.
La Lonja
One place to avoid is La Lonja, located on Plaza de Oriente near the Royal Palace We sat outside for a quick coffee with the thought of having a late lunch there. The server ignored us for a good five minutes before coming to take our coffee order. When Marisol asked what kind of coffees they had, he snapped and said “whatever you want”. She asked to see a menu and instead of bringing one he said “you can have whatever you want”. We both ordered a cappuccino, which tasted like burnt coffee mixed in lukewarm water. It’s too bad we had the bad experience because the menu looked great.
