Flamenco Show--With or Without Dinner?

In general, the rule of thumb is that one should avoid Flamenco shows that include a dinner, the food is almost never of good quality and almost always overpriced. Now I have not been to las Carbonaras, but when in doubt, best see the show and then have dinner separately.

Without dinner is best. Go to eat at Mercado San Miguel before or afterwards.
At Mercado San Miguel you can see the food before you try it.
Spain is big on tapas, ham, and paella.

We have done Flamenco shows in Barcelona as well as Malaga/Torremolinas.

Flamenco comes from Andalusia in southern Spain and that was where we saw the best show.

We usually do the show with food. Our show in Barcelona had tapas, which worked out well.

Check the reviews of the show before you book.

If you think of Madrid and Sevilla, respectively, as New York City and New Orleans, then you get a better sense of how to think about this.

Suppose you're in NYC and you want to go hear Delta Blues and also have a Cajun dinner -- can you find them? Sure you can, it's NYC, where you can find anything and everything. You can even find a club and a restaurant where the performers and proprietors are from a long line of blues players and Looziana chefs -- but their work is catering to the customers who are there in NYC.

Same goes for Madrid - there are Andalusian spots that are perfectly legit, but they are scrubbed and polished for tourists in Madrid.

Think again about your phrase 'a good Spanish dinner' and go back to the NYC analogy: Would you want to eat a good American dinner while in NYC? If you're there in Madrid, I think what you want is good Castellano cuisine, and maybe (maybe) some kind of overall greatest hits kind of restaurant that includes what outsiders think of when they think of Spain. I personally don't go for that as much as regional specialties. What would a good American dinner even be in NYC? How about in Chicago or Los Angeles? Bring that perspective to Madrid.

My personal experience: I've done the full meal at Tablao Arenal in Sevilla and it was exceptionally good, and reflective of southern dishes overall, with a bit of but not too much greatest hits included -- tortilla and bacalao starters, duck in cherries sauce main, pastel and fruit for afters, wine and sherry and coffee included. Much better seating than those doing tapas only or show only.

(Edited to add that I also wouldn't normally do dinner together with the show but if timing favors it - 2 birds w/ 1 stone - then it can be a good choice.)

Thanks to you all for your comments. Alas, they generally say what I expected--better food is probably to be had separate from the flamenco places. Nonetheless, as I read more, I suspect we'll end up doing dinner with the show in order to get a better table from which to view the show. Such is life.

avirosemail, while I appreciate your well meaning intent, I'm not a swaddling babe, nor an "ugly American". I understand that the term "traditional Spanish food" is imprecise and overly general, but I think most folks "know it when they see (eat) it". LOL We'll likely not get to Spain again, so I'm perfectly happy eating, say, paella in Madrid instead of in Valencia; similarly with Basque, Galician, Catalunyan, and other regional specialties.

Hi there. We were in Madrid in June and we wanted Flamenco at a smaller, more intimate spot. We also wanted a great meal. After some research on both, here is what we did:

Made reservations for 8:30 at Restaurante Ordago, (the website says open at 9, but they do open at 8:30--promise, even if it looks closed when you arrive). This was just an amazing meal-the best we had in Madrid and we were finished in time to make the 10:30 show at Tablao La Quimera which is just down the street (5 minute walk). This was a small, intimate show and we really enjoyed it. (one guitar, 3 dancers) It was also only 20 euro a ticket which included a drink. There were locals there and some tourists. You can buy the tickets online ahead of time. You could also go to an earlier show and have a much later dinner! We took the subway to the Ventas stop, arriving a bit early to get a look at the bullring. It was about a 7 minute walk to the restaurant.

I recommend it highly. My teenage boys and husband are all musicians (guitar, bass, drums) and they thought the Flamenco was great.

Have a great trip!

OK, Willy, no offense intended or taken -- if you do want to search out a local specialty, consider callos a la madrileña there in Madrid or a tapa portion of Oreja a la Plancha.

Thanks, rlaber. I'll check it out.

Thanks, avirosemail. I appreciate the recommendations and will check 'em out. We're hoping to try pig's ear, cochinillo, and cocido madrileño too--especially the cochinillo. And, of course, tapas--hoping to find at least one tapas place with a Basque twist.

I live to eat! LOL

What Carlos said.

"Las Carbonaras offers a meal with their show and purchasing the meal means better (closer) seating for the show as well."
As it turns out - much better seating.....but it doesn't overrule the fact that the meal is overpriced and underwhelming. I'm no Flamenco expert, but I really enjoyed the show.
(They do offer a five-Euro discount if you flash a Rick Steves guidebook, or at least they did in February, 2018.)

You want your seat to be as close as possible to the performers, so you can see the expressions on their faces, which is truly amazing.