We (two adults, 2 teens) will be staying in Madrid for only one night (in November) after a very long travel day. We’ll arrive at our hotel in Puerta del Sol around 7pm, jet lagged and hungry! Can anyone recommend a restaurant in the area that has great atmosphere and variety of food? Not fancy, just a good intro to Spanish food.
I don’t usually plan restaurants for specific meals, but I don’t want to end up at KFC because we’re too tired to decide when we arrive!
We went to a mercado near Sol whose name escapes me but no doubt its in the guidebooks. Great experience, lots of stalls with different types of food and wine. You can nicely graze your way through a meal.
Keep in mind that most sit down type proper restaurants will not even be open by then, and I would bet you do not want to be up at 10:00 PM eating, so you are probably looking at Tapas, which in my opinion is better anyway.
The previous poster mentioned a Mercado, on the other side of Plaza Major is Mercado San Miguel, think Spanish Food Court. Different stalls selling a variety of eats and drinks, take them to a table in the center and enjoy. It is wonderful, worth a stop, but it will be crowded, you may not be able to find a place to stand or sit, and a meal would require stops at several stands, something you may not want to do when tired.
For a more traditional Tapas bar, maybe head to Calle De la Cruz, there are several places; Casa Toni, La Casa del Abuelo, others; where you can look at a menu, get Raciones (appetizer sized plates) and something to drink. For more of a meal, it may be further (a walk will do you good), but I like Los Gatos on Calle Jesus, there are many other places on this street as well.
The cafe at Hotel Europa would probably suit. It's not as fancy as the website photo suggests, but is a good place for simple, Spanish food. I had dinner there once, but had a simple breakfast at the long counter many times. There were always locals eating a quick, cheap breakfast there, too.
Fortunately, the Puerta del Sol is near many restaurants, including all the fast food ones. A couple minute walk from it in either direction is the Museo de Jamon. As the name suggests, there is a lot of ham on the menu. There are restaurants at the Plaza Mayor that are right on the plaza. The food at them is decent, but they tend to cater to the tourists. However, the atmosphere is nice and the Plaza is a good place to people watch. Mercado San Miguel, also by the Plaza Mayor has already been mentioned. We generally just walk around and find a bar with a restaurant in the back. They tend to have good food, reasonable prices, and patronized mostly by locals.
