Restaurants and tapa bars in Madrid and particularly Barcelona

A couple of recommendations:
Barcelona:
Had an excellent tapas meal at Ciudad Condal (Rambla de Catalunya, 18) in the Eixample. They have a bar area for tapas have a full sit down restaurant as well. Be warned it's super popular because it's a local favorite.

Also Mercado de La Boqueria in was a fun, chaotic experience and had a good meal in the market atmosphere.

Madrid:
Not fancy but amazing value for money in Madrid is Puerto Rico in Madrid (Calle de Chinchilla, 2) right near the super expensive shopping district with media racione prices and full racione sizes.

It's kinda touristy but was an experience to Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid. Expensive (by Spanish standards) but it's all food stalls so you only spend what you want to and had a good time.

The food in Spain was excellent and not terribly expensive - with some exceptions for Madrid - everywhere we went. Even when we just kind of settled on a place at random in Malaga you could tell it was just an "okay" place but the food did not disappoint. I get the feeling the bar is set pretty high in Spain both for quality and value and you don't last long if you don't deliver. (Just my take.)

Be sure you try the churro and hot chocolate at an old school place and pop into the pork stores with the legs in the window for a couple of paper cones of pork to go. If you don't know what I'm talking about you will when you see it.

Have a great trip!
=Tod

From my understanding, tapas culture is not in every part of Spain. Ditto for paella. There are tons of authentic tapas bars in Madrid, but many in Barcelona mainly cater to tourists.

Also, how do you define "good" and "reasonably priced"? Do you want casual places or elegant, candle-lit places? Coming from California, I found almost all restaurants in Spain to be reasonably-priced and good, except at tourist traps, of course.

Madrid: Favorite Huertas neighborhood restaurant is La Sanabresa. 10 min. walk from Puerto Del Sol. Open for lunch and dinner. They offer a 3 course meal that included wine. "Reasonable pricing." We were there 2 1/2 years ago. It was about €25. We had dinner there twice. Also recommend Mercado de San Miguel and top floor of El Cortes Ingles for variety of choices and view.

Barcelona: Mercado de La Boqueria and El Cortes Ingles for Paella, Sangria, Churros and spectacular view.

Barcelona, we found a couple of tapas bars that were great.

One of the restaurants is located on the corner of a large market about 100 yards east of the Cathedral Square, across the street from the Gothic area. The name of the restaurant was Cuines Santa Caterina.

Also, we had dinner at small tapas restaurant near the Plaza Sant Just on Palma De Sant Just. That restaurant, Bodega LaPalma, was not modern like ATN, but small and rustic. The tapas were excellent, with large servings for very reasonable prices.

We had a great dinner at ATN, which was located close to a Roman excavation of tombs just off Las Ramblas on Canuda Street.

Visit Carrer De Blai in Barcelona where you can get pintxos for 1 EUR. The street is lined with numerous tapa bars. It's a nice area to relax and get a drink at night.

In Madrid, I recommend going to Calle de Jesus. There are a lot of tapas restaurants/bars on this street and nearby. We ate at Taberna De La Daniela Medinacelli and Cerveceria Cervantes. Also ate at Taberna Macieras, a small Galician restaurant just around the corner from Cerveceria Cervantes. And had lunch at La Dolores at Plaza de Jesus 4, where we shared a mixture of small canapes.

I also recommend Mercado San Miguel. It's a bit pricey, but a lot of fun because there are so many food stalls you can choose from.

After visiting Real Palacio, we had lunch at Cerveceria Cruz Blanca at Calle Mayor 68 in Plaza de Villa. The Menu del Dia was 11 euros per person.