Tapas in Madrid

Can you narrow it down in any way?

Only in town for two nights. Staying near Plaza Mayor. Looking for an authentic first-tapas experience. Thanks

My advice is to avoid most places directly on the Plaza Mayor. They tend to overcharge and be too crowded with tourists. That's basically the tourist epicenter of Madrid.

A great area for tapas is to the south of the Plaza Mayor, there's a famous tapas street called Calle de la Cava Baja. Casa Lucas is great, but you really can't go too wrong there. Slightly closer to Plaza Mayor is Casa Revuelta which is really fantastic. They're known for their fried cod, but all the food is great.

Other places I would recommend in the city center:

Las Bravas
Casa Alberto
La Venencia
La Casa del Abuelo
O'Pulpo
La burlona
Bar Tribuetxe
Taberna El Sur
Restaurante La Esperanza

Another point, I really wouldn't limit yourself to eating at bars while you're in Madrid. There are plenty of amazing restaurants as well.

Thank you! Any regular restaurants you recommend?

La Maruca - Velázquez
Bardero
Ástor gastro-place
Baldoria
Restaurante Fismuler

I highly recommend Casa Toni. It's quite centrally located.

La Casa del Abuelo for the gambas al ajillo. I still dream about them.

the gambas al ajillo. I still dream about them.

Bookmarking! We'll be in Madrid this fall, both during and after the RSE Best of Spain tour. We're not crazy about the tapas/pintxos scene, but gambas al ajillo will definitely call to us. We'll be checking out several of the places listed here, especially the regular restaurants.

Thank you all!

Keep in mind, for the most part, "Tapas" in Madrid really are more Raciones, or what in the US would be an appetizer sized portion for 2 or more people, different from the Tapas you see in Andalusia, or pintxos you find in the Basque Region, though you can find the smaller Pintxos and tapas in Madrid. One tip though, the menu may indicate, or you can ask, if they have a media-racion, or half portion, that would give you the ability to have a greater variety.

There have been some good suggestions so far, I do suggest going on Youtube and watching videos from James Blick, on his Spain Revealed channel, he has a number of videos on Madrid, and in particular, tapas.

Mercado San Miquel has not been mentioned, sort of an upscale food hall, it can be very good with lots of variety, but anymore is so crowded as to not be enjoyable. An alternative would be Mercado San Anton, but there are others. The attraction is that you can get things from multiple stalls for your table.

There was a suggestion to avoid Plaza Mayor, I would largely agree, with the exception of La Torre de Oro. Neat old small bar with lots of bullfight memorabilia, drinks with small snacks, a place more for a drink or two.

Here's a good restaurant near Plaza Mayor. We ate there the other day. Posada de la Villa.

We had the roast lamb, which is their specialty. It was very good. We also had sliced potatoes, and a pitcher of sangria. All very good.

https://www.posadadelavilla.com/

We had two nights in Madrid last September and exceptional, very different, experiences at SDD2 and Tres por Cuatro. Would return to Madrid just to repeat both!!

La Torre del Oro is a fun little bar to get a Mahou when you're sightseeing. It's cool to see the bullfighting merch and taxidermy. Bar La Campana is also good if you fancy a fried squid sandwich.

Agree with the suggestion to try out the various covered markets in Madrid. Many of them are pretty unassuming from the outside but have an amazing variety of vendors selling ham, fruits, fresh fish, etc along with bars and restaurants. I really liked Mercado de San Fernando and Mercado de Vallehermoso which is bit further off the tourist track but has some shockingly good food.

Madrid is one of the best food cities in the western world in my humble opinion if you're on a budget. You get the urban density and amazing culinary talent from all over the world without the NYC/London/Paris real estate market and social media hype based restaurants. You have places like Bardero where you're essentially getting fine dining quality food for a fraction of the price you would pay in the US. Spanish wine is also super varied and great to explore.

@ Jane get the one with little shrimp, not the big shrimp. And their slightly sweet red wine is perfect pairing. I went there twice, wished I had gone 10 times. Maybe I was just hungry, but it left an impression!

How important is it to get a restaurant reservation? We're thinking to have our bigger meal at lunch, since staying up late to eat dinner is hard for us.

We're thinking to have our bigger meal at lunch, since staying up late to eat dinner is hard for us.

That honestly is the more traditional and local way to do it. If you want to experience food in Spain, you have to get into their schedule, hard for many travelers.

I will be there for a month coming up in a few weeks, we get right into the swing of it. Our schedule:
-Just coffee, maybe a pastry first thing in the morning. We tend to forgo a hotel breakfast, and bakeries (and Starbucks) tend to open early.
-Then about 10 or so, we sit for coffee, and usually some toast with tomato, or yogurt, maybe an egg or two.
-Lunch really is the bigger meal of the day, but plan on 1 PM at the earliest, maybe 2.
-Then, we either wait until later if we want a better meal, but relatively light; or we eat tapas and other lighter fare.

To mix things up, we might do pizza in the evening, or if we are in a more touristy area, find an Italian or other ethnic restaurant, which tend to serve earlier. Of course, someplace like Madrid, or along the coast, lots of places will be open from noon until midnight serving food.