Inexpensive/Mid price restaurant recommendatons in Madrid/Barcelona

Need to define inexpensive and mid price as to your meaning. Many recommendations at http://www.ricksteves.com/graffiti/graffiti38.html

Places we really enjoyed were Ceveceria Catalana in Barcelona ( went twice) and Madre Tierra ( vegetarian, lovely room) and Alfiteleros 24 (cool, modern, upscale, more expensive) in Toledo. Ceveceria Catalana is tapas, but you sit down and order from a menu. The food is excellent and not expensive unless you order a lot of different things. Que Que( in Ricks's book) was fun, brightly lit, and well-priced but the food mot quite as good. But fun because we ended up sharing plates with the Greek people at the next table.

Try Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas in Madrid. I love that place. The waiters dress in period costumes and the sangria is amazing. Great food and atmosphere. Here are the reviews on TripAdvisor. It is basically in Plaza Mayor ( the entrance is at the bottom of steps to Plaza Mayor - can't remember which Corsica though). http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187514-d2011666-Reviews-Las_Cuevas_de_Luis_Candelas-Madrid.html

Thanks All! 5 days and counting :)!

In Madrid – These tapas places are all cheap, good for families, and are within walking distance of PdS: Casa Toni, Museo del Jamon (small tapas bar chain, so there's more than one), Cervecería de Santa Ana, and Oreja de Oro. Artemis is a really good vegetarian place – excellent version of vegetarian paella. Have good paella somewhere, but skip the terrible fast food paella advertised on posters all over town. In Segovia, I would suggest skipping Candido – recommended by many, but it's very expensive and isn't very good. Cool place, though, and right next to the aqueduct. Get a pizza instead. Back in Madrid, you can get a decent café meal at Hotel Europa, and there are Häagen-Dazs all over for ice cream. Many places serve excellent café con leche, even Häagen-Dazs. Churros are terrible, but you should try them anyway. Get some yemas at the big confectionery immediately off PdS as you start toward Plaza Mayor. Your kids will have fun at all of these places. Tapas bars can have some smoke (unless something has changed recently), but kids are okay...tapas bars serve alcohol, but they're not really bars like we might use the term here. If you need a Starbuck's, there's one up on Gran Via, but why go there with all the great cafe con leche everywhere? Happy travels! BTW, if your kids need a video game fix, there seems to be a Game Stop on practically every corner of town in Madrid. Almost forgot the café at the huge El Corte Inlges department store – cheap and actually darn good – reminds me a bit of Nordstrom Café here if you've ever been to one of those.

Hi Michelle - In Barcelona, Cuines Santa Caterina was my favorite. Also, Restaurant Peru for paella, La Tomatquera, and Les Quatres Gats. In Madrid, El Bolevar de Mayor, Prada for tapas, Lacuna for lunch near the Prado, Los Galayos. Enjoy your trip!

In Madrid on same street as Casa Toni (Calle Cruz I think) is Museo Vino which serves a really good Paella. The San Miguel Market is great for lunch-all sorts of tapas and everything looks fresh and delicious. We have eaten lunch at every El Corte Ingles in the Spanish cities we visited-never disappointed and the food halls are amazing for take out items. We like Cafe Academia in Barcelona but might be pricey with kids. Sagardi good for tapas. We were very disappointed in Set Portes which dates back to 1878 or so. It is a beautiful place but our meal (Paella) was not good. Have a great trip!

This may be blasphemous, but if you find yourself in Madrid and desiring an Italian meal, check out a place called "Ouh...Babbo!" It's not far from Plaza del Sol. The pizzas there were out of this world and my husband and I eat a silly amount of pizza for comparison. We also saw many pasta dishes coming out that looked fantastic, too, and wished we'd found it earlier during our Madrid stay so we could have gone back for round two. http://www.ouhbabbo.com/

My favorite place was called Champagne (or the local equivalent, I think started with an X), it's the Tapas bar that seemed most local, and least expensive of the many we tried.

While in Barcelona last year we ate a couple of times at a small place called Matamala. It's just a block or so north of the top of La Rambla. http://www.matamalarestaurant.com/en