15 Best Tapas Bars in Madrid
Tapas bars are the glue that keeps Madrid society together. It doesn’t matter if you come in wearing a hard hat or a business suit—in the taberna, pretty much everyone gets the same gruff, dependable service. Sure, there's no shortage cheffy hotspots where local glitterati swoon over dishes that could pass as sculptural art (hola, La Gabinoteca), but even high-society Madrileños can't resist the nostalgic allure of traditional taverns like Casa Amadeo and Sylkar. The best part is, you don't have to commit to one venue or vibe—or even one cuisine—since a ronda, or tapas crawl, might take you to five bars in a night. So dive into our picks for Madrid's best tapas bars, and make a night of it: Sip, snack, pay, repeat.
Carla EtceterabarBodega de la Ardosa
$$Bodega de la Ardosa is 127 years old, and it looks it: Cobwebbed bottles and antique tchotchkes line the walls, engraved beer taps crown the bar, and wrought-iron columns alternate with wine barrels fashioned into tables. When in season, don't miss the artichokes, confited in fruity Spanish olive oil to an almost spreadable consistency before being crisped on a sizzling hot griddle. The battered ortiguillas—fresh sea anemones—sherry-braised beef cheeks, and gushy tortilla española—which has won gold medals—are equally sublime. If the main dining area looks too packed, peer beyond the right-hand side of the bar: There's a back room that often has more space.
Carla EtceterarestaurantCasa Amadeo Los Caracoles
$$“Who wants some snails! The finest snails in Madrid!” bellows Amadeo Lázaro, the 89-year-old owner of Casa Amadeo. He's been hawking his famous garlicky gastropods to to the masses since 1942, which makes him the oldest tabernero in Madrid. Known colloquially as "Los Caracoles" ("The Snails"), this sliver of a bar on Plaza de Cascorro fills up on Sundays, when the nearby Rastro flea market is in full swing. Even squeamish travelers should try Amadeo's famous caracoles—they're a Rastro-morning rite of passage. Other highlights include endangered old-school tapas like gambas en gabardina—battered "shrimp in raincoats"—stewed trotters, and boiled crayfish.
barCasa Revuelta
$$Revuelta—"stirred up"—is a fitting name for this raucous old bar, which is just two minutes from the Plaza Mayor. Sharpen your elbows before weaving your way to the counter, manned by dapper, prehistoric waiters and lined with sudsy half-pints and slender glasses of vermú. The battered bacalao (salt cod) fritters, served piping hot and impaled with a toothpick for easy nibbling, are way too good for €3 a pop. Slow-stewed tripe is Revuelta's other claim to fame; it's only available on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Duck into Revuelta to refuel between key attractions like the Plaza Mayor and El Rastro flea market, or make it a pitstop on a larger tapas crawl through the old town.
Paco Albornoz/Courtesy La TaperestaurantLa Tape
$$Arguably Madrid's top beer bar, La Tape is a non-negotiable stop for beer lovers and home brewers, but even if you cheat and go for a glass of wine and a few tapas, you'll no doubt dig the unbuttoned, breezy atmosphere. The menu is crowd-pleasing through and through with dishes both Spanish—the most heavenly ensaladilla rusa (tuna-y potato salad) in town—and international (think pesto-slathered burrata and artichoke tempura). Arguably Madrid's top beer bar, La Tape is a non-negotiable stop for beer lovers and home brewers, but even if you cheat and go for a glass of wine and a few tapas, you'll no doubt dig the unbuttoned, breezy atmosphere.
Carla EtceterabarCasa González
$$You know you're living your best European life when you step off a cobblestone street into a cheese shop, pick out a few quesos and a bottle of wine, and sit down at a marble table by the window to enjoy them. That's the allure of Casa González, founded in 1931, a hybrid gourmet shop–tapas restaurant where you could spend hours grazing and sipping. While the posher vinotecas in the neighborhood fill up with see-and-be-seen locals, Casa González draws a down-to-earth crowd that's here for nothing more than good food and a good time. The menu revolves around Casa González's expertly purveyed charcuterie and conservas (canned seafood and other delicacies), so it pays to give whomever's behind the counter carte blanche to make you a cheese plate with the best stuff.
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Melo's
$This is what Lavapiés bars used to be like—long before the tattooed, crop-topped, fixie-riding kids Brooklynized the neighborhood. Melo's has no website. You can't pay with a card. The menu is eight items long. Ask for a wine list, and you'll get a blank stare: It's tinto or blanco, imbécil. But for old-world charm—and prices—you've come to the right place. The signature zapatilla sandwich, a grilled cheese stuffed with smoked Galician ham and oozy tetilla, is an atomic bomb of a dish—drunk (or hangover) food at its finest.
Carla EtceterarestaurantDocamar
$When a bar this far from the action—some 25 minutes northeast of the city center—is packed to the gills every night—on both floors—you know it's doing something right. Docamar has been a Ciudad Lineal institution since 1963, and its budget-friendly menu appeals as much to boisterous college kids as it does to families and business crowds. The pilgrimage-worthy dish—and Docamar's raison d'être—is patatas bravas, crisp-fried hunks of potato doused with a mouth- and eye-watering chili sauce whose recipe is closely guarded.
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Maximiliano Polles/Courtesy Cinco JotesrestaurantCinco Jotas
$$The jamón ibérico brand Cinco Jotas is so synonymous with quality that to call something "Cinco Jotas" in the local vernacular is to say it's the "crème de la crème." Of course, there's no better place to taste the Bentley of hams than in its proprietary bar and restaurant, where you're assured luxurious, perfectly diaphanous slices every time. Nutty and complex with a finish that lingers on your tastebuds long after you've swallowed, Cinco Jotas' jamón might forever ruin prosciutto and serrano ham for you.
restaurantTaberna de Antonio Sánchez
$$Antonio Sánchez, the oldest taberna in Madrid (est. 1787), is essentially a living museum. Azulejos (traditional ceramic tiles) peek out between cobwebby wine bottles that teeter atop slanty old shelves. A 19th-century wooden bar is stacked with olives, jamón canapés, and hacked-up chorizo. On the walls, portraits of bullfighters, painted by a long-forgotten artist, share precious real estate with a replica of an Ignacio Zuloaga sketch immortalizing the bullfighter Ignacio Sánchez Mejías; sepia-tone newspaper clippings; and hand-calligraphed signs trumpeting "Tripe, Dogfish, Squid, Doughnuts, Omelets, Fried Bread.”
Courtesy Los Chuchis BarrestaurantLos Chuchis
$$Los Chuchis' cozy horseshoe bar, fresh-cut flowers, checkered tile floor, and wooden tables will make you feel right at home at this neighborhood haunt—the kind of place locals like to keep to themselves. Try not to salivate as you peruse the hand-written menu. Los Chuchis' cuisine resists categorization with dishes ranging from roasted bacalao with salsa verde to baked camembert to English-style sausages with mustard, spiced and stuffed by a local butcher to the chef's specifications.
Carla EtceterabarBar Cerveriz
$$This literal mom-and-pop bar across from the Mercado de San Miguel is a gleaming diamond in the touristy rough. Carlos and María Ángeles inherited the tiny storefront in 1989; he mans the stove while she jots down orders and shoots the breeze with the devoted clientele. Sure, Cerveriz's legendary tortilla española is what brings most first-timers through the door, but Carlos' other specialties, such as the stewed Romano beans with jamón and paprika and the braised whole squid swimming in carrot-wine sauce, are Spanish comfort food at its finest.
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Los Huevos de Lucio
$$You might have to throw a few elbows on your way into Los Huevos de Lucio, a Cava Baja standby. At the bar (and in the back dining room), La Latina neighborhood dwellers and tourists gobble down caveman-size portions of huevos estrellados, the house specialty: runny eggs nested between fried potatoes with optional ham, sausage, and other stick-to-your-ribs add-ins. In recent years, Cava Baja has been infiltrated by middling tapas chains and dime-a-dozen franchises, so it's a relief to see a family-run business like Los Huevos de Lucio packing in the crowds night after night.
Courtesy La GabinotecarestaurantLa Gabinoteca
$$The dim lights, chicken-wire dividers, and salvaged chairs are the first sign you're not in a traditional tapas bar. The second might be that steak at the table next to you, which is literally engulfed in flames, or that Caesar, which comes with a pair of shears—you'll be using them to chop the salad. Better suited to a sit-down tapas feast than to a quick stop on a longer crawl, La Gabinoteca feels like a destination restaurant. These tapas are as much about style as they are about substance—and they deliver in both categories. Gratinéed razor clams, enlivened with a kimchi cream, have been on the menu since day one—one taste, and you'll understand why. Whoever your dining companion may be, rest assured he or she will be impressed.
Courtesy FidebarFide
$$Most seafood restaurants worth their salt are whole-paycheck expensive. Not Fide. What this no-frills tapas bar may lack in charm—nobody looks sexy under ultra-bright LED lights—it makes up for with pristine shellfish and lovingly packed, affordably priced conservas: canned delicacies like tuna and anchovies. The fresh, briny seafood sings alongside dry whites like fino sherry or albariño. Make this a pitstop on a tapas crawl through Chamberí before heading on to Sala de Despiece, Sylkar, or other Ponzano hotspots.
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