My wife and I stumbled upon Bar Arrieta the second day in Madrid and even after 6 days here, it remains our favorite place for tapas. The exterior is unassuming and it's a small place (12 tables?), but don't let that dissuade you, it's worth coming in. Since we hadn't been in Madrid long, we didn't know how to tell a good tapas restaurant from a bad one but the daily menu board was in Spanish which usually means they don't cater to tourists. After walking through in and observing the other patrons, it was clear everyone else were locals (also the only ones speaking English). Our server was friendly, helpful and really hustled. Since they cater to the Madrileños, it helped that we speak passable Spanish, but if you pointed to what you wanted on the menu you'd do just fine. The croquetas with ham were divine, the "toast" with caramelized onions and goat cheese was delicious and the veggie paella superb. That was plenty of food for 2 hungry people because the paella for one was substantial. We aren't dessert eaters but everyone else ordered a slice of the chocolate cake so we said what the heck. When ours came it had whipped cream on it which was funny since no one else's came that way and we didn't order the cream. Maybe they assumed Americans like it (we sure do!). Naturally the cake was amazing. We really hadn't looked at the prices so we were pleasantly surprised when the bill was something like 30€ or a little less. We felt that was a great price for outstanding food and service! read more