La Fantástica is an amazing bar in Lavapies offering affordable tapas and great drinks…read more FOOD: Try their delicious Brie Cheese Tosta and the wonderful vegetable pisto. You can also get a free tapa upon ordering a beer or glass or wine. SERVICE: When the wine was accidentally spilled over, the bartender was nice enough to pour more wine without even asking her. Now THAT's service! AMBIANCE: It's quite evident when you come in that this is a local's spot. Neighborhood residents hang out here at night time. The students seen everywhere lend the place a youthful vibe.

We went as part of a tapas crawl. The service was good. The food was tasty. My husband loved the…read morescallops. The peas were surprisingly good

This is a must go if you are in Madrid. It was a happy stumble for us as we were leaving the Sunday…read moreEl Rastro flea market, which was an amazing market by the way. We walked into this small but crowded joint and never been so glad to have made the pit stop. The specialties are definitely the grilled sardines and the grilled peppers. Sprinkled with some sea salt and voila, I teared up when feasting on them. The people watching experience was awesome too! We found it quite comical the various ways people attempted to eat a sardine. Some gnawed on its side, some tried to peel off the flesh with their fingers...we even saw one trying to take the skin off first! Wow, omg hilarious! Whatever ways tickle your fancy, as long as you can get these succulent fish in your mouth and taste it you will not regret it. My husband vows by my technique which he claims work the best. I accredit it to my Asian background. Fish is served whole where I grew up. Since the fish fits in the mouth, pick it up by the tail. Bite off the head first. Trust me it's not gross. The fish had been deep fried so well the head is a tasty crunch. Slowly then use your teeth to lightly peel or grind off the flesh using an upward motion, and what's left is the main spine with tiny bones. Lastly, you must eat the tail. Again it's so crunchy and full of umami like the head. Check out my photos for better visuals as I am not that good of a self help writer. Haha! I wished I lived here so I could go back every week and you can't beat the price and the energy of this place as well.

Hmm... strangely enough, only my friend & I seemed bothered by the fact that the grilled sardines…read morehad so much scales on them! That, as you can imagine, made it extremely difficult & messy for us to consume the otherwise yummy tasting sardines. A heaping plate of sardines is only 3.60 euros, and we were thankful to only have ordered half portion which was more than enough for the two of us. What we did enjoy, was the Pimentos de padron - a type of green chillies known as padron, pan fried & sprinkled with sea salt. Yummy! It was soft and tasty, a bit on the salty side. The beer complements everything perfectly, and we saw many people eating bread with their meal (we opted out of the bread because there was too high a consumption of bread on our trip in Spain). Overall, it would've definitely been a 4-5 star rating if the sardines didn't have scales on them. It was a fun experience! PS. I uploaded two of the same pictures of my meal but it won't let me write the captions nor does it give me credit on the business page! :'(

Surprisingly amazing. I had been advised to head over to Laredo for a low key neighborhood late…read morechow. Laredo was packed with locals including the bar so I was there shortly and came back out to notice across the street three Michelin signs on a white wall. Walked over assuming I would have the same luck but no, two empty tables at 9PM and one with no reservation. Lucky me! An lucky indeed. The sevillian running the room was both charming and efficient so we were off and running. Sat down and a very nice Galician white was served. That was promptly followed by a delicacy courtesy of the house: an arepa with kimchi mayo and ceviche gamba. It was an odd combo for me because the arepa was served hot but something understandable because otherwise the arepa would have been barely eatable as it was dense but aside from that detail the dish was a solid 8. I ordered three plates myself. Idiazabal cheese croqueta with a cheese reduction which was more of a ketchup. The croqueta was excellent the ketchup not so much, I think they could have done more with the tomato, specially given the summer season and the excellent produce so a 7.5 because of how the sauce brought the dish down. Then a tomato salad two ways. Heirloom and what I would call classic tomatoes with a cucumber emulsion, Extra Virgin Olive Oil and red onions with aged sherry vinegar. Quite possibly the star dish. Very well staged and done. A solid 9. But for the Gilda which is a basque classic of olives, not so hot green peppers (they are spicy) and usually anchovies which in this case where brilliantly hidden in the peppers, to be substituted by tuna belly deep fried with taste - literally - like heaven. This was a step above the tomato dish because it was so complex specially because it was serve over what I assume to be a crema or some offshoot of yogurt over Extra Virgin Olive Oil and some chili flakes. Very balanced and quite in your face when it needed to be. Solid 9.5 And to end I ordered the ensaladilla which is a staple of Madrid tabernas or pubs and is generally a mayo based potato salad with canned tuna, green beans, eggs, parsley you get the idea. In this case they added shrimps and smoked eels which gave the dish an umami taste which completely blew my head. A very solid taste that blows 9.5. Prices are affordable. Service is all around very competent and prices are more than affordable for this level of food and attention. Highly recommend if you are in Madrid. Also in a great part of town.

If you're a TRUE FOODIE, this is an amazing hidden gem in town!…read more I'll start with the attentive staff who welcomes you with the biggest smile as soon as you walk in the door. The interior is a 'chic' style, they did the most with the space and doesn't feel as small as it truly is which is great. Now for the food, Chef Marcano knows his flavors to perfection, no doubt. The aperitivo are different every day, but they will each leave you wanting more! For starter I went with the Croqueta, since I'm allergic to shellfish I could only have the sheep's milk and cheese one but, WOW, can I order a gazillion of those pleeease?! As main dish I ordered the beef tartare and fried artichokes with beets...both plates have interesting flavors, not the typical that you'd expect, but nonetheless interesting and tasty, they won't let you down. I couldn't leave without ordering the Creme Brûlée with passion fruit...yes, passion fruit! I scraped the bowl clean with that one to say the least.

Very good food, but our (admittedly large) party had to wait over an hour to be seated, and I don't…read morethink it's worth that long of a wait. With that said, the staff were very accommodating for the most part, and we got our food very promptly.

Just around the corner and what a treat! Felt like a local in town and welcomed after a long plane…read moreride. It was great to have some yummy local food and drinks. If your looking for a spot where you can feel Right at home in Spain, this is the place! Oh! And don't forget to ask for their special sauce!!!

Excellent service, authentic food, and delicious wine! Prices are great and very non-touristy…read more Highly recommended for some real Spanish cooking and a casual atmosphere.