La Tasquita de Enfrente

Excellent food and service. I would definitely do the tasting menu. You get to try their best dishes and they do small portions so you don’t feel like you over ate by the end. Great place for a business lunch or special occasions.

One of the few Michelin star restaurants where we had a spectacular meal and didn’t feel full / bloated once we were done. We trusted the chef with all the dishes and we couldn’t have made a better choice. Incredible raw materials, perfectly cooked and paired with the right sauces (see the pics). Represents perfectly the Spanish traditional dishes with the best possible techniques developed over years of high end cuisine. Very well deserved Michelin star!

You wouldn't expect this quality and type of restaurant in this place, but it's been here for years! The food is amazing, very seasonal and fresh. It's fine dining, but without the molecular or fancy things, just great ingredients prepared with love. The wines are amazing too! It's on the pricey side if you expect to be pampered like a Michelin star restaurant or comparable price, but the local atmosphere and friendly people make up for it. The shrimps and the salpicon are so good and if you're lucky enough to get the teardrop peas, you're going to have one of the best meals

We have loved the experience! The restaurant is very cozy with about 7 tables. The chef and his team are extremely professional and made us really enjoy the evening. In this restaurant we do recommend ordering the tasting menu (88€): a trip through Spain with 9 dishes of excellent traditional cuisine. They prepared a personalized tasting menu by deciding together with the Chef the dishes that we liked the most and least on the menu.

A cosy and small family restaurant with a 50-year history, La Tasquita de Enfrente serves seasonal market produce. The food is a modern take on French-inspired cuisine that can be savoured on a tasting menu that changes daily. Friendly service

We visited this amazing restaurant about two weeks ago. There is so much I wish to rave about Chef Juan Lopez’s food and that I may reduce it into two words: Simply Perfect! This should be a must visit when in Madrid.

Wanted to go several times but couldn’t get booking, I made call just 30 min before show up and got 1. But the experience was very disappointing: - Oyster over clean and let them without flavor. - “Ensaladilla” without any flavor and hot. - Praws ok. - “Boquerones” without flavor and egg not well cook. - “Albondigas” was a joke. - Wines selection very weak. - Waitress running around for take the plates but not aware when you ask something. Even the owner ask me about the dinner and I tell some comments about the temperature but he didn’t take it well. Never will come back and I don’t recommend any person in fine dinning

Great ingredients and spectacular service! Eel is to die for, as well as the chipirones and albondigas. But as they say.. less is more, tale it as you may.

We were celebrating a friend's birthday. The food was excellent but the waiter continually pressured us to make quick decisions as well as to take the Euro 100 tasting menu which we were not interested in. It took several attempts to tell her we would like to look at the menu--it felt like they were looking to turn our table over quickly. As we ended up spending almost Euro 400 that was obviously unnecessary. The food was worth it as was the wine.Our friends aer vegetarians and the chef did a great job in accommodating their needs. Bottom line: great food but stressful at first.

Describing La Tasquita de Enfrente as "a conversation that never took place with my father" Chef Juan José López Bedmar sets out to create dishes built on memory and heritage, his love of the kitchen rekindled after decades in another business. Raised by the man who ran La Tasquita for thirty years, and now joined by Chef Nacho Trujillo at the stove, it is at Calle de la Ballesta 6 that diners will find an intimate dining room lined in photos, service quaint but friendly while the menu focuses on carefully chosen unique ingredients prepared simply. Under the radar despite its strong local following, a €90 tasting menu offered versus a la carte choices, it was with Wine poured that housemade Bread arrived alongside three cleaned and trimmed Oysters with astute minerality and lingering sweetness. Rooted in Spanish heritage despite Bedmar's extensive travels, grilled Fig and a sliced Anchovy melding elegantly on the tongue, La Tasquita's Spanish Potato Salad reportedly comes from father Serafín López's original recipe while Langoustines in a Sauce of their Shells are delightful. Letting Razor Clams speak for themselves unadulterated in Olive Oil, and then cleansing the palate with a peeled Tomato intended to be mashed into herbaceous Water, wild Broccoli next arrives bitter and crisp atop a fried Egg that mellows both taste and texture. Established with Madrid's best suppliers, Squid and Caramelized Onions better than the sum of its parts, Meatballs proved a slight letdown as they were a bit overworked, though this was quickly forgotten thanks to "False Torrejas" that straddles a fine line between Flan and French Toast with subtle egginess and lots of Cinnamon.

Came with a bunch of friends for dinner. The place is small. My friend knew the chef and le him Cooked whatever they wanted for us. We had around 8 different dishes from salchichon, to eal pincho, meatballs, cayos madrileña, merluza. Etc. Great service. The are outside the restaurant is a bit sketchy... but inside is nice.

After reading the negative reviews about the "sketchy business practices" (charging more than menu price, not showing prices, forcing the tasting menu), I was a bit worried about our dinner here. I don't doubt that people had those experiences, but our experience was fine. Maybe the restaurant has improved it's practices, but we were given a menu with prices, the maître d' explained each item in english and although he suggested the tasting menu, there was no pressure to do so. He was even upfront about the small portions and suggested we order an additional appetizer. We ended up ordering two appetizers and two main dishes which was enough for the two of us. The total came to 105 euros. We aren't food critics by any means, but we agreed that the food was about average compared to the two other restaurants we dinned at while in Madrid (Taberna El Sur and Botin). We ordered Callos here and at Botin. They tasted different but neither one was better than the other. Service: 4 Stars Food: 4 Stars Value: 3 stars

I was heavily recommended this place through well respected trade magazines and foodies, however, I am sorry to say that it went sideways real quick. My best friend and I came here before our dinner for a side dish and some Gin. I am aware that it was run by a very popular chef but that means nothing to me in this instance. The waiter says that there is no menu which is bullsh*t 'cause after a discrepancy with our bill I find that there was a print menu after all. He explains that the menu changes all the time which is fair enough, however, this gave the kitchen staff permission to charge us whatever they thought that they could get out of us since we were tourists. He was good about addressing dietary concerns. The main courses in the menu range from 29 - 34 euros which is fair enough, however, we just ordered 1/2 cup of mushrooms and peas which came to 28 euro. You cannot tell me what mushrooms and peas are 28 euro when the cost of a full course meal is the same. When I challenged the waiter on this he came back with some bullshit story about how the mushrooms and peas were "rare." I am not an idiot and know my food stuff and these were not "rare" veggies by any means. I agreed that they were fresh but unless these mushroom were sh*tted out by monkey's and found in Never Never Land it was still a rip off for a side dish. While we were eating the waiter and the other staff had their eyes on us the whole time like a hawk which made it awkward for my best friend and I. The Gin was good, the smell had some floral notes like lilacs. If you're a tourist and they charge your credit card make sure that they charge in Euros. I was informed by my bank and Trip Advisor prior to leaving that they will try and offer your billing in your home currency. You may feel as though this is an added value courtesy, however, this is the biggest scam in Spain. Not only will be charged the exchange, a surcharge but also 2.85% fee for the billing exchange. Just allow your credit card to take care of the conversion for you. Your credit card statement will show the proper currency that you're accustomed to. Make sure to check your credit card statement daily just in case they didn't charge your correctly so that you can immediately call Visa or MC's 1-800 number to get it sorted out within the 24 hour time Frame. Thankfully on this trip we didn't get robbed but this eatery sure made us feel like we were.

DO NOT GO THERE!! My dad was encouragely recommended to go there. But it was a bad, bad idea. The maitre was the stupidest person I've ever talked to. His pretentious and extremely posh accent made me regret having booked a table there. No details, he made a very inappropriate comment regarding my sister's food tastes, SO RUDE. Food wasn't special either... Never again.

Avoid - Super Sketchy Restaurant. I found the restaurant through a food blog that I use to find new restaurants while traveling. For the quality of restaurant there were more bad reviews than expected in Tripadvisor, yelp and google and I definitely recommend you read them and avoid the restaurant for their sketchy business practices. My girlfriend had stage 4 cancer and was not feeling well the day of our reservation so I cancelled in advance through the el tenedor reservation system with no mention of an 80 E cancellation fee. We go out all the time and had we known there was an 80E fee she would have had me go to dinner by myself. Lo and behold I get hit with an 80E fee on my card early the next morning. Please note other reviews where they'll tell you there's no a la carte menu and if you order indivdual dishes the employees will make up an outrageous price that basically approximates the tasting menu. I can't opine on the food itself but the business practices are sketchy. There are so many good restaurants in Madrid, you'll do better to avoid this one. When cancelling through opentable or resy they'll notify if you there's a fee or not which is the usual course of business.

On our second night in Madrid, we decided to find a nice sit down restaurant where we could enjoy a more refined Spanish meal. After some research, we settled on La Tasquita de Enfrente, a small but well reviewed restaurant run by Chef Juango Lopez Bedemar. The restaurant is located just north of Calle Gran Via and from the outside, other than the numerous Michelin rating stickers from over the years in the window, you really wouldn't guess this was much of a restaurant. However, if there's anything I have learned from my trip in Spain regarding restaurants, it's don't judge a book by its cover. Our waiter presents himself and explains that there is no menu at this restaurant. The chef changes everything daily based on what it gets from the market. We were recommended the tasting menu where you are at the whim of the chef - although you can make some requests and he will adjust for them - or if you want, you can go "a la carte" where the chef consults with you and makes a few dishes based on that. We naturally went with the tasting menu to truly experience what this restaurant is about. One member of our party requested no meat so we all ended up with no meat throughout our tasting. Ended up not being an issue - even for a meat lover like myself. First up, a Mushroom cream soup that my camera decided didn't like its look so I have no picture of it. Very smooth texture with wonderfully earthy tones. You could taste the freshness of the mushrooms throughout. A very nice way to start the meal. Next up, a king crab salad with homemade crisp. As it would be throughout the meal, the Chef prepares his dishes very simply - he allows the freshness of the ingredients to do the talking. Here, wonderful crab meat with a bit of binder, some bread crumbs and a little bit of roe on top. A great appetizer. Third course now, we got a cold Spider Crab soup. Great seafood broth with hints of tomatoes in the base. The crab meat itself was delicious and added a nice texture to the soup. I am not a big cold soup fan but this one worked for me on all accounts. Next up, egg fried sardines with some bacon bits on top. When one thinks of sardines, one tends to think about sardines in a can which I absolutely hate. This was nowhere near that. Nice crisp of both the skin and the coating around the sardine. The meat inside was nice and flaky. Overall, there is a nice richness to the dish without any oiliness or being too heavy which was a good thing given we were only halfway through the meal! To counter that richness, the Chef then presented us with a very simple but again wonderful dish of mixed mushrooms. Just a few different varieties of mushroom presented in different ways (chopped, shaved, sliced) and tossed in a little oil. Amazing how many flavours one can get with such a simple dish. Great follow-up to the sardines. The next 2 dishes were truly new experiences for me. First, we got fried Hake necks with a aioli of mayonnaise, garlic and Hake neck broken down. The fried necks were wonderful - very rich and fatty texture. Our server described them as the best part of the Hake and I would agree. The aioli didn't work for me though. While a very unique idea of incorporating the neck into the sauce, the aioli was devoid of any real flavour to add to the fried necks. It ended up just being an textural addition to the dish. It was the one thing over the course of this meal that really didn't work for me. The final pre-dessert course was brown butter stingray. I had no idea what to expect from stingray. It ended up being like ribs but instead of red meat, you got flaky white fish in between each rib. Great quality of fish here and the brown butter sauce was perfectly executed. Nice richness added to the white fish. On to dessert, we each got 2 items - a pistachio tiramisu and a spanish pain perdu. Given my hatred of coffee, tiramisu tends not to be something I enjoy but this one worked for me. The pistachios added a nice nutty flavour which helped to dull the coffee for me. The pain perdu was quite good as well. Very sweet richness with the crispy sponge cake on top for a nice textural crunch. A good way to cap off a wonderful meal. It didn't look like much walking in but boy was this a great meal! The cool thing throughout was seeing the chef come around numerous times to see how we were enjoying things and at the same time, seeing how each table had slightly different dishes one to the other. There truly is no pre-set menu - even for one night! If ever you go to Madrid and are looking for a way to truly experience Spanish cuising outside of the usual Tapas fare (which are amazing don't get me wrong), you won't go wrong checking this place out. Cheers!

Terrible place. Food was barely ok. Truly. We were pressured into a chef's tasting which for lunch for two came out to be 140 euros. Gulp. The food was very bland, very terrible, not trying at all. Nothing worse than a bad restaurant that rips you off. We had lunch the day before at TriCiclo for 40 euros total and it was delicious and special. Also a place for old folks which would help make sense of the bland food. In our late 30s, we were the youngest by far.

Forget the idea of a menu. First time guests are encouraged to try the chefs tasting menu. Go for it. You realize that everyone around you is trying the tasting menu. And as your dishes arrive you realize there is no one tasting menu. It's the chef's whimsy. A must visit in Madrid.

I was back in Madrid and decided to go here again, for my second time this year. This time I went with a friend who wasnt a vegetarian, unlike the last time. I was glad I returned. Overall, this place is excellent. I'm not offended as others are at the price fixe nature of the place. I thought the food - all the various courses we had - both meat and veg - were all good. Dessert was excellent - a banana pudding of sorts. Loved the wine choices. Last time I was here I tried a bottle that was very reasonable and bought it the next day on the street. The markup wasnt much. And this time enjoyed some new riojas. Service was good, the chef walks around and checks on everybody, and I enjoyed the multiple bread services. I'd recommend it if you're adventurous and want to try inventive Spanish food. Restaurant opened at 9pm and we were the first to arrive. It was packed and there were people waiting by the time we left around 11 - ah, I love late night Spain!! Enjoy and will go back again.