17 Best Restaurants in Madrid, Spain

Never has an open kitchen in Madrid been so mesmerizing: at Cadaqués, black-clad cooks tend to rows of paella pans sizzling over pluming orange wood embers and flip Flintstones-worthy steaks and whole fish licked by open flame. It feels like the type of rustic experience you'd encounter at the Mediterranean seaside, but Cadaqués sits squarely on Jorge Juan, Madrid's poshest street. Achieving that transportive vibe was no small feat: the chef spent months fishing and cooking with seafaring communities along the coast prior to writing the menu, which features all sorts of pristine shellfish and raw-bar dishes in addition to the standout rice and grilled meat and fish preparations.

One of the buzziest restaurants in Madrid, this modern seafood mecca—with sleek wooden tables and floor-to-ceiling windows—serves rare delicacies from the country's top fishing fleets. On the ever-changing menu, you might find quisquillas de Motril (sweet white shrimp with bright blue roe), precious little elvers, or Basque lobster stew—all accompanied by wines selected by Sergio Otero, of DiverXO fame.

This low-ceiling dining room filled with plush armchairs, starched white tablecloths, and colorful bouquets is a welcoming spot to feast on refined Asturian dishes like sea urchin gratin, morels stuffed with truffled foie gras, pheasant with braised green beans, and suckling lamb confit. Weather permitting, you can request a patio table to watch Madrid's one percent parade down Calle de Jorge Juan. For power lunches and special-occasion meals, El Paraguas delivers every time.

Settle into an unhurried feast at Sacha, a cozy bistro with soul-satisfying food and hand-selected wines, and you might never want to leave—especially if you strike up a conversation with chef Sacha himself, who's quite the storyteller. The cuisine is regional Spanish—think butifarra sausages with sautéed mushrooms or razor clams with black garlic emulsion—with just enough imagination to make you wonder why the restaurant isn't better known.

Roast duck carved tableside, truffled pâté en croûte, flambéed Grand Marnier soufflé—Saddle does old-school opulence exceptionally well. Multi-course meals unfold in the anachronistically corporate-chic dining room (think LED backlighting and mid-century modern accents), and feature rare seasonal delicacies including de lágrima (tear-shaped) baby peas and buttery new potatoes flown in from the Canary Islands. Cheese, butter, and cocktail carts rove from table to table and encyclopedic wine stewards go above and beyond, regaling you with curious anecdotes about each individual bottle.

Cocido madrileño, Madrid's quintessential boiled dinner of rich consommé, butter-soft chickpeas, and some half-dozen cuts of meat, is the must-order item at this Salamanca institution, especially in the winter, when temperatures plummet. The wooden straight-back chairs, kitschy cotton bibs, and walls hung with black-and-white photos belie the fact that this lunch-only restaurant opened just two decades ago, but one taste of its famous cocido, and you might as well be at an abuela's kitchen table.

Locals flock to Casa Carola for one dish, cocido madrileño, Madrid's famous boiled dinner whose roots can be traced to a medieval Sephardic stew called adafina. Served ritualistically in three courses, or vuelcos—broth, then chickpeas and vegetables, then meats—it's an essential Madrid experience, especially in the cold-weather months. Madrid has several famous cocido restaurants, but Casa Carola stands out for its ultrabuttery garbanzos, nostalgic decor (think black-and-white photos and old newspaper clippings), and service with panache. Tie on your starched cloth bib and prepare to feast.  Lunch only.

When you ask a Madrileño about a remarkable food experience—something that stirs the senses beyond feeding one's appetite—DiverXO is the first name you'll hear. The take-no-prisoners tasting menu incorporates a dizzying array of international ingredients and chemical processes. Getting a table at this foodie shrine is akin to scoring a ticket for the Super Bowl, so plan well ahead—there's an online reservation system that requires that you to pay in full in advance.

Pristine fish, salt, roaring open flame—these are the main ingredients at El Señor Martín, a white-table seafood restaurant beloved by local food critics that makes a great venue for romantic dinners and special occasions. Consider springing for a gloriously obscure fish you've never heard of, like Mediterranean sand eel, wreckfish, plaice, or alfonsino—all meticulously filleted and grilled to juicy perfection. 

Savor a rare taste of Canary Island cuisine—with quite a few twists—at this envelope-pushing, Michelin-starred restaurant helmed by Tenerife-born chef Safe Cruz. Expect foaming, smoking concoctions that incorporate traditional Canarian specialties like green mojo, Gomero goat cheese, and—of course—gofio (stone-ground corn flour). 

A beacon of old-world Spanish hospitality, Horcher is a Madrid classic with German influences. Wild game—boar, venison, partridge, and duck—is the centerpiece of the menu, which also includes comfort-food classics like ox stroganoff with a Pommery mustard sauce and pork chops with sauerkraut. The dining room is decorated with brocade and antique Austrian porcelain; an ample selection of French and German wines rounds out the menu.

Kappo delivers a classic, ultra-refined omakase experience free of fusion fripperies—a reminder that when the quality of fish is this good, there's no need for showy garnishes and tableside pyrotechnics. On a given night, chef Mario Payán might grace your chopsticks with grouper, yellowtail, horse mackerel, or scallop anointed with a drop of ponzu or a scraggle of pickled daikon. Spanish line-caught tuna often figures heavily on the set menu, which includes a starter, 15 pieces of sushi, and dessert. If you're feeling social, sit at the u-shape bar, where you can watch the sushi masters work their magic; for a quiet meal, request a table.

Opened in 1839, Lhardy—with its spiral staircase, varnished leather walls, gleaming chandeliers, and marble fireplaces—is one of Madrid's most treasured restaurants, and it maintains much of its original decor despite being acquired by a local restaurant group in 2021. Meals, as always, begin with hot consommé poured from a silver samovar and spiked with a chispín (sip) of sherry and continue with French-inflected dishes, ranging from duck à l'orange to sole in champagne sauce. Though the kitchen is still ironing out a few kinks, the grand museum-like surroundings more than make up for any foibles, especially if you stick to the cava, charcuterie, and pastries in the downstairs bar.   

In an aerie above one of Madrid's oldest, most exclusive gentlemen's clubs, the dining room and rooftop terrace of this tasting-menu-only restaurant (formerly known as La Terraza del Casino) are decorated with playful, almost circus-like elements such as bright blue pushcarts, checkered floors, and yellow velvet chairs. The cuisine is as thrilling and whimsical as the decor, with dishes ranging from crunchy sardines with ají romesco sauce to spicy ethereal pig ear fritters. This is fine dining for the lighthearted.

Madrid's best modern steak house, Sua ("fire" in Basque) is dedicated to meats and wild-caught fish cooked over open flame. Occupying a stunning circular indoor courtyard, the restaurant has an ample list of Champagnes, cavas, and bold Spanish reds, fittingly luxurious sidekicks to a 40-day dry-aged sirloin from Galicia or roasted scarlet shrimp plucked from Andalusia's Atlantic coast. Desserts, particularly the cheesecake, punch above their weight.

Chef Roberto Martínez Foronda turns food critics' heads with his Spanish-fusion restaurant hidden inside the Mercado de Vallehermoso, Chamberí's traditional market. The ever-changing tasting menu—a steal at €45—takes cues from chifa (Peruvian-Chinese) and nikkei (Peruvian-Japanese) culinary canons and incorporates fresh ingredients from the market.