Best tapas bars in Madrid and what to order: the taverns the lists name most, the classic dishes, the vermouth, the squid sandwich and the tapas streets

💡 The Short Version: In Madrid you go bar to bar, a drink and a small plate at each, rather than sitting down to one meal. The tavern named by the most publishers is Bodega de la Ardosa (15 sources), then Casa Alberto and the Taberna de Antonio Sánchez (13 each). The dish the lists name most is tortilla de patatas (53 sources), then croquetas (52) and cocido madrileño (46). At La Bola the set menu with the cocido is €39.90 a person. Or book a tour: the Madrid: Tapas & Wine Tasting Tour with Local Guidead is from €85 for 3 hours.

📊 The evidence behind this guide. This pass reads 110 list pages about tapas and taverns, and counts the ones from 14 English and 17 Spanish publishers: the newspapers, magazines and travel writers named in where to eat in Madrid. Madrid-only, Spain-only and tour-operator sites are not counted. The dish counts come from all the food list pages read for that guide. Counts are publishers, not pages, and the English and Spanish counts are shown apart. How the guides are made

How tapas work

To tapear is to go from bar to bar for a drink and a small plate. Lonely Planet describes tapas as traditionally enjoyed as a pre-dinner aperitif, with vermouth “Madrid’s ubiquitous drink of choice”. The everyday restaurant, the casa de comidas, is different: esMadrid says it serves a set meal of three first courses, three second courses and dessert, with a different dish each weekday.

A tapas bar counter near the Plaza Mayor, with hams hanging behind it. Photo: Brian Snelson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.

Botín’s carta prices the classics as restaurant dishes:

La Bola’s “Tapas madrileñas” set menu is €45 a person: olives, bread and butter, a Mediterranean salad, ropa vieja, pisto manchego, the house croquetas and huevos rotos with ham and peppers, then apple fritters with ice cream, house wine, water and a liqueur.

The classics

The counts are the publishers that name the dish, with the split by language.

The English lists lean towards the vermouth and the churros, and the Spanish lists towards the oxtail, the pork belly and the cocido. esMadrid’s page on the flavours of Madrid names the cocido, the garlic soup and the besugo a la madrileña, red bream with garlic and onion, among the city’s dishes.

The bars

The count is the number of publishers that name the place on tapas and tavern lists.

The hours, the history and the booking rules of the older houses are in where to eat in Madrid. The Café Gijón, a literary café, closed in October 2025 and reopened in late March 2026 under new owners.

Where to start

Casa Labra

Calle de Tetuán 12 · tapas only, 11:30 to 15:30 and 18:30 to 22:30 · open every day except 1 January · casalabra.es

Open since 1860. Its speciality is cod and cod croquettes, eaten at the bar. esMadrid lists the fried salt-cod sticks, the soldaditos de Pavía, among the typical dishes of the 19th century.

La Casa del Abuelo

Calle de la Victoria 12

esMadrid says its prawns and sweet wine have been famous since 1906. The dish to order is the gambas al ajillo, the garlic prawns.

Casa Dani

Mercado de la Paz, Calle de Ayala 28 · casadani.es

Its carta sells the tortilla by the slice, the half or the whole, with or without onion, and the paisina, a whole tortilla with chorizo and bacon. It also serves croquetas filled with Iberian ham, cocido or Idiazábal cheese and tomato. The restaurant calls its tortilla the best in Spain, which is its own claim.

Pez Tortilla

Calle del Pez, Malasaña · no reservations, tables in order of arrival · peztortilla.com

A tortilla bar. Besides the classic omelette it makes versions with black pudding, truffle and brie, and its croquetas are filled with boletus, ham or cheek.

Bocadillo de calamares

A bocadillo de calamares is a roll filled with fried squid rings. The lists name two places: El Brillante, on the Plaza del Emperador Carlos V by Atocha station, and Bar La Campana on Calle de Botoneras, beside the Plaza Mayor.

A bocadillo de calamares with a caña, a small draught beer. Photo: Rodelar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Vermouth on tap

The vermouth lists name Casa Camacho on Calle de San Andrés, La Hora del Vermut, La Ardosa, the Mercado de San Miguel and the Taberna de Ángel Sierra on Calle de Gravina. esMadrid describes the Bodega de la Ardosa as a centennial tavern where you can drink draught beer or classic vermouth on tap, in Malasaña.

The tapas streets

• The Cava Baja, La Latina. Casa Lucio is at number 35, Posada de la Villa at number 9, and the Taberna La Concha is on the street too. The regional portal says the inn on the site of Posada de la Villa dates from 1642.
• The Plaza de Santa Ana and Huertas. Casa Alberto, La Venencia, which is a sherry bar, and the Cervecería Alemana on the square, dated to 1904.
• Malasaña. La Ardosa and Pez Tortilla.
• Lavapiés. The Taberna de Antonio Sánchez, Melo’s and the streets of Tapapiés, the tapas festival. Tapapiés was cancelled for 2026, its sixteenth edition, and the organisers say it returns in 2027 in a more sustainable format.

Calle de la Cava Baja, with bar terraces and cloths hung across the street. Photo: Javier Perez Montes, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Plan the rest

Where to eat in Madrid has the Michelin tables, the markets and the old taverns’ hours. Madrid food tours compares the tapas walks and cooking classes with their prices, and the tapas and flamenco evenings are in flamenco shows in Madrid. To fit meals to the sights, see Madrid in one or two days. Where to stay in Madrid compares the areas, and hotels near the Puerta del Sol lists the hotels beside the old taverns. Seville’s bars are in Seville tapas, and Barcelona’s in where to eat in Barcelona.