Tablao Flamenco Torres Bermejas — Attraction in Madrid

I thought this had good reviews, but they came in well below that. This more of a Flamenco circus than a professional event. Cheap, yes. And you do get what you pay for. Okay, let’s break it into 3 categories: Food, Entertainment and Service

Food: I got the tapas ticket, so the show included some food and a glass of wine. I do not know what I was eating at first. There was bread already on the table, and this plate was put in front of me with an egg tortilla, 3 bites of a tuna sandwich (it was tapas, so don’t expect normal portions), and two more items of I don’t know what. There was also a small empty cup on the dish. I don’t know if it was supposed to be filled. Maybe I was supposed to put something in it, but what? Next came the paella. At this point, the show started, and I couldn’t really see what was on the plate. Using my phone’s flashlight, I could see one mussel, one shrimp and a closed petit clam. Rice was dry as hell. Dessert was decent, but how can you screw something with sugar up?

Entertainment: 5 performers (2 Female, 3 Male). 3 were dancers, a singer and a guitarist. Names? Never heard them introduce themselves. The guitarist was great, though. Singer average. Dancers, below average. They seemed to be trying so hard to make up for lack of talent. And they didn’t seem coordinated. There were lots of talking among them. Some was just them chit chatting while one danced. But some of the talking was more discussing what to do next.

Service: I am a solo traveler, so at times, I pay the solo punishment, or solo tax. This is where you’re just one person, so you get overlooked. This tax was especially high here. I had a good seat, but until I got up to go to the bar (which I was stopped before getting there), I couldn’t get my waiter’s attention. He was running back and forth to the other tables but just wasn’t even looking in my direction or hearing me when he was serving the people next to me. He changed for a bit when I was stopped going to the bar, but in the end, he didn’t care if I paid my 3.75 euro bill for the water that I worked so hard to get (water is not included in the price). Before the solo tax was applied, and as I sat down, I pulled out my small table tripod and asked if I can record or take pictures. He said yes and clearly saw the tripod. I practiced a bit with selfies, something I don’t do well, but thought I came dressy and with makeup so why not. This was only for a bit as the manager walked bay and snapped at me aggressively “That’s not allowed!!!” and walked off. I wasn’t sure what was not allowed: the tripod, the selfie or the phone. But there is a better way of expressing yourself.

Tip: if you do go, don’t ring the bell. This place is a bit of a tourist trap running three shows a day. Customers are in and out, in and out. Although there is a simple sign asking you to ring the bell, if you come before you allotted time, don’t ring the bell. The sign doesn’t say it, but it’s more for like deliveries and such;...

As a general rule I do not do reviews - either positive or negative, but am making an exception in this case in the hopes of saving others from wasting their money at Torres Bermejas. I wish that I had taken into account the negative reviews before making our booking. I agree with most of the criticisms and could have saved myself from this terrible experience. In short: Yes, the place had a strange odor - like some sort of bad air freshener. Yes, the owner/manager who greeted us was rude and unfriendly. Overall the food was horrible. My son and daughter-in-law had the halal lamb which they said was good. My husband had the salmon which was totally undercooked. My daughter and I had the vegetarian which was basically instant rice and frozen vegetables. The meal was served during the show. Not sure why but I was expecting a show and then to have a nice meal. Yes, we were crammed in like sardines. Our table was right up against the stage. I was concerned that dust/debris from the stage was getting into our food. It was very difficult to watch as you had to crane your head up at an extreme angle. I disagree with other reviewers in that I don't think that the dancers were very good. They seemed disinterested and talked amongst themselves during the show. Do NOT go to Torres Bermejas for a Flamenco Show! Our free walking tour guide made a couple of recommendations which I would have used if we'd not already made our booking. I wish I could remember what they were as I would post them here. Do your research and find another place. Believe the poor reviews that are posted - it's not just people being vindictive or having sour grapes. We went to an amazing Fado show when we were in Lisbon. It was a lovely evening. The singers were very engaged. The food was excellent. We ordered from an a la carte menu. The singers would perform for awhile and then we could tale and eat. We were there for 3 hours not rushed in and out in under an hour. I would give zero stars if I could. I don't know how the average is 4.5 stars. Hope that you will take my review to heart. I have included a copy of my...

First of all - the Flamenco show was very good. So I would recommend, if you choose this show, just do the show and not a menu. We choose the show and the tapas menu. Problem was that they forgot to serve us the five first tapas courses, so during the show we only got the last two items on the menu. When the show was over we asked the head waiter, politely, what happened to the first five items on the menu. Unfortunately they had forgotten to serve this to us. People can make mistakes, but the question is how you choose to handle the mistakes. In this case they offered us to take the food with us. Which would have meant we would end up in the streets eating and not enjoying the food with the show. We declined and suggested they reimbursed us 10 euro per person and we would be fine. A generous offer from our side. Unfortunately this was declined by the head waiter arguing he didn’t have the authority to reimburse us money, and the owner was not there. We suggested he called the owner, but that was not possible for some strange reason. We than suggested they serve us the food we had paid for and ate this even if the show was over. Because a new show was starting soon they obviously didn’t like that idea and continued pushing a solution we get a doggy bag and go outside. After some uncomfortable discussions it ended with us hurrying to eat at our table before we a few minutes later where told by the head waiter we had to go. Mistakes can be made, but how you handle them says everything, and tonight we felt like some simple tourists they just wanted to grab money from, and not take any responsibility for the mistake they had done. It made a potential nice evening into a somewhat unpleasant one. So see the show and don’t buy food. It wasn’t very...