Madrina Bar y Tapas — Restaurant in Toronto

WHAT THEY DID BEST:

AMBIENCE: The restaurant is gorgeous. They really made sure that the design had that trendy yet warm feel. The outdoor patio is dead smack in the square of the Distillery District so high traffic, vibrant all around and great for people watching. The plants that line the gazebo (bar) adds to that Euro touch and feel when you sit down.

SERVERS: The server we had (John) was friendly, polite and courteous. Although certain parts of our order was forgotten (e.g. nephew's sandwich and one of the open-faced sandwich was wrong), the manager came out to apologise to us courteously and put things on the house. I still gave a great tip as I enjoyed the courtesy, politeness and friendliness of the servers.

RED WINE: The red wine from the Rioja region was great. As someone who did a wine tour for weeks in many wine regions of Europe (Austria, Italy-Tuscany, Croatia-Baranja-Hvar, Spain-Rioja, France-Rhone), I would say that the server suggested the best red wines which was on the ball, delicious.

WHAT THEY CAN IMPROVE ON:

FOOD QUALITY: Let me note that the food display was aesthetically pleasing (e.g. sea bass, gold flakes and tobiko on lobster salad rolls, calamari on baguette on geometric silver serving plates). However, after being in Tokyo for 7 yrs and Singapore for 7 yrs (Japan having the highest number of Michelin star restaurants in the world and Singapore being such a foodie, fine dining haven that EVEN its street food stalls got awarded Michelin Stars in 2017).....I would say that the QUALITY of food in Madrina Y Tapas was lacking. The rich, traditional Spaniard flavours and FRESHNESS was definitely lacking. There are SEVERAL reviews on here that cited the same thing as I said : NO FLAVOUR. People who rated it a 5 has either never had real Spanish tapas before or something.

Here's why: The lobster roll was cold (yes, bc it's a lobster salad) but it felt like it had been out longer than 20 mins before served bc there was the thick greasy film that forms when spring roll wrappers cool. Some parts of the roll was already soggy and chewy which is indicative of how long it reached our table. After 2-months of vacationing in Spain (particularly Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia), the charcuterie board of jamon and cheeses was so pitiful looking that I didn't even take a photo of it. The baguette with calamari was tasteless ( the calamari could have been frozen from a bag as it did not have that seafood, fresh taste ). The fried sea bass was HIGHLY disappointing : It was the most visually appealing but it was TASTELESS. They used cornstarch with a mix of flour (perhaps) to give it that crunchy pack which is great for frying but they must have forgotten the salt and just dashed it with paprika. I can also taste the cornstarch. The paella was the most tasty of the entire array of tapas that we ordered but it was meagre in portion for its price.

PRICE RELATIVE TO PORTION SIZES: I do not mind paying around $ 400 for a family dinner as long as it is quality, fresh food packed with flavour that is distinct of Spanish cuisine and gastronomy. However, the quality and size of food did not match the cost. The size was not the problem as this is a tapas restaurant where things should be small. But the price was inflated.

HOST / GREETER: They made us wait and when it was my turn, I told them I had a reservation. She looked on her screen and asked me, "Are you sure? " which I thought was rude and so, I took out my phone to show her the online reservation confirmation.

Would I come back again? I would come back to try the marrow bone and drink some more red wine...but I don't see it being on my list of "must-return" restaurants. I think I will stick to "ma and pa" traditional restaurants with real tapas or just go back to Spain...

Try-hard tapas and drinks at exorbitant pricing at this flop of a cash grab. Went with a large group of people to celebrate a birthday and have never been treated so disrespectfully by entittled staff over a baked-in 18% tip (on a $1500 bill). I guess they were disappointed that they wouldn't get their "owed" 30%? That's the only plausible excuse for why the service was so absymal and the kitchen maintaining velocity that would challenge a glacier. Keep people hungry and thristy to pump the bar tab... but keep reading...

The second the forced Prix Fixe menu came out marked the moment any pretense of service flew out the window. Waiting 45mins for a glass of water in a mostly empty dining room. Being whined at by the management over food allergies or restrictions - this is Toronto in 2023, believe it or not some people in a large group are likely to be Kosher, Halal, or have allergies. Heaven forbid!

When the food finally arrived - hours later - it was uninspired. Over thought. All presentation with little substance. Many dishes featuring seafood had a notable and unpleasant fishiness as noted by a number of people in the group. After being guilted about food subs it was really rich to find that the staff took liberty to sub out the shrimp on our pathetic, bone-dry, one-grain-deep "paella" with battered fish! (Gotta make up that 12% entitlement somehow!)

After $1500 ($2000 with tip + tax) everyone left hungry, unimpressed and forgotten by the staff. Glasses unfilled. Extreme wait times on $14 beer pulls. Ordered a cocktail? It may be here in the hour. Dirty, cluttered tables. Constant attitude. Spontaneous loud flavours shoehorned into an otherwise balanced dish is the theme. Don't fret, each dish is a bite or two at most allowing your disappointment to quickly return to the pitiful service.

It's not just your money they'll waste, but your time. How it took 5hrs to feed 12 people a limited selection of micro meals - literally a single piece of each item per person for $89 - is beyond comprehension.

Come with your wallet full. Leave with both your stomach and wallet empty.

Save your hard earned cash and go to literally any other restaurant in the area. Avoid this physical manifestation of an Instagram post at all costs. A disaster on all levels. Shame on the rude management, the entitled staff, and the try-hard chef.

Madrina is the example of why people mock...

Madrinas is where people who have never experienced fine dining go to feel like they are experiencing fine dining. I use the term fine dining here very loosely just to illustrate that if you’ve never had top notch quality food and service, you probably won’t notice the difference and will be blown away. We chose this as our special birthday dinner spot at the last minute because it was close to home and we knew the reviews were not awesome at a 4.2 on google but decided to give it a chance anyway.

The good: I loved the presentation of everything. The food was all very well plated and the aesthetic of the restaurant is very fun. I would not say there is any authentic Spanish decor but it is trendy and modern. Definitely an “instagram”-able spot. We ordered about 12 dishes and my favourite was the grilled garrotxa cheese (probably one of the simpler things on the menu).

The bad: the service was laughable. We were there for close to three hours and our water was refilled twice. The restaurant was very quiet (not busy) for a Friday night and we had a very difficult time flagging our server. The hostess originally tried to seat us elbow to elbow with another couple on a date, despite there being 20+ empty tables all around us to choose from. We asked to move one table over and were met with some attitude. With the exception of the oxtail buns and shrimp croquettes that my partner really liked, all of the dishes we had were hilariously over priced and bland. Even my $20 specialty gin and tonic was disappointing and tasted like it was from a no frills bar. We also got the gin and tonic flight which was a really unique offering. The drinks were really good at first but had a ton of sugar and syrup at the bottom that was just sitting there unstirred. As other reviewers have mentioned, they do not clean or replace plates here which is very unusual for a tapas spot. Also, not necessarily a fault of the restaurants but I selected a special occasion (birthday) on open table and it was not brought up by the hostess/servers which I found a bit surprising.

I think this place is a bit of a tourist trap overall with nicely presented, overpriced, mid dishes. As a Toronto resident who loves to eat at new and beautiful restaurants, I feel like I’ve...