Arzábal | Reina Sofia Museum — Restaurant in Madrid

We had a horrible experience. This place is connected directly from Reina Sofia museum. Unlike the friendly professional staff at the museum, the staff here were simply unhelpful, unkind, and obviously discriminating against tourists who struggle to speak Spanish and making a sport of it.

As many reviewers seemed to note in their reviews of this place, most of the staff here seem to display micro-aggression toward tourists by ignoring their requests for service, choosing who to speak English to, and saying terrible things about some guests in Spanish thinking they don’t understand (my friend who later joined me understands Spanish).

We sat at our table for about an hour and experienced the worst service of our many visits to Madrid. After about 15 minutes, I was finally able to get a young waiter to come over after he ignored me during multiple attempts. I ordered a bottle of water and a glass of white wine in Spanish (worked in all other Madrid restaurants & bars), but he angrily blasted me in a full Spanish monologue for about 20 seconds (I think be he was saying that’s not helpful, we have many white wine, etc). I asked for his recommendation for a crips, dry wine of any type (this time, mixed a little with English), he just gave me a dirty look and slammed a bottle of water on table. Sigh. At this point, I really wanted to leave but my friend was joining me so I stayed.

When my friend joined me at the table about 10 minutes later, a waitress just pointed to the bar when he asked what type of beers they had (instead of bringing us a menu). I was finally able to order a glass of wine from who looked like a manager of the place.

I understand that the life of dealing with customers from various difference countries can be challenging, but the passive aggressive, micro-aggression culture this place fosters is simply unacceptable. Too bad that this is the only museum “cafe” for one of Spain’s finest...

Went with my girlfriend for a break while visiting the reina sofia museum but we got very disappointed with the attitude of the staff. To mention a few things we did not appreciate:

we said hi and politely asked in English if we could sit inside because it was raining and chill, the answer was directly a "sólo fuera" without even any form of salutation, which I consider a basic form of courtesy and respect, especially in such a wannabe-fancy place

the waiter didn't take care of us, when I called (again, politely) for his attention; his answer was informal (which is ok if you are showing a friendly attitude, whereas it sounded more annoyed by his attitude)

started talking to us while making customers pay. Just make one thing per time: it is not nice for us, nor for the other customers. When asked about the wine, seemed to have little knowledge about their wines and about wine in general.

cherry on the cake: another waiter passed by our table after we were almost done with our drink and dropped (did not posed but literally dropped) a basket of chips without saying a word nor making any contact with us. The chips were clearly from days before, the taste and feel in the mouth do not lie.

A pity that such a beautiful and nice museum has a restaurant were you don't feel welcomed. Courtesy and smiles are for free...and something that would legitimate the prices...

This is the only place I have ever walked out. I was seated for over 20 minutes with no one even asking for my order. After 10 and 15 minutes I motioned for a waiter and got the "one moment" hand gesture, then he went back to the waiter's station and got on his phone with 3 other gentlemen. Was I in a corner? No..I was directly in the path waiters took from the kitchen to their station. I see that copy and paste a response, yet don't seem to understand its over priced, no service, lack of friendiness, or attention to the basics. I stopped due to the location.

Luckily there are plenty of less expensive options around this restaurant with a MUCH better local vibe. The hostess was pleasant. She asked why I was leaving and after I stated why, she didn't seem surprised.

Don't waste your time or money. Looking at the menu it is definitely overpriced food for horrible service. Reading more reviews it seems I made the best choice. Prices don't scare me if service, taste, and environment are top tier. This restaurant seems to have the location..that Is it.

And, NO.. I won't give you another chance. First impressions are everything and my first impression...