Buffet Restaurante Topolino Garden — Restaurant in Madrid

One thing I wasn't expecting in Spain was that to order paella, many restaurants require a minimum number of people to order it for the table because it comes in a large paella pan. Add to the mix that I'm a celiac so I can only go to places that have a gluten-free one AND my husband doesn't like seafood, I thought I wouldn't get to try it on my trip.

Luckily my husband spotted this buffet restaurant while we walked around Madrid the previous day and wanted to see what a buffet entailed in Spain.

We went at noon which is the typical lunch time for Americans but Spaniards eat lunch starting around 1:30 PM. We were one of a handful of people inside and many of the dishes had not been touched yet. EVERYTHING was labeled with multiple allergens. It was a relatively small buffet, but all but maybe 4 savory dishes were marked gluten-free!

I was the first one to scoop into the marked gluten-free paella. It was good and it was full of nice seafood.

There was a small salad bar and it was great to be able to eat a green vegetable. It seems almost every Spanish restaurant serves only potatoes as a side dish that is included with the main dish at no extra charge. I had 2 plates of savory foods including asparagus wrapped in bacon, before trying the soft serve ice cream and Jell-O for dessert. All of the other desserts were various cakes that weren't gluten-free.

As with the rest of Europe, water is sold bottled unless you ask for water de grifo (tap water) and even then you'll get a maybe 4 oz. cup. As someone who needs at least a litre of water to myself with all restaurant meals, I was dying of thirst. I don't get it with these restaurants. If people drink more free water, they'll eat less food.

Anyway, my husband and I went on a weekend day so it was €19.95 per person. Overall, as a Celiac, I was pleased with this meal. My husband who has no dietary restrictions said that of all the restaurants we ate at in Madrid on this trip, this one was his favorite.

📍Buffet Restaurante Topolino Garden Plaza de Santo Domingo Esquina con la, C. de Preciados, 28013...

Well what can I say about this restaurant…it was a family trip and we all like to taste a little of everything, that is why we chose this place. My cousin who’s Vegetarian ordered a dish a la cart and not from the buffet, while she was waiting for her food to arrive her boyfriend gave her a taste of vegetable salad that he was eating, it was just a little spoonful… OMG then came this man from the staff with an attitude and bad manners to tell them with so much of arrogance and stupidity and loud voice “ No! You guys can not be sharing food from the buffet!!! You have to buy another meal, you have to pay!!!”. He was loud and harassing them. All the people around took notice. That was so embarrassing for all of us that we immediately stopped eating and just decided to leave the place. My cousin told him that she ordered her own food, she just wanted to taste this, that was all. This guy just ruined our appetite, we all got sick that night. By the way we all have been eating at all kind of places but this was not the best food anyway, not good presentation, i waited 10 minutes for them to bring the paella out and it was tasteless. NO I DONT RECOMMEND THIS PLACE, there’s a lot more choices out there, stay away from...

El Topolino Garden es un restaurante tipo buffet de cocina mediterránea situado en el centro de Madrid, concretamente en la calle de Preciados (muy cerca de Callao). Su ubicación lo hace perfecto si quieres comer en el centro después de unas compras por la Gran Vía. Sin embargo, es cierto que si tenéis poco tiempo no te recomendamos entrar ahí ya que, como todos los restaurantes buffets, su principal atractivo es poder probar -o almenos intentarlo- todos los platos de los que disponen.

A continuación, voy a dejar su gran variedad de opciones mediterráneas. En primer lugar, empezando por la izquierda del buffet, están las pizzas (tomate 🍅 , cuatro quesos 🧀, barbacoa 🍖, jamón y queso); después vienen los arroces (paella de marisco 🥘 arroz blanco 🍚 y arroz oriental con pasas 🍇). En segundo lugar, estaban las carnes y pescados. Como guarniciones teníamos patatas panaderas (es decir, patatas al horno con piel), verduras al horno con bastante aceite (tomate 🍅, berenjena 🍆, calabacín 🥒, brócoli 🥦, pimientos 🫑...).

En la sección de pastas 🍝 había tortellinis rellenos de queso 🧀 con salsa de queso, lasaña de verduras 🍆 y macarrones con jamón.

En la parte fría, había un buffet de ensaladas 🥗  en el que había una gran variedad de ensaladas ya preparadas: patatas 🥔 cocidas con mayonesa, ensalada de garbanzos 🫘 aliñada con un poco de aceite, ensalada de champiñones crudos con aceite 🫒... También había ingredientes sueltos como lechuga 🥬, tomate 🍅... con los que te podías hacer tu propia ensalada.

Y, finalmente, en la parte dulce 🥞 podremos degustar un flan 🍮 que estaba servido en vasitos, tarta de chocolate 🍫, tarta de manzana 🍏, tarta de zanahoria 🥕, fruta fresca (naranja 🍊, manzana 🍎, plátano 🍌...), gelatina de fresa 🍓 y rosquillas de diferentes sabores (limón 🍋, fresa 🍓, naranja 🍊...).

🔝 CALIFICACIÓN:

🍕PIZZA CON TOMATE (10): Está hecha con ingredientes frescos y sabe muchísimo a tomate 🍅 y queso 🧀.

🍝 LASAÑA VERDURAS (10): A lasaña estaba moicremosa, pero sabe un montón a queixo.

🍚ARROZ CON PASAS (9): El arroz estaba buenísimo y las uvas pasas 🍇 le daban un toque dulce espectacular.

🥗 ENSALADA DE PASTA (9): Moi rica e fresca.

🍰 TARTA DE CHOCOLATE (9): Impresionante, es como si fuera una tarta de la mejor pastelería. La cobertura de chocolate es muy intensa.

🍕PIZZA DE CUATRO QUESOS (8): La masa está increíble, de hecho yo la cogería en vez de comer pan, aunque cabe destacar que los quesos eran un poco escasos (era más masa que otra cosa).

🥦VERDURAS ASADAS (8): Estaban un poco frías y grasientas; además, la coliflor, estaba algo dura.

🍰 TARTA DE ZANAHORIA (8): Algo seca, pero con un sabor muy intenso a zanahoria.

🍝TORTELINIS DE QUESO (7): Tienen un sabor suave y, en mi opinión, le sobraba bastante la salsa de queso.

🍚PAELLA DE MARISCO (7): Estaba muy rica pero un poco grasienta. No tiene demasiados mariscos, por lo que se puede adaptar para vegetarianos y veganos.

🥗ENSALADA DE GARBANZOS (7): Consiste en una ensalada fría con cebolla y un toque de vinagre.

🍰 ROSQUILLA NARANJA (7): Sabe a rosquilla normal, bastante dulce, pero con un toque a naranja.

🍰 PROFITEROL (7): Una especie de buñuelo relleno de nata. Se sirve frío.

🍰 TARTA DE MANZANA (6): Está buenísima y tiene un sabor final a canela muy sutil.

🥔 PATATAS ASADA (5): Una patata asada con la piel. Está rica,...