Casa Toni — Restaurant in Madrid

We came here several times on our recent trip to Madrid because all the food and sangria were really good. The staff were friendly and expedient every time. During their busy hours, there's usually a small line, but the wait isn't too bad and it's really worth it.

The sweatbreads is a must try -- grilled perfectly, great chew, and so good, we ordered on two separate occasions. The gambas came out piping hot and garlicky, and the oil was great for dipping bread. The mixed meat platter was delicious, and a great way to sample the meat offerings if you want to try multiple things -- the portion is pretty large, and my favorite things on it were the blood sausage, ribs and chorizo. The braided lamb intestine had a really crispy outside with a juicy/chewy inside, with a clean intestine flavor (recommend if you're into organ meats!).

The tripe stew was interesting -- the way they cooked it made it taste incredibly rich and fatty, very different to how Asian countries cook their tripe (less melty-fat and more spicy). The pigs' ears were grilled and tasted very gamey/fatty and soft, which is also very different to how many Asian countries cook it (good chew/slight crisp, without any gaminess) -- I'm glad I tried it to experience the cultural difference in food preparation (it tasted more gamey than anything else we tried, which surprised me).

The cap mushrooms and patrons were both great to snack on, complimenting most of their other food and drinks. I loved their complimentary olives and finished every plate. Their sangria is really good and super cost friendly -- their jar option is huge.

Love this place! Highly recommend if...

Belated review but summary: I’ve been to Spain multiple times, to more than 10 cities. Casa Toni remains my top 3 favorite gastronomic experiences. Definitely the place that kick started my love for tapas and Spain.

A longer review:

I first visited Spain with colleagues in Mar 22. We visited this place and fell in love we came back. Especially for the chopitos.

In Nov 22, my brother wanted to do a graduation trip so I suggested Spain since I had to be in Portugal for Xmas. I brought him here and he loved it as well, we were talking about coming here when we returned for our outbound flights. He absolutely loved the chopitos as well. We were here 3 times in 4 days in Madrid. The missing day was because it was festivo and Casa Toni was closed.

I can vouch that all the food here that we have tried were all super delicious (not just the chopitos), and the prices were reasonable, if not affordable (we splurged one night and ordered 6-7 raciones between the two of us and it came down to barely €20/pax). Drinks were also pretty good even though people told us sangria is a tourist drink.

The staff also were friendly and nice. Special shout out to my friend Jamil, whom has been nothing but an absolutely welcoming host for us. He was super friendly, all smiles, gave great recommendations, and nothing but a friend took care of us well.

All in all, Casa Toni is a rare gem that I want people to know (because it is that good!) yet do not want people to know (because it is a small...

We ate at Casa Toni on a Friday night. I read other reviews that suggested you get there before opening to wait in line. They opened at 7:30 pm and we arrived around 7:25 pm and there were about 3-4 parties waiting in line. Shortly after, they let everyone in and and it seemed to be first come, first serve in regards to tables. There is a small amount of seating downstairs and a bit more upstairs. We sat upstairs and it definitely got a bit warm. There is a single waiter that took care of the entire upstairs and he was efficient and fairly friendly (he didn't seem to like it when customers were flagging him down to order). We had sangria, pig ears, lamb sweetbreads, fried eggplant, fried green chilis, and squid sandwich (2 people). This felt like just about the right amount of food for us. Note that although the menu says it has a mixed salad, it does not and only has the tomato salad. We loved everything we ate except the squid sandwich. I thought the sangria tasted dangerously good (i.e. very easy to drink a lot of it). The pig ears were very crispy and delicious. The lamb sweetbreads were grilled/fried really well. The eggplant was crispy and had a yummy sauce drizzled on top. The peppers were not spicy and fun to eat. The squid sandwich was just OK - we know it's very popular in Madrid so we wanted to try it. We left around 8:30 pm and the entire restaurant was packed and there was a line outside. Overall, I would definitely recommend eating at Casa Toni to try some...