Cava Baja 17 — Restaurant in Madrid

If i could give a zero for service i would. Went there with a friend . We ordered some tapas and the girl who greeted us literally took our order and was never seen again. My friend and i ordered separate orders of patatas, cod taco, peppers, croquetas. I had the ones with aoli and they had the patatas bravas which were extremely disappointing. The red sauce tasted like canned pasta sauce. Needless to say they didn’t eat them and no one came back to check on us after our food was dropped off . No body asked if we wanted more wine or any other tapas. Out of all the items we had ordered, the peppers and croquetas were the most decent. We had to flag a random server to get our Check because after waiting with no one around we had to leave as we had plans elsewhere. We asked if we could have the barely touched potato’s taken out from our check since we didn’t eat them or even had a chance to let anyone know if we could exchange them or just order something else.. since our server never saw us again post taking our order. Reviewing the check they had charged us for a bottle and we had only had 2 glasses of wine. So that had to be taken out . Then he said that it didn’t matter if we ate it or not we would have to pay for the potato’s and that was that. No apology for the neglect or lack of customer service whatsoever. He just didn’t really care. We needed to leave so we just paid for it and left. This is more so about the principle and lack of hospitality than anything else. Totally unacceptable. We also didn’t even have a chance to order anything and both of our glasses of wine had been finished for a while with no option to order anything else since no one came...

Well, what can I say. Eating at this restaurant was like starring in my own culinary horror movie. The Tail of Toro dish wasn’t just bad—it was a performance art piece in suffering. The kind of dish that, once tasted, immediately begins working its dark magic. I’m not saying it tasted like prison food, but even maximum-security inmates would be trading it away for whatever came in the mystery loaf. The sauce had a special kind of sadness—a grayish-brown, flavorless sludge that managed to both underwhelm and overwhelm at the same time. It’s the kind of meal that helps you lose weight twice: once when you taste it and decide fasting might be a better option, and again when the three-day stomach apocalypse kicks in and you can’t bear to look at food.

But wait, there’s more! The croquettes were a masterclass in how not to fry food. They came out soaking in oil—like little sponges of regret—filled with what I can only describe as colorful lumps of tasteless gum. It’s impressive, really, to make something that both looks and tastes like an arts-and-crafts project gone horribly wrong. If this restaurant’s goal was to create an unforgettable dining experience, mission accomplished. I’ll never forget, no matter how hard I try..

There are many nice restaurants around, I would suggest choosing any of them, cant get much worse then this.

Peace...

I’ve never posted a review before as I think taste is mostly subjective, but I feel compelled to leave this note as a caution to others.

My wife and I arrived on a Sunday evening. We ordered drinks, which arrived quickly.

However, we had to wait over 15 minutes for a waiter to take our tapas order. After waiting nearly an hour, no food had arrived, and it became clear there were issues in the kitchen. Several other diners were also left without food or attention for an extended period. Initially, I gave the restaurant the benefit of the doubt and waited to see if they could resolve the issue. Unfortunately, we were left hanging.

Finally, out of patience, I asked a waitress what was happening with our food given we have waited for almost an hour. She responded, “Yes, no food has come yet. What do you want me to do?”

To be fair, she was likely overwhelmed by complaints from other customers, so her attitude was the least of my concerns. When I asked if we could pay for our drinks and leave, she happily assisted us.

This was the worst experience of our two weeks in Spain—absolutely disastrous and a waste of precious time.

I strongly recommend that anyone visiting this popular street for tapas avoid this place like the plague if you value your time. It might be an acceptable option if you only...