Doña Luz Restaurante — Restaurant in Madrid

I’m disappointed to write that unfortunately Doñaluz was not a pleasant experience. I dined with a group of 15 women last night - we were very excited to celebrate an occasion and called the restaurant ahead of time to enquire if we could decorate our table with balloons and banners. We were told on the phone that was okay and when we came to our table before the booking, our host kindly showed us to our table and asked us what we would be putting on tables, I assured him that our decorations wouldn’t leave behind a mess. Our waitress came down once we were all seated and told us to remove our balloons from the table, I was irritated at this as I checked twice in advance to see if this was acceptable and was assured that it was. Next, our waitress explained that she couldn’t speak English and spoke to one member of our group who had basic Spanish. I was surprised by a restaurant in central Madrid who detailed their menu in Spanish and English having servers without the ability to take an order through English. As a result, two members of our party took the tables order and translated it to Spanish to relay to our waitress to avoid a mistake with our meal. At this point I was not impressed with our server who appeared like she would prefer to be anywhere else than at work. As someone who worked in hospitality for many years, I was saddened as unfortunately, your servers attitude does have a massive impact on your dining experience. After some time, one side of our table noticed that water was soaking from outside under our table, soaking bags and jackets. This was cleaned up but at this stage we were definitely not enjoying ourselves. The big problem arose for me as the music was very loud, especially in areas directly beside the speakers. A member of our party who suffers with auditory issues requested on two occasions that the music volume to be lowered, when it continued to not quieten down, she went to the bar to ask someone else. On her way, our waitress stopped her and spoke to her in ENGLISH and told her that she was was taking care of it. The music lowered but continued to become louder. Other members did not appreciate the volume of the music and I myself asked for the volume to be lowered (unaware that others had made the request). However, every time the music lowered, it quickly became louder again very soon. As a result, one person in our group had to cut the night short and returned home due to a rupture in her eardrum. I would not recommend dining in Doñaluz if you are a native English speaker or in a large group. When paying over €500 for your meal, you want a nice, relaxing and welcoming atmosphere which Doñaluz cannot provide. There were some lovely and friendly staff, including our host, but unfortunately rude and disinterested staff and mediocre food left us with a negatively...

My fiancé and I have been traveling to watch football as an engagement celebration. We came from Texas so we speak enough Spanish to order food and make small talk and express gratitude. We made a reservation here as the reviews were great and the food looked good, but when we were sat (at 7:30) our waitress came up and took our drink orders. She immediately asked if we were from the US, which I didn’t think much of as I had read up online that Madrid was quite laid back and not hostile toward tourists. She then brought us our water and walked away which would have been fine if she had come back eventually. We waited for 25 minutes for her to come take our food order while the table next to us was sat after our drink order was taken, received their drinks, appetizers, and were checked on. She repeatedly just walked past our table aimlessly and ignored our existence. I am not jumping to the conclusion that this is because we are American but I’m not really sure what else to think of it. I’m not too happy with Americans right now either, but that’s neither here nor there. We had to go to the hosts stand to ask for our check because at that point we wanted to leave and we were given another waiter who seemed understandably annoyed that he had to take the girls table but got us our food pretty quickly although we only ate a bit because we really just wanted to leave. The host and new waiter were helpful and told us that it was the girls second day but we didn’t mention the fact that she asked our nationality as we were just a little uncomfortable with the situation. The food and views were excellent, but I can’t leave an honestly positive review about...

Had the pleasure of spending New Year’s Eve 2022 at this restaurant and our experience was excellent. We were vacationing in Madrid and arranged to reserve this location prior to our visit from the U.S. Since then, our experience has been a very positive one. Dealing with Noelia, via emails, was a total pleasure. She was very professional and helpful in arranging and finalizing my reservations. The restaurant was not a disappointment. On the contrary, it was beautifully setup and perfect for the occasion, with live music and DJ as entertainment. The staff was very friendly and attentive, especially , our waitress, Carlota, who was extraordinary. She was super friendly, and catered to all of our requests throughout the evening, always with a smile. An exemplar of true customer service. Her attitude alone left us with such a positive impression of the overall restaurant that we will definitely go back and recommend the restaurant to others. The pre-arranged multiple course menu, was very high end and exquisite. Everything was absolutely Delicious! The cocktails were also very good and in abundance. The view from the terrace, though partial view of Puerta del Sol, was satisfying. The whole experience was an unforgettable one and very deserving of a 5 star. Cannot...