El Barril de las Letras — Restaurant in Madrid

I'll start with two positives. The deserts we had (cheesecake and crepes) were excellent, as was the coffee. That is the only positive feedback I have. The reviews for this seafood restaurant were generally very good, so I was expecting very good things. Initial impressions were poor however. We booked early for Saturday at 8.30pm. The Restaurant area was empty, but we were placed on a table right in front of the entrance door. We asked to move to another table, but were told the restaurant was fully booked (which later we saw it was, as it filled up over next two hours, but I still think they could have given us one of the better tables). So for two hours we had to sit eating uncomfortably as cold air blew in on us everytime the door opened. This set the tone for poor service and some of the mediocre and then awful food that was to follow., except the deserts which were excellent. Starters were croquettes which were meant to have prawn in them I think. For about €17 we got 6 tiny ones that had very little taste and were disappointing. We also had Octopus, a thick cut of leg, which was OK. I'd have liked it cooked a bit more but it was fine. The mains was rice and prawns, which was bland and had very little taste. The rice was stodgy. It all reminded me of something you'd buy frozen from a cheap supermarket to cook in a microwave. We tried to eat it, but it was just awful. We complained and we're offerred an alternative, but they didn't show the menu again. They just suggested steak or some fish dish. A supervisor then came over and had a lengthy conversation with my Spanish friend, saying we should have complained immediately rather than eating half the dish...as I say, we did try to eat it, but it was just horrible. This was another example of the impolite service. The garlic steak pieces came quickly. It wasn't good quality meat, it was tough and chewy. No one asked was it OK, or apologised for the poor food. The restaurant is very busy. I really don't know why. Maybe every dish we ordered was the wrong one, but every dish on the menu should be good. Meal was nearly €140 for wine and three courses, plus coffee. Pricey and not justified for mediocre quality food and...

If you are looking for the rare restaurant in Madrid that combines arrogance, incompetence, and disdain for paying customers, El Barril de las Letras has perfected the formula. The so-called manager, who clearly believes that authority is earned through rudeness rather than professionalism, began by telling us we needed a reservation. Fine. We played by their rules, made the reservation, and returned exactly as instructed. When we came back, the punchline was that we were told to sit at the bar, while the dining room sat nearly empty.

The comedy of errors did not stop there. After reluctantly seating us at a table, the manager then informed us that the section we were in “would not be served.” Imagine running a restaurant with tables available, customers willing to spend money, and the audacity to say: “we won’t serve you here.” That’s not just bad service—it’s deliberate humiliation. Apparently, in this establishment, the concept of hospitality has been replaced with a performance in contempt.

Whether the treatment came because we were Americans, or because we wore shorts they themselves confirmed were acceptable, the excuse does not matter. What matters is that El Barril de las Letras turned a simple dinner into an exercise in exclusion. This was not cultural bluntness or staffing limitations—it was arrogance wrapped in incompetence. One gets the impression that welcoming customers is beneath them, as if paying guests are interruptions to their evening rather than the very reason the restaurant exists.

Madrid is a city filled with extraordinary restaurants where hospitality is an art form and guests are treated with warmth and respect. El Barril de las Letras, however, has carved out its own niche by perfecting the opposite. If you value dignity, professionalism, or the most basic standards of service, do yourself a favor and avoid this place entirely. The city offers countless restaurants where you will be treated as a guest, not a nuisance. El Barril de las Letras should be ashamed of how it conducts itself, but given the smug arrogance we experienced, shame is clearly not something they...

Food was decent but are you kidding? Our party of 4 had a reservation for 1:15 and arrived at 12:50. The restaurant was empty, save for one party of two. The head waiter, Javier, eventually found our reservation and then went to his computer, weirdly muttering to himself. Then he started to direct us upstairs to the overflow seating where a member of the staff was having her lunch before her shift started. When I objected to this strange choice of where to seat us, he directed us to the farthest corner of the restaurant, a four top in the back corner with no window. Upon being asked if we could at least move to the next table over, Javier said absolutely not, he had important clients arriving from the Basque Country who had specifically reserved that table. Again, at 1:00 we were one of only two parties in the entire restaurant. When I went to the bathroom I exchanged words with him again (something I never do but I was upset) and he raised his voice at me, saying we had a choice - either sit upstairs in isolation or stay where we were because the restaurant was full. At about 1:45, people started to trickle in. At 2:15, when we left the capacity was at about 30% and the table that we requested was, no surprise, empty. Honestly, Javier, your attitude is a disgrace. We were not walk ins. We had a reservation and were treated with a level of disrespect the likes of which I have not encountered in years. I am not going to assume that race had anything to do with this experience but the question lingers and it stinks. I am a frequent traveler in Spain and this is the first time I have encountered behavior this unpleasant. Don’t worry, we left a...