El Tigre Sidra Bar — Restaurant in Madrid

Hearing about El Tigre, and the whole "buy a drink, get free food" thing, I was very excited to try it out... what I got was not what I was expecting.

My cousin and I both ordered one drink. Her a sangria, and a mojito for myself. Having experience with bartending, I understand a mojito takes longer to make than a sangria, but our drinks did NOT come out at the same time. Instead, my cousin got her sangria almost immediately, while I was left waiting for 5 minutes for my drink. This may be a little bit picky, but I feel its customary for drinks to come all at the same time. To add to this, the sangria was nothing special, and my mojito, although gargantuan in size, was all ice.

Onto the food. The actual menu items are, compared to other places in the area, over priced. But, we did not order anything from the menu since you get free food. What arrived first was a plate of sandwiches which despite the very sloppy presentation, was decent. You also get a plate of patatas bravas, with that the sauce was good, but the potatoes them selves had not a single ounce of seasoning.

What was most disappointing was the staff. Their disorganization and attitude was frustrating. Upon (finally), getting both drinks, we were told how much each drink is. We said okay, but did not realize we had to pay since the waiter did not say we had to pay now, nor were we provided with a bill. When we asked if he wanted us to pay now, he replied yes with a very rude tone, rolled his eyes, and walked away. Once my cousin and I got out our money to pay individually, since that is how we were told what we owe, a completely different waiter came by. My cousin gave him a 10€ bill (her drink was 5€). He told her the total was 11€, and would not allow us to pay individually. I ended up just giving him 1€ and giving whatever I owed to my cousin, but the disorganization of the staff left us confused.

Overall, I was not happy with my experience at all. I was left incredibly dissatisfied. I understand that maybe they had an off day, and they may normally be better, but this experience was bad enough that I will not be returning...

TLDR - This place is a tourist trap. Go to 'El Respiro' instead, 2 mins up the road. So much more fun.

We've visited last Thursday 9th Feb. We've read mostly good reviews and were excited to visit. The minute we got to the door the waiter with the biggest frown waves us in. No hello, no good evening, no how are you, the first words out of his mouth were 'what do you want to drink?'. I asked what do you have and he begrudgingly tells us. We chose the drinks and asked where can we sit and he pointed at the bar. We were fine with it because in spain is normal to stand and eat and drink at the bar. He shoves the card machine and 2 plates in our faces so he could be done with us .12€ for a pint of beer and a pint of cider, this is expensive for spain prices, but then again this place is right off the main road in central madrid. We saw people going in the back and asked if we could seat elsewhere. He dismissively says there's seats upstairs. Why didn't he say that in the first place? We grab our stuff and go. The food was basic but actually ok. While we were eating we noticed that locals/spanish people had way more food in their plates. Sometimes double the amount and more variety, even with small beers. We were disheartened by this as it seems they favour spanish people over tourists. They could argue it's random but this place felt absolutely like a tourist trap. The vibe of the waiters was: they couldn't wait to get rid of you to make space for the next customers. The overall vibe and atmosphere was not fun at all. We finished our drinks, our tourist portion of food, left and found a free tapas bar 2 mins up the road called 'El respiro'. This place was a world of difference. Traditional, family run, lively, fun, frequented by locals, very little tourists, very good vibes. Very little english so know how to order in spanish at least. We ordered 2 small beers (5€) and received the same amount of food as everyone else. And the food was so much better. Best decision we ever made. Ended up staying and having such a good time in this place. More food with every round of...

Yes...its true! It's one of the few places where you can get free tapas with your order of wine or beer! We walked in for lunch after our guided walking tour. The good thing about this place is that it's sort of hidden from the main streets so you don't get too many tourists unless you're like me and do some research.

It looks like an old pub with wooden barrels, stools and decor. The first floor dining area isn't very big but there's also an upstairs area as well where the restrooms are. But it was closed during the time we went.

There were four of us, 2 had wine and 2 had beer. They brought out three HUGE plates of tapas, mostly starchy food which is just perfect for those wanting to drink and eat for cheap and get full easily. The total only came out to €13!!! So cheap!

I'm not a big starchy eater but since vacationing in Europe for the past two weeks, I've had no choice since potatoes and bread is their biggest meal fillers here. Anyway, the tapas they gave us were croquettes, fries with some type of orange sauce and meat, cheese, tortilla with bread assortment. The portion was enough for all of us to be pretty full.

They do have a main menu which you can order off of but we didn't since we had plans for a late afternoon snack elsewhere.

The only thing I did not like was that our waiter was hustling us for tips by asking us to tip more if we want bigger tapas portions. But other than that, we had a...