Ginkgo Restaurante & Sky Bar — Restaurant in Madrid

It is evident through our experience and via other negative reviews that this place is reliant on its atmosphere and location primarily and that the food and service are afterthoughts.

For such a beautiful spot and at such a price point, the quality of service was extremely disappointing. We booked a reservation for 8pm to celebrate my birthday. We stated in the booking and mentioned to two servers once seated that my partner has a gluten allergy yet were still provided with soy sauce that had gluten in it. We double checked with the server due to paranoia regarding accommodating gluten allergies to which he only then provided gluten free soy sauce which they actually had all along. This was an error made out of sheer negligence which we as guests made clear on multiple occasions to staff. Such carelessness could have resulted in serious health consequences to a guest with celiac disease. This incident left us without confidence in the presence of mind of the staff. Impressively disappointing.

Our server was very impersonal and straight to business. Service lacked the minimal attentiveness and romance. It would have gone quite a long way to simply be greeted and told at least one thing about the place we were expecting and prepared to spend a special occasion and a considerable amount of Euros. No such attempt was made to ask us if we were familiar with the establishment or the concept or even welcome us. I don’t feel it’s too much to ask that servers make an attempt to introduce guests to the place and menu concept they will spend their time and money experiencing, especially on a special occasion. On an admittedly petty note, which I’d never mention if not for the other blatant errors at this restaurant, he forgot my drink order and had to come back to ask what I had already ordered. It’s a super minor critique but contributed to a far greater theme of not caring nearly enough.

There were approximately 10-15 staff in the restaurant and on the terrace who were more concerned with speaking with one another than with customers. Coordinating service is not an issue - socializing while neglecting guests is. Anybody in the service industry, myself included, knows exactly what an error in optics and professionalism this is. In hindsight this spoke volumes and was reflected in the demonstrated inattentiveness. I must stress that we did and do not feel entitled to any manner of preferential treatment but common decency and professionalism in hospitality. On another petty note - every other table had candy and chips yet we didn’t receive any kind of complimentary attention. Once again, I don’t require preferential treatment. When every table seems attended to except us, one is almost guaranteed to feel excluded and neglected.

The food was just alright. For the price point I do not think it was justifiable. If the service had attempted to be remotely inviting this could have been easily overlooked and even enjoyed. To their credit the food arrived quite fast. This is possibly the only positive I can offer regarding service. We had a few drinks and two orders of sushi before deciding that we would not give our business to a place which gave the impression that it did not want ours; not to mention the gluten mistake. It’s such a shame because we had heard volumes spoken about this spot and were so excited to spend a special occasion here.

When we prematurely asked for the bill the server identified that there was an issue by asking if we didn’t like something. This further demonstrated an obtuse degree of awareness and attention to detail.

Super disappointing and such a waste of time. Go for the view, get a drink, but don’t expect any level of service comparable to the expensive...

Overall a fairly good experience, although there are certainly things that they could improve upon. We will give it another try.

Starting with the good things. The main thing they have in their favor is the location. The views from some parts of the bar are spectacular (if you plan to book a table try and get one outside and then you get views of the Palacio). The decoration is modern and nice and the music when we went (a Thursday night) was good without being too loud. The cocktails we tried were nice and the wine list, though small, had some good choice. I also thought the prices were not too bad considering the location - not cheap but not horrendously expensive in my opinion.

On the other hand it was not the most welcoming or friendly place I have ever been to. Unfortunately a lot of higher end bars in Madrid are a bit like this - because they are busy they make you think like you should be thankful to be there. The arrival process in general needs to be improved. We had not booked a table as we just wanted to sit by the bar. We were told it was super busy and we would have to wait in what feels a bit like a police holding area. The lady on the desk was very nice but it was annoying to wait so long especially because when we were finally "allowed" up to the bar, both of the bars had absolutely nobody sitting at them, so we could easily have gone straight up. I think places like to try and create the illusion of it being harder to get in that it actually is.

The food we had was hit/miss. The artichokes were nice, but the sushi was disappointing - the rice was really over cooked and squidgy and too tightly packed. Some of the other food we saw going out looked good and the menu is interesting.

It is still a new bar, and normally to have a few problems at the start, so we will give it another try as overall we liked the experience, but definitely room for...

Underwhelming Experience for an Upscale Rooftop Spot

I really wanted to like Ginko—great views, a promising menu, and the vibe seemed right. But unfortunately, the experience fell flat across multiple fronts.

First, the bar service was surprisingly disappointing. I ordered their Mediterranean Martini, a featured cocktail on the menu, only to be told it wasn’t available. I then asked for a standard martini—arguably one of the most basic cocktails you can make—and was told they couldn’t make that either. A friend tried to order mezcal neat and was met with the same issue: they didn’t carry mezcal. For a place positioning itself as an upscale rooftop bar, the lack of standard offerings was baffling, especially considering we arrived right as dinner service began. Were they out of ingredients before the night even started?

Dinner didn’t fare much better. Our table ordered four burgers, all requested at different doneness levels—from medium rare to medium well. None of us were asked for our preference by the server, but we each clearly stated it. All four burgers came out cooked the same—closer to rare—and noticeably under. One burger even had a chunk cut off and left sitting on the plate, presumably by the kitchen to check doneness? Not exactly the level of presentation or attention to detail you'd expect here.

We also ordered a beef tartare that never arrived. No explanation, no follow-up, just... didn’t come.

All in all, Ginko is a beautiful setting, but the service and kitchen execution left a lot to be desired. At best, this was a 3-star experience—maybe worth it for the view, but certainly not for the...