Juana La Loca — Restaurant in Madrid

Juana is hot and she knows it - a chic tapas and dinner spot near the main square and entertainment district of Madrid. The ideal situation is to get a reservation if you're planning on a) dinner, b) bringing more than 2 people, or c) arriving during peak hours, but if not, try your luck in line. The staff are very efficient about moving people in and out.

Bar seating is first come first serve for tapas tasters. We came just around opening time and squeezed past the cozy bar area into a more tranquil set of tables in the back, where no music was playing and we were in line of sight of the kitchen. The ambiance was still moody and classy, with a mossy divider and mirrored walls.

The food came out surprisingly quickly, almost too fast for me to rush to the bathroom before my family could start devouring it. The restrooms are narrow tidy stalls of yet more industrial chic with the exposed light fixtures to match.

Traditional tapas this is not. One stunner you'll have seen is the buttery, greasy Teriyaki Eel with Foie Gras Niguiris, or the tempura-ed Soft Blue Shell Crab in a Steamed Bun. The "Broken Eggs" with Black Truffle and Iberic Bacon is an elevated breakfast delight, the Truffled Risotto was creamy, filling, with the right amount of mushroom to cheese. Perhaps one of our favorites was the "Secreto" Iberican Pork over Fried Gernika Peppers, a tasty contrast of savory meat with bright peppery tang. In the midst of all our food, our servers forgot to bring out the Tortillas until we reminded them. By this time we were all pretty full and close to leaving for a show, so I don't think we enjoyed this as much as others have since it's also extremely dense, each wedge leavened on a chunk of baguette. Apparently you can even order these to go through Glovo, so if you don't feel like fighting the crowds for a taste, this is...

tl;dr: some amazing food for fair prices. Nice little shots on the house after a meal. Exceptional service.

The decision to rate Juana with five stars wasn’t an easy one, but some factors like the exceptionally friendly service eventually won me over.

If you want to come here on busier days, book well in advance. It gets packed 😄

If you are vegetarian, ask the servers for help picking a dish. There aren’t thaaaat many options and in spain it appears to be common to consider dishes that contain seafood as vegetarian. One of our friends ordered something vegetarian only to find out it contained eel 😂 another friend asked if a dish was vegetarian, got told yes, received a meal with bacon in it. Miscommunication issue, dish was replaced without issue.

My spinach cheddar buñuelos were predominantly cheddar, I would’ve preferred a more balanced spinach mix (less cheddar so the flavor wouldn’t overpower the spinach) but it was good. Our friends artichoke dish takes the crown. Excellent flavor. Bruschettas were very good too.

For dessert I had the dulce de leche lava cake with banana ice cream. Delicious! The white chocolate sablé with red berries was also marvelous. We got offered shots on the house after our meals, and could pick from a variety of options. The red one is the tastiest, while the one which resembles water is dry and strong.

We got lovely service from everyone, with jokes and laughs exchanged. For the quality of the food and wine, I thought prices were quite good....

So good. Worth the wait. We were a group of 7pax and they said it would take about an hour to get us a table. It took less than that and we had really nice seat near the kitchen. Their restaurant manager was really cute. swoons

The place is quite tight but it's really nice. It's probably not meant to host big groups, but it is possible. They have limited tables that can cater to groups more than 4. The wait time is anything between half an hour to an hour. However, there's a bar area you could wait and grab some drinks while you wait. There's a great selection of tapas and small bites.

For a group of 7, were ordered about 6 of the generous dishes: Black squid sausage fideua Cream Gnocchi (must have) Huevos rotos (broken eggs with fries and ham) Mini cheese fondue Zucchini and aubergine Mussels with a tinge of curry (must have) Bottle of red Some bread to start

The generous plates are meant for 2-3pax. The idea is to order a few different dishes to share. It was enough for all of us to try and share all the dishes. Quick tip, order your desserts together with your mains and starters. They some times take a while to be prepared.

All in all, it's quite decently price and the quality of food is very good. It was worth the wait and a great way to end our trip in Madrid....