La Cachapera | Restaurante Venezolano Madrid — Restaurant in Madrid

We went first time ever to that place because we saw their TikTok videos, as everybody knows we are a musical band, we signed a contract with a couple that lives in New York, of course they are not Venezuelan, and they came to Madrid to see the venue where the wedding was booked, and they want to know meet us since the band booking was entirely online. We set the meeting in La Cachapera, because we want them to taste Venezuelan food. We where 5 people and we got 15 empanadas, a ration of tequeños, two cachapas, one of them the one with shredded meat, fried cheese and ripe plantains. Also “chicharron arepitas”, a pork with cheese arepa, a papaya juice, a maracuyá juice and a coffee. I took the time to describe exactly what was that we ordered because you can imagine the cost, the place is expensive… After all, we ask for the check, our client nicely paid and I don’t know how much because he never show us the check. We continue our conversation, the place was barely with customers, no one was down there and exactly 3 clients where there among us. The guy who was attending us then did something we considered horrible: he ask to desocupe the table! And the place was empty! We obeyed and we went outside, step for a few minutes finishing details of our performance on the client’s wedding and notice after about 30 minutes the place was still empty. My wife who’s a chef and owned a restaurant told us that the waitress action is unacceptable, and that is motive for not coming back ever. Regarding the food, it was ok, nothing that we can say the taste is unique, specially with tequeños, their where consistent with the ones sold in Makro, Mercadona, and other places, made by the company P.A.N. If the guy wasn’t ask to leave the table I maybe could give a better review, but I told them when arrived before our clients that they were Americans and we wanted to give them a good impression of Venezuelan...

My experience was confusing.

I had seen this place while searching on Google Maps and wanted to go with my partner. We are familiar with the Venezuelan cuisine from friends and family, and hope to explore more. At the entrance, we were seated and ordered two cocktails and one snack, since we had already eaten prior that day. All was great until roughly an hour later, when the waiter asked us if we wanted to order more food.

I asked if the kitchen was going to close. He proceeded to explain this complicated rule that they have, which I will now try to explain: Each table has a time limit to order, whether it be food or drinks. After that time is over, they will not take any extra food or drink orders. A so-called table rotation system. After that, you are expected to pay and leave the restaurant.

Since we did not understand the rule the first time, I asked to come back later because I still had a full glass of drink. When the time at our table had passed, the waiter came to us and simply said, "Your time is up.". I was not allowed to make any more drink orders, and so we had to leave.

Overall, the food and drinks were decent, but the service was poor. It seems to be bad communication between the restaurant and client. Had I known the rule prior to entering, I would not have mind. It can be written outside, on the menu, or explained from the start...

I was really excited about this food experience, since a Venezuelan friend who hasn’t visited this restaurant before suggested to check this place out when I moved to Spain in December. Upon my arrival the first thing that I was told is that there’s an hour limit (restaurant was empty). I was reminded about this twice, and was told to sit on the basement, where there’s no natural light, ventilation or recurrent service. I wanted to order a combo but was told it was “out of hours” (we’re taking minutes here). It took almost 30 minutes for my dish to be delivered, and another 15 for the waiter to be delivering another order downstairs so I could ask for a spicy sauce. I couldn’t complain about my dish being cold because there was literally no one available for me to say anything. When I checked out I was told I could not add the points to the recurring customer system (for which you’re supposed to download an app and add it to your wallet) because I had already paid. That’s what solidified my decision never to come here or recommend anyone to waste their money...