La Desayunería — Restaurant in Madrid

In terms of authenticity, there are few places in Madrid that come close to replicating an American breakfast joint. From paying at the cash register to endless coffee refills, to carafes of maple syrup on the tables, La Desayunaría does its best. And just stepping inside I would give them five stars for the experience.

The food was above average for American breakfast in Spain but wasn’t particularly great for American breakfast.

The children’s menus came with fried eggs with hard-set yolks. When it came time for me to order I told the server I was hesitating on eggs since they overcooked them. The response was that they did that for kids’ meals. That doesn’t make sense if true. As both a Spaniard and an American, kids love the yolks—much more so than set, gummy/chiclosa yolks. If, in fact, that is their policy, they should ask parents. The eggs with the adult entrees were cooked correctly.

The pancakes were great, as was the French toast.

The waffles less so (I think they were churning out waffles and didn’t have a good, cast-iron waffle iron that could keep up—it was very busy). They were soft and gummy throughout (one texture) and not light inside and crispy outside as when done with proper waffle irons. The hash browns were dense (seemed more like they prepped them with a Thermomix in small pieces and hand patted them together instead of grating or hand-cutting them).

I also would have liked to see some other staples of American breakfast like Eggs Benedict (in fact the fried eggs were covered with what looked like hollandaise but turned out to be cheese) or huevos rancheros.

In general a fun place to go with acceptable American breakfast. Definitely room for improvement. If they could match their attention to detail to decor and ambience with the food the lines would be even longer (and leave the Americans shocked at such a good place) as opposed to leave them pining for their favorite...

The Good:

1. Wonderful, pleasant staff
2. Arrived at 1015ish on Friday morning and was seated immediately. No wait.
3. Very large portions at reasonable prices
4. Water is brought to the table as soon as you’re seated

The Bad:

1. Coffee. Perhaps the worst cappuccino I’ve had, one of the exceedingly few times I’ve been unable to finish a cup. The iced latte was also unenjoyable, but not as bad as the cappuccino. If you’ve ever had the instant “cappuccino powder” that they sell in box stores, it’s like that, but tastes like they might’ve forgotten to add enough to make it palatable

2. Very hot inside. It was a pretty cool morning, but stifling inside. There are fans and a large portable AC in the back, but they didn’t help much.

3. The quality of the food is good, but it’s not what I expected from the reviews/menu. The Haystack Omelette was listed as having bacon, onions, and green pepper, but there was also a couple sausage links wrapped in cheese? Such a random inclusion that didn’t pair well with the listed ingredients.

The skillet potatoes were also made of good ingredients, but weren’t skillet potatoes or breakfast potatoes of any kind. The potatoes had never seen a skillet; they were boiled potatoes that had been tossed in an unidentified yellow sauce with green peppers and onions. They were okay, but not as advertised and weren’t something I would’ve chosen for breakfast had I known what they were.

The pancakes were decent, but tasted more like actual cake instead of pancakes, especially with the Maple-flavored corn sugar syrup.

Overall, I wouldn’t return and wouldn’t recommend if you’re looking for American-style breakfast. It’s decent for what it is, but not what you’d expect from how it’s...

Why am I giving this place 2 stars? If you’re an American or a European who is visiting Madrid and wants a good taste of American food, avoid this place.

The food here will give you explosive diarrhea because of their cheap pancakes that try to be IHOP but fail miserably.

The food was not the only thing I hated. The atmosphere was ‘meh’. The restaurant try to be “inclusive” with people and used certain decorations that is offensive to some people. My complaint was how they were put directly next to the American flags. The main point of the restaurant is to be American so only have the American flags and take down the flags that don’t represent the United States.

Then, let’s head to false advertising. Avoid the Silver Dollar pancakes. Their newsletter has a picture of those pancakes with a cute tiny American flag on top. It’s the entire reason why you get the pancakes. I order them with my food, telling the staff I want the flag. They tell me the flag is just a “promotion” and isn’t even part of the dish.

You can put all the tiny offensive decorations you want. You can make the food horrible but if you want to be an American restaurant, you do not false advertise.

The only positive thing was the service. People were nice, but again the food gives you explosive diarrhea. If you don’t believe me, ask my...