La Fontana de Oro — Restaurant in Madrid

Me and my fiancée came for the Spain-France semi-final a few weeks ago. I am a Madrid native, and it was his first time visiting the city.

Even though the pub is quite cool and spacious and the vibe inside was great I have to say our experience was quite poor for two reasons:

First and the one that I was happy to look past if the second had not happened. We got charged €20 on entry, with possiblity to exchange it for a drink. TBH this is a quite a high price to just come to a pub to watch a game of football. Yes I get is central and yes I get that there might be a fierce competition with the other pubs around the area. I still have to say we went somewhere else to watch Eng vs Neth and they handled this waaay better by just taking the cost of entry off your drinks and food bill.

Now, the main reason for the poor review As mentioned before: I am a Madrid native and my partner is Irish and his Spanish is not good, so we both thought this would be a good place to enjoy a good night out hence it was classified as an Irish Pub I was drinking Tinto de Verano that day, so when it was time for my partner to order the drinks I tried to giving him some cues in English to give to the barman like, it’s wine and soda or that the literal translation is Summer Wine…The first time he ordered he got from the bartender some kind of white wine + soda…..I was very baffled of this but the match was on full speed and the bar full of people so we thought it might had been a misunderstanding, so I left it be. However, the second time my partner went, this time to order two Tinto de Verano for some friends we made whilst watching, he came back with two badly poured red wine and I swear to god what tasted like Sprite …He told me on top that that even thought he had apologised (again) for his bad Spanish and tried to articulate and describe the drink, the bartender had been rude and unhelpful, opening the wine bottles and serving with an attitude. I then went back and asked the bartender to change the drinks for the right thing- as I was not going to get past the rudeness- and I pointed out how literal the translation is from Tinto de Verano to Summer Wine to literally have confused it twice (once with a white wine…) To my dismay though I noticed that those tintos were being poured from a bottle I could find in a super market so there is no way he could have not known what he was being asked for… These usually cost 4 euros, and I was being charged 6 on top!

I could have justified this interaction if we had been on very typical Spanish bar, were absolutely no one speaks English. But this a supposedly Irish Bar and very clearly caters to the foreign population in Madrid, so I find the fact that my partner felt uncomfortable and unwelcomed by the bartender enough to give this place a two as being honest he was very rude.

Also to point out, I kept drinking Tinto de Verano for the rest of the trip and my partner had no other problems whatsoever with getting the right drink...

I will give this place Five Stars * * * * * ¿why? ¿because? It is a pleasant surprise to find an Irish pub in the middle of Madrid, that's why. I was not expecting that; but, there you have it... Surprise!!! ¿Pricey? I don't know, I just paid the bill without whining. Eh.

The moment you step in you are stepping into any given Irish pub in beautiful Ireland. Erin go bragh!

I love the basement dining area which is decorated a la medieval era Irish ambiance interior Celtic decor with tiffany glass windows representative of Irish counties, knight figurines, brick walled ceiling, medieval style tables and seating. A Hollywood movie scene for all I know. As far as I am concerned, that is rich! That is very rich!

And, while I was in there I did not encountered any doofusses, for lack of better term. So, therefore, translation... all is good and peachey in La Fontana de Oro. Eh.

Salud Madrid!...

This is a review 29 years late...! I was there last in 1995!!

Back then I used to play music at La Fontana de Oro with my dad, Aidan Coleman, and sibling, Gavan Coleman, where we would play all night, sometimes for 5 hours straight! only because we loved it so much and the vibe was fantastic!

I recall the yummy tapas on the bar, Tortilla Español y acitunas y mucho mass cosas, and the classic Spanish tradition of discarding rubbish at the feet of the bar.

As an Irish musician and a good love and appreciation for Guinness, it did not dissappoint! and was a bar that had a wonderful spirit in representing an Irish bar abroad!

I must go back for a...