La Máquina Chamberí — Restaurant in Madrid

The very bad service and sneaky overcharges (bread, appetizers, water, larger beer size...) really detracted from the food, which was good, but not special. We had their last seating which was 3:30 and the kitchen closed at 4 so I asked for menus as we walked in, and again several times, but finally had to find them ourselves. I'd asked for a caña and my friend asked for a glass of wine. I got a double, she didn't get hers. Some men had arrived after us, sat at an adjacent table and got served right away. We were ignored until I practically lassoed a maitre d' at 3:50 so we could finally order. Our meal was too rushed because they were closing. I speak fluent castellano so this was not about miscommunication. I spoke with the manager, but now, looking at other reviews, I can see that their upselling and bad service is a feature, not a bug. Go to one of Madrid's many great restaurants that offer basic good service with no...

Party of 4, we hadn't booked but the staff did manage to find us a table. Waited about 20 mins for waiter to arrive. In the meantime we ate the rather dry and stale bread that was already on the table. (Little did we know we would be charged €2.20 each for the privilege). 2 of us order the steak and chips. It was served as a starter sized portion with diced steak dumped on a small pile of fries (not proper chips) no veg or any other sort of accompaniments. The other 2 in our party had lamb cutlets. The cutlets were miniscule and was served with straw style chips along with a huge padron pepper. At best the food was OK but I have to say after our first day traipsing round Madrid and looking forward to a nice meal, we were left hugely disappointed. We will definitely choose somewhere different to eat for the remainder...

I have visited La Máquina many times during my frequent trips to Madrid. It used to be one of my favorites. Not any more. We were a party of three. After dining we reviewed the check and were shocked to see that we'd been charged over 5 Euros for the bread and unremarkable pintxo that had been brought to the table unsolicited. It was obnoxious and utterly surprising. We should have been told in advance that there was a charge PER PERSON for bread and one tiny pintxo. So stingy, ungenerous, certainly not the Spanish generosity I have grown accustomed to. It should be noted that La Máchina used to over diners a choice of warm rolls gratis. Also,the solomillo I had ordered was tough. Regretfully, the La Máchina has truly become "the machine" and...