La parrilla de Galicia — Restaurant in Madrid

I decided to give this place a chance again because it had been 3 years and it was wildly worse. The owner is violent and misogynistic. Stay away. He is a horrible horrible person and his waiters were scared of him and then he literally slapped the phone out my hand because we took more than 15 minutes to have pimento de padrón and one round of drinks. Don’t come, use your money elsewhere

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I went to this place and our table ordered some wine, beer and coke 0s. Prior to taking the table, I said we will only have drinks. Usually, places in madrid let you know that a table expires because they need the table for a reservation or for dinner. In this case, we were just brought out our check after I ordered my last glass of wine after being there for that 1.5 hours. There wasn’t a warning in the 1.5 hours we were there that they will kick people out to make space for others. When I pointed out how many other tables there were with just drinks they said that it was just some policy. They kicked only one other table out even though a few other tables were only having drinks, I know this because I asked which tables have places food orders or intend to. My friend left a review about it because if we were told from the start we’d have to leave at a certain time, it would be fine. Also, if they told us before that they were getting close to dinner and this would be our last/second to last round, it would be fine. Note Coca Cola was 3.20 euros so it wasn’t like we were just asking for water and sitting for 1.5 hours. the guy offered us free stuff and more time on the table but it was too late…for me, as long as places tell me I have to be out by a certain time, I will totally be ready for it. This is super normal in Spain where they will let you know if the table is required at a certain time. This was the first time that my check was brought to me without asking in all of Spain because it’s not the culture here to do that unless the person asks for the check or knows they have to leave. Go to the two pizza places next door because I went to both and they are not...

Warning: tourists scammed. They tried to scam us by making us pay for tap water because we were speaking english.

We were 18 people and had already spent about 200€. We were speaking in english and everyone had ordered something. The waiter went to all the blondest people in our group and would not tell them they charged for the tap water (this is illegal in Madrid). Keep in mind that this was during a 42 celsius heat wave. Then someone who spoke spanish would say that we did not want to pay for water and the waiter would go to the next blondest person. They never told us we could go inside for water at the bar. They told us we had to pay for either a jar of tap water or for a bottle of water.

When the last of the group arrived (the only spaniards) the waiter had already tried the water scam five different times. The spaniards who’d just arrived tried to get us water and the owner came out and yelled at them and insulted them in front of all of the tables outside. This simply for them trying to get some tap water. He also lied by saying that we could have gone to the bar because they had never told us and kept trying to get different (always the blondest) people in the group to pay for tap water.

The way the waiter and owner treated us and the spaniards who tried to defend us was apalling. This is not the way Spain normally is, this is a scam...

I witnessed the most appalling displays of customer mistreatment I’ve ever seen in my life. A group of customers had ordered drinks and food, and within just 15 minutes, the staff began pressuring them to order more or leave. They weren’t even given the courtesy to finish the food already on their table before being harassed to order again.

The situation escalated disturbingly fast. Instead of handling things professionally, the waiter became visibly upset, raised their voice, and threatened to call the police. Over what? A table trying to enjoy their food and drinks in peace. I even saw the waiter resort to physical aggression when the customers tried to document the behavior, knocking the phone right out of the customer’s hand.

It was shocking to witness such hostile treatment of paying customers. What’s worse is I later learned some of these customers had been to this place years ago and experienced similar poor treatment and had hoped things had improved. Sadly, they hadn't. In fact, they were worse.

This bar should take a long, hard look at its management and customer service practices. Threatening and physically intimidating customers over upselling? Absolutely unacceptable. If you value respect, decency, and a safe, welcoming environment, I strongly recommend going elsewhere. There are plenty of far better and welcoming spots...