Ricardo Sanz Wellington — Restaurant in Madrid

Ate there tonight (Dec 2024). Everything was simply awful. Should have known from some of the prior reviews I later found,. Should have known from every time slot still being available only hours earlier the same day we made our reservation. We booked it because of its Michelin star, having dined at several wonderful ‘starred’ restaurants that week.

Decor is so off for what is to be ‘Japanese’ themed or inspired. Marble sushi counter? Mauve and blue colors. Tables weird material. Bad lighting. The space is very unattractive to my eye. Have the designers ever been to Japan or a fine Japanese restaurant? The least attractive restaurant by far in our one week trip.

Sadly, that was the least of it. We did the full multi course tasting menu. At the 1/3-1/2 way point we were ready to just pay the 140 euros (each) and leave and go elsewhere. Since our Spanish is a bit limited, we thought too difficult to explain, not to mention at this price, foolishly hoped it would improve. It sadly dic not. The fish had no flavor and tasted marginally fresh. Some tasted ‘fishy’, which generally speaking, sushi should not. We literally left worried someone would become ill later. Fingers crossed. The course preparations were overly salty, as if extra salt was added, weirdly flavored and simply did not work for us. The sushi rice terrible, which is a classic sign of whats to come. All flavor profiles were huge misses. Each course was a huge disappointment. Some were awful. I honestly dont know how this could happen. My dining mate ate maybe 25 pcnt of their meal.

The staff while nice, was for the most part clueless to how bad everything was. They also seemed mostly disinterested in being there and completely inattentive since we arrived. There were no managers visible. Certainly noone noticed our displeasure. The food literally left a bad taste in our mouths to the point we needed to gargle with something afterwards upon leaving.

Another crazy thing I just remembered - for at least 3 of the tasting menu courses, they put both of our food from the course together in one big plate or bowl for us to share. Not two separate ones. Who does this? Literally never seen this in anything remotely ‘fine dining’. Totally inappropriate. They certainly didnt ask us if we wished to share ‘family style’, didnt know our ‘status’, and did it for several courses.

In this case, not just the ingredients were subpar for any fine dining afficionado. The preparation was a miss for every single course. The service not Michelin like in any way. The atmosphere blah at best. Combining our food into one plate or bowl on several courses completely inappropriate and bizarre.

We both eat sushi and japanese food regularly, in many different cities and countries when we travel. This is the second worst in my life of literally hundreds of sushi/japanese dinners. The first worst was when I once got deathly ill. As a result, this is my first google review as I had to share this.

Michelin giving it one star, which is why we went, is inconceivable. It is worse than gas station boxed sushi in japan. Unless the owners, managers and chefs revamp every single aspect, I would run away. At 140 euro per person, I would consider it equivalent to a 1.4 euro meal...

Buena fusión hispano-japonesa pero no excelente. Si desaparece la trufa del mundo, kabuki también lo haría. Servicio ruinoso. Comida de Viernes y lleno hasta arriba. Camareros desborados y 15 min. sentados en la mesa sin carta y esperando a que alguien se acerque...

Servicio (perdonadme la palabra) de mierda. Gracia a Dios que hay un sumiller japonés que es una excelente persona y profesional que cuidó de nosotros durante la comida después del desplante inicial de 15 minutos ignorándonos en un Estrella Michelín en el que nos dejamos casi 600€ 3 personas.

Comida con altibajos. Este señor inventó unso nigiris de trufa y unos usuzukuris muy muy ricos que mantienen el restaurante a flote. Cierto que son adictivos... pero yo sólo iria a comer eso y me olvidaría de todo lo demás...

Un entrante de mini rodaballos que nos estuvieron repitiendo a todos durante toda la tarde... Pagas por 15 gramos de mini rodaballos casi 16€ si no recuerdo mal. Y no sabe a nada... tiene que untarlos con sal de wasabi para que sepa a algo. De nuevo postureo gastronómico sin sentido (que harta estoy de esto en España por favor... Haces esto en América y se rien de ti...).

Usuzukuri ricos (bilbaina y pan tumaca) pero nada impresionantes... Las salsas españolas están muy ricas, ya lo sabemos todos, pero matan el sabor de pescados de mucha calidad. Aun sí son disfrutables.

Nigiris como he dicho adictivos (triada de huevo de codorniz y trufa, pez mantequilla y trufa y hamburguesa de wagyu con tomate). El de hamburguesa me sobró y creo que no funciona, y y de nuevo es postureo mal pensado culinariamente hablando.

Gindara o bacalao asado con miso rico, pero el del 99 Sushibar o Miyama está mil veces más rico...

Postres horribles... (todo se lo hace Oriol Balaguer). Nada japonés. Preguntamos y nos dice el camarero que los japoneses no comen postres y que fue lo más dificil, encontrar algo dulce japonés... Me encanta ver como la gente engaña a los comensales apoyándose en sus estrellas Michelín y todo el mundo traga y asiente como corderos... Hay cientos de elaboraciones dulces japonesas. Si bien no son muy asiduos al postre, sí que los son a los dulces (Tokyo es junto con Paris la capital del dulce...). Los hay tradicionales, como el mochi, el dorayaki, el dango, anmitsu, karumeyaki, warabi mochi, kasutera, anpan, meronpan... y muchos otros, y elaboraciones occidentales con toques japoneses o asumidos por los japoneses como suyos, como el Mont-blanc, shortcake, partfait, etc. que hacen a su manera usando ingredientes como el sésamo negro, el té verde, el azuki, el kinako o el tofu, entre otros.

Carta de postres aburrida. Pedimos el Jardín japonés y nos ponen un postre mal equilibrado en sabores, plano y aburrido, con un nombre con más postureo que cerebro detrás de su concepción.

Menos mal que vemos un atisbo de estrella Michelín en la carta de tés... menos mal... Té sencha con hojas de sakura que pensamos que nos haría salir con un buen sabor de boca. Ni petit fours ni leches... La cuenta y... sorpresa final... 75€ de más en la cuenta... (les parecería poco a los muchachos los 600€ que nos gastamos...). Hay que estar más atentos que menos mal que, a falta de petit fours nos entretuvimos mirando la cuenta, porque muchas veces en sitios así ni la miramos y en este caso nos hubiesen metido el palo... (ya ni en un establecimiento así te puedes despistar!)

Le pongo tres estrellas porque para lo que cobran y para tener una estrella Michelín, el restaurante está OK por los pelos. Si costase la mitad tendría 4 estrellas (dejándonos 15 minutos sin atender nunca le daría 5 estrellas ya que ni en un chino cutre te...

Being a Michelin star entitles many qualities Kabuki certainly what it has is exotic tasty freshness! WOW, those flavors from last night still dance in my palate. The place is minimalist, trendy, stylish and has a nice lighting ambiance, service was a little all over the place and inconsistent, so we thought that maybe they had people missing g that night, despite that, they were super polite and attentive when we managed to call their attention 😂. We forgot all that with each dish that landed in our table, as there was an exotic presentation each time, and the flavor combinations were even greater. The outmost best was the truffle white fish and carabineros, absolutely outstanding... these two remained on the top of my head, certainly all the others were exquisite too. To know about prices, always remember hat you are sitting in a Michelin star top Japanese Restaurant in Madrid. The location is also perfect in the emblematic VELAZQUEZ street and next to Hotel Wellington, (separate entrance on the right). Fantastic! Well done guys, we had a delightful memorable night!! Here you can find my best shots, when we actually remembered to take pictures, while being in Ow...