Saddle Madrid — Restaurant in Madrid

I have been to more than a third of the Michelin starred restaurants in Madrid, and I would put Saddle towards the bottom on overall quality of the experience, and at the very bottom in terms of price/quality.

Expectations were high, it is true, given all the hype lately about Saddle. Disappointment came soon as it seemed to take forever for our single designated order-taker to take our aperitif request.

The paté en croute was a finesse-less way to start the meal. The tartar de gamba roja was indeed delicious, but the guisante lágrima was uninspired.

The pigeon tortelloni was very pleasant, especially the flavorful chestnut game consomé, but I question the logic of positioning the monkfish (which was indeed delicious) between the game-inspired consomé and the cordero lechal. Tasting menu whiplash, if you ask me.

The cordero lechal was nice, but would it have been too much to ask for more than one true meat dish as part of a 9 course meal in the dead of winter?

The enormous soufflé dessert was drowned in grand marnier and matched with a soapy ice cream. It would have been much classier to serve a few modest sized desserts with some variety, rather than one big dud.

The staff did not pay sufficient attention to keeping us hydrated throughout the evening. When they did attend to us, some seemed to have an impersonal, almost haughty attitude as they whispered the description of each dish under their breath.

I had the wine maridaje for an extra 120 euros, an above-average price, which did raise my expectations. However, while some of the wines were exceptional, not all were outstanding. And the pours were miserly. What was particularly disappointing was that there was only one red wine served, a Contino Viña del Olivo which they served in droplets adding up to not much more than a sip, as if they were pouring a 1945 Latour. To add to the disappointment, a Coravin malfunction resulted in the gas splattering the inside my entire glass with tiny droplets, leaving it looking like a bloody murder scene. They did not offer to change the glass.

Somewhat annoying was the experience of them rolling out the cheese cart with great fanfare, only for them to point out that the cheese was not part of the tasting menu. Call me cheap, but with a 160 euro tasting menu, is it too much to ask to be served a bit of cheese? Don’t go rolling it out in front of your tasting menu diners and then tell them they have to pay extra for it.

One final critique: my two daughters went to the ladies room, one about an hour after the other, and they both complained that there had been no toilet paper.

The restaurant does not live up to the hype. You will find much more pleasurable experiences for your money at other Michelin star...

I won’t tell anything new to anyone who ate in a restaurant in Spain at least once, not to mention to people living in the country. As soon as you are being led to your table and sometimes even before you manage to sit, you get a question: what do you wish to drink? And you are supposed to answer: a beer, a glass of cava, manzanilla, wine, etc. Of course, whatever you ordered you are going to find on your bill afterwards. Normally, it would be around 5 euro for a glass in simpler places, 7 – 12 euro for a glass in a more upscale ones, up to 15 - 20 in Michelin stars. Same question (of course) we got when being seated in Saddle. How about 2 glasses of white wine? Sure, and we got less than 2 fingers high into our glasses of a reasonable, but not exceptional white from Ribera del Duero. Interesting what they will charge us for these 2 “glasses” my wife told me after I asked for a bill. As it turned EURO 55,00 (fifty-five) PER EACH = EURO 110,00 (!!!). Well, everything is private business, you charge for anything whatever you feel like, and it is for the customers to decide… if the customers are informed. Of course, it isn’t common to be asking for a price when you are asked what you would like to have for aperitif. But like with everything there is always some border between reasonability and abuse, which Saddle overpassed by far. I know a few places having serious wines by the glass that cost 100 – 150 euro, but they will never pour any guest a glass like this when just asked for “a glass of wine” before the meal. Once I told our waitress everything from above, she immediately answered they will remove these glasses from our bill. I guess, the restaurant didn’t want any discussion that could be overheard by other clients – they were serving the same wine by glass to about anyone that was in my sight. All in all, be aware of this trap. Yes, for the sake of fairness, the food was good, but not overwhelming. I know several places within 10 minutes walking where it is possible to eat not a bit worse for half...

OK to be honest my expectations were high. My family has been dining at Jockey, high end restaurant at this address which to our horror closed several years ago. Saddle in my mind was an attempt to approximate what Jockey was not only in food but also as a go to destination.

Well to our immense surprise Saddle achieved that and more. What a destination. The restaurant is stunning and even bigger and more impressive than Jockey. The food was other worldly and the service was exquisite. From start to finish our senses were being tantalized every step of the way. Excellent, awesome does not even come close to what this experience was.. We had Contino wine, caviar, the shrimp tartar and the Jarrete.... I put the bartender to the test as my fav is a very dry Vodka martini. Jockey used to be my favorite place for this drink in Spain. Well low and behold, Saddle has conquered that golden ticket. Kudos to the Barman.

Everything was more than perfect. Tks to everyone for making this a delight. If I can give a low score on anything is the lack of a parking attendent. Parking is a nightmare on this street and a real pain. However, not too far away this is a parking garage. So all in all manageable.... A small bump in a otherwise...