Tobalá — Restaurant in Madrid

To begin with I am writing this on my way to another restaurant as I am leaving with an empty stomach. Tobala is very isolated and far away, I had to travel over an hour to arrive. I found the food and the place to be very good, however, it took 2 hours for barely any food to arrive. The food took so long to arrive and and more than half of the order was cancelled due to pork and chicken shortage. Unacceptable. The food is amazing but as a group of 4 we each ate very little by sharing the bits and pieces that were brought because they didn’t have pork or chicken. 2 pieces of hair were in one of the few dishes that actually arrived. I would also like to say that the staff was really nice and comprehending and tried their best to help, still disapointed as the food and the drive wasnt worth it as 2 of the 4 dishes that arrived were starters. Good food but barely any food. Also to retaliate it was very expensive to have only eaten a fourth of a meal. Not a good experience and I highly doubt I’ll come back as the restaurant is in the middle of nowhere. Perfect if you have hours and hours to spare and a small stomach. You will leave...

I’m ashamed it took me so long to come here, and now I don’t ever wanna eat anything else but Tobalà’s food. The venue is small and absolutely beautiful, the food is incredible and the staff are absolutely amazing and super kind (I booked in Spanish and the guy who took my booking also complimented me on my Spanish -which is not great- and yeah: he offered me an arrangement that costed him a bit of work (the place was fully booked) and he also was thoughtful enough to think of saying a kind word!)

The food is SPECTACULAR: the gringa al pastor is straight from the best place in Guadalajara, the fish tacos are quite spicy and the fish is fresh and fleshy, a work of art. Speaking of art: quesadilla con Flores de calabaza. If Michelangelo could trade the sixtine chapel for this quesadilla he would, I promise. It’s the MOST DELICIOUS Mexican dish I’ve ever eaten. EVER.

But honestly, don’t bother spending time to choose from the menu and let your gut guide you. Anything you can find in this...

The food is delicious and authentic! The staff are so kind and accommodating. They even have some vegan options! I’ve been a couple times now.

Now, for the ‘pero’… The locale is extremely small and so are the tables. It’s uncomfortable.

Something changed with the pricing recently too… not sure if the QR code was different, but the prices online didn’t match what I paid. Example: michelada with pacifico: 6,50 online, 7€ on the bill. Margarita frozen 5,70 online, 9€ on my bill. Paid 9,90 for a dessert tamal. Delicious, but unexpected. Everything was tasty, but I can’t understand the difference in price.

Maybe their online menu isn’t up to date? Just something to think about. I’d like to go back as the food and the chef are amazing, but the price discrepancy makes me lose trust. It got very expensive...