Little Madrid Tapas-Café — Restaurant in Lake View Township

My first experience at Little Madrid was in June 2023. I found myself in the area again recently and was excited to return. Unfortunately, within the past year the quality and experience at this restaurant has significantly changed for the worse. If you are looking for AUTHENTIC Spanish tapas, keep looking…

The obvious changes: restaurant has expanded, no longer sells alcohol (now BYOB), inattentive waitstaff (even with only a handful of other tables occupied - though, this could be considered a touch authentic to Spain… HA!)

Previously, the restaurant was small, even a bit crowded. However, the atmosphere was truly reminiscent of an experience in Spain. While interacting, staff were welcoming, friendly, and fun - even bringing free sangria out to pour directly into patrons mouths. Truly a relaxing, non-rushed, party/community atmosphere. Now, the expanded space lacks the “European feel”. Not without mention, has also led to completely inattentive waitstaff. Again, this is also typical in Spain, but rather than Americanizing the food (keep reading…) , how about Americanizing the service experience?

Pan con Tomate: For $9, you receive 3 slices of untoasted sourdough bread drizzled with low quality olive oil and garnished with parsley, grated tomato, accompanied by a handful of olives and almonds. For such a simple dish, quality and application of ingredients is extremely important, and Little Madrid is lacking in both seasoning, preparation and quality. I was tempted to ask for salt (though, lack of attention from waitstaff would have made that impossible even if I had decided to). In Spain, this is served with crusty bread and grated tomato seasoned with salt, drizzled with HIGH QUALITY olive oil. Though this is a staple in Spain, I would pass on ordering this dish at Little Madrid. Not to mention, in Spain this dish is typically just 2-4 EUR.

Albondigas (Meatballs): While the meatballs are tender and juicy, the dish is completely overshadowed by the unnecessary, and unwelcome addition of bacon bits all over the plate. Another dish I would recommend skipping if you are in the market for true, authentic Spanish flavors.

Calamaris fritos: The breading is good, extremely crisp and not oily, but the calamari is overcooked and rubbery. Extremely hard to chew.

Euro bacon: I’m unsure how this dish even made it to the menu. This is much better suited alongside other Hors d'oeuvres at a wedding cocktail hour. Overly sweet and full of bacon… which is most American’s ideal. Not authentic.

Patatas Bravioli: The aioli and brava salsa are delicious, however the potatoes in this dish were completely different from my first time at Little Madrid… the potatoes are now much too large - exterior is barely crisp, the interior texture is the same as a boiled potato. Again, a dish so simple needs to be well executed. In Spain, the potatoes are served in smaller, more crisp pieces.

The expansion has negatively impacted the atmosphere and food quality. I am truly sad to say that I will not plan on returning after the disappointment of my...

My mother being from Madrid Spain, having lived in Madrid for over year during grade school, followed by numerous trips to Madrid to visit family and using Madrid as home base to explore the wonderful regions of Spain, I was looking forward to eating foods which flavors and texture would propel my soul back to Spain in a single bite of food.

Francisco, the owner, chef, and waiter while he himself was most friendly and impressionable his dishes fell short. The best of the tapas (we will call appetizers) was the patatas brava and when I say the best of what we ate, it was still the middle of the road in quality at best. We also had the fried calamari which was not crisp and barely lukewarm, the Spanish meatballs which were obviously reheated and also lukewarm at best. There was four of us for dinner, we had decided on our main dish to be the seafood paella for all of us. I already informed everyone that it would be at least 35 minutes for the paella.

When the paella finally arrived in the paellara, the pan used was designed for serving 8 to 10 people. The amount of seafood in the paella was barely enough to substantially feed one person. As a result of the pan being too big the rice was severely overcooked and almost burnt. At no time did I get a hint of the saffron flavoring so vital to the dish.

We were way too generous we decided to order dessert and continue. The churros were dense, chewy , and obviously reheated; the saving grace was the chocolate served with the churros - the chocolate did take me back to the streets of Spain. The other Saving Grace for dessert was the flawn which had all the smoothness subtle flavors.

My recommendation to the owner Francisco, is to limit his men you even further during this time of covid so you can prepare the dishes properly. But based on what we ate and the way the food was prepared oh, I would not recommend this place for dinner. The friends we ate at the restaurant with have you eaten there for lunch and it said that the sandwiches are delicious. However you weren't there for sandwiches you were there for dinner and I cannot recommend little Madrid for dinner, especially when we all spent $180 for four people without drinks.

I hope the owner takes this as a wake-up call to serve...

We drove 1 hr 15 min just to try Little Madrid. We visited on a Friday night just before New Years Eve. Full disclosure, 30% of my reviews are Spanish restaurants in Spain. Please see my other reviews. I’ve eaten at many Spanish restaurants in the USA and Spain. I did a little research before eating here, we knew this was a small family owned restaurant with limited seating, which is why we chose to visit. Usually small family owned businesses have the best food, and this place didn’t disappoint. It was night when we arrived so it was very very dark inside with the lights overly dimmed. The menus were backlit just so you could read them. It was very difficult to read the text even being backlit. It was so dark, we had to use our phones to see what we were eating. The service was good, but the food took a long time to arrive, we waited awhile for even the tapas. We ordered a Pinxto, that arrived with the paella 45 min later. A pinxto is a smaller version of a tapa and we couldn’t understand why it would take so long. As for the food, it was definitely authentic Spanish food, felt like we were in a restaurant in Madrid. The Paella was very good but there wasn’t enough of it. The gambas al ajillo were overly salted but still tasted good, you only got 4 shrimp. The sangria was the real deal, the patatas bravas were also very good. The overall taste of everything was good, very authentic but the qty was little for what you pay. We left hungry after 4 tapas and a small paella de mariscó for two people. We enjoyed the restaurant but overall it was very expensive for the amount of food served. We remember the good old days of Cafe Ibérico where everything was inexpensive and you received a lot. Those days are long gone and so is Cafe Ibérico. One other point to mention is making reservations here. No one answers phones, you have to schedule a reservation online and wait for a return email to find out if it’s confirmed. You can’t really reach anyone to ask if they’re open, busy, etc. this place isn’t that busy that they can’t answer phones. Thought that was...