La Paella de la Reina

A solid spot for paella, including the traditional Paella Valenciana. I went alone and had the seafood paella—apparently the only option they serve to solo diners, since all other paellas are for a minimum of two people. The paella was good overall; the shrimp were slightly overcooked, but everything else was tasty and well-prepared. If you’re in Madrid and craving paella, it definitely gives you that satisfying, authentic feel. Its very touristy place and at least the server i had, although friendly, must have a long night…

I think this is one of the authentic Spanish Paella restaurant. Overall : This was the great restaurant if you are craving for the Paella especially seafood paella. Muscles are well prepared as well. Service : The waiter is very respective and gave us the great recommendation of drinks. However, we asked for tabasco for our paella and the owner took may took it offensive. It could be the language barriers, but we did not one. The paella was great without of tabasco, but I wish I could have tried with it as well. Atmosphere : great!

The paella was delicious and a really generous portion. There is a minimum order of 2 portions, but a table of 4 next to us shared 2 portions between 4 quite happily. Servers were a bit abrupt, and we felt like they were a bit pushy to get extras, which we didn’t want.

Absolutely incredible paella experience! Get the Seafood and add lobster. Feels like you are eating at a true family restaurant with decades of recipe refinement. Highly recommended!

I highly recommend this place. Food is authentic and delicious. Family owned small place. Opens AM, closes noon, reopens at night, as most family businesses in Spain. I recommend the regular Paella de Mariscos. Feel free to talk to the owners, nice very friendly brothers.

Ordered a Fideau paella; it was good albeit a little too salty. The amount of seafood ingredients were considered generous. However, other than the food, the rest were off. The restaurant had a very dated decoration, and maybe they did not have enough paella pans??? They showed the paella to us for a glance and took it away for plating. And they do that for all the customers. The server “highly recommended” the white sangria which of course was much more expensive than the red. Also note that the water and bread that they “automatically” offered were chargeable. Food pricing generally higher than the other restaurants. Service wasn’t the best as well as it took 3 requests for them to finally give the bill. Feels a little like a tourist trap. Overall it’s a possible option to consider if you want to eat Paella in Madrid.

Yes eat there. Yes the Paella is great. Go big and try squid ink!! The owner works hard and it pays off. Beyond delicious.

Authentic Paella, served to perfection. It was a beautiful restaurant with a phenomenal atmosphere. The food was served to us on a traditional paella dish, but portioned for my wife and I. My daughter had the grilled chicken a la plancia with papas and ham croquettes and they were equally delicious. I would highly recommend for anyone. Who wants to eat paella whole in Madrid. And do not get me started on the Sangria! I do not drink. Hardly ever. And I do not like the taste of wine. But this sangria was delicious and my wife and I easily shared a small serving. Which gave us 3 cups each.

Is this the most authentic place? Not sure. Was my paella delicious? It sure was! We made reservations at the last minute and it was steady busy when we were there. The spot is upstairs and on the small side so if you're a larger party you'll be a tight squeeze. They do have an English menu. We ordered some broad beans with Jambon, garlic shrimps and seafood paella. All of it was delicious and unique. We did a two person portion of the paella for three people and it was perfect. We were all full without being stuffed. I think for paella it is a minimum of two peoples portions per order but the folks next to us was only two people and their plates were massive so plan accordingly. The seafood in the paella was fresh and huge portions. The shrimp still had the shell on so it was slightly messy peeling it. Every bite was flavorful. This was my first time eating broad beans cooked this way. It was slightly briney but not salty at all. The texture is what you expect of beans, firm and not mushy like peas. The garlic shrimp was good. The portion was a good size. The texture of the shrimp was good too. Perfectly cooked. It wasn't as garlicky like some of the other places I've tried it but it was still delicious.

I liked this place although when I heard all the English I knew it was a tourist restaurant. We shared a mixed paella it had seafood and chicken in it. It was really flavorful and moist and was a huge portion. I thought it was yummy although if you're looking for something more authentic try elsewhere.

We had read mixed reviews about this place before going, but decided to give it a try anyway as we chose to chalk up the bad reviews to just a bad night. Unfortunately, the bad reviews seemed to be the most accurate. The service as terrible. They acted like they were doing US a favor by waiting on us. Then came the paella. We ordered two different ones for a party of four: chicken paella and the mixed paella. Both were very bland and had no taste. In fact. we asked for salt so that we could add some flavor. The chicken in both paellas was tough and had pieces of bone throughout. We also know that a key ingredient in paella is saffron. But this restaurant does not use saffron. We will not be going back on future visits to Madrid.

The best Paella in Madrid. We came to this place 5 years ago for the first time and loved it. We returned on this trip and it was the same high quality. The sea food paella is absolutely delicious, the fish is fresh and the rice crisp on the pan is just perfect. The food is extremely flavorful. Service is friendly. Ambiance is casual. Suggest getting reservations. Highly recommend!!

Ordered the chicken and mushroom paella. It was decent but nothing I would return for. The waitstaff was not extremely engaging. It was a cute place and an easy walk from our hotel.

Reina is Queen in Spanish and I felt like I was treated like royalty. La Paella has a very formal feel with white tablecloths. You can order whatever you want as long as it is paella. The skillet plated paellas are designed for two. While it was not the best paella I have had, it is a fun experience. Service was very efficient at this location.

The Paella tasted good had the house one which consisted of chicken and seafood. I felt that it was a bit too greasy and was disappointed that it had no Zafron so you don't see that traditional yellowish look it was more like dark brown color. The bread was warm and soft and the jamón ibérico with cheese as an appetizer was great! I felt it was ok but I would definitely try another place for a better paella. The service is good though ...

Really I thought it would be better. Got praised so much by locals. Service - 5 stars Ambience - 5 stars Food - 3 stars The waiter suggested croquettes for an appetizer but they were underwhelming. In general we're not sure why Spaniards love these little balls of fried mush so much. They also gave us some delicious raisin bread and a little bowl of really good octopus/onion/pepper stuff which reminded me a lot of non-sour ceviche. So that was promising. We got the "special seafood paella" and I have to admit the seafood part was terrific - huge spiky crustaceans, hunks of monkfish, mussels and clams. But the rice was kind of bland and it didn't have the famous crust everyone talks about so I felt let down. We were too full to get dessert. Would we come here again? Mmmmaybe. But probably not.

1) Seafood Paella - No Bueno. Flavorless, extremely salty and seafood texture seemed like frozen and defrosted then frozen again. Many mussels didn't even open which is a sure sign of poor quality. Maybe because we were gringos we got the crappy ingredients. I blame myself for this disappointment as looking at pictures you can tell this is not your standard paella with saffron, pepper, onions and other key ingredients that give paella it's wonderful flavor. 2) Asparagus - perfecto. 3) Extra charges - bread two euros per person?? Just adds insult to injury though in the end because the paella was so bad I was quite happy to eat my bread with butter with the red wine.

Sangria was great! It was the best we had so far. Traditional Spanish paella was good nothing great. I would definitely try someplace different. If you're looking for the best in Madrid, keep looking. Service was polite and very attentive. The atmosphere was on the fancy side if you're interested in a up paced vibe this isn't the best choice. Prepare to spend more than other places for basically rice and chicken. Enjoy Madrid

Best gambas al ajillo that we have ever had! The shrimp were well cooked yet not chewy. The garlic was prolific and scintillating in the olive oil at the bottom of the ceramic dish. I wish the bread had been more malleable and warm as to sop up that excellent garlic flavored oil at the bottom. Paella was good. The bomba rice itself has soaked up the incredible flavor of the sifrito and saffron. I liked the actual flavored rice more than I did the chicken and seafood there was therein although it was fresh. The service is good. The staff is nice, patient and accommodating.

This had to be my husband's favorite paella place, hands down. I wish I could say the same, but since I am allergic to seafood, I guess I can't compete when having the Valencia. He raved about how flavorful and hearty the paella was - and how enjoyable the soccarat (crispy rice) portion of the paella was as well! I have to admit, I stuck to the sangria and the crema Catalana , and I was quite content! The service was fast and friendly, and they were busy well into the wee hours of the morning. It was a great location (pretty close to Gran Via) and quite close to our hotel (Petit Palace). Overall, would recommend it!

Food is pretty good! The Paella is 8/9 out of 10. Staff is interesting and sometimes rude sometimes way too nice. Totally recommended as the food is good! We had the black paella and it was a good surprise!

Had a day in Madrid and of course wanted to eat paella. So we asked the bartender at out hotel where we should go and he suggested this place. It's a hole in the wall in a side street. When you walk in, it almost feels like your walking into someone's house. The menu has all kinds of Paella, so there is something for all tastes and preferences. We opted for the house paella and it was delicious.

This is my second time here. On a Saturday night, it gets really crowded. The black paella is so yummy. It's squid ink mixed into the regular paella. It will leave your teeth and lips 'black'. Sangria is very good as well. I would definitely come back again when visit Madrid next time.

Been looking for a paella negra & this place did not disappoint. We ordered Paella negra, king prawns, mixed salad, Catalan creme & sangria. The paella negra truly hit it for me. I thought it's delicious with the balance in flavor... not too salty nor greasy. Thr king prawns was flavorful despite the fact that it's a fried shrimp, and the Catalan creme (aka creme brûlée) is well made, subtle & not overpowering with sweetness... just how I like it. I appreciate that they also have menus available in different languages (French & English) & the ambiance isn't pretentious. Also I got to love that they have WiFi available which is truly a plus for tourist that's on roaming service ;)

Despite the favorable endorsement from Lonely Planet, this restaurant was a disappointment. Service was poor with non friendly staff and pushy wait staff on appetizers. Additionally, two orders of bread and butter was brought to the table automatically at beginning of meal without an explanation or notification that it would cost 1.50 Euros (each). The Paella (house paella) was of poor quality and seemed a half effort with literally zero socarrat. Seafood was reasonably fresh but chicken tough and over cooked with clumsy pieces included like a random piece of wing. All in all this is a tourist trap. Make no mistake about it. Would not recommend.

This restaurant is located in a small alleyway. Lunch starts at 1:00pm. Inside of the restaurant was clean and nicely decorated. We were greeted and the waiter took our drink orders. They were quite friendly to us, offering us English menus, and we're obviously not locals. The waiter told us in advance it would take about 20 minutes to cook the paella and he was right. We ordered the special seafood paella for 2, which came with 3 different types of shrimp, mussels, clams, octopus, chunks of white fish, and mini shrimp without shells. It was made with a short grain rice, similar to risotto rice. It wasn't as creamy as risotto. Surprisingly non-fishy except for the shrimp heads. I'm very sensitive to fishiness and I gladly ate it. We were given devices to crack the tougher shells...the larger shrimp were more like crayfish or baby lobsters with itty bitty claws. All seafood was fresh and not overcooked (bear in mind they will keep cooking as they sit on your piping hot rice). They brought out the whole pan for us to inspect before splitting them equally on 2 plates (see photo for details). The rice was well cooked, no crust on the bottom, perhaps just a hair undercooked, but that's being very picky. I felt it was a touch salty. There were no veggies, like bell peppers, in this paella. Prices listed are per PERSON. 24.50 euros / head. They do take credit cards. It wasn't too busy at lunch around 1pm, probably because it was a holiday. BF said, "it was the best paella I had in years! It was a nice blend of seafood. Nice variety." He also thought it was fairly authentic. We weren't sure if it's too expensive or not for a good seafood meal. BF noted there were less expensive options with less seafood. Our whole meal was over 50 euros. Good place to try in Madrid if you want to splurge.

Bomb ass paella!!! That's all you really need to know. We tried four different kinds and they were all good: the house paella, the black ink squid, Valenciana, and chorizo paella. We were disappointed by a couple of other places we tried paella, so we were thrilled this place delivered!

The entire main course section at this place is all about paella. The specialty of this family run business is the seafood paella. The place is nestled in a backstreet off of gran via, but I barely found a table with all the crowd having dinner. The food was delicious, the dishes were reasonably priced, but it wouldn't seem that way if you're a big group. The atmosphere is retro and cozy like an old house from my childhood memories.

I think everyone who is giving this place a bad review based on service really doesn't understand how things work in Spain. 1. Paella, when freshly prepared, takes about 20-30 min to cook, meaning you're going to wait a while on your meal... so come prepared for that. 2. All Spanish restaurants bring you bread, which you are charged for if you eat. They change for everything... bread, water... that's just how it is here. 3. Paella has to be prepared in special large pans... so it's a waste for them to make it for one person, so the minimum is 2 persons. 4. Some might call the old guy grumpy... but I thought he was hilarious. He's old school. He poured my glass of wine, walked off, then looked back and said "you look like you need a little more", and topped the glass off and walked off again. When we presented the paella, in deadpan Spanish he goes "careful, the crayfish will jump out at you". Bottom line though, like everyone else said, great paella. This is the real deal.

This is supposed to be one of the best places for Paella in Madrid, with trip advisor reviews saying it's even more authentic than La Barraca (in the same street). I went here and not only was the owner grumpy about having to serve a Paella for one (although I called ahead to check that would be okay) but he was also just generally rude and short with me. On top of this, my vegetarian Paella was almost inedible. The vegetables tasted old and almost rotten and for a meal costing 14 euro, you can see why I'm disappointed. Do not go here unless you want terrible service and an even worse meal.

Pricey but paella aint cheap anywhere. Bread is really good, maybe best bread in Madrid. Service is pretty poor and slow. We had the seaside paella, actually don't remember the name but it had muscles, shrimps, squid, and big red prawns. Best paella I had but I only had about two other ones. The prawns were really good and so where the other seafood items. The rice was cooked al dente and not mush so its a winner.

After reading reviews we were a bit skeptical but decided to try it anyway! Finding it was a bit difficult because it's on a back street but the GPS on my iPhone took me directly to it! Get your taxi to drop you off at the start of La Gran Vía and the GPS will take you straight there. The establishment itself is small but quaint and the servers were extremely helpful and kind. Many spoke some English, enough to communicate with us and help us make a decision. They serve bread and butter but it is added to your bill (this is the case for most restaurants we found) but it was delicious. We also ordered an appetizer of Croquettas because the wait time for the paella is about 25 min although it didn't really seem that long! To drink we ordered a small pitcher of sangria (plenty for 2) which was amazing, one of the better ones from our trip. We ordered the mixed Paella and it was one of the better ones I've had. Overall we had a great experience! This restaurant is a hidden gem!

Delicious food and perfect service. We arrived about an hour before they closed and they were great. The took the time to go over the menu options and their recommendations were perfect. Portions are huge so sharing is probably a good idea. Will definitely visit again next time I'm in town.

Came here with recommendation from our hotel. I saw the rather poor reviews but thought I should give it a chance. It was our last dinner in Madrid before we leave tomorrow. Big mistake! The prices for paella were rather high. We ordered the mixed paella (paella mixta) for 2 people (33 Euro) and black paella (arroz negro) for 2 people (31.60 Euro) to be shared by 4 of us. The paella came out rather quickly within 20 mins (not a good sign since it should take 30 mins or more). The seafood and chicken were rather sparse and the paella rice did not have a crust on the pan (must have for a good paella). It pretty much went down high after that. Besides being salty, there was really no seafood flavor in the rice. Plus I do not think they added saffron in the Paella Mixta. The paella is at best mediocre and if you consider the price, it is truly a rip off. My best Paella so far in Spain was in Barcelona at Bosque Palermo. If you are in Barcelona, I highly recommend this restaurant for Paella and seafood.

Very nice paella, sangria, and service ! Prizes was affordable as well - over all good experience especially as a tourist! Go there!!

Don't eat here unless you're fluent in Spanish. As soon as the staff realized we were English speakers with little command of their language they immediately treated us with a hostility and rudeness I have never encountered the likes of anywhere else in over 20 years of traveling the globe. It was shocking, sad and inexplicable.

Best paella a Madrid Go early before rush

Beware, this place is an actual tourist trap. We made the mistake of asking the front desk at our hotel where to get the best paella in town. He recommended this place but said we would need a reservation first which he was happy to make for us. Great, we figured the place was popular and we wouldn't have to wait long for a table. So after booking us a reservation we headed over there for dinner around 8. The place was a virtual ghost town. We were the only customers there as every table was empty. As we sat and ordered other tourist began trickling in. We asked a few patrons how they found out about this place and they said their hotel had recommended it and also had booked them a needed reservation as well. It became so obvious this place was working with local hotels to direct clueless tourist to come eat here. The whole "reservation" process from the hotels is so that this place knows who to give a cut to. Smart from a business standpoint but I still felt a bit taken and misled. Oh and the paella is very expensive and absolutely not all that great.

The first clue this place was bad was no one was in the place. But we were hungry and thought why not. Big mistake. The paella was terrible. $164.00 for 4 people for lunch. The best way to describe it would be $40.00 for a plate of rice. The mussels were terrible. A taste I can't describe or even try too. Each plate had 2 shrimp, 2 mussels, 3 or 4 clams and whatever else. We should have known better when we entered and we were the only ones in the place. Stay away and search for something better.

While the paella was very tasty, everything else about the experience was pretty unfortunate. The decor is very stuffy and old, and the place did not have a nice ambiance. There was only one other table with customers while we were there, so the restaurant was awkwardly silent, which was only made more awkward by the pacing waiters and managers staring at us, and the 20 minute wait for our food. Also, on top of the high price of the food, they charged us for the crappy stale bread we didn't eat, which they brought to us without asking. All in all, not a great experience. I'd rather eat paella on a park bench somewhere!

A moderately priced paella restaurant in Madrid. We ordered the arroz negro (squid and shrimp rice in squid ink). The shrimp was over cooked, but the squid was just right. The rice was good and they gave us a garlic aioli which definitely added a nice flavor. The wait staff was very friendly and attentive. If you want a friendly reception, come here.

Soooo good. Our last night in Spain we went to this restaurant on the recommendation of our hotel. They called to get us a reservation. The paella was fabulous, the wine was excellent and it was just a very memorable expereince. I would definitely recommend it.

The restaurant looks rather modestly, but it was supposed that they make the excellent paella. And it is the absolute truth! Paella the simply super! Would put 5 stars, but was upset a little that the restaurant doesn't offer paella for one person. I would like to order paella with a lobster (it looks fantastic), but my friend doesn't eat seafood. So... It was necessary for me to refuse my choice. I'll come there again only if I have someone to share seafood paella )))

For the first dinner night in Madrid, this is a very good experience. The ambience is natural Spain, not like a big fancy restaurant. We wanted to feel Spain and that's what we got! The paella was muy delicioso. The seafood was fresh and the arroz tasted great! Is is paella. The owners were serving the food personally. It was packed and thanks to my husband making a reservation, otherwise we would have been lining up for so long. I believe we ordered the Paella de Marisco. 4 stars only because we still have to go to Valencia and taste the paella there. We will surely come back when we visit Madrid.