La Terraza Del Casino By Paco Roncero

I had lunch here on Sept 1. I must honestly say it was one of the worst meals in my life. (I am 62 years old, have lived in Paris for the last 35 years, and average one or two Michelin starred-restaurants per month; so I know a good meal – and a bad one – when I eat it. As much as I generally prefer high end restaurants in Spain to their French models, this one was a joke; and casts doubt on the reliability of the Michelin red guide. Two stars? Really?!! It should not even have been listed in the Bible, let alone with any stars! It was so bad it that it is hard to know where to begin. First the décor was dreadful – a nauseating, ill-conceived pastiche of pale green colored walls, with navy blue columns, and more mirrors than you’d find in a kitschy décor from the 1970s. The building, however, a 1900 era “casino” is worth exploring: dusty and dilapidated but in an interesting way. Greeting was (of course in English, even though my correspondence with the restaurant had all been in Spanish and my lunch companion was a very Latin looking Latino who obviously spoke Spanish. It is always a bad sign when they greet you in English in a non-English speaking country. As is the trend these days, there were several different menus to choose from, but on each one, there were essentially NO choices – so you got what the chef was serving even if you didn’t feel like that sort of food. They would, however, make substitutions if you indicated an allergy or simply a revulsion to something offered (for example, the fried pig’s ear appetizer . The ordeal started with a bunch of “snacks” or what the French would call amuses-bouches. The first and most disgusting of these was the Olivo Milenario. This consisted of a series of reconstituted “olives” (the skins I suppose reformed into harder crusts into which pure virgin olive oil was injected . The fake olives were pretentiously presented on an aluminum olive “tree”, in keeping with the annoying current trend of meal-as-entertainment. We dutifully plucked the olives from the fake tree and drank the pure olive oil. Imagine being served 20 cl of olive oil in a wine glass and being asked (forced? to drink it before your lunch! As important a role as this liquid has to play in Spanish (and all Mediterranean cuisines, it is simply a mistake to ingest by itself. It was disgusting. Perhaps the psychological trick was to make what would follow (never any good seem like a relief compared to this horribly ill-conceived starter. Then there were some candy like, cloyingly sweet tidbits that actually stuck to the serving plate so we had to pry them off and struggle to get them down. The pig ears were substituted with some sort of chocolate foie gras mousse bonbon, again candy-like in its sweetness. Sardines and lemon bacalao were edible but forgettable. For the more “substantial” courses, all of which came in not small, but microscopic, proportions, the ensalada de quisquillas was harmless but utterly without flavor. Then came a plate of tiny glazed carrots – nothing wrong with them but a few tiny carrots as a course in a 2 star restaurant?! Really? The fish course was a skate in black ink/butter sauce and it was tasty. Fish almost always is in Spain. Portion again was absurdly small – three or four forkfuls at most. The meat course was a slow cooked beef rib. This is a fatty cut that needs a lot of cooking to reduce all the fat, and when properly done should be meltingly tender and actually quite lean. They boasted it had been cooked at low temperature for 36 hours but it was still fatty and a bit tough. Dessert I barely remember, but it was theatrical (again, meal-as-entertainment but essentially without any flavor. I think dry ice or some chemical was used to create smoke or steam, or something that had a visual impact but no flavor. Wine: The only good thing I can say is that the wine list had some quite reasonably priced options (including a decent albarino at 41 euros , this for a restaurant whose starting “Escencia” menu was 95 euros per person. However, the list itself was very confusing and impossible to navigate, offered on an I-pad. After the white bottle we took the sommelier’s recommendation and ordered a single glass of red to go with the meat course; it was a local red from the Madrid region and honestly had zero flavor. We asked for a Rioja to replace it and they did. The service of the wine was otherwise very unprofessional. The albarino white bottle arrived not cold, not room temperature, but actually HOT. I told them to put it in an ice bucket which they did. But then three different uncoordinated servers kept pouring the vin chaud into our glasses. I begged them to stop and let the wine chill properly. The whole episode was incredibly amateurish. Bottom line: avoid this place which has no business claiming to be a gastronomic restaurant. I thought it was a complete waste of time and money.

2 weeks ago, while in Madrid on a business trip, I decided to have lunch. I opted for the vindication menu at 159 euros. First of all, the location is really great. It 's in the Casino of Madrid (nothing to do with gambling) it 's a private club one of the very first in Madrid. The Paco Roncero restaurant is on the top floor and the terrace is stunning, especially during summer. Lunch was pleasant but to be honest, nothing spectacular for a 2* Michelin restaurant. My lunch was the following: Appetizers: Millennial Olive tree Beetroot-Manchego cheese-Pistachio Airily black truffle cake Crispy sardine with romesco of yellow ají Razor clam in “Ajillo” style Pig ́s ear fritter with “brava” sauce Lemon pie cod Squid Patty in its ink Pastrami sandwich, reblochon cheese, and truffle Marmitaco bite Main courses Shrimp salad with pink tomato snow Grilled white asparagus with vanilla, morels, and hazelnuts Grilled sea urchin, pig trotters, pear, and miso Ray fish with black butter Pigeon with fritter of its inside, and foie “Citric” Chocolate, milk, and coffee The plates were beautiful but the food itself was nothing impressive except for the Grilled sea urchin, pig trotters, pear and miso, and the citric dessert. The staff is nice. I also enjoyed the indoors of the restaurant. A nice place, elegant dining room but not a 2* restaurant for me. Don 't get me wrong, the food is very good but I 'm expecting to be surprised if I experience a 2* Michelin.

Very nice place, a quite good experience. If the champagne was not purred in wine glasses, bread was also a choice and the vegetables was seasoned I could’ve called it a 5* experience. Maybe next time..

Magnífico club privado para muchos actos. Estilo romántico. Hay bodas y otros eventos que se pueden celebrar allí, supongo que abierto a todos. Si el chef es el mismo que cuando era hace unos 5 años, fue magnífico. He estado trabajando para el congreso y siempre muy bien. famosa terraza de verano para cenar o algo así.

Es impresionante ya que caminas por la puerta, la escalera de escalada, los techos, salones, la biblioteca, la terraza y la comida es exquisita. todo un lujo en el centro de madrid. una experiencia indispensable