Best Tapas in Madrid

This monthly ranking of the best tapas in Madrid tracks what the city's own diners are voting for right now, not a fixed list someone wrote once and left to go stale. Madrid didn't invent tapas, but it perfected the bar crawl around them. Every vote below comes from someone who checked in at the bar and voted for what they ate, so the order shifts as the month goes on.

What tapas is Madrid known for?

Madrileños will tell you patatas bravas belong to them, and the debate over whose bravas sauce is the "real" one still runs hot between here and Barcelona. Alongside bravas, expect croquetas de jamón at nearly every bar, torreznos de Soria (fried pork belly, crackling skin, a Calle Ponzano staple), gambas al ajillo sizzling in their own oil, and oreja a la plancha for anyone willing to try it. Sunday afternoon in La Latina still runs on vermút and a small plate, a ritual that predates the current tapas boom by decades.

Where can I try the best tapas in Madrid?

La Latina is the classic answer: Cava Baja and Cava San Miguel are lined with bars built for hopping between three or four in an afternoon. Malasaña and Chueca cover the younger, louder end of the scene. Calle Ponzano in Chamberí is where Madrid's newer wave of tapas bars has concentrated over the past decade, less than a mile of street with dozens of options. Mercado de San Miguel is the easiest single stop for a first-timer, though it runs pricier than a neighborhood bar.

What's the local tapas custom in Madrid?

Dinner runs late here; most kitchens don't fill up until 9 or 10pm, so tapeo happens in the gap between work and that late dinner, roughly 7 to 9. A handful of old-school bars still send out a small free tapa with your first caña, but it's the exception in Madrid now, not the rule; it is further south. The honest local move is to order una caña y algo, name a tapa, and split the bill only at the very end, after you've moved through two or three bars, not one.

How are the rankings calculated?

Every vote on The Best Tapa comes from someone in the same city as the tapa, not from a bot or an account on the other side of the world. We know this makes things a little more complicated, since you can’t vote from another country or city, even if you’ve tried the tapa. But this helps us keep the rankings and votes as legitimate as possible. We prefer a ranking people can trust, and this is the best way we've found to achieve that.

There are several rankings and ways to find tapas:

• Monthly ranking: We only count votes from the current calendar month, and the list resets on the 1st of each month. This monthly ranking reflects what's happening right now, not a definitive verdict on Madrid's food scene.
• Historical ranking: Each tapa's full history remains available in the Historical section or on its own page.
• New tapas: tapas added in the last few hours and days.
• Venues: Ranking of the venues with the most tapas added in the city. It's a good starting point.
• Search: Type in a tapa, a bar, or a city, and you'll get results. If there aren't any yet, be the first to add them. More cities

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