These Madrid restaurants seem to be mentioned in one or two guidebooks: has anyone been there? If so, any advice/recommendations? Thank you

I know Champagneria Gala: fideua, paella and Cava. Beautiful, but you need a reservation on the weekends and you must arrive at a certain time. Finca Susana rings a far ago bell. and I haven´t heard of the other two.

Andrés

About La Champagnería Gala the food is pretty good and so are their prices. However, the service is really bad (at least the last time I was there waiters were very rude and were discussing among them all the time).

About La Sanabresa... well, what could I say? This was the "secret" place I took people on the last Madridman gathering in Madrid. Everybody loved it. They have great food and cheap prices. By the way, it's better if you are a group of people because you can order many different raciones. All of them are great. Berenjenas rebozadas is their speciality.

About La Finca de Susana, it's a quite good and inexpensive restaurant. However, don't go there if you are used to eating a lot. They don't put much on the plates. I guess that's why they are cheap.

As for the Anonimatto, I've never heard of it.

Thank you Andres and Antonio for the advice. I'll update when I've visited in June. In case anyone is visiting before then, Anonimatto is at Pasaje Alvarez Gato 4, just off Plaza Santa Ana, nearest Metro Sol, and is recommended in the'inexpensive' category of the Rough Guide. Views welcome. Bon appetit!

We went to La Sanabresa for lunch. It is on Amor del Dios, which intersects Huertas(north side). It was great!

They had 4 different menu price sets, from 6.xx euros to 14.xx euros, each with perhaps a dozen choices of first and second plate. We three each picked from the 7.xx euro menu. For first course we got wonderful eggplant fritters, excellent red bell pepper with garlic, and good mushrooms with garlic. Second courses, 2 pretty good chicken choices and tripe which was fun to try but not a long-term favorite of mine. Dessert had several choices. We got two profiteroles where only the scrape marks of chocolate were left despite protestations of being full, and a great flan. Also had a big pitcher of tap water that the waiter refilled. All that and a charming waiter that smiled happily at our every choice. I wish we could have gone over and over but some people only wanted pastries for late breakfast and tapas at night and so on.

Other info: lunch didn't start till 1:00 and place was full at 2:00. Menu translated into English, but it looked like all Spaniards to me, eating at their local place to their office. Very enjoyable atmosphere.

AnnK wrote: Say AnaK, how did you find or decide upon La Sanabresa??? I too went there for last April but for dinner and it was totally FULL when we arrived AND when we left and it was totally affordable! It seems to be very popular with the locals too. Now THAT'S the mark of a good restaurant.

Elag2, I also had lunch at La Finca de Susana last April and wow, it too was good and is QUITE popular. The place was FULL! I went early in order to get a table. NICE place, too. Thumbs UP!

Saludos, MadridMan

I picked La Sanabresa from postings in www.chowhound.com, and because it was near our place. This board is dedicated to food posts--mostly USA, but it does have a few Spain posts. There is some overlap with MadridMan suggestions, such as the "Museo del Pan Gallego". Well worth the look!