whew, I am out of breadth. That was a lot of restaurantes to visit. Since I am the new guy, and I don't live in Madrid, I'll follow you anywhere. I just have to know where. hahaha

Ok, I'll check back later. by the way, how will I know, any of you? As for me, I'm big and tall with broad shoulders.....no; I am short and have greasy.....no; Hello, I am Nick....Nice to meet everyone and hope to do so in person manana.

later.....

Let's trust Torrales's suggestion of La Puebla @ Calle Ventura de la Vega, 12 (click map link at left) and meet there at 2pm. Sound good?

It's supposed to be pretty good weather so we'll wait around near the door for a few minutes until some others arrive and then we'll go in, looking at the door for more. If you come in late, just come in looking for the table full of United Statesens. hehehe... Shouldn't be too hard to spot. I'll try to be early (1:50pm?).

We'll be certain to give you our review afterwards.

Saludos, MadridMan


Do I still look like that? This photo's like 3 years old!

Ok fellows. I'm in.

MM. I clicked on the map and it lead me nowhere. wait I'll try again. Yup, second try and I see the map. disregard last transmission.

manana

Nick

Heheehe... Gooood. Glad to hear it. Looking forward to seeing/meeting you, Nick/rocketshipjack.

Saludos, MadridMan

See you all there!

I hope you all enjoy your lunch. I feel sorry for not being able to be there, but I work for an American company and, you know, it's 9 to 5 (actually, 6).

I have eaten several times at that restaurant, mostly dinners to be true, and I like it very much. It's homemade-style food, not pretentious, economic, and friendly.

Que aproveche!

I will be there with bells on and purple pumps.

Looking forward to meeting all of you,

Shawn

PLEASE!!!!!!!!!! On behalf of all of us that can only live vicariously through your stomachs - give us every detail of every morsel of food that was on your plate, every sip of wine, the sounds and smells of the restaurant......I BEG YOU!

I have been waiting all week for this lunch from Naples, Florida and I am starving for details.

Dear sparkalina, et.al.:
I can't speak for the quality of food of the others but mine was just fine. And Torrales above was correct, this place ("Restaurante La Puebla") IS very much like the place and quality of food and price as La Sanabresa. In fact, I think the restaurant itself, La Puebla, is even nicer and prices maybe just a little more expensive. (10%?)

I had a Menú del Día #1 (9.20 Euros) and I chose the Sopa Castellana (bread and egg soup) as my first course - it was good but the egg white wasn't quite cooked. My second course was the albondigas (meatballs). Theses were very good too and the sauce was tasty. I had this with a glass of white wine - AND *I* was the ONLY of our group of 5 persons who drank alcohol. Everyone else just had water.

We had the 2:00pm meeting time at the door. I walked by the restaurant door at about 1:47pm and kept walking, seeing a man couched down next to the door and reading a book. Hmmmm... But being so EARLY, I thought I'd have a quick drink at a nearby bar when..... I heard someone calling my name. It was SRedw so we shook hands and headed back to the door to find the crouching man to be member rocketshipjack. We stood around the door and chatted when Mongo and his brother (brother, right?) arrived. We were 5 United Statesens all stereotypically EARLY for our 2pm meeting time for lunch.

We had our choice of nearly all empty tables and they put two tables together to make us more comfortable. Nice. We had good conversations about our lives in Madrid, near Madrid, and traveling TO Madrid and around Spain. I always meet such interesting people and always feel fortunate when talking to them. People who travel - or LIVE abroad - always have more colorful lives and desires.

By the time we were finishing our desserts (I had the sliced strawberries and cream) the place was absolutely FULL!! I MEAN FULL! It was so full that the waiter ACTUALLY asked us if we were finished because there were people waiting for a table. WHAT?! Can you imagine that?? I thought that only happened in the USA but........ ? Of course we could've stayed there not eating and only talking until dinnertime but still... come on. I commented upon walking in to our table that our waiter would probably have his worst day serving 5 United Statesens at the same time. hehehe...

Member rocketshipjack (what a great username) took a photo of us all so I'll post that here in this thread when I get it.

If anyone else has comments about your meal, the place, the service, and/or the company feel free to tell-all.

GREAT meeting you all OR seeing you again!!

Saludos, MadridMan

Ahhhhh....I fell better already!

Thank you so much!