I´ve been there a few times . The last time was with a friend from the Basque country . He used to be a waiter/barman in Madrid . We had a great time just sitting downstairs drinking wine . When we paid the bill I left a tip ... Ivan picked up the tip and gave it back to me saying that the service was not good enough .. The service was "serious" .. but I´ve had worse service in País Vasco ! Hahahahahaha

Thanks for the blog, MM! I always enjoy reading them.
My favorite place to tapas crawl is to start out at Plaza Mayor and then go straight down Cava Baja, hitting many, many establishments before we hit Plaza San Andres, which you know well!
Let's plan a crawl in July!!!!

great memories on Casa del Abuelo, wow, still there, I just had a friend going there,and thought it was good...recommended it to me Lol!
My hangout in the 70's ::)
Casa Alberto a bit less, and Cerveceria Alemana a lot more...
great blog nice stories,good info.Keep it going!

It seems this particular blog entry has stirred quite a bit of interest! Shortly after its posting I got two emails from people asking if I could do the same with them - and they'd pay for my drinks and tapas! Unfortunately, one of them I had to turn down because I'd be in Barcelona.

Saludos, MadridMan

Hi MadridMan, In your message on 02/23/2010 Tapas Crawl in Madrid, "In the next couple of months smoking in public places will be banned throughout the country." My question is in public places do you mean cafes and restaurants. I know smoking is not permitted in public places, for example, buses and the Metro.
Also will the banned be a law from the Spanish congress or will each city and town have to enact their own law.
Thank you

Jim, they're taking their good-old-time signing the Spain-wide "act" into Spain-wide law but it seems inevitable. I have to wonder, however, if it's taking so long, maybe they'll relent or "modify" the law somehow like they did last time.

Smoking will be banned in ALL INDOOR public places, including all bars and all restaurants, no matter their size. Proprietors cannot choose to allow smoking. Outdoor spaces like terrazas, bullrings, and stadiums will still allow smoking.

Saludos, MadridMan