Vinitus restaurant was our first lunch stop in Madrid on June 12, 2022.  After spending the morning walking around the Palacio Real, we walked over to the Gran Via to check out the cool architecture along the busy avenue.  Towards the southern end is a restaurant called Vinitus. This is a tapas place on the Gran Via, and I really try to avoid touristy places, but this restaurant was filled with locals as well as tourists, and the tapas were varied and delicious. In fact, including the specials, this restaurant had the most extensive tapas list of any restaurant we went to in Spain. The decor is ultra modern and very colorful, with bright blue and red seats and black tables.  There are wine bottles everywhere decorating the place.  

We sat down extremely hot and tired from the 95+ degree heat, and the server came to us immediately asking us what we would like to drink and we got four ice cold water bottles.  I also ordered the house white wine which was a verdejo from the Rueda region in Spain.  My wine was excellent, with notes of tropical fruit, and was only 2.85 Euro per glass.  My husband had a couple different beers, and the kids had Sprite and Nestea, which were served in glasses with ice and lemon.  So much ice and cold beverages is just not a thing in Europe that this was really a nice change of pace.  Perhaps it is more prolific in Madrid since its so hot there.  

We ordered a bunch of tapas, including the lobster rice, mixed fried seafood, jamon iberico, razor clams and shrimp skewers.   Everything was fresh and delicious, and considering you are on the Gran Via, not that overpriced either.  

Our server was super attentive and spoke English well, despite my attempts to try to speak in Spanish as much as possible.  She provided some of the best service we received at a restaurant in Spain during our entire trip. The server also recommended the most incredible dessert.  It was called “Torrija Quemada de Santa Teresa.” It was essentially bread pudding in a popover shape filled with Crema Catalan (which is the mother of creme brûlée) and then topped with more Crema Catalan which was brûléed, so it had the crunchy top.  It was insanely delicious, and I am pretty sure I ate most of it.  The kids both got orders of churros con chocolate.  They were fine, not the super freshest churros but the kids ate them all up.  

Our bill was 115.00 Euros for all of this (for four people), which, on the Gran Via is pretty reasonable and a really good value for what you were getting, especially considering the excellent service.  We got some of the more expensive seafood tapas, which brought up the bill more that it would if you got more of the basics, and the two glasses of wine and two bottles of beer ended up to be less than 15 Euro total.  I would highly recommend this restaurant if you are out on the Gran Via looking for a delicious spot that is not super touristy and not super expensive.  A great find!