As we were walking around Madrid, we noticed that there were quite a few Argentinian steakhouse restaurants in the area near where we were staying in the literary quarter.  We figured this would be a nice change of pace from all of the tapas we were eating, and who could resist the aroma of juicy steaks emanating from these restaurants?  As we walked by several of these places, their grills were right in the window, inviting us to come and eat all of their meat; and eat their meat, we did! We dined at La Cabana Argentina on June 13, 2022.

I loved the look and vibe of this restaurant.  It was very modern and sleek inside with cool light fixtures and mirrors along the walls, which was different the very very old area in which the restaurant is located.  There were also lots of hanging and potted plants everywhere, giving the minimalist decor a bit of life and color.  It was a nice contrast.  

The food at La Cabana Argentina was very very good.  They provide bread service which is accompanied with a very herby butter and very herby olive oil as well as a dish of olives.  We started with appetizers of empanadas and sausage.  The empanadas were filled with extremely flavorful beef, and we gobbled them up in record time. The sausages are from Argentina, and they were a huge highlight of the meal.  They were expertly grilled and had a nice, crispy casing which broke with the “snap” that you expect from really well made charcuterie.  The flavor was incredible, and even though I did not want to eat much since we had ordered a lot of food, I couldn’t help myself, they were just so delicious!  

For the mains, we all ordered steaks for the most part.  They were all cooked to our specifications, and I think my ribeye was the best of the three (we also got the flap steak and skirt steak).  For the record, I always think ribeye is the best, though, because it absolutely is the best cut of beef you can get.  We got sides of fresh vegetables and french fries.  The veggies were julienned and had an asian style sauce which was surprising and tasty, and the fries were done a french style with garlic and parsley – all excellent.  

We really enjoyed our experience at this restaurant, with one glaring exception – the service.  I feel as though most of the places we went to on this trip started off really strong with service, and then really fell off at the end.  In this case, at the start of our meal, the servers were attentive and made sure we had everything we needed.  Service was prompt, but not too rushed.  However, about halfway through, as though we were eating in the middle of a shift change that no one told us about, the people who had started assisting our table were nowhere to be found, and so we had to flag down others for things that we needed.  We had ordered a second bottle of wine about halfway through our meal, however it did not come for over 25 minutes, at which point we were almost done with our steaks and we no longer wanted the bottle.  (This wine issue actually happened to us twice on our trip at two different places in two different cities!).  This really colored the whole experience for me in a negative way.  Perhaps we really were eating amidst a shift change, since we generally were eating much earlier than the typical Madrileno. Apart from this snafu, and assuming that this is not the norm here, I would overall recommend this restaurant if you are looking for some delicious steak in a cool atmosphere while you are in Madrid.