La Taberna de Peñalver
the Alicante-style seafood paella and rice dishes
Classic Madrid taberna for tapas and rice dishes. Warm, efficient service and a lively room after 9pm. Reserve on weekends; the bar is good for walk‑ins.
In Salamanca, Madrid. Easy to fold into a morning or a longer afternoon; there's usually something else worth a stop within a few minutes' walk.
La Taberna de Peñalver is a well-regarded Madrid taberna and arrocería with a flagship in Barrio Salamanca (C. del Conde de Peñalver, 90) and a second location in Centro; it rates 4.7–4.8 across Tripadvisor and Google (2,000+ reviews). It specializes in Alicante-style rice and paella—seafood paella with prawns and monkfish, squid-ink black rice, and lobster rice—alongside traditional tapas (croquetas, Iberian ham, oxtail), with the Basque-style cheesecake repeatedly singled out by reviewers. The room is lively and casual with a large heated terrace, and it serves continuously (roughly 10:00–01:00). Service is generally praised as friendly though a few guests felt rushed, and reviews consistently rank its paella among the best in the city, corroborating the curator's notes on rice dishes and the after-9pm buzz.