Restaurant in Madrid, Spain
Cantabrian coast cooking, Castellana address, €€ price.
La Maruca on Paseo de la Castellana is Madrid's most consistent address for traditional Cantabrian seafood at casual prices. With a Michelin Plate, a stable Opinionated About Dining ranking, and a kitchen built around direct-sourced hake and anchovies, it delivers clear value at €€. Book for weekday lunch; the Cañadío cheesecake — unchanged since 1981 — is the one non-negotiable order.
If you have already eaten at La Maruca once, you already know the answer: yes, come back. What stays consistent is the sourcing discipline — hake landed directly from the fish auction, Cantabrian anchovies from the same supply chain that has defined this kitchen since its older sibling opened on Calle Velázquez. What shifts slightly on a return visit is your ability to work the menu more deliberately, skipping the exploratory detours and heading straight for the dishes that justify the trip up to Chamartín. At the €€ price point, this is one of the most ingredient-honest kitchens in Madrid.
La Maruca on Paseo de la Castellana is the second location in the group, and it reads as the more spacious, more contemporary version of the concept. The room is dressed in white tones that read clean rather than clinical, and the two terrace spaces — a smaller one at the entrance and a larger garden-style terrace inside , give the dining room a different character depending on where you sit. The visual identity here is deliberate: bright, unhurried, with the occasional designer detail that signals care without tipping into formality. This is a room designed for a long lunch rather than a power dinner, and it works leading when treated that way.
The kitchen's entire proposition rests on a single commitment: bring the flavours of the Cantabrian coast to the Spanish capital without diluting them through technique or trend. That means the sourcing chain matters more here than the cooking method. Cantabrian anchovies, fried squid in the Santander style, hake bought direct from the auction , these are not marketing claims, they are the structural logic of the à la carte. Chef Paco Quirós runs a menu that is described explicitly as 100% traditional, with Cantabrian dishes as the dominant register and high-quality ingredients as the non-negotiable starting point.
For the food explorer visiting Madrid, this framing matters. You are not booking La Maruca for creative reinterpretation of northern Spanish cuisine , venues like DiverXO or Coque occupy that lane, at a significantly higher price. You are booking it because the sourcing standard at €€ pricing is genuinely difficult to replicate, and because the cheesecake recipe , the Cañadío cheesecake, unchanged since 1981 , is the kind of institutional detail that tells you this kitchen does not fix what is not broken. That is either a recommendation or a warning depending on how you feel about consistency, but for anyone interested in the depth of Cantabrian cooking tradition, it reads as a credential.
The awards record here is consistent rather than flashy. A Michelin Plate in 2025 confirms a standard of cooking worth noting without placing La Maruca in the fine-dining conversation. More useful as a signal is the Opinionated About Dining ranking: placed at #176 in Casual Europe for 2025, #172 in 2024, and Highly Recommended in 2023. The trajectory is stable, which at this price tier means the kitchen is not coasting , it is maintaining a standard that a competitive ranking system keeps testing. For a food traveller building a Madrid itinerary, this puts La Maruca in a clear position: a dependable, well-regarded casual restaurant with a specific regional identity, not a destination meal, but a strong day-of choice when you want honest seafood without the tasting-menu commitment.
Google reviews sit at 4.1 across 3,298 ratings, which at that volume is a meaningful signal of broad satisfaction rather than a niche following. The high review count also suggests this is not a difficult booking , the room is large enough, and the hours generous enough (open from 8am on weekdays, with Saturday service running until 1am), that walk-ins are more viable here than at smaller Madrid restaurants with similar recognition.
The address on Paseo de la Castellana puts La Maruca in the northern business district, away from the tourist-heavy centre around Botín Restaurante and the old city. That location works in your favour for lunch if you are staying in the north of Madrid or have meetings in the Azca financial area nearby. For dinner, it is a deliberate journey from the centre, which means the clientele skews local and the atmosphere reads accordingly , less self-conscious than some of the more central dining rooms, more focused on the food. If you want the older, more compact sibling experience closer to the centre, note that the Calle Velázquez location is the original. This Castellana outpost is the one to choose if terrace seating and a more open room matter to you.
For broader context on eating in Madrid, including how La Maruca sits within the city's casual dining options, see our full Madrid restaurants guide. If you are planning a longer stay, our full Madrid hotels guide, our full Madrid bars guide, and our full Madrid experiences guide cover the rest of your trip. For Spanish fine dining at a higher commitment level, Arzak in San Sebastián, Azurmendi in Larrabetzu, and Martin Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria are the benchmarks worth travelling for. Closer to home in Madrid's casual Spanish scene, Cuenllas, Casa Revuelta, and Desencaja are worth comparing depending on your priorities. For something further afield in the Spanish seafood tradition, Aponiente in El Puerto de Santa María is the serious destination version of the same coastal-sourcing philosophy. And if you are curious about how Spanish cuisine travels internationally, ZURRIOLA in Tokyo and Arco by Paco Pérez in Gdańsk offer interesting reference points, as does Cocina Hermanos Torres in Barcelona and El Celler de Can Roca in Girona. For northern Spanish cooking closer to the source, El Fogón de Trifón is another Madrid option worth considering. Wine-focused travellers should also check our full Madrid wineries guide.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| La Maruca | €€ | — |
| DiverXO | €€€€ | — |
| Coque | €€€€ | — |
| Deessa | €€€€ | — |
| Paco Roncero | €€€€ | — |
| Smoked Room | €€€€ | — |
What to weigh when choosing between La Maruca and alternatives.
The venue on Paseo de la Castellana is described as spacious, with two terraces and contemporary dining spaces, which suggests it handles larger tables better than a compact tapas bar. For groups, the internal garden-style terrace is the logical choice. Call ahead to confirm availability, as no online booking details are documented.
Lunch works well for the Chamartín business crowd, and the kitchen opens at 8am Monday through Friday, so the timing is flexible. Dinner runs until midnight on weekdays and 1am on Saturdays, making it a practical option after late meetings. Neither session has a structural advantage — the à la carte menu is the same format throughout.
At €€, yes — the value case is clear. The kitchen sources hake direct from the fish auction and uses Cantabrian anchovies, so the ingredient quality punches above the price point. A Michelin Plate in 2025 and a top-200 Opinionated About Dining ranking confirm the cooking is consistent enough to justify a repeat visit.
For a higher-budget Cantabrian or Spanish seafood experience, Coque offers more technical ambition at a significantly higher price. If you want to stay in the €€ casual bracket but prefer a central location, the original La Maruca on Calle Velázquez is the closest like-for-like alternative. DiverXO or Smoked Room only make sense if you are shifting format entirely to avant-garde tasting menus.
The menu is built around Cantabrian seafood — anchovies, fried squid, hake — so it is a poor fit for guests avoiding fish or shellfish. Vegetarian options are not documented in the available record. If dietary restrictions are a concern, confirm directly with the restaurant before booking.
The setting is described as lively and informal, with a multi-purpose bar and casual dining spaces. The Castellana address draws a business crowd, so neat casual fits the room without needing to dress up. There is no documented dress code.
La Maruca operates an à la carte format — no tasting menu is documented for this venue. If you want a structured multi-course format in Madrid, Smoked Room or Deessa are the relevant options at a higher price point. At La Maruca, ordering from the à la carte is how the kitchen is meant to be experienced.
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