Trattoria Pinocchio

Man, Unilocal is hating on the little wooden boy. But Trattoria Pinocchio deserves 4 stars. Here’s why.
1. Location. You can sit in the plaza looking at the Reina Sofia museum. Sure, you can do that at several restaurants and usually places that overlook tourist attractions are garbage, but Pinocchio is the exception to that rule. Enjoy the terraza (outdoor space). You pay a slight premium for it, but it’s really nice.
2. The Service. Our waiter was hopelessly outgunned by a full terraza of tourists, but he hustled like mad. We rarely sat with empty plates more than a moment before he ran back out with the next course. Service in Europe is usually garbage, but this guy was hustling. At one point, a drink cart outside rolled off its perch and tons of liquor bottles shattered on the floor. Who cleaned it up? Our waiter (even though it wasn’t his fault and even though he was still trying to serve roughly 15 tables outside). This man might have provided our best service in 10 days across Spain.
3. The Value. If you order one of their special menus, you get a RIDICULOUS amount of food for your euro. It is not world-​class gourmet cuisine, but it’s pretty darn good. For about 15 €, we got delicious bagel-​like bread and potato chips to start, a patatitas (baked potato with bacon and aioli), tasty pesto fettuccini, excellent cheesecake, a bottle of water (never free in Europe) and a glass of wine. For FIFTEEN EURO. Insane.
If you order off the regular menu, the value does drop off, so take that into consideration. The special menus give you a ton of flexibility. Yes, you will eat better food elsewhere, but there are three awesome reasons to chow down at Trattoria Pinocchio before or after your visit to the masterpieces of Reina Sofia.

Nothing special. Minus a star for slightly under cooked pasta and a dirty wine glass.

GOOD FOOD AT THE PLAZA: We walked up to the plaza and noticed this busy restaurant. We enjoyed a sangria of wine and citrus fruit, one of the better sangrias. The service was very good until the clean up. We waited about 20 minutes after our meal to ask for the check and table clean up.
We had several pizzas which were on a very thin crust which still held the toppings without getting to soft. They offer many fixed toppings or a custom of 3. The topping were adequate for the personal size pizza with some gourmet toppings. The cheese was not greasy or runny.
I’m glad we stopped by and did enjoy the pizzas with options like porcini mushroom, cherry tomatoes and gorgonzola cheese. The view of the plaza is great for people-​watching and you are across from the Reina Sofia museum.

I am suspect of any café that closely resides next to a major tourist attraction. Perhaps it was the great time I was having at the Reina Sofia and the appetite that came with it, but I thought this café was quite good.
I could have enjoyed the temperate Madrid air all day with a full belly, staring at the museum. I wonder if they paid that really annoying busker to butcher Beatles tunes so we would leave.

Lo bueno del restaurante es la presencia de los platos, por que la calidad es muy mediocre, teniendo en cuenta la CLA-​VA-​DA que te meten. Lo que me llevó al restaurante fue la zona, me encantan todos estos sitios que hay alrededor de la plaza donde está situado el Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, aunque la experiencia me dice que se aprovechan un poco de su ubicación. No te lo recomiendo, estafa.

Pincchio es un restaurante italiano que está inmejorablemente situado enfrente del Reina Sofía.
El mejor sitio del restaurante es el que queda al lado de una ventana que da al museo, así, mientras comes, puede ver el ambiente de la zona.
La comida no es nada del otro mundo, pedimos unos raviolis y una pizza. Los raviolis eran como los de Buitoni y sus salsas frescas. En cuanto a la pizza, estaba buena, pero nada que justifique la factura final.
Y es que es un sitio bastante caro, por los dos platos y un entrante nos clavaron casi 40 euros. Eso sí, los camareros son muy atentos y simpáticos.