Madrid offers a wide range of dishes to please your taste buds and satisfy your appetite. There are a plethora of dishes from traditional Spanish regional cuisines such as paella, a saffron-flavored rice dish full of varying combinations of vegetables, chicken, seafood, and other meat. A traditional Andalusian specialty is gazpacho, a cold raw vegetable soup. Also try the sopa de ajo, a soup of garlic. Many dishes are made with lamb and veal, but Madrid is also an ideal place for seafood lovers. The shellfish platter at a Galician restaurant is delicious.

Tapas bars offer light cuisine and are often popular in the early evening hours. It is common to move from one bar to another. Since many of the city’s best-known tapas bars are clustered in particular areas, it is easy for visitors to try the small savory dishes at several different bars. Good places to try a tapas crawl are around Plaza Santa Ana and Cardenal Cisneros.

Apart from its traditional cuisine, Madrid has many restaurants serving food from all over the world. German, Italian, Swedish, French, and Chinese restaurants are commonplace, and Madrid's Japanese restaurants are considered some of the best outside of Japan.

Madrid also has a wide range of international fast food hangouts. These places serve food all day and are open late.

Restaurants in Madrid offer a set-price menu at lunchtime, which can be an economical way to eat a great meal. Most restaurants are open for lunch between one and four o’clock. From nine until midnight are regular hours for dinner, with ten being the busiest time.

Vegetarian food might be hard to come by and may have to be ordered from the first course or side salad menu. Most main courses come without vegetables. Some dishes to try are pisto, a vegetable stew, and arroz a la cubana, a delicious combination of rice, fried egg, tomato sauce, and fried banana. Although there may not be many vegetarian options on the menu, always feel free to ask the staff to make a meatless plate for you. They are often very accommodating.

Most Madrid restaurants offer an economical house wine. The most well-known wine-producing regions of Spain include Rioja, Navarra, and Ribera del Duero. Locals often mix red wine with lemonade (vino con gaseosa) to accompany their lunchtime meal. Restaurants also serve beer and water, but fruit juices may be hard to find except at breakfast. Soft drinks, alcoholic mixed drinks, tea, and coffee are also offered.