Ministry of Foodies Review
Cuisine: Italian
Average price per person: 50€
Environment: 9.5/10
Food: 6/10
Service: 6.5/10
Other: Vegetarian options, gluten free options
Website:https://www.circolopopolare.com/restaurants/circolopopolare-madrid
The first time I contemplated visiting Circolo Popolare was during one of my visits to London a couple of years ago. Due to its ambiance and visits from several social media influencers, it’s a very popular place in London. Afraid the food will not be up to par with the fancy environment, I opted not to visit at the time. However, in 2024, Circolo Popolare Madrid opened its doors and it renewed my interest to visit.
I went for dinner with a few friends on a Monday evening.
Location/Environment
One of Circolo Popolare Madrid strongest areas is its impressive environment. The restaurant has two floors and the large bar shelves with various spirits dominate your view when you go to the upper floor. There are also modern sitting spaces and wall decorations. Due to the way the tables are set up you might end up sitting quite close to other customers.
Other details such as some of the funky glasses used for cocktails are small details that help create this environment.
Circolo Popolare Madrid – Menu
The restaurant offers Italian cuisine, including hand-made pasta, pizza and meat or fish main courses.
All the wine and a lot of the products used in the kitchen come directly from Italy.
Service
The service was mediocre. In general, apart from the hostess at the entrance, almost everyone else seemed kind of moody. That kind of negative vibe was visible when some of the pasta was prepared table-side with one of the waiters practically groaning while serving our carbonara.
There was a considerable gap between the time that it took for us to get seated until someone came to get our order, even just for drinks. Nevertheless, the food was served relatively timely without any extreme delays. I should also note that it was a Monday evening and we arrived quite early so the restaurant was not full when we were ordering.
Circolo Popolare – Food
As an appetizer, we started with the croquetas with truffle bechamel and jamon (Croquestar). The flavor was good but the outside part was a bit dry, while the inside was runny.
The steak tartare was my favorite dish. Nice spicy flavor from the mustard with texture and acidity from the pickles and capers.
We also got the pizza with pumpkin and gorgonzola. I am not a fan of pumpkin or gorgonzola so this would not have been my favorite anyway. Still, nothing exceptional and to me it was a little dry and without any distinct pumpkin flavor.
For our mains we wanted to try the carbonara. At Circolo Popolare they serve the carbonara from a pecorino cheese wheel at your table (from the groaning waiter). While the pasta was tasty, the sauce was really cheesy and you could not taste any of the egg. The guanciale was cut in uneven pieces so some of it was really dry and crunchy and other bits still very fatty. Looked much better than it tasted.
Also we got the lasagna bolognese. The tomato sauce was canned(which I can understand considering the season), but it was overly sugary, particularly the top layer. The meat is advertised as ragu alla bolognese, but I didn’t get any depth in flavor and it tasted like a minced meat sauce you would make at home in half an hour. This was not a bad dish but I had higher expectations.
Finally for dessert we tried the tiramisu with pistachio and mascarpone cream. This was a nice twist to the classic recipe. I liked both the pistachio pieces and the thick layer of creamy mascarpone on top.
Circolo Popolare Madrid – Conclusion
The dinner at Circolo Popolare Madrid confirmed my original thoughts when I first contemplated going to their London restaurant. This is a great place to take nice photos and show off at social media. However, in terms of food, there are numerous other Italian restaurants in Madrid with much better quality cuisine and better service.
Visit: March 2025