Café Madrid
28 Alpine Lane
Chelmsford, MA
(978) 256-2777
http://cafemadridchelmsford.com
I had gone to Cafe Madrid for breakfast with some friends about a month ago. I had gotten: "A sweet delight of delicious sweet French toast made with Portuguese bread and sprinkled with powdered sugar," and really liked it. I also had ordered a side of home fries, but they were dripping in animal fat so I didn't eat them. The service was run-of-the-mill, nothing to really complain about, nothing to boast about. The experience was good enough to warrant wanting to go back.
So, I decided that I would go there for lunch today as I had some errands to run in the area. I looked up their lunch menu online and found something that looked AMAZING: Paella Vegetal (Asparagus, zucchini, roasted onions, green and red peppers, sliced hard boiled egg and green peas; served on a bed of Spanish saffron yellow rice
$11.99. I was drooling before I even left!
I walked in the door and before I could take a step further, the host shouted from across the room: "How can I help you?" It was awkward, so I walked the 20 feet to where he was to ask for a table for one. He led me to a table in the corner, very isolated from the rest of the patrons who were in the middle of the restaurant. There was a table next to me that was empty, but completely trashed. There were two upside-down high chairs on the floor, and the table top was a disaster. My table was against the back wall of the restaurant, obviously next to where the office is. Inside the office, which had an open window, a young woman was attending to a screaming baby, while sharply yelling at her approximately 5 year old daughter. She also had the back door propped open, the blast of freezing air boldly running through the open window and into my "cozy" corner. The woman and her daughter kept running in and out of the office door, into the dining room, yelling at full hilt the whole time. This was obviously a family member and kids of the people who owned the place as they were quite comfortable ignoring the patrons and running around as though it were their home.
The waiter came to take my order. I ordered the Paelle Vegetal, pronouncing it with correct Spanish. He looked at me and said "WHAT?" So I started to repeat myself. As soon as I got "Paelle" out, he was said: "Which one? The seafood or the sausage?" In order to avoid a misunderstanding, I said "the vegetarian one." Apparently, the guy doesn't know his own menu.
Meanwhile, the restaurant starts to fill up more. The woman with the kids left, and a party of 4 retired ladies came in, followed by an older gentleman who was eating by himself. Within seconds, their tables were set up and I was literally cornered in! There was no way for me to move from my spot. In fact, when the waiter came with my food (40 minutes later) he had to try to move the tables a smidge and couldn't get through! He handed the food to me! The whole time I'm thinking "if this average size waiter can't get through to my table, how the hell does he expect this plus size woman to get OUT?"
So, now on the the food. I don't know if I'm wrong here, but in my opinion, if you are going to bother listing out what's in a meal on the menu, wouldn't you ASK the patron PRIOR to changing the ingredients in their meal? You can read the description of the meal above. It did not come with eggs (which I wanted for the protein), and it came drowned in mushrooms (not on the menu, and I hate them). I picked the mushrooms out, and the rest of the food itself was enjoyable. I ate about half, and took the rest home. I'm dying to see if they scraped the mushrooms I put aside into the take home container!
After I finished eating and paying, I very awkwardly had to try to squeeze my fat ass past the table of retirees. That accomplished, I had no other path but to walk across the middle of the dance floor, making me the center of attention! Great!
To sum up this experience, it was actually a lot like being in Spain! The service was awkward, bordering on rude. There were communication barriers and I ended up with stuff on my plate I didn't want. All they needed to do was throw some pork on the plate and I would have felt like I was really in Madrid!
I will give this place another shot, as my first experience there was OK. But, if it's bad again, I will not return.
My table was the one in the corner. Under the tree with the cheesy lit up "grapes" in the corner. You can see the window with the ornate grate on it on the back wall.
