Reina Sofia Restaurant: all you need to know to enjoy it

With all the activities and things to do in Madrid, it’s only natural that we’d want to recharge our batteries. After touring the many galleries of the Reina Sofía Museum, you might start to feel hungry, so you’ll be happy to know that sharing the building with masterpieces by artists like Miró and Picasso are two outstanding restaurants: Arzábal and NuBel.

Both restaurants boast a prime location, offering a modern, artistic, and pleasant atmosphere. As for the food, get ready to enjoy flavors as unique as the paintings you’ve seen. Both Arzábal and NuBel are known for their market-fresh cuisine. Of course, eating this well isn’t usually cheap, but I can’t help but recommend them!

By the time you finish your visit to the Reina Sofía Museum, you’re sure to be hungry; all that walking and looking at paintings would tire anyone out. To save time searching for a restaurant and keep enjoying the art, the best option is to stay and eat at one of the museum’s restaurants: Arzábal or NuBel. Both offer plenty of choices, though the menu at the former is somewhat more traditional than that of the latter.

You’ll see that you won’t be short on options, because the Reina Sofía has two restaurants, and each one offers a varied and delicious menu.

While Arzábal is seemingly more traditional, innovation reigns at NuBel, from the way the tables are arranged to the dishes they serve.

What to eat at Arzábal

The Arzábal restaurant describes itself as dynamic, perhaps because its menu features traditional dishes but always with a twist. So, expect to find some great croquettes served with sheep’s milk, one of their signature dishes. But if there’s one thing you have to try, it’s their cheeses; they have a cart dedicated solely to their selection of over 20 cheeses. The burrata is spectacular! If you’re more of a meat lover, you’ll be happy to know that the meat at Arzábal is of the highest quality, especially the sirloin.

Who’s in charge of the kitchen? Two great chefs: Álvaro Castellanos and Iván Morales, who have been at the helm of this culinary project for years—one that includes other restaurants scattered throughout Madrid. Their goal for this establishment was to bring a traditional tavern with a modernized menu to the city’s most important cultural and contemporary art hub.

At this restaurant, they know that any meal should be paired with a good drink, which is why their waitstaff are always ready to recommend a wine from their specialized wine list. Prefer beer? Once you try the one they have there, you will. To finish, order their gin—after all, it’s a digestif, isn’t it?

What to eat at NuBel

After admiring the best paintings at the Reina Sofía, do you feel like eating something equally exclusive and artistic? Then you have to try NuBel. A café-restaurant that completes the museum experience through cutting-edge cuisine. A must-try dish? It’s hard to choose, but their “raw” section, where raw foods take center stage, is one of the best.

The great thing about NuBel is that, no matter what time you go, you’ll find a delicious menu crafted by Michelin-starred chef Manuel Berganza. While it’s common to go for lunch after your visit, you can also enjoy their breakfast or brunch menu (their cakes, especially the cheesecake, are incredible).

Although the menu might seem a bit too modern, the whole family enjoys it, so if you’re visiting Madrid with kids, I encourage you to stay for a meal at NuBel and order some tapas or dishes to share.

Quality comes at a price, and when you add in the prime location of both the Arzábal restaurant and NuBel, you can’t help but expect a high price tag.

Dining at the Reina Sofía Museum is just that, so be prepared to pay around €20 for each main course. In total, a meal for two can cost around €50–€70 (desserts included), to which you’d have to add wine (about €30 more per bottle). Note: don’t assume you’ll get a discount for having purchased a museum ticket, as there is no such agreement.

Although it may seem so, Arzábal and NuBel don’t have high prices simply because of their location, but rather due to the quality and originality of their recipes. Even the simplest or most traditional dishes have been crafted by top chefs, and only the finest ingredients from the market make their way into their kitchens.

You won’t have to worry about opening hours, as the Reina Sofía’s restaurants, Arzábal and NuBel, are open almost all day. That said, you’ll need to check in advance, as hours tend to vary throughout the week.

Generally, El Arzábal is open from 10 AM to 1 AM, and NuBel from 9 AM to midnight. As you can see, they’re always open during the museum’s hours, but they stay open later so that late-arriving visitors can still grab lunch or dinner.

Arzábal Restaurant Hours

Arzábal is open every day starting at 10 a.m. Closing times do vary from day to day, so be sure to check their schedule on the website. Generally, it closes at 1 a.m. Monday through Thursday, at 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, and at 8 p.m. on Sundays. They don’t have a weekly day off, so you’ll always have the option to eat there, even when the museum isn’t open.

NuBel Restaurant Hours

NuBel does close two days a week, so don’t plan on trying their food on a Monday or Tuesday, as you can see on their website. However, the rest of the week it has fairly extended hours, always opening at 9 a.m. and closing at midnight (Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays) and at 2:30 a.m. (Fridays and Saturdays), so you can enjoy its cocktails any night while a DJ spins some tunes.

Note that although the bar is open continuously, NuBel’s various menus may only be available at specific times of the day. For example, the Afternoon Tea menu is only served from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM, while the Tapas menu is available from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

As you’d expect from the Reina Sofía Museum, the NuBel and Arzábal restaurants boast a dynamic, modern, and somewhat artistic atmosphere. Innovation isn’t just evident in their dishes but also in the spaces themselves, which serve as an extension of the museum and are open and thoughtfully decorated.

Plus, everyone who visits agrees that the waitstaff are friendly and always recommend the best items on the menu, which can sometimes be a bit confusing if you’re not familiar with certain culinary terms.

Both spaces are family-friendly, though NuBel is especially so, as it features unique, colorful furnishings—something the little ones always love. For example, instead of traditional chairs, there are sofas or armchairs. This doesn’t make the space feel chaotic, as it’s spacious and allows for strollers to move around.

Arzábal, on the other hand, while having an innovative vibe, is still a classic tavern. The interior spaces can accommodate many diners at once, but you’ll see that the terrace is spectacular.

The best part is that it’s partially covered, so you can enjoy it even on rainy and cold days. Overall, there’s a cozy atmosphere that invites you to chat over a glass of wine and a delicious dish at the table.

Great chefs know that the dining experience doesn’t begin on the plate, but in the venue itself. As you can imagine, given that El Arzábal and NuBel are located in a contemporary art museum like the Reina Sofía, it’s to be expected that their decor is meticulously designed—yet each has a style very different from the other’s.

Arzábal features a style that blends the traditional and the innovative within the same space, just as it does in its dishes. Inside, it is a warm restaurant with classic aesthetic elements (such as the wooden bar) but in perhaps more elegant colors (black predominates). Furthermore, to highlight its extensive wine list, the bottles are part of the decor and are displayed in glass cases, as if they were paintings.

NuBel, on the other hand, is much more colorful, with an orange hue dominating thanks to the lamps that illuminate every corner and every table. Furthermore, since it is located beneath the red dome of the Nouvel building (constructed as an extension of the museum), its interior is bright and has a very modern feel.

If you want to secure a table at one of the Reina Sofía’s two restaurants, my advice is to make a reservation. Especially during peak times (lunch and dinner), they can get quite crowded, even though both have plenty of indoor and outdoor seating.

I know it’s hard to predict exactly when you’ll finish your museum tour, so the staff at both Arzábal and NuBel usually take this into account and hold your table for about half an hour.

You can easily make a reservation through their websites, both Arzábal’s and NuBel’s, which is very convenient for checking table availability as you near the end of your museum visit. If you can’t make a reservation, I still recommend stopping by to see if there’s a free table or a spot at the bar.

One of the best things about dining at the Reina Sofía Museum is that you have even more time to admire its art. What do I mean? Well, this museum displays some of its works in its courtyard, so from the large windows and terraces of Arzábal—and especially NuBel—you’ll have a privileged view of them.

The NuBel terrace is located in the courtyard of the Nouvel building. If you sit at one of the restaurant’s outdoor tables, you’ll share your meal with Roy Lichtenstein’s “La Pincelada” (Brushstroke), a monumental sculpture that has been there since 2004.

Although the view from Arzábal may not be quite as artistic, the scenery impresses everyone, especially diners lucky enough to sit in its garden. This space is reminiscent of the Alhambra or a greenhouse, filled with plants and exuding a distinctly Mediterranean atmosphere.

It’s not all about eating, especially when there are such spacious areas to celebrate in. That’s why the Reina Sofía’s restaurants make the most of their opening hours to host events, concerts, or DJ sets. Which ones will you check out?

NuBel, which closes at 2:30 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, extends its dinner hours by inviting local DJs and other musical groups to liven up the night. It also offers a varied cocktail menu to combine the best of food and music. You can check out all the events they’re organizing on their website.

El Arzábal isn’t far behind and also often features DJs to set the mood for dinner. That’s when you’ll find the most young people enjoying a few drinks.

Perhaps one of the elements I would highlight about both of the Museum’s restaurants is that they are rooted in Spanish cuisine.

Modernity or concepts like “fusion” don’t eliminate tradition, allowing you to savor classic dishes with a contemporary twist. In addition to the chefs’ creations, something that caught my attention is the personality of each venue and what makes them so distinct, even though they’re practically in the same space.

El Arzábal, for example, is more cozy, and its big selling point is the semi-covered terrace. On the other hand, NuBel’s avant-garde style gives it a major advantage: its versatility. You can go there for breakfast before your visit to the Reina Sofía Museum or for lunch when you’re done. If you run late, you have an excuse to stay for their cocktail and music evenings.

As with everything, some reviews are better than others, but generally speaking, everyone who eats at NuBel or Arzábal leaves satisfied and even eager to return. If there’s one thing people highlight, it’s the quality of the ingredients and how beautifully the dishes are presented.

Ultimately, when a restaurant combines a great atmosphere with great food, success is almost guaranteed. At NuBel specifically, diners love its most avant-garde dishes, which bear the clear signature of a Michelin-starred chef. That said, as is often the case with the trendiest spots, the portions can be a bit small, though that might actually enhance the flavor.

Arzábal is another great option thanks to its menu, but if there’s one aspect that always gets the best reviews, it’s the decor, especially that of the terrace. You could say it’s worth eating there just to spend some time surrounded by art, although some might think the total price is a bit steep for the portion size.

Do you know what you’re going to order yet? I’m sure reading my tips has made your mouth water, so don’t hesitate to dine at one of the two restaurants at the Reina Sofía Museum.