Not ever having had the luxury of taking anyone to an expense account meal at Taberna Del Alabardero—and having failed on more than one occasion to convince my boss that he should take our staff there for a holiday party or birthday celebration—I chose the Old-World Spanish cuisine restaurant for last week’s Restaurant Week pilgrimage. Taking almuerzo there Sunday was a decision that proved delightful at nearly every turn, from the grinning, attentive service to three inspired, perfectly executed courses.

One big key to our enjoyment of this RW experience was certainly the fact that we had weekend lunch reservations, an option that may have flown under the radar because the restaurant is not usually open for lunch on Saturday and Sunday. Adding my own fond memories of living in Madrid, with its long, lazy Sunday lunches followed by a late afternoon siesta—a tradition that thankfully has not fallen by the wayside on weekends in Spain— to Taberna Del Alabardero’s uncrowded dining room and reliable service, and Restaurant Week was, at least this year, all I could hope for.

Although in the past Taberna earned a reputation for offering a very limited menu for Restaurant Week, this was not the case on this season’s menu, which included four first course choices and six second course choices, with an additional three entree choices on a vegetarian menu. Only two items had upcharges: $3 for a scallop, strawberry and green pea appetizer that was worth the money for the hefty portion (three scallops) and $7 for an entree that included a certified Angus beef steak with impeccably marinated piquillo peppers and asparagus.