In Madrid the gluten question always has an answer, and it does not depend on a waiter’s goodwill. a national decree in force since 2015 requires the 14 mandatory allergens to be declared for food served unpackaged, and cereals containing gluten head that list. The information must be there before the order, and the rule applies to every establishment serving food, with no exemption for size or type of service.
Do Madrid restaurants have to tell you about gluten? Yes. All 14 mandatory allergens must be declared for unpackaged food, cereals containing gluten among them, and the information must be there before ordering, on a menu, board or digital menu. It covers bars, cafés, restaurants and canteens alike, under Real Decreto 126/2015.
Eating gluten free in Madrid is less about finding a specialist venue than about knowing what any venue is obliged to tell you. The rule is national and draws no distinction between a starred restaurant and a neighbourhood café: both carry the same duty of information, with the same timing. Alongside it come free unbottled water at €0.00, the leftovers notice under Ley 1/2025, and prices published with VAT included. Lunch begins around 2pm and dinner around 9pm.
The fourteen that must be declared
The list is closed and identical across Spain, so it is worth knowing in full.
| Group | Allergens |
|---|---|
| Cereals | Cereals containing gluten |
| From the sea | Crustaceans, fish, molluscs |
| Animal origin | Eggs, milk including lactose |
| Pulses and seeds | Peanuts, soya, sesame, lupin, mustard |
| Others | Tree nuts, celery, sulphur dioxide and sulphites |
There are 14, and cereals containing gluten come first. The duty covers bars, cafés, restaurants, school canteens and workplace canteens.
Declaring is not the same as guaranteeing
This is the distinction that matters most to anyone coeliac, and it is worth being clear about.
The rule requires the allergen to be declared; it does not by itself guarantee the absence of cross-contamination in the kitchen. A dish may contain no gluten as an ingredient and still share a griddle, a fryer or utensils. Asking about the venue’s procedure is reasonable, and it is information the establishment should be able to give, because it is the one handling the allergen.
How the information has to appear
This is the detail that decides whether a venue complies, and it is more specific than it sounds.
The information must be clearly available before the order is placed, on the menu, a board, a digital menu or another visible support. Allergens per dish are shown by full name or by icons, and where icons are used a legend explaining each symbol is compulsory.
What else they owe you at the table
It sits alongside other obligations that almost nobody uses, from the same body of consumer rules.
The venue must offer free unbottled water, in tap water in Madrid, and tell you that leftovers may be taken away under Ley 1/2025, in free tapas in Madrid. Prices are published VAT included, in tipping in Madrid.
When people actually eat
The local clock is the other half of the problem and depends on no menu at all.
Lunch builds from about 2pm and dinner rarely starts before 9pm, in where to eat in Madrid and where to have dinner in Madrid. The set lunch lost its compulsory status years ago, in menú del día in Madrid.
Gluten is one of the 14 allergens a venue must declare, which is exactly what makes the contrast so sharp: vegan has no legal definition anywhere in the European Union, because the implementing act Regulation 1169/2011 promised never arrived.
Frequently asked questions about eating gluten free in Madrid
Must a restaurant tell me whether a dish contains gluten?
Yes. Spanish food information law requires allergen information for food served unpackaged, and cereals containing gluten are one of the 14 that must be declared. The information has to be available before the order is placed.
Does gluten free on the menu mean coeliac safe?
The rule requires the allergen to be declared; it does not by itself guarantee the absence of cross-contamination in the kitchen. Asking about the venue’s procedure is reasonable, and it is information the establishment should be able to give.
Is being told verbally enough?
The information must be clearly available before ordering, on the menu, a board, a digital menu or another visible support. Where a venue uses icons for allergens, a legend explaining what each symbol means is compulsory.
Which venues does the rule cover?
Every establishment serving food to the final consumer, with no exemption for size or type of service. That includes bars, cafés, restaurants, school canteens and workplace canteens, all under the same obligation.
What are the 14 mandatory allergens?
Cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soya, milk including lactose, tree nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphur dioxide and sulphites, lupin and molluscs. The list is identical across Spain.
There is no need to seek out a specialist venue to ask, because every venue is obliged to have the answer in writing.