DSTAgE
“Two star cooking in a brick loft, music on, no liturgy. Guerrero's Madrid is built for a first date.”
About DSTAgE
In 2013 Diego Guerrero walked away from El Club Allard, where he held two Michelin stars cooking someone else's concept, and spent a year converting a warehouse on Calle de Regueros into a restaurant with his own name on the risk. DSTAgE opened in 2014, wore a star within a year and a second soon after, and the 2026 guide renews both alongside the Green Star added in 2025. The name is an acronym: Days to Smell, Taste, Amaze, Grow and Enjoy.
The menus, 16 to 22 courses between €175 and €220, cross Spain with Mexico and Japan without asking permission: a mole of huitlacoche with pumpkin seeds and fermented yucca sits beside sea bass sashimi and a French omelette good enough to silence the table. Guerrero ferments, cures and reuses with the seriousness that earned the Green Star, then plates it all with a shrug. High technique, low ceremony is the whole thesis.
The loft does half the talking: exposed brick, iron beams, an open kitchen with no pass wall and music where a string quartet would otherwise be. Cooks bring plates themselves and explain them in plain language. Dinner runs Tuesday to Saturday with lunch added on Friday and Saturday, and the room fills with a younger crowd than any other two star in Madrid. It is the city's standing proof that stars and stiffness are separable.
The Room
Exposed brick, iron columns and filament light across a double height loft, with the kitchen open to the room and cooks doing the serving. Tables are bare wood, the soundtrack is the chef's own playlist, and the dress code is whatever you arrived in. It is the two star room where you can hear yourself laugh.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
What follows is the honest map: the evenings DSTAgE was built for, and what to ask for on each.
For a first date without liturgy
Formal tasting rooms put first dates on trial; DSTAgE gives them cover. The loft's noise floor lets conversation breathe, cooks arriving with plates give you a shared subject every few minutes, and the 16 course format keeps the night moving. Take the shortest menu at €175 for a first meeting and leave the long one for date three. The Chueca address means the night has somewhere to go afterwards, which a first date should.
For the client who is bored of hotel dining rooms
Some clients have eaten every chandelier in Madrid; this is the counterprogramming. Two stars and a Green Star deliver the credentials, while the loft, the playlist and the mole of huitlacoche prove you know the city beyond its palaces. The middle menu balances ambition and timing for a working dinner. Creative industries respond to this room in a way no amount of silverware achieves elsewhere.
For the solo diner who wants the kitchen's company
Guerrero's cooks serve their own dishes, which turns a solo meal into a running conversation with the brigade. Ask for a seat with an open kitchen view when you book and the evening becomes a private masterclass with 16 chapters. The informality matters: eating alone here reads as insider behaviour, not exception. Weeknight dinners are calmest and the easiest seats to land.
What to order
Three menu lengths and one loft. Pick the format for the night you actually want.
- The middle menu on most nights
The 18 course format hits the full arc without the long haul. First timers who book the top menu often peak two courses early.
- The mole de huitlacoche
Corn fungus, pumpkin seed and fermented yucca: the dish that carries Guerrero's Mexico deepest and the one to anticipate mid sequence.
- A kitchen view seat
The pass has no wall, so ask for the sightline. Watching the brigade run service is half the ticket price in entertainment.
- The pairing over the list
Pours are chosen to argue with the courses, ferments included. It suits this menu better than any single bottle strategy.
Practical
- Address
- Calle de Regueros 8, Chueca, Madrid
- Reservations
- Restaurant website · a few weeks for weekends
- Menus
- 16, 18 or 22 courses · €175 to €220
- Days
- Dinner Tuesday to Saturday · lunch Friday and Saturday
- Dress
- None enforced
- Sustainability
- Michelin Green Star since 2025
- Dietary
- Adaptations with notice
- Neighbourhood
- Chueca, walkable nightcap territory
Questions diners ask
Is DSTAgE worth it?
Yes, particularly if formal dining leaves you cold. Two Michelin stars renewed in 2026, a Green Star for its fermentation and waste work, and menus from €175 that undercut every comparable kitchen in Madrid. The informality is a feature; diners wanting reverence should book Coque or Deessa instead.
How hard is it to book DSTAgE?
Moderate. Weekends go a few weeks out through the restaurant's website; Tuesday to Thursday dinners are regularly available inside a fortnight. The room is bigger than the city's counters, which keeps churn healthy. Friday lunch is the sleeper slot, the full menu with an afternoon to recover.
What is the dress code at DSTAgE?
There is none. The loft runs bare brick and playlists, cooks serve in aprons, and guests range from suits straight off the Castellana to sneakers. Comfort wins. This is the least dressed two star room in Madrid and prouder of that than of the brick.
What does dinner at DSTAgE cost?
Menus run €175, around €195 and €220 by length before drinks, with pairings tiered above. A couple on the middle menu with pairing typically closes near €650. Against Madrid's other two star tables that is the sharpest entry price in the class.