jaleo

deception: tapas and no bread to suck the juices. i've been enjoying tapas at jaleo since i arrived to dc in 1997.
last year i went and they did not bring the bread and oil as usual, after asking they told me they bring only bread upon request...
yesterday i visited the one in arlington.
this time they refused to bring bread.
it seems that jose andres is not involved any more and should take his name from the place, if he is still involved, he needs to pay attention to his restaurant. it became another typical chain restaurant.
how can you serve tapas with no bread??? this is inexcusable and a cheap move.
other issues i found:
- service was horrible
-disheswere bland, pollo al ajillo had no garlic, served with a dark sauce and chicken consistency was uniform, that chicken was boiled and not seared. bean salad the same, lack of taste.
- tapas sizes seem to be getting smaller

it is a shame, i used to enjoy this place very much and i will not be coming back.

a culinary gem in crystal city. jaleo in crystal city, virginia is a tapas bar featuring traditional spanish dishes. if you’ve never dined at a tapas bar, they encourage each person to order two or three smalldishesto share with the entire group, so everyone can enjoy a wide variety of food. of course, if you’re the only person in your party ordering gluten free, your culinary experience will be somewhat limited.

fortunately, jaleo offers a gluten free menu, but it has a disclaimer for those with gluten allergies. as usual, there’s a risk of cross contamination, and the fryer is shared with other non-gluten free foods. that being said, i safely enjoyed a salad with tuna, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes and hard-boiled eggs, shrimp sautéed with garlic, and flan for dessert! now, i’m off to the gym! after eating a georgetown cupcake earlier today and flan tonight, it’s time to pay the piper. =)

for more gluten free restaurant reviews, check out kareninreallife.com!

bad, very bad. before i talk about our experience in this restaurant i have to say that we love the cuisine jose andres presented to food lovers in his other restaurants like zaytinia and (unfortunately closed) cafe atlantico.
we also had an ok experience in his oyamel.
but in this jaleo location we had a very disappointing experiences and had it twice (i don't think there will be any more because we've decided that enough is enough)
now to the point:
ambiance - nice
food - promising in menu descriptions but never delivered anything but disappointments in more or less degree depending from the dish. most of the sauteed or roasteddishesare drenched in oil of very bad quality. even in "endives, goat cheese, oranges and almonds" they managed to pour so much oil it was almost inedible. we had an impression that oil is the main component of their dishes. speaking of taste it wasn't present in any dish we've tried except of beet soup (that was ok but definitely wasn't worth $9.50 they charge for it). the dessert ("apple charlotte") was basically dough stuffed with applesauce on the top of which was half melted ice cream. ugh! our impression was we are sitting in an italian restaurant of poor quality southern italian cuisine. their was nothing that reminded us of a wonderful spain tapas with flavorful sauces and refreshing taste of unique and creative small miracles that are happening in your mouth with every bite. that kind of spanish tapas we've experienced in dali restaurant in boston and loooved it.
i think if jose andres tasted the kind of food that his chefs "create" as spanish tapas he would be ashamed for the way his native cuisine is presented here. but he probably haven't been visiting this restaurant for a long time.
service - pretentiously "nice", intimidating with pushing their opinions aboutdisheswhen not even being asked, absent and ignorant when needed, not friendly and all together not professional starting from the hostess and finishing with the waiters. as i mentioned we've been there twice and both times with the different staff we experienced the same kind of service.
value - not good for an experience we had (5dishes+ 1 dessert + 1 coffee + 1 tea = $75 all including)
conclusion - not recommended (particularly if you are a foodie)