jaleo

been to jaleo several times when i am hurting for spanish. been to spain and family comes from there so think i can judge the varied regional grub. jaleo isgoodfor the “cool” arlington vibe...for authentic spanish...not so much. the fusion thing may be in play here but jaleo always leaves me disappointed.

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 roasted dishes are 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 about dishes when 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 - notgoodfor an experience we had (5 dishes + 1 dessert + 1 coffee + 1 tea = $75 all including)
conclusion - not recommended (particularly if you are a foodie)

do you really know what tapas are?!. it may not be the best or close to perfect traditional spanish cuisine, but rating it for what it is - it is fairly good! they do agoodjob at the taste renderings with some dishes, but don't quite hit the upper mark with me! the downside is most folks don't understand tapas, and end up getting the short end of the stick value-wise. tapas typically are snacks in spain, here, it's become a way of making more money on smaller dishes. overall the ambience and service is mediocre, the tastes are above average - but don't expect real spanish for your taste buds. don't go their hungry!

excellent service,goodtapas, a little pricey. details: the garlic mushrooms were the star - perfectly cooked and seasoned with fresh rosemary and thyme. dip that bread in it! pulpo gallego was tender and flavorful. both these had a nice sized portion for sharing. the calamari a la romana were perfectly cooked, tender, and the garlic mayo went well. the escalivada (roasted eggplant, peppers, and onion) tasted like home made, the vinegar was just right. i thought the portion was a little small, but at $6, still agoodbet. hats off to jaleo for bringing in secreto iberico. the meat was slightly overcooked, but the flavor of secreto is so wonderful, it was still a treat. (know that this is a tiny portion for $14, but still worth a taste.) the beet salad was excellent, and agoodsize for sharing. the drinks, a friend had sangria, and i got the (tiny) carafe of tempranillo - were good, but really undersized for americans. all in all agoodmeal, well presented, but right at the upper edge of what i will pay for those dishes.

great food; strange service. we were a party of four with 6:30 pm reservations on a saturday night of restaurant week. the place was already packed. two of us arrived at 6:29 pm and the host wouldn't seat us until the entire party had arrived. i know that restaurants don't want to have large tables occupied and then have no shows but for a party of four that is unlikely and having to stand in the doorway was not agoodstart to the evening. had i been seated at a table i would have ordered wine while i waited. instead i had to stand in a crowded area in front of the entry door, blocking the way of other restaurant guests.

the selections on the restaurant week menu were excellent and we had a wide variety of tapas. nothing disappointed and, having lived in spain, i found the food to be authentic with a twist.

however, and this may have been a result of the restaurant week menu, they required that we order everything at once and then they randomly and quickly brought all the tapas to the table. that is absolutely wrong at a tapas restaurant. you should make a selection of your first round of tapas, have an opportunity to leisurely eat them, discuss them, and make your selections for the next round. their service model greatly reduced our enjoyment of our experience and their profit. if we had been able to linger over each round of tapas more wine would have been consumed, thus increasing their profit margin. we were dining with people who had not had tapas before and they found the food presentation to be totally confusing and off-putting, and i certainly couldn't explain it since i'd never experienced anything like it in spain.

i would go again to jaleo, but i would be insistent on having the service my way, the spanish way. this felt like an assembly line, not a dining experience.