Jaleo DC

Wonderful place for a special birthday dinner - Asked the waiter to simply bring us small plates until we were full. An exciting way to celebrate and uniformly excellent choices. Waiter was helpful and informed. A great evening.

The food was delicious and the service was greatx

It was delicious and the wait staff was great.

Excellent food from one of ours, and Spain’s top chefs.

AMAZING!!!! Everything was delicious!

Wonderful lunch, superb table by the window with lots of natural light, attentive service and delicious food -- a delightful way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

We came for restaurant week and the deal was outstanding- five courses for $35! The food was excellent and the service was impeccable. We will be back!

Made reservations and stopped in on Restaurant week after the cold Women’s March and they let us be seated early! My husband got the fish soup and the generous potatoes with red, white and green sauces, while I got the special menu. Cauliflower with olives and dates, surprising and delicious, potato salad with tuna very tasty. The shrimp and garlic was cooked perfectly but very rich. And the flan and cream was the best I’ve ever tasted. No wonder people love this place and the famous chef.

Been a while since I have been to Jaleo. Many new and tasty items on the menu. We did a broad sampling of small bites from the Restaurant Week tasting menu and enjoyed everything. We will return soon.

I dined at Jaleo during the winter restaurant week. I had high expectations for this place, since it's run by Jose Andres. But the quality of the food didn't meet my expectations at all. It was just above average. But for the price it was a great deal.
I usually dine in different restaurants during the restaurant week, so I can choose the places I want to return as a regular. But unfortunately Jaleo wasn't it.
But I'm willing to give this place the benefit of the doubt since this was a restaurant week.
Also this isn't a craft cocktail bar. The cocktails are good, not exceptional. The Old fashioned I ordered lacked Bitters and it was little too sweet.

Jaleo is cool
But the tables are ridiculously close together

Jaleo is a fun restaurant and the food is always fantastic!

Always a great time at Jaleo! Very busy and energetic with great service and food!

The ambience and the service are superb. The food is very authentic but lacked spice.

Wonderful! Private corner! Server Enrico was excellent, knowledge & friendly and made sure we were able to make our show at the Kennedy Center!

Really nice lunch menu and the special for a fixed price is a great value. Potatas Bravas, yummy.

The first, and IMHO, the best Jose Andres restaurant in DC. Consistently excellent food.

Great eating experience! everything was well-paced and got to try a lot of different dishes

Still my favorite restaurant... great food, ambiance, and service. My husband and I try new food items each time, in addition to ordering our favorites: garlic shrimp (love to dip bread into the garlic olive oil) bacon wrapped dates, the potato omelette. and Iberian ham and sausages. I especially love that Jose Andres is generous in aiding people with food when disaster strikes. He is a role model!

It’s ok, I have had much better tapas. Price s are steep for the food you get. Service was good.

Amazing food. Every dish was absolutely delicious. The service was flawless.

Eight is too many. Have been going to Jaleo about once a year for the last twenty years. Have also been to two of his other locations. This used to be my favorite restaurant. Unfortunately now it has become quite expensive, the food selections don't seem as varied as they used to be (or as interesting as any tapas bar in Barcelona) and the service was not what it used to be. To be sure, food quality is still good and the wine list is nice but it's just not what it used to be without the personal attention of the owner. Eight restaurants around the globe might just be too much for any one person to manage without a loss of quality.

Had been a while since I visited Jaleo but this visit made me realize I need to visit more often. Service and food were outstanding!!!!

We had to wait 30 minutes past our reservation time. Food was good but overpriced.

This was my first time at Jaleo. It was terrific. I’m vegetarian and there were plenty of delicious options. We ordered from the special restaurant week menu, and everything was delicious. Highly recommended!

Another great meal and wonderful service . Jaleo is always reliable.

We visited during restaurant week and was very pleasantly surprised by the service. Food portions were larger than expected and most importantly so very very delicious!

We came for restaurant week with high expectations after friends had told us how much they enjoyed their experience dining there off the regular menu. Plus, my friend and I enjoy tapas and respect Andres’s impeccable reputation. This four tapas plus dessert menu, however, was overall disappointing. My first two courses, croquettes and stuffed peppers, were overly cheesy and underwhelming. The shrimp and garlic was delicious but simple. The fourth course, a pork loin with onions in a brown sauce, was divine and stood miles above the rest. The dulce de leche ice cream was too large of a portion after so much food, but was also delicious. I had two red sangrias with my meal which were tasty, but small & weak, not worth the price tag. Our server was very polite and knowledgeable, but we were rushed through our dinner, sitting down at 6pm and receiving our check at 6:55, despite the restaurant being half empty by the time we were done. I expected to have more time to enjoy the company of my friend. Would not recommend, at least not for restaurant week.

Excellent food wait staff and an upbeat ambiance. Here is my main complaint.

I am not sure why restaurants continue to use Windex to clean glass tables after guests. A large table turned over 2 times while we were there and two times the staff generously sprayed Windex on the large glass table The smell is terrible and conflicts with the smell and taste of the food. Also it is a toxic chemical please try vinegar and water at least it is natural !!!

One of my favorites in D.C. I went twice within a short time, and there were memorable dishes each time. Jaleo have my favorite dishes, but also new ones to explore. One of the salads was composed of fennel, apple, manchego...who would have thought such a combination could be so delicious and delightful.
It can get very loud at peak times, but a fun and hip ambience. Go off peak for a more relaxed and quiet dining experience. Location is within a few blocks of the Nat'l Portrait Museum, as well as walkable to the Mall, metro stops.

Me encanta Jaleo. Creo que es el mejor restaurante español en DC.

Our party of 7 enjoyed the Chef's Tasting Menu called Jose's Way. It was fabulous and satisfied all of our palates. Don't eat lunch before you have this because you won't make it through all of the courses. Service was phenomenal but I wish the courses came out just a little bit slower.

Delicious food, fun way to share & try many different dishes.

Excellent tapas, wonderful variety, great atmosphere, not too noisy given that it's adjacent to the hockey arena, timely service, reasonable prices for the quality of food. Plus I love supporting Jose Andres who lives his values.

We stopped in for a few tapas while walking around D.C. I had made reservations using opentable and had noted that it was my bday. The restaurant was not busy as it was already around 2pm. They sat us squished in between two other tables when there were plenty others available. The waitress hardly checked on us and didn’t recognize the note in my reservation. I love Chef Andres and all he does for the communities. Hopefully the service is better next time..

For the most part everything was excellent. The Paella, tasted burnt. No flavorful at all in my opinion. But the crab salad and skirt steak was amazing!!

I went to Jaleo hoping to fall in love with this DC favorite. I left full of good food, glowing from good service and satisfied that I had done my part to move the relationship along. The frenetic ambience, tight quarters and loud conversations of the tables around me made it too hard too get the best experience. Yes, the food was good. But $200 for 2 people good? Eh. If the restaurant were quieter and I had some time to relax and really enjoy the taste of the dishes so carefully and thoughtfully prepared I would say yes, $200 is a fair price. I’m glad I can say Jaleo has been a part of my year long living in DC experience, but I won’t be back.