Photo from Jaleo website
K- “Jaleo” can translate to a mess in English and that’s pretty much what the food was at Jaleo in Crystal City. Maybe it’s because I’ve experienced real Spanish food in Spain but either way, I was muy disappointed.
I decided to go with a colleague to the restaurant and I was starving as I hadn’t eaten all day. We were seated outside, it was a gorgeous day and the server showed up quickly – good so far. As I was starving (okay, not literally but again I hadn’t eaten all day and it was already 1:30 p.m.) I ordered quite a bit. The special was Spanish tortilla del dia- a Spanish omelette of the day – with mushrooms, sounded good, I ordered that. I also asked for gazpacho estilo Algeciras – classic chilled Spanish soup made with tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and bread; Jose Andres chips and the grilled cheese sandwich with grilled Manchego, Murcia, Valdeón and goat cheese with truffle oil on rustic bread, served with honey alioli. My mouth was watering.
The tortilla showed up first. It wasn’t very fluffy and was definitely on the tapas side, which was fine but it still looked a little sad. It tasted okay, I’ve had better tortilla. The Jose Andres chips were just good potato chips, no special seasoning and nothing extraordinary. I don’t know if I would be able to tell the difference between the Jaleo chips and Kettle chips. As for the grilled cheese sandwich it was a lot of bread and “meh.” A friend of mine had made me a grilled cheese sandwich the previous day with a sweet onion jam, which was amazing and pretty much put the Jaleo grilled cheese to shame. I never received the gazpacho.
Overall it was a very disappointing lunch especially what I paid for it. I feel like I might had got a better lunch if I had gone to the food trucks. Maybe the restaurant was having a bad day. I may not know as I probably won’t go back.
**The blog is going on hiatus however you can join us on Twitter. Enjoy the rest of the summer and see you in September!
2GirlsinDC 