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Aioli Bodega Espanola

3.5 (1k reviews)
Open 11:00 am - 10:00 pm
Updated 2 months ago

Aioli Bodega Espanola Photos

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AIOLI BODEGA ESPANOLA ATMOSPHERE

What's the vibe?
Romantic
Loud
Dogs allowed
Good for groups

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Recommended Reviews - Aioli Bodega Espanola

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Veal
Diana F.

This is strictly a "Dine Downtown" review. I went on a date so I got to try the soup and salad for starters, veal and pork for entrees, and their flan and poached peach for dessert. It was overall a good meal, but I'm not sure I'd go back for those items. The pork was dry and tough. The salad was barely anything. The only thing I truly enjoyed was the poached peach. The table next to ours ordered à la carte and looked amazing. I left feeling hungry. I ate a couple of slices of pizza afterwards.

2025 Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge Participant
Bridget W.

Aïoli was never on my radar until this year's Sacramento Vegan Chef Challenge. The promise of mushroom risotto and stuffed eggplant drew me in and, well, I'm also partial to a refreshing sangria after a long work day. Suffice to say, Aïoli did not disappoint with their vegan offerings. Everything we tried was a winner. From the perfectly spiced butternut squash soup we started with to the poached pear in port for dessert, we enjoyed every bite. The vibe is casual upscale and the service tracked. We were overcharged on one of the dishes, but it was quickly corrected. I hope Aïoli keeps vegan dishes like these on the menu, because I definitely would return.

Afshin A.

A couple of weeks ago, we finally made it to Aioli Bodega Española in Sacramento, and it turned out to be a wonderful first visit. The weather was perfect, so we grabbed a table in their relaxing backyard patio, which felt like the right setting for a slow evening. We started with a pitcher of sangria and two tapas, Patatas Bravas (crispy potatoes with just the right kick) and Pinchos Morunos (spiced skewers of meat). Both were delicious. We also ordered the soup of the day, which was warm, flavorful, and gone too fast. For the main dish, the three of us shared a Paella Valenciana. Technically, it's meant for two, but it turned out to be the perfect size for the three of us, just enough to satisfy without leaving us too full to enjoy dessert. We wrapped up by splitting a creamy flan, and I finished the night with a strong espresso, exactly how I like to end a good meal. The food was excellent across the board, and the service matched it, friendly without being rushed. The whole evening had a relaxed vibe, which made the experience even better. A little extra context I learned: Aioli Bodega Española has been a Sacramento staple since the mid-1990s, run by Aziz Bellarbi Salah and his family. Their focus is on traditional Spanish dishes, lots of tapas, paellas, and, of course, sangria. It's no wonder the place has lasted this long; it feels like one of those restaurants that's been woven into the neighborhood.

Dessert trio
Lorena M.

We went last night to celebrate our friend's 1 year anniversary and everything was just perfect. We had the whole patio to ourselves, which was awesome. Our server Yolanda was so attentive and really knew the menu, assisting us in making our selections and getting to try a little bit of everything. She helped our vegan friend find great dishes that met his dietary requirements. We brought our own wine and then purchased one from their wine list and Yolanda even decanted it for us table side which made a big difference in opening up the flavor of the wine. We started with several appetizers each one equally delicious. They do a great job using seasonal and local ingredients of excellent quality. We had a nice seafood and bean dish, Mushrooms in an incredible sherry sauce that I can't stop thinking about lol, a salad, Persimmon Carpaccio and Mussels as starters and just shared everything family style. We ordered the Paella Valenciana (takes 35 minutes to come out so keep that in mind and order it in arrival) that was cooked perfectly. The Osso Buco was so tender and flavorful. The house made ravioli with mushrooms melted in your mouth. For dessert we enjoyed the poached pear which was the star of the show, a chocolate mouse which was rich and decadent and crème brûlée which is always a classic. Don't sleep on Aioli if you want great food in a lively environment with exceptional service.

Bread and white bean aoli
Jared H.

This was my first time here and it did not disappoint! I ordered the Zarzuela De Mariscos and it was delicious. The dish consisted of shrimp, calamari, mussels, clams, bits of fish, in a garlic tomato sauce with a side of bread. The shrimp was whole with the head and shell, but was crispy. The calamari, mussels, clams, and fish were all cooked perfectly. The fish was salmon. The bread tasted fresh and buttery. The portion was not big enough for a hungry person as this restaurant specializes in tapas sized dishes. The house baked bread and white bean aoli was delicious. The bread was soft and fresh. The white bean aoli had lots of flavor and complimented the bread well. Service was excellent as employees were friendly and helpful.

Rebecca B.

Stopped in late on Saturday and we're welcomed by their very friendly bartender Ashley. Cocktails were perfections. Absolutely love the vibe here. Also add some dessert. Recommend!

Pear Aioli
Tameka I.

The food was divine, service warm, inviting, and ambiance rustic and dim. I'll definitely return for the lasagna with duck ragu, chef's kiss

Giselle T.

The ambiance was very cozy and romantic! We had the Tempranillo and it was okay! I had the ravioli and WOW!! The mushroom sauce was amazing!! My boyfriend had a seafood dish that was also amazing!! 10/10 would recommend for your next date night!

Charcuterie y Queso Manchego $14.95
Vivi L.

Went to Aioli Bodega Espanola for Dine Downtown but decided we wanted to try the rest of the menu instead LOL Here's what we ordered with stars next to my favorites: Pan y Aioli $3 Ensalada Mediterranea $9.99 Ensalada De Lechugas Mixtas $11.95 Charcuterie y Queso Manchego $14.95 *Tomaquet Con Jamon $6.95 *Pechuga De Pato $17.95 (pan-seared duck breast) *Pinchos Morunos $12.50 (grilled leg of lamb skewers) Mejillionnes Aioli $21.95 Costillas de Puerco $16.95 (pork spareribs) **Pulpo a la Gallega $16.95 (octopus in adobo marinade) Chuleton Mole $32.95 Lasagna con Ragu de Pato $21.95 *Paella Mariscos $60 *Ravioli Caseros $21.95 *Lemon Mousse $12 Tiramisu $12.95 Yeah it's pricey, but service was great, vibes were immaculate, food was scrumptious, and we were celebrating a birthday! Definitely a "for a special occasion" restaurant. They have an extensive wine list and our server was able to help us pinpoint wines within our price point. She even recommended a non-alcoholic wine for our friend who doesn't drink! The most lackluster dish was the mole. We felt like there was no flavor to it at all, unfortunately.

Smoke It Up [Mezcal, tequila, lime, honey, crème de violette, salt, Pinot noir float over dehydrated lime]
Leonard A.

The food and service were five stars. The place has an intimate setting for anyone. The drink I had was three stars for my palate because it was a bit too sweet (request less honey for those who do not have a sweet tooth). See the pictures with description of the food from the menu, and imagine the seductive flavors. What I don't like is their seating against the wall with a long padded cushion with some sort of material covering. Hopefully, the material is something they take off and wash often, but I don't know because I didn't ask. I prefer seats that are sanitized easily. Revisit? Absolutely! This little piggy loves to sample several plates at a time, and the food was YUMM-O!

menu
Reynisa J.

Upon arrival, there are 2 separate doors, one the leads straight to dining guests & one that is their "entrance." The gentleman that guided us to the correct one was very nice & welcoming, however there's no place to really sit or wait for a table, you kind of just have to guess & stand there awkwardly. We got sat immediately next to a large party. The restaurant itself was extremely loud & it was hard hearing the person in front of me. When the waitress arrived, she explained the menu to us & we got to ordering. For apps, we got Gambas a la parrilla & baked bread with bean aioli. For entrees, we got the Spaghettini pomodoro & pasta amatriciana. The baked bread arrived & was the size of croutons. The aioli that came w it was not good either, definitely don't recommend. However, the shrimp dish was pretty good! It was very flavorful & I wound up using the avocado on the bread lol. When our entrees arrived, my friend took one bite of pasta & immediately stopped eating. I tried it to see if maybe I'd like it, but I didn't enjoy it either. My spaghettini was actually pretty good, I just needed to add some spice to it to kick it up a notch. As for our server, she was missing the rest of the night & we had to ask the nice gentleman for boxes and the bill. We honestly couldn't get out of there quicker.. Overall, I wouldn't come back here for pasta when there's a wonderful option across the street.

Shery B.

Nice cute little restaurant that has good Spanish food. I came with my mom for the dine downtown in 2026 and the menu was good and this area is delicious. The service is really nice and the servers are friendly.

PAELLA VALENCIANA
Dan F.

Salmon Alcapa was delicious! They were short staffed but after we got sat we were taken care of well. Food is tasty. The clams were a bit too fishy in our paella (Paella Valencia), but the rest of the meat was good.

PATATAS BRAVAS* and  PULPO GALLEGO

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Aioli Bodega Espanola Reviews in Other Languages

Ask the Community - Aioli Bodega Espanola

Are the paella prices listed on the menu per person? Thanks!

Their Paellas are made for two people, so take the price and devide it by two!

Do they deliver or take call in orders?

Yes you can call in and pick up your order or through any food delivery service (e.g., Grubhub, UberEats, etc.).

View All 6 Questions

Tapa the World

Tapa the World

3.8(1.3k reviews)
0.3 miMidtown
$$

Cool Spanish tapas spot in Sacramento!!…read more This well-known Spanish restaurant has been a Midtown favorite since 1994. Ambience: relaxed and warm, with live Spanish guitar music. Seating: indoor and outdoor Parking: street parking Restrooms: 2 stalls per gender Food/drink recommendations: * Sangria: refreshing and really good * Filet mignon beef tips * Jamón serrano * Seared ahi * Bread basket Service: fast and efficient. If you're celebrating a birthday or special occasion, you can even ask the guitarist to play a birthday song. Perfect for date nights or celebrations.

Another edition of "I have had this place bookmarked for ages and finally got around to trying it"…read more To celebrate my birthday with some girlfriends, we made a reservation at Tapa the World for a Friday night. When we arrived, the restaurant was lively and buzzing with energy. We were promptly seated at our table and began looking over the menu. To start, I ordered a mocktail while my two girlfriends ordered cocktails. We decided that we were just going to order a variety of tapas and share them, which is exactly why I picked this restaurant. All in all, we ended up ordering the croquettes, the garlic shrimp, the empanadas of the day (which were potato and cheese), the patatas bravas, and a pork dish that I don't remember the name. Eat and every dish was absolutely delicious and bursting with flavor. So if you find yourself in the mood for some tapas and want a wonderful, lively atmosphere, come check out Tapa the World.

Photos
Tapa the World - Inside

Inside

Tapa the World
Tapa the World - Sangria 15 oz.

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Sangria 15 oz.

Basque Cultural Center - salad, included with prix fixe dinner

Basque Cultural Center

3.8(576 reviews)
81.5 mi
$$

"do you remember the... christmas tire?" this was wayne a few years ago. i had met him at a time,…read moredecades later, we termed our missing years... maybe you had some of those? days you can't account for, likely stuck somewhere because you chose wrong, turned down a backstreet and came to a deadend. nothing to do then but hope another bus comes along soon to get you out, and wary that your next move goes wrong, too. at such times, heed the advice given to weekend hikers: "if you get really lost in the woods, stay right where you are and wait... someone will find you". what isn't included in that conventional wisdom is the caveat: "sooner or later". all this came to me as i enjoyed the oxtail stew at the basque cultural center. I'd been curious about it for quite some time and finally decided to check it out. Basque restaurants have been one of my guilty pleasures since i made the wrong choice that lead to those missing years. since then I've sought them out when around Fresno, Bakersfield, Reno and smaller towns like Gardnerville and Los Banos: flat, grassy, agrarian places suited to sheepherding, which as far as I know was originally the main occupation for new immigrants from the Pyrenees where it's something of an artisanal career today. Since the 1800s Basque boarding houses were also in SF and LA, all gone now. Newly arrived Bascos heading to the country for work were advised to get off the train and look around for a place called, usually, the Santa Fe Hotel. The menu at the restaurant was then and is still basic: choose chicken, steak, lamb or pork chops as a main item and the rest is the same regardless (soup, salad, beans with ice cream at the end). There's also a preliminary dish, an "appetizer" that is essentially a separate entree in itself. this varies everyday, often oxtail or lamb stew. That's more or less the offering around today, and would have been all I likely ever knew except for my travels a few years ago to the Basque homeland in the Pyrenees. Basque cuisine is much more diverse there than you'll find at the Cultural Center, but you're closer to here than to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Everything from the meat department is very good, but I suggest avoiding the fish entree unless it's the daily special. My favorite was the oxtail stew, reminding me of the same dish at the Santa Fe Hotel in Fresno, during the time when I lived nearby during those lost years, longer than I care to remember. In fact, as I enjoyed the meal I recalled my thoughts after wayne mentioned the "christmas tire". at first i completely blanked, what was my old friend talking about? then slowly it came to me, like a dim memory of something said or done during a particularly white and active night before, something so off-axis that the next morning your left eye looks funny and hurts. it was our second christmas in a small farmhouse near madera. i had stupidly purchased it... leave new york to live here forever? ever wanted to grab someone, someone also rootless, and just walk out the door, run away with less than a half-baked plan about what happens next? well that's exactly what we did, my runway model friend of the moment and i. by the end of the 70s we had developed a nasty habit quite common then, not a true physical addiction mind you but a very real psychological dependence. in the end we couldn't pay our "bills" and needed to be somewhere else, like now!, hard to find for awhile. at that moment a portal of change opened, deux ex machina!: a job offer in the middle of nowhere, relo expenses et al. i accepted without ever visiting madera, ca. i suppose after all this you might wonder what that tire thing was about? i, too, wonder. christmas was memorable in my early years but then something unforgettably sad happened, such that i've disrespected religious events since. for a time i took to making odd abstractions of what alternative forms a "christmas tree" might take. that particular year i covered an old truck tire with that canned "snow" you spray on trees to approximate a "white christmas." but this result wasn't a tree at all, instead the remains of one that had been cut down to be decorated elsewhere, leaving a snow-covered hole in the ground where the tree had rooted. That was the concept, merry christmas perhaps you can see from this that my creative energy in this period ran high... wayne and i spent many and regular hours testing various brandy beverages i was hired to develop. but the lovely Dierdre fell back on pricier habits we had vowed to leave behind when we left the apple. soon after she caught the next bus out of town in the form of a wealthy melon farmer. fortunately none of this mattered much after awhile. all that aside, i highly recommend the cultural center for its displays of Basque art and artifacts, a full gymnasium for Basque games, and of course its excellent traditional cuisine.

Service was great Waiter very personal…read moreRack of lamb was delish Glad they had mint jelly Brocolinni tough

Photos
Basque Cultural Center - Entrance

Entrance

Basque Cultural Center - Duck with orange sauce $45

Duck with orange sauce $45

Basque Cultural Center - Escargot $17

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Escargot $17

Iberia Restaurant - Lobster Paella that was overcooked. Avoid at $98.50 + 20%. Trust me on this, I'm not the only one.

Iberia Restaurant

4.0(405 reviews)
84.6 mi
$$$

We've dined here twice recently and the food was excellent both times…read more Among the dishes we liked were - A bread basket - variety of fresh basked - Pulpo octopus appetizer - Fried artichokes - Large Zarzuela seafood paella with large and generous portions of prawns, scallops, lobster, bay shrimp, squid, octopus, and clams braised in a traditional cazuela with saffron, white wine & aromatic spices - Paella Iberia with saffron-infused rice with chicken, pork and seafood. A small size is enough to share with 2 to 3 people, but it's also available in a larger size - A refreshing red sangria The desserts for us were not their strong suit. We had tres leches cake and Genoise cake with chocolate mousse. Both were ok, but not repeat worthy. The ambiance is nice and intimate. The host / owner was super attentive and friendly. The staff were fairly inattentive, but easy to flag down. Beware that there is an obligatory 20% tip based on the after-tax total.

Had this place saved for a while (suggested by a friend who loves it), but unfortunately left…read moreunderwhelmed. We came for a family celebration dinner, parking was'nt bad along El camino. Service was fine. The decor felt vintage, with cute booths and seating along the wall, but unfortunately where we were seated in the middle of the room felt less cozy, with a very strange bathroom/sewer smell that the server never acknowledged (but we could all smell it!). The food varied. Some hits were: - paella (solid, good for sharing but not too large) - sardine toasts (delicious!) - pulpo (very soft, one of the better I've had) Some misses were: - pork shoulder on toast (just felt like ham) - patatas bravas (fried okay but sauce wasn't great) Overall, the flavors had hits and misses, but the portions felt a bit small for the price. We left feeling unimpressed, it might have been an off day, so I might give it another chance!

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Iberia Restaurant - Interior

Interior

Iberia Restaurant - Pulpo a la Gallega

Pulpo a la Gallega

Iberia Restaurant - Albondiguitas

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Albondiguitas

Aioli Bodega Espanola - spanish - Updated May 2026

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