By way of coincidence, I found myself in the Orlando area the same time as my friend and fellow…read moreYelper, Brian T. That being said, we made plans to link up a couple of nights for dinner, drinks, and to catch up. We landed on Disney Springs being an ideal spot, and both thought Jaleo would be a great place to grab dinner. That being said, we met up at the Springs and made our way over.
Jaleo is chef José Andrés' offering here on WDW property, though there are also locations in Vegas and DC. He owns several restaurants, and I'm somewhat familiar with his brand as I've been to another one of his Vegas restaurants. I wasn't too familiar with Jaleo, but had heard of it before and was excited to try it as I have only been to a couple of Disney Springs restaurants. Walking in, we were greeted by a large space - the dining room goes deep with a lot of tables scattered throughout. There's not much compartmentalization, but the color scheme helps break up the space and make it feel somewhat warmer.
The menu contains Spanish cuisine, with a cariety of apps, paellas, and other mains highlighted. We noticed they had a selection of tasing courses, and since this was both our first time here we thought that would give us the best sampling of the menu. We decided on the Jaleo experience, which was described as a sampling of the best Spanish tapas as well as classics from the original Jaleo in DC. Before food though, a drink - we both got one of the red sangrias which was quite good.
We were served a number of plates during our meal: tomato bread, cured meats and cheeses, endive with goat cheese, papas bravas, sliders, chicken thighs, and a couple of desserts: a chocolate cake creation and flan. Most of the food was good, though I personally don't think anything was a standout. If I had to choose favorite, I would say the sliders - and I'm always a fan of cured meats and cheeses. Besides that, everything seemed to kinda be muted. I do want to give a creative shoutout to the liquid olive that was served at the beginning of our meal - I don't love olives but this was a really unique way of serving one.
Service was very good, our server was very friendly and did a great job guiding us through each course. The pacing of each course was also a plus - it was a decent amount of food and the spacing between each service was on point. Overall though, the good service does not make up for the lackluster food. Reviews and social media speak highly of Jaleo, so perhaps I came on an off night. Regardless, I would be open to trying them again, but I'm not running back.,