Good food, good service, great location and fun atmosphere. They sat our large group and provided great service to all. The food was savory and well spiced. The drink menu was diverse and fun. After dinner, we went to the Whisky Jar to see the band. Millers is also closely located. read more

Lived in Charlottesville for 5 years, and this was my favorite restaurant. I only ever ordered the key lime chicken (with black bean rice and avocado salad), and it was unfailingly delicious every time. Juicy, well-seasoned chicken with well-flavored sides. The restaurant ambiance was also excellent-- upscale with understated, cool decor. What more could I ask for? Also tried mussels for the first time ever here-- not bad! (And this is coming from someone who is not a very adventurous eater, especially when it comes to seafood, so that's saying something!) read more

This is one of the best restaurants in Charlottesville. The black bean chile relleno is amazing as is the tuna tartare and polenta fries. The mussels come in a broth that is so flavorful--don't let them take the plate until you get every drop! They have an extensive list of specialty cocktails that use fresh juices that are really tasty. Reservations are helpful as it gets crowded. read more

A long time downtown favorite for me. Service is hit & miss. Cocktails are second best downtown and food tasty. Eat early as bar heats up quickly. read more

We ate here a few months ago but the meal is still memorable. It was a beautiful evening so we sat outdoors. Highly recommend this if possible. Our food was all excellent- not one complaint about any dish. We started with the mussels in chili sauce. Very tasty. For entrees our table had the scallops, drunken steak, and grilled salmon. All were delicious but I think the salmon and goat cheese couscous won as the best! Our server was very attentive and gave us some excellent wine recommendations. We will definitely go back when in town! read more

Excellent food and service at a fair price and trendy setting. Get the drunken NY strip and corn soup appetizer. The dessert menu needs some work. We will return. read more

My mom and I stopped for a drink and a bite before a movie. We are beyond impressed. We split the spicy tuna tartare and I will absolutely be ordering that again. I had the chilcano with blood orange and it is delicious and refreshing. Not too sweet. Happy hour ends at 7:00 so get here early for $1 off beer and $2 off their cocktails. My only complaint is I wish they would include wine choices in their happy hour. But overall, very impressed and we will be back. read more

We ate here on Friday night and ordered the drunken NY strip and the pan seared grouper. Both were excellent. The atmosphere is exciting and fun. Lots of waiters running back and forth, serving the large number of tables. Great waitress, too. Highly recommend it. read more

Had Valentine's Day dinner here with my wife. A bit noisy, but I love the atmosphere and decor. The food was near perfect. It was the best pork I've ever had. The flavors were wonderfully complimentary, and kept me thinking "wow" from the first bite to the last. Definitely our new favorite restaurant. read more

Great spot on the C'ville downtown mall... Didn't see much of the inside of the restaurant (we were seated on the patio), but it appeared to be inviting... Restaurant handled a party of 7 seamlessly. Service was smooth and entrees arrived at the same time, all piping hot... Our party had a range of entrees and all were excellent -- very flavorful and artfully presented.... Good choices of local beer (always key)... read more

Amazing food and great service! The chile relleno was a work of art. The fritters were perfection. It's obvious a lot of thought went into the creation of these dishes. Everyone should try this place! read more

Went here for dinner on a Saturday during the off season in January with my wife. Had the duck and my wife had the scallops. Both dishes were perfectly cooked and unique. Great service and reasonable prices considering the quality of the food. read more

We've walked past this restaurant many times when visiting but never stopped to eat. We decided to finally try it and were not disappointed. My husband had the blackberry and corn rellano which was the star of the show with awesome depth of flavor. My steak was probably a poor choice on my part though it was tasty, just not terribly interesting. The best discovery was the vella cheese fritters, as we've visited vella cheese in Sonoma and have never seen their cheese anywhere else! read more

Really great seafood - love sitting outside when the weather is nice or ordering drinks inside at the bar.

As Yelp says, this is as good as it gets. My wife and I had a meal here on Sunday night and it was fantastic. We ate at a place the day before in Staunton that was underwhelming so we were hopeful for a rebound dinner here, and Zocalo delivered. We called ahead and got a reservation an hour into the future with no issues. When we arrived we decided to sit on the patio overlooking C-ville's Downtown Mall. Great ambience! When I ducked into the restaurant to use the restroom I was really glad that we sat outside because Zocalo's interior is very industrial and sterile. Sitting outside the restaurant definitely took on more of a European feel so yeah, sit outside. Drinks wise I had a Jack and Coke and my wife had an alcohol free Mojito. Neither were too exciting (mine was a little watery and hers was crazy-sweet) but the food made up for it. So they brought out these rolls that were kinda sucky and we started wondering if they were a harbinger of the rest of the meal. Next, we got our appetizer, the Jack Cheese Vella Fritters. They blew us away. Fried balls of gooey cheese and a sweet/spicy sauce to dip them in. So dang good. For entrees I had a Grouper dish and my wife had a Duck dish. Both were excellent. I don't usually order fish, and I'm usually disappointed when I do, but the Grouper delivered. It came on a bed of risotto and was covered with shredded leeks. The whole thing was a combination of savory and tangy that worked very well. I tried my wife's duck, it had a nice crispy outside and was just chewy enough on the inside. I think the highlight of her meal was this little cheesy bread pudding that came on the side. Zocolo, zo good. read more

Fantastic food. The salmon and goat cheese and green chili couscous was sooooo good. The fried cheese balls are awesome too. Drinks also high end. read more

Perfect anniversary dinner, seated outside on a beautiful evening. As great as the entrees were (salmon for him, duck breast for me), the artisanal cheese plate was the standout, with its presentation and inspiring blends of tastes and textures. Service was attentive but not smothering. I don't care for the atmosphere inside, but outside suited us superbly. read more

Great flavors! Solid portions. Chile rellleno is baller, the steak is super tender, and the drinks are great. Server Emily was super professional and efficient . Great job all around . read more

Wow. What a meal. We had the trifecta (salmon, lamb loin and duck breast). Complex flavors with great presentation. Oh and the pork belly appetizer was tasty. read more

This is a great restaurant. Get the Key Lime Roasted Chicken: so so moist, with some kick to it (but not too bad) and a tasty "avocado salad" (i.e. guacamole). I have also had the salmon and enjoyed it a lot. There is no better place to be on the mall on a nice evening than the restaurant's large patio. Get a drink even if you aren't going to stick around for dinner--superb mojitos. read more

While the menu is limited, most of the choices sounded good to me. I had the Scallops. They were fantastic. The sauce is slightly sweet and when combined with the plantains, spinach and scallop created a wonderful taste. The scallops were large and cooked to perfection, just short of crispy. I was here on a Wednesday night and had a great dinner. Since the place was only about half full, I was seated next to the fire place which was nice considering how cold it was outside. The service was first rate, checking once In a while on me without being annoying. The food was top notch and the service great. They earned the 5 stars. read more

Great food and drinks. The mojitos are the best I've had anywhere.

The menu doesn't change much, but that's because it's amazing. This place is a special-treat dinner for us - it's a little pricey but not completely absurd (we usually spend about $75-$100 for a couple, including drinks). I usually get the steak - it's always cooked perfectly, the sauce is amazing, and the polenta fries are fantastic. I even clean my plate of the asparagus, which is not normally my favorite veggie. The service is always at least good for us, and I love sitting outside when the weather is nice. read more

We had a fantastic time at Zocalo last night! It was our first time in Charlottesville and I was a bit worried. The past 25 years of my life have been spent in San Francisco and Portland, OR, both very much food cities. We were very pleasantly surprised!! Our server Sheri (sp?) was awesome! We ordered and ate a lot of food. We started with 3 apps. The watermelon salad was extremely bright and very tasty with just a hint of spice. The chili broth steamed mussels were incredible, especially with extra bread for dipping!! The spicy tuna tartar was fantastic. We each then had the yellow tomato and cucumber gazpacho with shrimp salad, probably one of the best gazpachos I've ever had! We should have stopped there, but we did not. Next came the chili dusted sea scallops with a wonderful carrot-vanilla sauce., seared duck breast with a manchego bread pudding & Swiss chard. Also ordered was the spinach salad with masa fried oysters and warm cider bacon vinaigrette. The entire experience was fantastic! We were also given pointers of other area spots that are popular with locals. If I ever return to Charlottesville, I will be stopping in to Zocalo again. read more

This restaurant has become one of our favorites! Always a warm welcome from Jeremy, lovely atmosphere and exceptional service! What I truly appreciate about this restaurant is the consistency! What a wonderful dinning experience! On one occasion celebrating our 33rd wedding anniversary as always the dinner was excellent. But what also added to our unforgettable evening was our waiter. The young man had impeccable service.We have celebrated a few wedding anniversaries at Zocalo and we look forward to many more. Consistency is a KEY to exceptional service! We are from Alexandria Va and when we go back to visit we always tell family and friends we found "A fine place to dine". Thanks Zocalo..hats of to Jeremy aswell. read more

After talking about trying Zocalo for some time, my wife and I finally decided to do so and were extremely glad that we did. Our meal and service were excellent from start to finish. The ingredients all seemed fresh and everything was very well-prepared. My wife had the Chili-dusted Sea Scallops and the scallops were cooked to perfection. Similarly impressive was my Seared Duck Breast, also cooked to perfection. The only drawback is that the menu is somewhat expensive, but this is commonplace in Charlottesville and, in our opinion, not a reason to rate a restaurant with otherwise excellent food and service lower than 5 stars. read more

Great bar scene. Good beer and cocktail selection. The food is surprisingly delicious.

The manager Jeremy is one of the rudest people I've met. We were told when we arrived we needed to be done with dinner in two hours bc they "needed the table". When we left there were roughly 10-15 empty tables and we were well past their 8pm seating, meaning there was no shortage of available seating. Just horrible service. Mediocre food and extremely over priced. I'll never go back. read more

If the host wasn't so incompetent we could have eaten here. We walked in and asked for a table of two. Instead of saying we have a table available or I'm sorry we don't have anything available for tonight, he said we could have a table but only if we could be out in an hour and a half because reservations would be coming in. Ok, we're quick eaters, but never having been to this restaurant before how am I supposed to know how long it is going to take the kitchen and the server? Isn't that his job as the host to be able to manage walk-ins and reservations? So we get shown to a table by a running fireplace and try to sit down but it is just way too hot. It's 70+ degrees outside and they have a fireplace running! The couple behind us declined to sit over there too after we said it was too hot they said it would definitely be too hot for them to sit over there. We go back to the host stand and they show us what other tables we could sit at. We are shown to a round table in the bar area with a booth on one side. We ask if we can sit on the other side at a table with 2 chairs, but evidently those all were reserved. The restaurant is practically empty! So instead we'd have to sit 2 people on the booth side at this small, tiny circular table in the bar section for dinner seeing they didn't offer to get us a chair for the other side. Realizing this was already quickly becoming a restaurant failure with incompetent hosts who were less than accommodating and pretty much couldn't do their job of managing tables and the flow of the EMPTY restaurant we decided to leave before it became even worse! Maybe this place is ok if you have reservations considering it appears they save your table for the entire night! read more

Another solid c'ville restaurant to check off my list! The food is an interesting mix of Spanish and (somewhat) southwest inspired, and the atmosphere and service is top notch. I had the pork tenderloin served over grits. The spice on the pork was a little one-note for my taste (huge hit of chili powder), but it was perfectly cooked and the grits were really tasty (and that's coming from a northerner who usually avoids them). Others at the table ordered the duck, scallops, and rock fish, all of which were good (and, importantly, cooked well) and well portioned. But, the highlight of the night may have been the cheese board appetizer we split. It came with 3 cheeses: one soft and Brie-like, a hard goat's cheese, and another cow's milk one. I enjoyed all three, along with the jam/fruit they came with. Although we didn't sample from them, the wine list and dessert menu looked good as well. Note that there are tapas options available for those who want to share multiple small plates. Overall a good restaurant experience, but I do think it's a bit over priced so probably won't be going back anytime soon, especially with all the other options in town. read more

The best thing about Zocalo is its fully stocked bar and delicious cocktails. I went recently for dinner, and was underwhelmed by the selection of entrees. There was only one vegetarian entree, and everything else looked like a heavy platter of meat. I ordered the "drunken strip steak," which tasted like it had been bathed in barbecue sauce. The side of asparagus was also bland and didn't complement the flavor of the steak at all. Not what I was hoping (or expecting) for a $26 menu item. On a more positive note, their appetizers are huge and tasty (especially the caesar), and their desserts are well worth it, too. I'll definitely go back for the drinks, maybe for a small bite, but never again for dinner. read more

Was not impressed by my first visit to Zocalo. I ordered the new york strip, got the cut of meat with a rubbery tendon (or whatever it was) running through it. I couldnt enjoy it because every bite of it had a piece of tendon. What a disappointment. Dont think I'd go back. Certainly wouldnt recommend the NY Strip, doubt they inspect their meat for quality before they send it out. read more

Flavor of all the food was great. The Black Bean and Corn Relleno was tremendous with just the right amount of heat. Key Lime Range Chicken was nice and moist and the beans were delicious. A little pricey for what we would have expected in a college town but nonetheless very tasty. By the way ... somewhere we saw the advertise themselves as having Chilean, Argentinian etc food ... don't be fooled by that as what they have done is (greatly) enhanced and utilized quite well the flavors of the other countries read more

zany, tasty, polenta fries...but all food was exquisite...room feels a little too industrial for my taste...but barely noticed because i was in food heaven. read more

My favorite restaurant in Cville. I've had five incredible experiences and expect many more -- consistently solid service, drinks and food. Definitely start with the fritters. We have ordered the Black Bean and Corn Relleno every time and love it. Salmon has been great (a friend said not-so-much on the scallops). You could make a delicious meal out of the smoked tomato grits and goat cheese couscous alone. Outdoor patio is ideal during the warmer months, but even on a Friday night in the winter the atmosphere inside is great and wait never too long. I'm even a fan of the cool tiles in the bathroom. I heart Zocalo. read more

I had an awful experience at this place. I went here with some friends recently on a Saturday night to have a few drinks. We were tame and minding our own business sitting at a table. As soon as two o'clock hit the bartender yelled that they were closed and came directly over to our table and ripped away the full beers she had just sold my friend for the group less than 10 minutes earlier. If that's not enough, she came directly back and literally ripped drinks out of our hands without warning. She did not ask for them, she took or demanded. Keep in Mind this is about 2:04 at this point. The proceeded to try to rip my quarter full pint from my hand and I refused. She pitched a fit saying she could lose her job. I bartenders for two years not long ago and find this whole situation ridiculous. I've never witnessed such an abrupt and rude closing. She could have asked for us to kindly finish our drinks and make towards the door. She could have been respectful. Frankly, she was unnecessarily rude and my friends and I left zocalo with a horrible taste jn our mouth. Don't come here if you are looking for a cool laid back bar in the mall. I will not be back. read more

Went here on Friday evening after work with a friend for some drinks and some apps. We got there and sat at a round table around a tree. We waited about 10 minutes before our server came and greeted us but we were understanding of that since it seemed like the dinner rush was starting to pick up and the place was slowly starting to fill up. Our server seemed irritated that she had to wait on us. We ordered the mango frozen margarita which was really good and we got an order of mussels to eat which were also pretty good. The food and drinks were good but the service was awful. Our server wasn't very friendly, it almost seemed like she had an attitude and didn't want to wait on us. Being a server myself, I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she was busy and that's why she neglected us a little bit but she never asked how everything was, she didn't ask us if we like the food or anything. She never even smiled at us but we watched her interact with her other tables and it was a completely different attitude, she was very friendly and attentive with her other tables. You can't give 10% service and expect a 20% tip. Experiences like this one definitely make me not want to return even if the food and drinks were good! read more

One of the best meals I've had in recent memory. I had the duck and my girlfriend had the chicken. Service was good and quick, even with a crowded dining room. read more

We weren't able to eat here, but when we came in and realized that they weren't open for lunch, we were stewarded to another local place, introduced, and left with several other recommendations if their menu didn't meet our expectations. I can't speak for the food, but the service is amazing. read more

Zocalo could do with a personality upgrade. I've had drinks here several times, but never food. The drinks are pricey at about $9-11, and are an interesting mix, some tasty, some not as much. It's a nice place in Cville to go for a more grown-up feel. Don't expect any music worth noting, and it doesn't feel very loungy, but it's a good place to go if you have a group of people who wanna hang out and catch up over a few drinks. read more