Jaleo

Las Vegas is home to many restaurant franchises, including Jaleo by celebrity chef Jose Andres. Unfortunately what I have found common to these restaurants is that they are almost never as good as their original locations, and for me, Jaleo is no exception. Jaleo's Las Vegas location is on the third floor of the Cosmopolitan. The restaurant is in an open space, not at all isolated from the noisy area just outside of the restaurant. Overall, the experience I had at Jaleo wasn't great. I came here with my family to celebrate a birthday. From the first interaction we had with the host, we were not able to be seated for our reservation until about seven minutes after. Soon after, we were met with a waitress who really seemed to be having a bad day. She was passive aggressive and condescending, clearly getting annoyed when we asked for recommendations and needed more time with the massive menu. She was also keen to upsell items like the quesos and embutidos when we asserted that we only wanted one type. Not welcoming or hospitable at all. Portions at Jaleo are small, which is to be expected since they specialize in tapas. However, this also means that you need a lot of food to be full. Each dish doesn't seem too expensive, but considering how much each person needs to order for a sufficient portion, it really adds up quickly. The paellas are amongst the most expensive items, which are not even a generous portion for one person despite a 60 dollar price tag for the cheapest option. Speaking to the quality of the food itself, I was only happy with a few of the dishes we ordered. The croquetas were a highlight, with their crispy exterior and yummy filling. However, the presentation was extremely lackluster. There was no attention to detail, but rather just all scattered and thrown down on a plate over paper with no effort. No alignment or pattern. It kind of just felt like they didn't care. The only other real standout for me was the asparagus. I actually thought this was the best dish we had by a mile. The texture of the asparagus was great: having a slight chew while not being mushy at all, with a flavorful and tasty romesco sauce beneath it. As for everything else, the octopus was ok, having a decent texture but really lacked the crispiness that I was hoping for at first glance. The potatoes that it was served with were nothing special and the sauce was on the bland side. The patatas bravas were also decent, but again, I thought they could've been crispier on the outside. They were mushy, but redeemed by the aioli. Aside from these, the dish that disappointed me the most was the paella. In the open part of the kitchen, you can see paellas being rotated on massive cast iron pans over open flames. Also being a staple dish in Spanish cuisine, I was really excited to try the paella at Jaleo. We got a rotating special chorizo y patata paella. I was so surprised to see yet another small portion for being around 80 dollars. Despite this, the taste was also mediocre. The rice was not crisped at all and the paprika flavor was underwhelming. The flavor in the chorizo was good, but was also a little mushy. All in all, I felt that the food was disappointing. Most dishes weren't bad, but were also pretty forgettable. And for how many we ordered, I was hoping to really enjoy more of them than I did. However, the combination of the mediocre food and the bad service are ultimately why I will stray away from coming back to Jaleo. Not one staff member wished a happy birthday or even seemed to know about it which was disappointing, and our server only came back to our table once between taking our order and delivering the check. These factors also had us decide against ordering dessert here and opting for somewhere else. The poor service really stuck with me and will continue to leave a sour taste in my mouth when I think of Jaleo. For being a famous flagship restaurant under a celebrity chef, I had higher hopes.