Cafe Aion

Ate here last night and was very disappointed. The food was pretty good, but the HORRIBLE service ruined the experience for me. After we were sat (by the the person who was our server but never said that or introduced herself), we waited for over 15 minutes until my friend decided to flag the girl down. She rudely told us to «wait and minute» and eventually came back to take our drink order. Needless to say this continued throughout the night. About half way through our time there (and multiple times of waving her down), she came up and said «sorry, we’re understaffed tonight» and walked away. Weird that she wouldn’t mention that right when she sat us! She continued to be nasty and ignore us, and I’m concerned with management if the think scheduling 2 servers on a super busy Friday night is a good idea. And if they were short staffed, why weren’t the managers on the floor helping?
We will not be returning to this restaurant.

Estas de broma? No one who has ever been to the Costa Brava would put bland, sweet sauce on fried potatoes and call them «patatas bravas.» And the tortilla was cold, rubbery, and bland too. Tapas malas y caras. $ 6 for an Estrella? I know that they are imported, but you can buy that at any bar in Barcelona for about $ 1.50.

We stopped in to use our pre-​paid Winter Warmer passport from
. The passport gets us BOGO deals and sangria was the deal!
The menu we we’re given said that the house sangria was $ 2. We found out later that they were normally $ 7, when not on happy hour.
They charged us $ 7 for two, when two would have cost us $ 4 without and pre-​paid deal.
Overall I don’t think we got a BAD deal, just a dishonest deal. I would have understood if they charged us $ 4. The fact they were dishonest gets me to suggest they might be dishonest in other forums of the business as well.
I won’t be back anytime soon. If I can’t trust you, I can’t be comfortable around you.

Having lived in Spain before, I have really high Spanish food standards. The olives at a pricey 4.5 for a small dish was disheartening, they were good but not big enough to justify the cost. The paella was good but not as big as a normal serving for two would be. The tortilla was disappointing but edible. I’d say it’s a good spot for aSpanish food but I have had better. Pretty pricey for what you get.

Hands down, this is the best place on the Hill!
Epic brunch for starters! For example: fried Cauliflower accompanied with a Saffron yogurt sauce & a Quinoa Salad brought to life via this weeks provisions courtesy of the Farmer’s Market.

I have been going to CU Boulder for a year and never spotted this place, it is just down Pennsylvania from The Sink, and just because I was on foot I wandered in instead of the sushi I was hinkering for (across the street). I came in on a late afternoon on a Thursday and was immediately impressed by the ambiance. The layout is nice and open with a tall bar that commands the room. The contemporary design made me wonder how I had never heard of this place, it is quite classy. The next thing that happens was that I sat at the bar, placing my backpack from school on the bar stool next to me. As I do this, I hear two staff members discussing how college is unnecessay. They then proceed to talk about how all college kids are spoiled rich kids with no sense of reality. I may be an outlier, but as a veteran who is fortunate enough to have the government paying for my (very expensive) tuition I still took a little offense to these comments. I work 3 jobs and go to school full time, my money is well earned, and all I could think about was that even if there are tens of thousands of very privileged people in the immediate area, this guy is not doing the business any favors by being hostile to that potentially very huge group of clientele. I sat down and decided I needed to try at least a few of the tapas and the bartender looked like he knew what he was doing so I grabbed the special drink. Apparently it is national honey month /​pollen at or appreciation month. The cocktail featured for this period is a Chai Bee Feisty. It was quite good, if you like chai, and I immediately softened up a little to the place, antsy to try the food. The morrocan pork sliders sounded delicious, and the bartender recommended the cauliflower when i asked for a recommendation. The pork sliders were outstanding. Tender, juicy, and well seasoned — in between two unconventional pieces of bread for sliders — in a good way. The guy was right abiut the cauliflower, also amazing, accompanied by a saffron yogurt and topped with cumin. Next i went for the colorado quinao. Soooo good. Chilis, apricot, lemon, almonds, and some cilantro to make it just right. In the end this was a perfect snack between classes. The tapas were ready in a very timely manner and I enjoyed the food. I think the chef has created a wonderfully diverse menu, and the proprietor, an atmosphere to match. The prices are not anything that a college freshman living off Ramen and dorm food can enjoy regularly, and so I see why it was void of other customers, expect for myself and two ladies having a social hour (@ 4pm) As I was leaving I saw a young college age looking girl come in with her parents, probably the perfect market for a place like this… it just bothered me a little that the apparent manager was talking down the people who could potentially contribute most of the money that pays his bills. I think the chef and owner have done a great job, and would love to come back and see the lunch menu, but if this manager guy is here that day, I’ll probably get sushi instead.

Nice little spot! Went here due to all of the other restaurants being packed to the brim during the CU move in days. I made an excellent choice. Nice patio area and roomy interior that was cool and comfortable. I Had the BLT and an Upslope beer. The server said they have different and new beers on tap every week. I Will have to check out their dinner menu sometime.

To the lovely Café Aion– You are quite cute!
Customers: be casual; Don’t come in a suit!
We sat on their patio for a leisurely lunch.
Menu offer salads, or eggs if you want brunch.
I picked the veggie burger and sweet potato fries.
Served up warm and quickly; was drooling from my eyes.
Fries were spot-​on delish and salted just right.
Hibiscus iced tea refreshed me, a hot day delight!
The veggie burger wasn’t great; wished it had some crunch.
Yet décor and service I loved. I’d come again for lunch.

Awesome service! The waiter was so friendly and really great!

This review is specifically for the fantastic sangria and their sidewalk tables. Last Saturday afternoon, a compadre and I were able to get seats without hassle to at the Café which is always a good start on a weekend.
Our waiter was really friendly though admittedly rushed. It seemed as though he was the only one working both the inside tables and the patio.
We ordered two rounds of sangria and my friend had the hand cut chips with spices on them. The sangria was good aside from the fact that they were in the tiniest glasses ever.
I’ll definitely be going back to tack advantage of their wine and paella deal. It’s something like a bottle of wine and paella for 2 – 4 people for ~$ 45. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.

Aion lost me as a customer today. We’ve been going there for brunch for the past few years — cute setting, tables available on Open Table, and who doesn’t love a fresh donut and hole? Unfortunately, the food quality has been going downhill and my brunch today was down right bad — so bad that it left me wishing that I had made breakfast at home. For someone who doesn’t cook, that’s saying a lot. EVERYTHING I ordered was cooked past recognition. Eggs, bacon, potatoes and a donut? All dried out hockey pucks. The eggs were inedible. I sent them back. They came back… inedible. Dried out and completely overcooked eggs twice? I was offered no apology or amends and paid the full bill for a breakfast I didn’t eat. Needless to say, service was meh at best. See ya, Aion. Good luck getting college students to pay your prices.

The Colorado burger is to die for! Made me change my mind about having a beer! Brie, pickled onions, sweet potato fries… can go wrong.

I’ve been to Café Aion twice now — the first time was okay, but last night was a total fail. It went a little something like this:
–I ordered the Grilled Marlin, but they were out of that
–So then I ordered the scallops, but they were out of those, too
–So then I ordered one of their soups, but they didn’t have that either
To top it off, our server seemed like she was trying to rush us out of there, and there was literally only a handful of people in the entire restaurant for the couple of hours that we were there, so they were definitely NOT busy. She kept coming over and asking me if I’d like my food boxed up, WHILE I WAS STILL EATING. Then, when I finally succumbed to her many requests to see if I was done (while there was still lots food on my plates), she took away my food and came back with the bill, without bothering to ask us if we wanted another glass of wine or anything (we did, but decided to go elsewhere).
With all of the amazing places to eat in Boulder, I’m not sure I’ll go back to Aion after this last visit.

I was so excited to eat here on our vacation. My husband wasn’t as excited about it. I got the Help sandwich with sautéed kale and also a Bloody Mary. I was definitely let down. The sandwich was difficult to eat, so I had to pick it apart. The Bloody Mary was a little too savory for my taste.
My husband was surprised with how much he liked it. He ordered the burger with sweet potato fries. His food was delicious!
The service was pretty good– quick and friendly. Overall the price wasn’t bad.

Great flavor, service, and value.
I always forget how much I enjoy dinner at Aion. You can split starters, paella, and a bottle of wine, and walk away feeling like you made good decisions.

I often question the reviews some people leave for some of the places in Boulder. If you want real deal Spanish tapas, this isn’t the place! We went for happy hour, not knowing how it would be, and I’m glad we only wasted $ 25, and not more.
We ordered 2 sangrias, can’t get white or cava on happy hour, only red, kinda disappointing, since I’m sure the house wines they pour are the same as they use for the sangria.
We also ordered some tapas, the patatas bravas, tortilla and spring onions. Patatas bravas are supposed to be spicy!!! Hence the name bravas! Let me share my super secret recipe I learned in Spain at a tapas bar, ketchup with some Tabasco sauce in it.
The spring onions were nothing more than some scallions that were half grilled, with the blandest «romesco» I’ve ever had.
The tortilla was a sad attempt at an easy dish, you can tell they used a small sauté pan, sautéed a few potatoes then added the egg, no salt, if there were onions in it, I missed it, in place there were some pickled red onions. The real deal is made much bigger and has so much more flavor than this flat bland omelette.
The service was very lackluster. Only 1 other table in the place had people and no one was getting service. The bar keep was forgetful, and asked if what she brought us was what we had ordered.
We paid our bill, went to pizzeria locale, had three times the amount of food, amazing service and the bill came out to the same amount down to the penny.
We won’t be returning, and if you value your money and palate, I’d say you should skip it as well!

I’ve been to Café Aion multiple times and always like the food. A couple weeks ago, I went for drinks and small plates with a few friends and once again everything was very good.
But I think some of the small plates are overpriced ($ 13 for the merguez!), and when you ask for bread, you get 4 small slices (for a group of 3). Please, bread is easy to make and cheap (water, salt and flour), quite a few places tend to forget how cheap it is, and we now feel like it’s a special treat to get bread. I have noticed that trend for the few last years. Well, at least, at Café Aion, we don’t have to pay for bread… yet.

If you love food you need to put this place on your list of must go to restaurants. If you go for dinner, I would suggest making a reservation as it fills up and stays full all evening.
We went Friday night and the place was packed and the staff overworked, took 20 minutes of waiting before we were able to get a drink at the bar due to there only being one bartender. She does make a hell of a good bloody mary though.
Once seated we were immediately greeted by our waiter, a very friendly young man, and very knowledgeable about the food and the preparation of it.
To start the meal we shared the boquerones, white anchovies lightly drizzled with lemon and olive oil served on grilled slices of bread, light and delicate and so much flavor. We accompanied them with a mixture of olives with rosemary and orange, simply delicious.
For my main course I had the seafood stew, the prawns were large and head on, something far too few restaurants do, the seafood was cooked perfectly and the house chorizo is amazing. Rich and full of flavor.
All in all a great dining experience, this would have been a 5 star experience if they would add a couple of more people for the weekends.

My husband and I came here with friends for brunch on a Saturday. We arrived a little late in the day and had the whole upstairs pretty much to ourselves. As we were being seated, my eye landed on a lone sticky bun in the window.
We ordered the sticky bun and 2 of the homemade donuts to start. The sticky bun was hands down the best of the bunch with a perfect blend of sweet and sticky. We both celebrated and rued the fact that we had the last one. Yay and boo!
The guys ordered the french press coffee and liked the fact that the pot came out with a little sand timer to let you know when to press the plunger. The ladies ordered the limeade with ginger which was perfectly tart but could have used more ginger syrup.
For my main I ordered the creamy polenta with poached eggs and vegetables. My husband ordered the lox platter, one of our friends ordered the same as me and the other ordered the Bravas. The creamy polenta was a big hit — ever so slightly salty, it balanced with the perfectly poached eggs and the acidity of the tomato vegetables. I was scraping my bowl with a coffee spoon to get every last bite. No shame.
My husband was impressed with the homemade bagel and made one big gigantic sandwich with the lox, cream cheese and pickled onions — he was a happy man.
Our friend that ordered the bravas was disappointed when the plate came out with two poached eggs, deep fried potato wedges and a small side of bravas «sauce.» She had expected this to be the more traditional Spanish version and while she acknowledged she should have asked questions, she was annoyed nonetheless. I tried a potato and the sauce and it had a really nice flavor.

You have some serious service issues. Too long to get drinks. They were incorrect when they came out. Server went away and came back 5 mins later to confirm what the drink should be. Waiting 15 minutes per round of drinks is way too long. Not even busy on this Friday night. It gets better, my second round drink was incorrect as they brought my manhattan up vs on the rocks. The 4^th time they messed up my drink in one night. True dinner comedy. I guess that is one positive; we all had a few laughs at our table.
While we ordered the waitress didn’t write anything down, pretty amazing considering we had a varied tapas and entrée order for 4. Not easy as I’ve worked in the industry and know how hard this is.
As expected she came back because she didn’t remember what the party ordered. Not a good sign.
Overall… Service was slow and not on point. Pretty sloppy for the prices and won’t be back. The food was pretty good but not great.
Final thoughts, two manhattans and not a signal cherry. Sounds about right.
I say stay away until this place grows up and takes customer service seriously.