Aioli Bodega Espanola

We stopped here for dinner on a road trip and were pleasantly surprised.
It was early so we were the only ones there and we chatted with server who we liked immediately.
The atmosphere was hip but intimately lighted and we were very cosy in our little booth.
The tapas were good and our server made the most perfect Lemon Drop cocktail — tart & not too sweet

Slow and overpriced.
… I’m really disappointed in Aioli… I studied abroad in Spain before, and the tapas and food here do NOT compare…
I came here with a friend for lunch and service was excruciatingly slow. The restaurant was understaffed, as there was one, poor server busting his butt to one table to another. I read on Daviswiki that Aioli seems to dislike the younger crowd, which I find somewhat true. Our service wasn’t that great (ie. the server didn’t give us the dip that was supposed to come with the bread, but he gave it to all couples around us! wth!) and we were practically neglected the whole time.
The food wasn’t too spectacular, either. I was anticipating my tortilla espanola (my all-​time fav tapa), but it was a huge disappointment… they were soggy and lacked flavor. They presented the tapa with a bunch of sauce on top, but they seriously didn’t add much pizazz to it. On top of that, it took forever for the food to come out! As for my main course, I ordered the «menu del dia» for $ 11.50, which is a good deal since it came with soup, a main dish, and dessert. After waiting probably 30 minutes, I finally got my onion soup, which was way too salty. Yuck. My swordfish and salad were both pretty good. And my dessert was bleh. I forgot what it was exactly, but it was some soggy type of dessert, and I loathe mushy food :(I’m so sad they happened to choose a something soggy as the dessert of the day…
My friend got the paella, which was pretty good. Overpriced, in my opinion… and of course, it’s not as good as the ones in Spain…
Advice: You can get paella for one person for $ 18! It’s cheaper than the paella for two…
Bottom line: great ambiance, and a great place to stare into your date’s eyes while you wait for your food… for a long time.

This is my second time frequenting this restaurant. The first time I came here with my husband, the waiter was very helpful in choosing dishes, etc. This time however, it was much different. Our waiter, the guy with the red hair, who was our waiter the first time was exceptionally rude. As we were seated, it took quite a bit to just serve us water, bring us bread, and take our order. As our food arrived (we ordered 2 tapas and paella), we hungrily ate the first 2 dishes that arrived. Minutes later another waiter arrives at our table asking us if there is anything else we’d like to eat, if not he can get the check for us. I felt as though we were being rushed or kicked out. From the time we sat down, it was hard to get service, but yet as we were midway through dinner, it seemed that they couldn’t wait to get rid of us? I mentioned to the 2^nd waiter that we were still waiting for our paella, which takes quite a bit of time to make. Finally our food arrived, we ate, asked for a box and more water, which never came. We were AGAIN ignored by our red headed waiter and resorted to a lovely girl who packaged it up for us. If there was any way to tip this lady instead of my waiter, I would have. He didn’t deserve a cent. I’m rating this restaurant not based on food, the food is excellent, but the mannerisms of the male waiters. Very rude. I noticed that we were not getting the same treatment as other patrons because we weren’t buying bottles of wine like they were. Perhaps we didn’t guzzle bottles of wine, but I feel that we did make up for the $$$ by the quantity of food! Long story short, I don’t plan to and will highly not encourage friends to dine here at the Davis location. I do, however, recommend the original restaurant in Sacramento. Staff is highly trained and professional there who actually care about you having a wonderful dining experience. It does not consist of college students just caring about how much booze they sell you to make $$$ in tips.
Check out my pics:

One of the few places you can go in Davis to be away from the college kids and the family crowd. The ambiance is great, get a bottle of wine, relax, enjoy the food and the company. The tapas are scrumptious, everything on the menu is elegant and enjoyable.
Probably a little pricey for Davis standard, but it’s probably good to keep the kids and families out.

Order the tapas. Order the paella. Don’t order the entrees. Don’t come here just to impress your significant other and you don’t like seafood.

Atmosphere: nice
Service: okay, servers seem a little uppity
Food: OK (try the chorizo with spicy beans, it was good. Shrimp was alright, I could have bought better stuffed puff pastries.
Price: way to high for the little amount of food you get. I get it’s tapas, but jeez.
OK, is this a Spanish or a French restaurant? Seems like a little of both to me!

I can’t believe I forgot to mention it but i had dinner there this weekend. Saturday nite. No reservations, walked in, had a nice glass of wine at the bar, we waited around 15 minutes and were seated out in the patio.
The wine was very good.
I didn’t even know what kind of restaurant it was when i walked in. I just noticed the patio in the evenings a few times and knew I wanted to have a meal outside there.
Saturday is a good nite to do it. A gentleman was playing a nice spanish guitar off to the side, the tables were full, and the tapas were good.
When we sat down, I realized that it was a spanish tapas restaurant, and I love spanish tapas.
I love spanish tortillas and i quickly ordered one. we also had the octopus salad, it was good, everything seemed fresh in it. oh yeah and some kind of toasted bread with goat cheese and carmelized figs, incredible, really delicious, a little sweet though. and gambas ala plancha, garlic shrimp, couldn’t go wrong there.
I didn’t want to try the main menu, because i wanted to see how they were on the tapas menu first. not bad.
still the food has more appeal than many restaurants, which are pretty middle of the road when it comes to flavors. and the ambience of the back patio as as romantic as you can get in this fair town…

mmmm there’s nothing I love more than a delicious tapas restaurant :)
I was pleasantly surprised by the décor by this place when I walked in. Granted it was COMPLETELY empty, but the decorations and the music and the ambiance were very nice. Kind of romantic haha. Very classy looking. Something I don’t find very often in Davis: P
I was slightly disappointed in the service, though. The waiter was a little bit slow, even though the restaurant was completely empty. And the waiter also looked incredibly menacing. I know that’s not his fault or anything xD but he looked like he was about to take the knife from out table setting and stab me with it. Yikesss
The food itself was pretty good. I’m writing this review months after I actually went to the restaurant, but I can say that whatever I ordered, I liked. No dish went uneaten. I give it four stars because the tapas didn’t blow my mind to bits, but it was definitely good food, and I would gladly go back for more. :)

First of all, I’m a big, BIG fan of Tapas, be they served in Spain, California, or anywhere in between. And I knew before I came to this Aioli that I felt the Sacramento restaurant was just about a 3-​star fare. So, I’m not too surprised that this Aioli was the same.
I will give credit to the very friendly and attentive staff; I thought they did a great job. And even though they were out of the wine I was hoping to have for our meal (Albarino), a sufficient replacement was recommended. The Patatas Bravas were done quite nicely, with just a hint of spiciness that the Spaniards think is hot for some reason…
The grilled lamb sausage and the meat-​filled pastry (can’t recall the name of this tapa) were tasty as well.
Where it fell a little short for me was the mussels, one of my favorite dishes & a barometer for any place I eat. I should have remembered that this offering wasn’t my favorite due to the cream sauce vs. broth, which I prefer, but I didn’t. My bad.
Nonetheless, it’s a nice place and I had an enjoyable experience, just not quite as dazzled as I like to be by Tapas… it’s kinda a high bar though I admit.

Came here for a birthday dinner a few weekends ago and I had never knew that Aioli existed. Spanish restaurant in Davis? Go fig! But in any case, the inside is nice and dark… maybe a bit too dark because I couldn’t read my menu that well. We ordered sangria which was more fruity than wine but I like mine that way. We got veggie and regular paella, the mussels, the portobello mushroom, the potatoes, the spicy chicken, and the shrimp. All in all, everything was decent except for the veggie paella. That definitely was bland… but then again, paella probably was never meant to be veggie anyways. The other dishes were okay and decent tasting but not worth gushing reviews.
The service was very good, lots of refills and plate swapping for clean ones. The bread they served with the meal also hit the spot… rosemary if I’m not mistaken.

Dull but harmless.
(Disclaimer: I haven’t been in a while, so they may have improved.)
Food is okay, but certainly not up to the prices and far from being traditional tapas or Spanish. More «generic take on what Americans think Spanish people eat.» That said, it’s not bad per se, just sort of dull. The service can be annoying, too. If you want better and slightly more authentic tapas, try Tapas the World in Sac.

My friend came to Davis tonight to take me out to dinner. She chose Aioli with her sister’s recommendations and of course, Unilocal!And OMG, it was simply lovely! :D
We walked into the restaurant and we were instantly dazzled. Who knew such a place existed in Davis? I would have never expected it!
The ambiance: The lighting was low. The tables were nicely arranged. The whole place just beamed of elegance and class.
The host was a gentleman as he led us to our table. There were a lot of selections on the menu. Our waiter explained the layout of the menu, and gave us quick explanations of the style of each dish. He was charming, too. The whole staff was really amazing. They were attentive, helpful, and very generous.
We ordered two things:
— the beet salad
— paella
The free bread came in a cute little basket and was accompanied by a creamy dipping sauce. It had a very fresh taste to it.
The beet salad was served in a perfect portion. It was tasty. Black olives, white olives, onions, and feta cheese were mixed into it. The vinaigrette was very light. YUM!
The paella = breathtaking. As it was brought to the table, the aroma of it made our mouths water. You could smell the saffron, the shrimp, the calamari… everything was just a perfected blend of flavor. It was my first time trying paella~ I really want more right now.
The entire meal was delicious!
We also got a complimentary champagne dipped chocolate covered strawberry for dessert. THANK YOU: D :D We gobbled it right up. Our waiter was really amazing :]
Overall, I had a fabulous experience at Aioli. And I am definitely going back. I highly recommend this restaurant if you have the time (and an extra bit of cash) to splurge :] AMAZING. Thank youuu :]]

I don’t get how some people say this food is bland — those folks must have worked at Dow Chemical or Chernobyl reactor #4.
We had four dishes that were quite tasty and presented very well.
Portabello del Jerez, mushrooms sauteed with sherry and garlic YUM
Pulpo a la Galega, octopus in adobo sauce, YUMx2
Roasted red pepper soup YUMx3
Zarzuela de Mariscos, seafood in a garlicy tomato sauce, YUMx4
Drinks were good, stong, well priced and delivered efficiently. Service was very good and pleasant. They give you unlimited warm bread to help sop-​up the wonderful sauces that accompany each dish.
I would recommend this restaurant to anyone that likes food with a spanish-​flare. Fresh, somewhat healthy and delicious!!!
Ya feel me?

low and behold Unilocalers have come to my rescue…
My sweetie & I were looking for good chow to celebrate our 1 month anniversary and we were NOT dissapointed at all…
Wonderful, friendly, attentive service throughout the meal, the atmosphere and room are very inviting as well…
On to the food:
Terrific tapas from start to finish:
Beet salad: wonderful mixture of beets, onions, cheese with light-​flavorful vinaigrette
Sardines: terrific, salty and over flat bread… delicious
Steak tartar slices with wonderful herbed sauce
Lamb meatballs in a tomato sauce (amazing dipping fodder too!)
Duck breast as well…
all perfectly cooked, wonderfully presented.
The only reason for the non-​5 star… the duck dish was very pricey for the size of portion (18 bucks for 1 breast)… everything else still a bit pricey for tapas (vs SF/​Bay area or even Madrid for that matter) but not out of the question… and the quality was definitely worth it.
I only wish we had room for dessert… can’t wait to go back.

Around 6:15 on Monday evening, boyfriend and I entered Aiolli. It was entirely empty, except for a kitchen worker of some kind (chef? line cook?) eating at an empty table towards the back of the restaurant. Over the course of the 1.5 hours we were in the restaurant, three other tables are seated.
As a pesco-​vegetarian, I really enjoy restaurants that offer a selection of seafood dishes. What I don’t enjoy is the lack of disclosure when seafood dishes incude other meat in them, like the stuffed calamari that my boyfriend (also a pesco-​veggie) and I ordered at Aiolli last night. While most of the stuffing was other seafood, it did include «a little» pork, according to our server.
I guess on some level it’s my fault for not asking about contents of stuffing specifically before ordering, but I also think it’s great when menus clearly disclose the contents of their dishes, especially restaurants like Aiolli that pull that psuedo-​douchey menu move where they list all of their items in another language, and follow-​up with detailed English explanations underneath.
Other than that, things were relatively tasty and fresh. The shrimp in garlic, although beautifully seasoned, tasted a little rubbery. The vegetarian paella was more greasy than crunchy.
Will I come back? Maybe, after I’ve visited many other restaurants in Davis.

Ambience: lighting was good, cozy seating, but come on… WTF is up with hanging wine glasses everywhere with lights? that was a sign of a creative license that is expired or should be revoked. Add cheese to the raviolis but not to the interior design of the restaurant
balance between quality/​price: not good. Quality of food was average and extremely over-​priced for what you get. They should focus on improving the food and not making you pay tons of money for a pretty setting. Or at least make up for in their portion sizes!
Tastiness: The cheese pastry triangles and roasted vegetables were very good — but so are frozen pastries cooked your toaster. The chicken was dry and the shrimp was mediocre. I did not eat the mussels because I am not a lesbian.
Service: She took this rockin’ picture of us, so who’s to complain?
Presentation: How about I present your face — that would have been more impressive!

What a lovely place to have dinner in Davis! The menu offer a wide array of choices including appetizers, tapas, and specialty dishes. We decided not to go with tapas because we figured it would get expensive fast ($ 9-​$ 14 per dish and they are sample size dishes.) instead we split a tuna tartar appetizer that was priced at $ 14, and the paella valenciana (seafood & meat in saffron rice) for $ 36.
I thought the prices were high but worth it for the choices we made. The paella was very different from the one I had in Spain because there was way less rice than there was seafood, but no complaints there: p
Beyond great service, nice ambiance, and good food, there is a catch. They add 18% surcharge automatically to your bill — and that applies to everyone. not just «parties of 6 or more». That was pretty annoying. it is called a gratuity for a reason.

I am not even sure if this place deserves a 3…
but the ambiance is really nice!!! service was okay, better than i expected actually.
so my friends took me here for my birthday and completely surprised me, which was really nice! anyways, this place is expensive… not cheap AT ALL.
so we ordered about 5 tapas calientes (hot dishes, really small portions), youre suppose to order a lot and try all the different dishes. we also got a veggie paelle.
so ill start off with the 5 tapas calientes. we got shrimp garlic, grilled eggplant, carrots, squash, portobello mushroom with sherry and garlic, potatoes with tomato sauce and pasta ravoli with cheese, shitake mushrooms.
shrimp garlic was alright, good when hot. we had to get it reheated because we wanted to eat it with the paelle, which takes 40 mins to make. the shrimp garlic came first and the paelle came last… so yeah
grilled eggplant dish was the bomb-​diggity!!! it was freaking amazing and i dont normally eat eggplant, but it was delicious. something we can all make… but it was delicious.
portobello mushroom with sherry and garlic was REALLY REALLY YUMMY. simple, but amazing. must try.
ravoili with cheese, shittake mushrooms… we took one bite and never touched it again. it tasted funky. and smelled weird. but it just didnt satisfy our taste buds.
the paelle. was ok. slimy. they served it to us cold and the waiter was like «its really hot, be careful, dont touch the pan.» and we… touched it and it was cold. so then it was reheated. no more sliminess. but i didnt really like it. (first time having paelle… willing to try again though)
oh and we had a virgin mojito. SO GOOD!!! this was my first time trying a drink. without alcohol, of course.
so for my birthday dessert… they gave us an almond cake with strawberries, non-​flavored whip cream, and a truffle on top. the almond cake tasted like uncooked egg, drenched all over. i have never tasted plain whipped cream, seriously tastes like nothing. i rather eat a bottle of whipped cream, even though i am not a big fan of whipped cream. truffle was good, so were the strawberries!
can this review be any longer?!
so, MUST try mojito, tapas caliente: portobello mushroom with sherry and garlic * grilled eggplant and veggie with garlic.

I only ate here once so my review is only based on that one time. But, I thought it was average. The food was ok. The service left much to be desired. And the brown disposable table settings, I hated.
I’d rather drive 20 minutes for a better meal in Sacramento.

I have kind of mixed reviews about this place. I have been here 3 different times and had very different levels of service.
I did arrange a lunch for my company for about 25 people. I called ahead of time and made reservation. I talked to the chef and we planned out a menu and the wines we would be needed. We came and and were seated. They started brining food and wine out. It worked out perfect. Everyone in our group was very happy with the service and no waiting at all!
I have been here 2 other times for much and it was really really slow service. My lunch ended up being almost a 2 hour lunch and we did not order very much.
It is much better than some of the other restaurants in Davis though.