Sabores

This place is terrible and, luckily, you can’t see it very well from the street. Take it as a sign and go to Rypple, Cleveland Park Bar & Grill, etc. instead.
For the most part, the food is fried and greasy. If it’s neither of those, it’s just blah. And absurdly overpriced.
The service is terrible and they’ll forget your order, only to deliver it 20 minutes later after you’re already full (and slightly nauseous) from the fried and greasy tapas you already ate.
Did I mention it’s housed in a garage?
Run elsewhere. Plenty of other good spots in the neighborhood.

*1.5 stars*
This place is getting ½ star for the food and atmosphere. The only reason I’m giving it an extra star is because the staff was very nice.
My husband read the reviews and suggested we try this place. Cleveland Park is not our hangout spot, so it’s nice to try a different neighborhood.
For some reason, I thought that this place had a restaurant somewhere in the back, but maybe I missed it. All I saw was a narrow hallway-​like space with garage doors, cafeteria-​like tables and no décor. It looked like someone’s garage.
It was Friday night and the music was blasting very loudly, but there was no one there. There were three tables occupied, including ours, and no one was even remotely dancing. So why blast the music? My husband also said that this place was supposed to be happening on the weekends, but that did not appear to be so on that night.
The food was really terrible. I ordered the chile relleno and my husband ordered the arroz con pollo encebollado (rice with chicken in onions). My chile relleno was truly awful. First, it was covered with a thick layer on cheese. One top of the cheese, was a cheese sauce that covered the entire plate. The cheese was tasteless and cheese sauce was too, but it felt like a heart attack. I could barely taste any of the actual pepper. It was thickly stuffed with a combination of ground meats, which were dry and had a bad flavor. It is strange, because they had some flavor (e.g. the chef threw in spices) but it was just a wrong combination of spices. My husband’s chicken was beyond awful. This says a lot because my husband is one of the least picky people in the world. It is rare for him to actually hate something. He said that the chicken actually had that flavor of chicken that’s been boiled in water without anything. It had no flavor and it also smelled awful.
This dining experience appears very strange in light of the good reviews this place has gotten. Both of us have had our share of latin and iberian food in our time (my husband is also Salvadorean) and I don’t think we’ve ever had anything this bad. In addition to this, this place is not cheap at all.
Because the manager was very friendly, I really didn’t want to give it such a bad review. He came up to us several times and asked how the food was. What was I supposed to say: your food is terrible? I wanted to like this place but, unfortunately, I don’t think we will be back.

I went to Sabores for breakfast today — a mixed experience. The food was excellent, but everything else was just okay. Given this restaurant’s location in Cleveland park, it really needs to be excellent all around to compete with Palena, Dino, Ripple, Ardeo, and the others.
My gripes, although pretty superficial, actually make a big difference in my choice to probably not return to this restaurant:
— the room was dark during brunch with all the dark curtains pulled
— waitress in sweatpants, not available most of the time. she brought coffee with no milk, told me they don’t offer Splenda (they do; it was on all the other tables), brought a tiny pitcher of cold mlk then didn’t bring more when I ran out, took a long time to bring the bill then brought a pen with no ink and walked away.
Again, my complaints are pretty minor but with all the excellent food in Cleveland Park, there’s no reason to go to the restaurant with mediocre service!
I’m writing this review in part to provide some constructive criticism and make the restaurant a little better. They have a good concept and good food so I want them to be successful!

I returned to Sabores after the hiatus of winter storm after winter storm. I was also excited to try out the new cuisine offered by their new chef. We were seated promptly and shortly thereafter the first pitcher of sangria was flowing. I always like the sangria mixed in with their great bread and olive oil tapenade mixture. Its perfect.
The new chef has some nice new items that are unique to the neighborhood (and delicious), but their excellent menu is still there. What was super cool was the chef coming out to greet diners to discuss his approach and his new cuisine.
I’d say that Sabores has been re-​imagined and refreshed… it seemed a different vibe. I can’t wait to return.
We also happened to go down to club soda. I had no idea Cleveland Park had that type of nightlife. Wow.

Small plates, but not so small prices.
I love tapas-​style food, but unfortunately not all small foods are equal. To make small plates worthwhile, in my opinion, every bite has to have a lot of flavor and depth. While there were some dishes at Sabores that met this criteria, other dishes seemed more akin to hors d’oeuvres served at your average DC reception.
The good: conquettes (small but tasty, can’t go wrong with friend ham and potato balls), lamb taquitos (more like a street taco but had flavorful filling), crab stuffed avocado, fried plantains (hard to go wrong) and the bread with tapanade they give at the beginning.
The meh: salad with figs (looked spinach dumped on a plate with 3 figs on the side), the chicken turnovers (dry chicken that needed more seasoning)
As for the other aspects of the restaurant. .. the service was prompt and friendly. The atmosphere is fine, they do the best they can with the small space that is essentially like a converted garage. But remember to bring a sweater if it’s cold outside because the insulation is not the best. The lounge downstairs looks like it could be fun, but it also seems musty when it’s wet outside.
Finally, the prices weren’t horrible, but they weren’t great either. We had a groupon coupon, which worked without a problem. I would consider coming here on their 40% night or for happy hour, but it’s not on the top of my list to come back otherwise.

Great spot. They have a decent vegetarian selection. Service is wonderful — they’re so friendly.
Plaintains are amazing, and I love the jicama salad… very fresh. The strawberry dessert is fantastic too — it was not heavy at all and was a great way to finish off the meal.
We only went during their deal of 40% off Monday nights (I think they have modified versions of this now). The only reason they get 3, instead of 4 stars, is it’s a little pricey on non-​Monday nights for the food.

My sister and I were baller-​ettes at Taberna del Alabardero the night before, PLUS we did some damage shopping in Georgetown, so we were looking for sangria and tapas that wouldn’t break the bank. On Sundays and Mondays, Sabores advertises 40% off of dinner, so coming here for dinner and drinks seemed like a no-​brainer. It wasn’t crowded and we were seated right away.
Our sangria came out in a timely manner, and it was pretty good. It was all downhill from there.
We ordered four tapas to start out with: croquetas, mejillones (mussels), cheese, and a salad with boquerones. 40 to 45 minutes later, the cheese, croquetas, and the salad came out. I’m sorry, but even if you went to Spain to get my cheese, I don’t want to wait 40 minutes for it to get to my table. Also, if my sister and I have to wait that long, the food better be good. And it wasn’t; it was horrible. The cheeses weren’t even Spanish cheeses — smoked gouda and Stilton, puh-​lease. The consistency of the croquetas was all wrong. The anchovy salad made me furious — they were the anchovies from the tin can, not the fresh white boquerones — I’m not going to pay $ 10 for that sorry excuse for a salad.
ANOTHER 45 minutes elapse: «Donde estan nuestros mejillones?» Yeah, the mussels still did not arrive. My sister flagged down our waiter and the next glass of sangria was on the house. The waiter reassured us and told us that the mussels would be out in just a few minutes. It really doesn’t take long to get mussels to pop, so we believed him.
Apparently, we shouldn’t have taken his word because I killed that glass of sangria and the mussels STILL weren’t there. My sister and I wanted to get out of there and go home, so we asked for the check (visibly annoyed at this point). When the check comes out, our waiter charged us for the «on the house» sangria. Are you f*cking kidding me?! At this point, I’m waiting for Ashton Kutcher to jump out from behind the bar and tell me that I’ve been punk’d…
We pulled the manager aside and made sure that we didn’t have to drop a single dollar for that «dinner.» It angers me and disgusts me that there are reputable, quality restaurants that struggle and don’t make it, yet this poor excuse of a tapas restaurant can remain open (and garner such positive reviews).

This restaurant was a huge disappointment. My sister and I ordered four tapas. Three of our tapas took 40 minutes to come out even though the restaurant was on the empty side. Their idea of anchovie salad was anchovies out of a jar on top of some shredded lettuce. When we asked about the whereabouts of our fourth tapa, mussels, the (drunk) manager told us they didn’t put in that order and that it would be right out. He saw we were visibly annoyed and gave my sister a refill of her sangria «on the house.» We waited another 45 minutes before I was frustrated enough to ask for the check, without the mussels. When we got the check, they had charged us for the sangria that was supposedly on the house! I brought this to the manager’s attention and he let us leave without paying which I guess was nice. Right now I am disappointed and still hungry. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Great service, tasty cocktails, and the food is 40% off on Sundays and Mondays. What more could you ask for?
I really like this place, and I hope more people start going there, because I fear it’s going to close and that would make me sad. Really sad. And you don’t want to make me sad, do you?

3.5 starrrrrs
My hubs was craving tapas, I think DC SUCKS for tapas so I was hesitant. I asked him to Unilocal it and lo and behold. We found Sabores. Reviews looked good, and we were willing to try it despite my reservations.
The space is a bit uninspired, the floor is on a slant and service also started on a slow note we were a bit tucked away but soon we were spotted and all was on an up and up. But every morsel of food that came out was so damn good that all these considerations don’t really matter to me. We had the gambas al ajillo, the chicken turnovers, serrano ham (I too thought it too salty), ceviche, croquetas. All were really good. Ceviche, probably the best in town. Gambas were actually salty garlicky as it should be. Croquetas were soft and meaty bitty on the side.
We could have stopped there but did you know the food is 40% off on Sundays and Mondays?
We didn’t until we were at the front door but man, we took advantage of it. We got the chorizo dinner and the lamb rack. We obviously couldn’t really eat much more after the tapas but these were fabulous leftovers. The lamb is probably one of the best I’ve had in DC, it is served over a tomato-​y rice, the chorizo over sauteed bell peppers. Every seasoned to my palate. We will definitely go back, SOON.
I hated La Tasca, I hated Jaleo, not a fan of Zatinya, I have yet to try La Taberna (can’t wait!) but this is going to be my affordable tasty go to option for tapas in DC!
Not to mention YUMMY YUMMY caipirinas…

I went to Sabores for dinner tonight with three friends and really had a wonderful time. Overall, the food was delicious and the service was great.
For the small dishes, we shared:
— a house salad (average and felt like it needed some vinaigrette);
— serrano ham (average, a little too salty and the flavor was not as bold as the serranos I tasted in Madrid);
— ground beef empanadas (very tasty, hot, and yummy),
— fried chicken pouches (tasted like chicken pot pies, but the chicken had very little taste and definitely needed more seasoning),
— garlic shrimp (shrimp had a wonderful firmness and were succulent);
— seared scallops with mashed potatoes (the scallops were a little dry and hard);
— roasted honey plantains (delicious)
And for the large dish, we shared:
— a churrasco sabores, which was a huge steak with mashed potatoes, one chorizo sausage, with chimichurri sauce (delicious).
Dessert was probably my favorite and I’d even go back just for the dessert. I had a chocolate tort with ice cream. The chocolate tort was rich, decadent, and warm such that the chocolate was just sooo soft and almost oozing out, and the vanilla ice cream served on top of the tort complemented it very nicely.
And what was great about the whole experience was that we got a 40% discount for the entire food menu because it was a Sunday. I believe they also have 40% off on Mondays as well. For all that, the bill came out to 24.16 per person! This price was very satisfying for a great and filling meal.
I think next time I go, I’ll try some dishes that I didn’t have this time like the feijoada and reorder the steak, shrimp, honey roasted plantains, and chocolate tort.
The one thing I didn’t like about this place was the slanted floor since the restaurant seems to be built up on a ramp. My friends also didn’t like the flan dessert, which our waitress kindly took off of our bill.
I’ll definitely be going back to this place.

This place is really really good. I love tapas and sangria, and this place did not disappoint.
The prices are a bit high compared to other DC tapas restaurants, BUT on Sundays and Mondays dinner is 40% off (not sure how long that will last).
We ordered the red sangria, which in my opinion was better than La Tasca’s regular sangria (and La Tasca is one of my fave places to eat). There wasn’t the much fruit in it (I love lots), but the flavor was fantastic.
We ordered several small plates: ceviche, anchovy salad, patatas bravas, cheese plate, ham croquettes and lamb taquitos. With the complimentary bread (and yummy olive tapenade), this was almost too much food for two people. I think 5 plates would have sufficed. The ceviche, anchovy salad, cheese plate and lamb taquitos were all very good. The lamb was my fave, really really tender. The croquettes and patatas were good, but two dishes that I think are hard to mess up.
This place is empty a lot and I don’t know why. It is so good!

I LOVED this place! I never even knew it was there, but some friends & I decided to go there for a girl’s night one Friday. It wasn’t crowded at ALL when we got there. Service was great, our waiter was beautiful. My friends & I couldn’t agree on any dishes to split because we all like drastically different things, so we didn’t go tapas-​style, but we all found dishes that we really liked.
I ordered the sopa de frijoles negro, which wasn’t as hot as I expected it to be, but tasted good at warm, lukewarm & at cold, which seemed pretty amazing & unusual. It was really smooth & creamy — & served in some cool modern dishware!
I also got the patatas bravas with romesco aioli. I like them, although the aioli wasn’t my favorite, & it also came with some salsa I didn’t adore. The potatoes themselves tasted sort of like I could’ve toasted them up on my toasted over, but they were tasty & filled the «I need some small side» requirement.
The main dish I had isn’t on their menu online, but tit was basically a large chicken & cheese empanada with some spices. It was AWESOME — flaky, melted, all the flavors very blended.
The drinks we got were also effing phenomenal. I got a pineapple mojito, & man, was it a good one. My friends all loved their drinks, too.
Service was great — someone was always there to refill our waters, & we were offered new drinks at appropriate times. The food came out quickly but not so quickly that we didn’t have time to properly socialize. This is the kind of place you could go on a date, with the parents, or, of course, with friends. It wasn’t too crowded when we got there, but it filled up quickly — it’s small, so it feels very intimate but without feeling cramped. I’d like to come during the summer, when one half of the place opens up (the side wall is literally like a garage door that just goes up on nice days so the whole place is like a big patio).
All in all, we’ll definitely be back. If not for the food (though we will be), then certainly for the gorgeous server!

We went on a cold, slow Monday night. The place was nearly empty and there wasn’t any music. Only a table of Latin Americans and a trio of business colleagues were chitchatting at tables, lingering long after their wine and tapas had been finished.
However, the service was wonderful, the food was enjoyable, and the drinks were awesome. We were greeted by the host, who also is the waiter and bartender extraordinaire. The only other person working there was the busboy and server, an older man who the host/​bartender addressed as «jefe» («boss»). :)
After ordering 4 tapas plates and one large plate, the waiter advised us to actually cut *down* on the number of plates. We didn’t know exactly what to cut, so he said he would bring out a small dish of the olives we ordered for free instead of the whole glassful.
He was right. The tapas portions were rather hearty. In the end, the amount of food made us full but it was perfect. Other than the olives, there was complimentary rye bread with an olive+garlic+roasted pepper+olive oil tapenade. The tapenade was flavorful and light, except the caraway seeds in the bread slightly overpowered it.
The menu was a combination of «nuevo Latin» and traditional Spanish tapas. We went mainly with the former.
Seafood ceviche: the lemon marinade soaked completely through the fish, so there was no strong fishy flavor. Great with the pickled onion. I’m usually a fan of crustacean ceviche over fish, but this fish was good. My only wish was that there was more of a variety of seafood in it, as there was only 1 shrimp, cut in half, in the plate of fish.
Avocado stuffed with crab salad: Yum. I love avocado and I love crab. The crab salad was plentiful and an entire avocado was used. The crab salad was kind of like chicken or tuna salad, but made with crabmeat.
Taquitos de borrego (lamb tacos): They didn’t have the lamb; instead they offered carnitas. They looked and tasted just like traditional Mexican tacos al pastor — with red onions, radishes, and a salsa verde (although it looked more like a brown one). These tasted just like they were supposed to, except they used one yellow corn tortilla instead of two layered up ones, so they advised to eat them right away (the tortillas will get soggy). They only needed a little bit of salt, which we easily added, for those flavors to pop out and for us to nod at each other that these tasted authentic.
The one large plate we ordered was the chile relleno. It was stuffed with veal and pork, and the traditional Latin American raisins and nuts and spices. The filling was thin but the poblano pepper’s spiciness could therefore be tasted with every other bite. It was covered in a melted white Mexican farmer’s cheese and served with black beans and rice. It was decadently cheesy rich but not greasy, as it wasn’t fried with a batter.
After ordering one round of mixed drinks, the waiter recommended his favorite drink on the menu to me – the caiparuva. Made just like a caipirinha but with added muddled red grapes to go along with the lime, it was awesome. When I told the boy that he had to order one too, the waiter took great pride. We watched him and he took time and put a lot of love (and elbow grease) into making his favorite drink. As a former bartender who made mojitos by hand one by one 8 years ago, I really respected this. Plus, the cold grapes were delicious eating after soaking up all that alcohol.
Overall, a great place to go with friends. If you want the special treatment, go on a slow night. If you want more atmosphere, go on a busy one.

Good
1. seated promptly
2. drink orders taken quickly
3. appetizers/​salad/​soup orders taken quickly
4. good food
Bad
1. Somewhat ignored after the appetizer and the next plates were cleared.
2. took a long time for the last savory dish we ordered to arrive
3. took a whole lotta time for dessert to come
4. soup came without spoon to eat with
5. My dinner companion is a vegetarian and ordered the vegetrain empenandas. What came out was one meat empenada and one vegetarian empenada. When we got the bill we see it was puit in as a meat empenada. Tip decreased after that.

You know a restaurant is solid when you can have a horrible date and still enjoy the place.
The large windows probably are put to much better use during the summer, but even on a dark fall night, it felt fine. The service was excellent — the host is totally professional and seems to genuinely enjoy his job and making guests comfortable. Our waiter seemed a bit green, but not necessarily a bad thing as he was very attentive. I truly felt the employees went a step beyond to make the night enjoyable and I appreciate that.
The food was on point. Again, I’m a bit of a hater and I don’t have high expectations of DC restaurants. I get more skeptical the farther off the dead-​horse-​beaten path of ‘American continental’ cuisine it gets.
But tapas is just too easy a choice for a date and the location was convenient.
I wasn’t disappointed!
The dishes were tasty and some verged on comfort food. There isn’t a large variety, and it’s hard to mess up potatoes (a standard tapas offering), but every dish got eaten with appreciation. Perfect size to share with 1 other person. Price wise for the portions, it’s fair.
The waiter even tried to help me wake up my date who was falling asleep on me. Yeah, you heard me right. I told you it was a horrible date.
But, back to the restaurant — yes, I’d recommend it to folks! Especially for a more intimate but still unstuffy dining experience. It has a calm vibe and low lighting. Though I wouldn’t call it ‘casual dining’ unless you routinely eat at ‘white table cloth’ restaurants that serve $ 12 guacamole. And Cleveland Park is right outside with its neighborhoody entertainment options.

We went one Friday, early in the evening, circa 5:30ish and they were already pretty busy. Had a number of their tapas dishes, which were pretty good, esp. empanadas de verduras, but their lamb taquitos lacked something taste. Of course, like so many tapas places, the were out of any ceviche (@ 5:30?)
We had a few drinks and they were reasonably good mojito, a pomegranate-​based drink I forget, and their caipirinha. Note their drinks are not as sweet as one may expect or have gotten elsewhere, so be prepared.
We had so-​so service – the waiter was somewhat ambivalent and hard to reach – we can’t really fault the establishment on this yet because this can occur just about anywhere, but it did affect our experience.
I would probably opt to try another place next time around as I’m not particularly keen on street-​level dining under a canopy, near the elements; also the single bathroom available on the porch

A low-​key place for a casual snack/​drink on a warm night. The walls were retracted when we went, so the whole place had a sidewalk café feel.
Drinks aren’t cheap (between $ 8 and $ 10) but they make a good mojito. The quesadillas tapas hit the spot ($ 7). The place was near-​empty around 10:20 when we arrived – perhaps it’s best it get there around dinnertime.

South American influenced Spanish cuisine! What’s not to like, New World mixed with Old World!
Very tasty sangaria, Ceviche to die for (and I’ve had more than my fair share of ceviche in my life). Every dish we tried was very flavorful (hence the name). We had 2 small plates, the aformentioned ceviche and essentually what was chicken/​cheese pastry turnovers (sorry forgot the name, but very tasty) and split a plate of Argentinian Steak and Chorizo, steak was tender and cooked to perfect temperature, chimichurri on the side was perfect accompaniment.
Also had dessert called Mil Ojas (Thousand Eyes?), pastry, vanilla cream and fresh fruit, I found this to be light and delightful.
Casual atmosphere, smart use of space, I would definitely check this place out if looking for somewhere new to go. And I would definitely return for the food and sangaria!

Billed as a «Neuvo Latin» restaurant, Sabores is a new addition to the already very competent foodie line up in the Cleveland Park area. Being no more than a hop-​skip-​and-​jump from the metro, it definitely has high foot traffic working in its favor as it struggles to make a name for its self. Occupying what is the equivalent of a solarium-​awning the size of an 8 car garage, next to Dino, its a very clean, appealing space. They open the 4 glass paned garage doors that make up the main wall to add the dining al fresco element.
The menu has a variety of hot and cold small plates, soups, entrees and a decent wine list, also the sangria here is not to be missed. The plates are not quite as bold as Jaleo, but this is the opening week, and I really think that as this place works out the small kinks that any new joint has, it will be a really great establishment.
I had the crab salad stuffed whole avocado with lemon vinagrette, which was outstanding. The beef empanadas were very light flaky and not nearly as dense as I am accustomed to. I also really enjoyed their side dish of grilled veggies, a massive plate of eggplant, zucchini, squash and red peppers. My very non-​tapas oriented boyfriend ordered the entrée sized argentinian steak with chorizo, which although slightly overdone, was pretty tasty. Unfortch we were too full to get dessert, but as I googled every plate that passed our table the desserts, along with everything else, looked impressively plated and super yum.