Aldea
“We also got the mussel soup, shrimp alhinho, diver sea scallops and arroz de pato, everything tasted perfect…”
“Chef George Mendes distills high-quality all around, from his food, to personality to the knowledgeable staff.”
“There are also plates more reminiscent of Iberia such as the shrimp alhinho or octopus a la plancha.”
Aldea
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
Rate and write a review Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Came here for dinner today and have nothing but high praises to sing. Very small but elegant and modern Spanish/Portugese place tucked away in Flatiron. Not as many Portugese places in the city, so this place has been on my to-go list for a while. They haev a chef's tasting menu as well as a 4 course prix fixe available. However, my friend and I weren't as hungry and decided to split a few smaller and larger dishes, a la carte. Complimentary bread + olive oil wasn't particularly exciting, but the free small bites, compliments of the chef, were SPECTACULAR! I really enjoyed the meringue cookies with grenadine snow–texture was amazing. The tiny little thing was so delicate, it dissintigrated in your mouth upon touch, yet flavors were so powerful. Was such a treat. The other savory umami flavored bite… can't remember what it was, but really got our appetites going.
First was the Roasted And Raw Forest Mushrooms with Black Beet Puree And Basil Oil ($16). Mushrooms are always good and these were no exception. Very well prepared, super juicy, and pungent. Plating for this as well as the next was exquisite. The Grilled Octopus with Roasted Fennel, Potato And Chourico Vinaigrette ($21) stole the show. Such a gorgeous dish to look at we didn't even want to touch it but once we tasted it the thing disappeared instantly. One of the best pulpos I've had for sure. Tiny chunks of upscale patatas bravas highly appreciated.
For the main course, we had Red Denver Venison Leg with Braised Red Cabbage, Chestnut, Baby Turnip and Garlic Puree ($34) and Bacalhau Confit with Salsify Glazed Black Olive, Salsify-potato Brandade, and Breadcrumbs
($34). Venison wasn't very gamey but super tender. The red cabbage bed was avtually my favorite part as the garlic came through strong. Bacalhau cod was flaky, had definite citrus flavors, and a nice crispy breadcrumb crust.
For dessert, we split the Sonhos Portuguese Beignets with Salted Caramel and Blood Orange Curd ($12). First time I've ever had Blood Orange with my beignettes, I loved it. Though I will say the ones at The Little Owl are better, the ones here are really excellent. Chef also sent out another round of complimentary sweets: grapefruit jelly bite and chocolate truffle. Needless to say, to die for. I highly, highly, recommend this to everyone. No if and or buts, just come here and I gaurantee you'll love it!
Lovely anniversary dinner place. Intimate, elegant ambience with a modern flair, very innovative food, and killer presentation for each dish. It has actually been a while since I came here..a few months, so the menu has unfortunately changed – but hopefully the photos will shed some light on the experience!
It was a nice surprise to get 3 complimentary treats throughout our meal! There was a light, tart macaroon-like pastry containing gin, an egg-tart-like pastry, and a foamy sorbet-like dish.
Oysters – I know the place is known for seafood, but I wasn't a fan…too briny and fishy-tasting.
Foie gras – Would definitely try some variation of it here! Such an eclectic dish with fruity flavors..never had anything like it before. Beautiful plating.
Grilled shrimp – AMAZING, probably my favorite dish of the night.
Egg with some filling inside – Was skeptical about this but the plating was so cute. Didn't blow me away but still glad we tried it.
Scallops entree – Really good! Liked this better than the duck dish, great combo of flavors on the plate.
Duck w/ rice entree – Not my favorite, but it was decent. Would get it if you're really hungry since it's dense / filling but the duck was a bit lacking in flavor for me.
Desserts – you really can't go wrong with anything here…
I don't know why this restaurant wasn't on my radar earlier. Everything was great, from food to service to cocktails. We came on New Year's Eve so it was a special 4 course menu for that. Everything is prix fixe. Since the menu changes regularly, I won't go into details on each dish, but suffice to say every dish was excellent. The dessert was one of the best desserts I've ever had. It was a goat cheese, rosemary parfait. Had the Adamastor cocktail – boy was that good!
It's a fairly small spot, intimate setting. There is an open kitchen with tables in front of it. We were seated closer to the bar area, which I thought was good as it was fairly quiet.
I also need to add that I loved the music selection they had. They were playing The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, New Order – fantastic playlist.
Ambience: 3.5/5
Food: 3.5/5
My overall dining experience wasn't up to my expectations. The space looks like it was once luxurious and modern, but is now a bit dated and cold (especially upstairs where we were seated). The pre-fixe menu has great value for 4 courses, however the dishes were a little lacking and forgettable. Sea urchin toast could have and should have been fresher, the glazed beef shortrib was tender but needed more sauce or something to add flavor. Arroz con pato was great for the first few bites, but then became overwhelming. Matcha cake was disappointing in flavor and size. The best thing I ate was the sonhos, or "little dreams" beignets. These were heavenly… still hot from the fryer and so airy and light.
I left a bit disappointed. For this price point and having been awarded a michelin star, I had higher hopes – the execution and ambiance just weren't there.
First heard of this chef through our try the world box and we were intrigued! Came here for a lovely family dinner and really enjoyed the food. Shared the octopus to start, scallops and steak for entree, and the beignets for dessert. Everything was well flavored and perfectly seasoned. The best part of the meal was the dessert. Freshly fried donuts with chocolate and citrus sauce. Yummy! My only gripe is that their portions are on the smaller side for what they cost. Service was good and the second floor seating offered a more intimate dining experience.
Good meal, but not great by Michelin standards.
The food here are either hit-or-miss. I went for the 4 course tasting menu and while I loved some, others were ehh.
Sea urchin toast (5/5): Do yourself a favor and order this. I love uni so I may be biased, but the uni was fresh and the crispiness of the thin cookie complemented the uni perfectly.
Foie Gras (3/5): I LOVE foie gras, but this terrine was disappointing. The picked radishes were a little too salty for my taste, BUT the toast that comes with this dish is delicious. However, I feel like the foie gras terrine did not have enough actual foie gras in it because it was lacking that taste/ aroma of the foie gras.
Sea Scallops (4/5): Liked this dish, but I've had better sea scallops.
Green tea matcha cake (5/5): This was a great dessert. Usually I shy away from desserts that are super sweet, so I opted for this one. It was the perfect balance of sweetness and the bitterness of the green tea. Well done!
Overall, I'd give this place a try. The portion and ingredients of each dish gets you bang for the buck for the amount you spend, so it's worth a visit!
A very modern and classy restaurant that's perfect for dinner or a date. It's a two-story restaurant and decor is on point on both floors. The staff is very attentive and accommodating when I wanted to switch tables (I'm picky) and even charged my phone. It was quite empty when I came on a weekend evening.
Food was delicious! Would highly recommend the foie gras appetizer and squid ink arroz. Foie gras came with ample portions and had a nice fruity kick. Squid ink arroz was nice and chewy with a good amount of seafood in it.
Also the plating is quite beautiful. Don't skip the amuse-bouches! I would definitely come back again for an unpretentious fine dining experience.
We ended up eating at Aldea largely because it had a decent amount of availability for a last-minute booking, and the added benefit of being pretty close to where we live. The entrance is quite small, and the restaurant itself feels like a lot of NYC spots – narrow, with a good amount of seating that can feel a bit on the tight/intimate side. That said, our table was upstairs next to the stairwell, meaning that it felt like we had a little bit more privacy. The decor has what feels like a very modern European feel to it, with the emphasis on lots of lines and alternating patterns (e.g. wooden wall covering followed by solid white; translucent tubes hanging from the side bathed in soft light). The service was pretty quick overall, although I would say it definitely slowed down once we finished our main courses. The beer menu is quite sparse, so stick with the cocktails and the wines. I had a delicious cocktail with Tito's and drinking vinegar (did not know this was a thing) that was infused with lemon and strawberries and was one of the most drinkable – and delicious – cocktails I've ever had. The ruby Port that I enjoyed during dessert was also very nice – sweet but not overly so.
Although the food here is decidedly Iberian in nature, it does seem to exhibit some Asian influences on some of the dishes. Although we went with the four-course prix fixe, there were plenty of amuse bouches and bites along the way that stretched out the dinner. First up were a couple spoonfuls served on a slate board. The red bell pepper spread was definitely the more flavorful of the two; the other was a gelatinous and was lightly fruity with a bit too much salt. Our first 'official' course was the uni toast, which surprisingly was probably the dish I liked least out of everything we had. The uni itself was a bit dried out, and against toasted bread with some dill (too little) and a cauliflower puree (too much), it just didn't end up really meshing well together. The second appetizer was much better. My wife went with the grilled octopus served with potatoes, and it was cooked quite well and had a very nice flavor to it. My foie gras was a winner, though. I can't really tell what the curing process did to it, but served as a terrine, it's as creamy and delicious as they come. I spread it on the small toasted slices of brioche it was served with and ate it with the beets – a nice earthy offset – and savored each bite. For the entrees, the staff was quite nice and allowed my wife to substitute in the roasted duck entree from the chef's tasting menu as her main course. The duck itself, along with the rice (which was very similar to paella rice) was excellent; the only wrong note were these splotches of orange-infused cream that really clashed with the rest of the dish and didn't pair at all. I went with the hangar steak (prepared medium-rare) – simple yet delicious; I really enjoyed the flavor on its own, as well as the roasted carrots – that added a surprising amount of depth to each bite. The potato 'mousse' is just a fancy way of saying mashed potatoes, but it is extremely smooth and buttery and really matched up well with the steak.
We then moved on to dessert, starting with a palate cleanser (blueberry sorbet with something that tasted like a sweetened pie crust) that was really good and sort of a dessert in its own right. My wife did the trio of ice creams; Aldea definitely sticks to the understated side of flavors, with even the cinnamon ice cream being pretty subtle. The strawberry was great but also a tad muted (perhaps compared to my aforementioned cocktail), while the corn was solid, although not as good as I have experienced elsewhere. I did the beignets, and those were a treat. They were a wee bit hot once you bit in and released the heat, but the strawberry dipping sauce was excellent, and I really liked the salted caramel as well – it tasted a bit sweeter and had less of the hint of bitterness that caramel can have sometimes. We ended the dinner with a small bite of a cranberry cake – a simple finish to a meal that overall was quite good.
While I'd definitely like to come back and check out how the menu changes with the season, there were enough things missing here that I wouldn't rate this at 5 stars. Some things were downright puzzling – why serve us bread, with toasted sourdough as one of the choices, without ever giving us butter, olive oil, or something similar? And some of the choices (e.g. the uni and the duck breast) seemed to go a little too far on the creativity side and ended up detracting from the overall quality of the bite. That said, it's a pretty reasonable price for a tasting menu, and I do really like the homey yet cosmopolitan ambiance as well. Definitely worth a visit – and I have to figure out how to sit at the chef's table area (right in front of the kitchen) next time!