Aldea

Over priced and under whelming. Let me preface, the service was lovely, the ambience warm and wonderful, the food… Well let’s just say I’m a far better cook. The prices at this place are outrageous so my family and I were expecting to have our minds and taste buds blown. There were a few dishes like the bacalhau and octopus that were good yet everything seemed tiny, maybe because we are all super tall?! I don’t know… The duck confit, which is a favorite dish of mine was sad and lonely, the rice was dry and flavorless. They need to amp up their flavors and portions to be charging this amount of money. We were disappointed :(

I came here for a birthday dinner with a close group of friends. The restaurant has a modern, sleek feel to it — seating is on two levels, with neatly designed leather furniture, intricate lighting, and the place is accented with bold blue colors and birch trees (my favorite!).
We had several dishes all of which were delicious — including, (starters) cured foie gras, grilled octopus, hokkaido urchin toast, and (mains) sea scallops, hanger steak, and the arroz de pato.
The place was also accommodating and we were able to bring in a cake.

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 entrée, 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.

Ambiance is amazing, service is top notch. Location is small but very elegant and cozy. As you walk in you can see the impeccable kitchen.
We did the chef menu — all courses were amazing and the wine pairing was design very well.
The plates each full of flavor cooked to perfection.
This Chef definitely takes you through an amazing evening with great food and original Portuguese flavor.
The fusion between the american and Portuguese cuisine was phenomenal and well executed
Completely recommended

What should I do if I asked the captain taking my order, «what is cure foie gras?» The captain replied, «Oh…», and I said, «Like seared?». «No…it is not cooked,» he interrupted. I attempted to ask again, «it is like seared the outside?» The captain told me the foie gras was «uncooked». While I frowned my eyebrows, he said it is like pâté. Don’t worry — I did not want to eat something dangerously poisons. The dinner for 3 people was only $ 249 and I gave him $ 50 for tips to avoid any potential food poisoning.
Was the food ok? Yes.
How was the service? Ok.
How many Michelin star will you award the restaurant? 0.3

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.

A recent dinner at Aldea would have been delightful except for the entrees. Three out of four courses were exceptional — but my husband and I were each disappointed by our main courses, one of which I had loved years ago when the restaurant was new but now found to be indifferent. Why should the kitchen be so inconsistent when it clearly can be wonderful?

A very modern and classy restaurant that’s perfect for dinner or a date. It’s a two-​story restaurant and décor 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.

Solid restaurant.
Good food, though a somewhat limited menu. Nothing spectacular, so I don’t quite understand the M*. Others at my table seemed to enjoy their dishes much more. Service was good — attentive but had long gaps between checking in.
Surprisingly empty at 7pm. Glad I tried, good experience, but won’t return.

Fantastic dinner place, not too crowded with great food. There are more staffs than the customers which was always a plus!
They only have pre fixe, but oh man, they were amazing. I would strongly encourage people to go there for their anniversary

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 Purée 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 Purée ($ 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!

Overall: solid experience nothing extraordinary in terms of food or service
Food:
Octopus was made perfectly. Good texture and flavor
Foe groies: very good, nice flavor and went well with the sour dough bread more so than the bread it comes with
Shrimp: would have liked more garlic flavor to it or a little spice to give it a kick…
Duck with rice: skimped out on the amount of duck they gave over a pile of rice… wish there was more duck because it was cooked perfectly and nice flavor… rice was a litter let overcooked
Dessert
Apple: was average nothing great

Great place for a quiet evening with great food and an excellent selection of wines. My husband and I went to Aldea for our anniversary dinner and chose the four course pre fixe meal option. Even though the portions of the first and second course were on the smaller side, we were completely bowled over by the taste. I ordered for the sea urchin toast and my husband got the bacalhau a bras. Both dishes were perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious, specially the toast. These were followed by grilled octopus and the cauliflower and turnip soup. The soup was amazing and had various textures to it due to the seafood in it.
We were a little disappointed with our main course after the first two courses, I ordered the cod which was very average and the shrimp a la plancha was not too interesting either.
BUT the desserts, I could go back there just to have the matcha cake, it was phenomenal. The server was very kind to give us complimentary dessert wine for our anniversary celebration!
Oh and they have some great bread! Loved the chorizo and olive breads!

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.

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 entrée — Really good! Liked this better than the duck dish, great combo of flavors on the plate.
Duck w/​rice entrée — 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…

My best friends asked me to choose a dinner spot for my birthday. I Unilocaled around and chose Aldea. I’m proud of myself for doing so :) I will admit that I suck for writing this review after 6months of my dining experience here, but this also means I just had to write a review after this long time because I couldn’t forget about this place!
Because it’s been so long, I don’t remember anymore what we exactly ordered. Aldea’s dinner menu seems to change often. Sorry not letting you know what each of the photos are… But I can tell you EVERYTHING was delicious. Every bite of everything didn’t make me compare to any other restaurant’s dish.
Everything at Aldea, from food, to the ambiance, décor, open kitchen, service, extensive wine list and bday surprise was impressive and I won’t forget about it. The prices can be on the more exp side but I’ve been waiting for the next special occasion/​excuse to go.

I had a great dinner with my co-​worker and two clients at Aldea through the Reserve app.
The food was great, the waiter was generally on his game and the wine was fantastic. (Though maybe a bit more expensive than I expected.)
Most importantly the food was really playful and had a lot of oomph to it. The portions were absolutely in line, maybe even a bit more, than what you’d usually expect from this caliber of restaurant.
The only thing that was a bit odd was that at 6:30 the upstairs section was pretty dead. There were maybe two other tables dining besides us – it stayed mostly that way through the meal. I try to bring clients to places that are hot, so I like there to be some noise and energy in the mix. There wasn’t during this dining experience.
I’ll go again and see what happens the next time!

In three visits to Aldea, I’ve never had a bad dish. The food is flavorful, beautifully prepared and combined in interesting ways I find the atmosphere soothing and the service impeccable. Aldea is also a great value, offering 4 courses, plus 4 amuse bouches for $ 79. Although labeled a Portuguese restaurant, the tastes go far beyond the Mediterranean.
My most recent meal included sea urchin toast with cauliflower purée, foie gras with pistachio butter and wild strawberries, pork with porcini mushrooms, and honey cake. Those descriptions can’t capture the complexity and harmony of the dishes. Ambitious yet grounded. I particularly like the extra tidbits, including a frozen gin and tonic masquerading as a macaron, the pre-​dessert, and the final lagniappe — a custard tart that tastes a bit like a supernatural Danish.
Why not a five-​star review? You decide if I’m being fair or not. The server mentioned that the pork was cooked to medium rare, mine arrived bloody raw, pre-​sliced and draped on a bed of kale and mushrooms. The server took it back and thanks to the open kitchen, I saw a chef scoop the slices into the salamander. I objected to reheated meat, and they cooked a new piece of pork for me, but served it on the old bed of greens. Too picky? Perhaps, but I think a restaurant at this level should have redone the entire dish.
Otherwise, Aldea was flawless in handling my concern. The server topped up our wine, and the manager came over to ensure I was satisfied.
I will return to Aldea again soon. I want to taste every dish on the menu. And finish with the little beignet-​like puffs to dip in chocolate, salted caramel and lemon. This time I will try to leave room for the post-​dessert tart.

Ok so 4 stars is not a bad rating, but for a place with a Michelin star rating I’m sorry but I expect all aspects of the dining experience to be amazing.
it was the service at the bar prior to dinner that turned me off and got the night off to a bad start. When checking out a good place for the first time and having an opportunity to grab a cocktail I always go with one of three choices. They are all classics, all well known and it allows me to compare. I ordered a last word and the bar tender looked at me like I had said something really rude. She them informed me that she didn’t know what that was or they didn’t make it. Instead of then offering something familiar from their menu maybe along the same lines, I was just stared at until I picked something. I don’t even remember what it picked. It was not memorable.
In any event — once I got to the table and began with the food and wine, that’s when the experience became what it should have been from the start. For appetizer I ordered the grilled octopus and it was amazing! (See pic). For my main I ordered the hangar steak done rare. It was cooked to perfection and the beef was excellent quality and was a very good size.
The wait staff in the upper level that served us were very nice and took good care of us. I would skip the cocktails next time and just come straight for dinner.

Eating at Aldea was truely a remarkable experience that would probably stick inside me for a long time. I have chosen the four course prix fixed menu and it turned out more tasting dishes were being offered.
To start, I had the oyster, which can never be a wrong choice. They had their special sauce on top of the oyster so it tastes much better than elsewhere. First dish was shrimp for me and grilled ocustpus for my friend. Both were tender and well prepared. I especially liked my main course roast pork with clams, clam was kind of mediocre and a bit lack of flavor, yet it was totally made back by the pork. I was completely full before even starting my dessert.
Open kitchen was definitely a plus to the whole atmosphere.