JOYA Restaurant and Lounge in Palo Alto

We shared a variety of tapas and caught up. Fried Calamari with Jalapeño, corn empanadas, paradilla de setas (sautéed mushrooms), and a harvest salad with beets.The mushrooms were my favourite with the calamari coming in at a close second.

Service is good but food was not tasting great!

Great experience and delicious food! The host smoothed over an issue with our reservation, we got great service from our waiter, Jass, and the food was delicious. Highly recommend!

Worst experience ever - food was dry, not tasty- every microwave food is better.

The place looks nice and fancy, but thats the only good thing about Joya. The foods nothing special, considering the price. The service was also bad - they tried to charge us for dishes thag never came.If you want tapas in Palo Alto, go to Teleferic instead. Much, much better.

Very mediocre, especially for how much they charge. Teleferic is leagues better and at a lower price point.Also attention to detail is terrible. They couldn’t serve is a dish and left it on the bill, which I probably would not have taken against them if the food was good.Server was nice, but service was really slow.

Good place with tasty Spanish cuisine. The manager is slightly less hospitable.

The food is just ok, nothing really stands out.

Pretty mediocre overall. The service was okay and the presentation was nice, but the food was not good.

Came to dinner with the wife since we were in the area looking for a place to have dinner. The place looked nice inside and our server was good and knowledgeable about the menu, since more often than not I have 2 dishes in mind to choose from. For drinks I ordered the Diablo upon suggestion from our server and it was pretty good. For appetizers we ordered the Dungeness Crab Cakes and Croquetas. The crab cakes were better than the Croquetas, which were just ok. For the mains the wife ordered chicken empenadas, which she said was just ok and I ordered the Argentinian style Hanger Steak. The steak and cilantro-chimichurri was good. I didnt care much for the Yuca fries. Overall our experience was ok. Maybe there are better dishes than what we ordered.

The food and drinks were great but the service was awful. The waiter seemed to have forgotten about us most of the night. First round of drinks took at least 20 minutes to come to our table and during that time we had no water and nobody came to take our food order. After the drinks arrived, the server left so quickly I didn’t even get to say we were ready to order nor did he even ask. When he finally took our food order our drinks were done. We ordered food and more drinks. The second round of drinks never came at all. We ate, settled the tab long after and still never got those drinks. We went elsewhere for drinks after just so we’d actually get served.

Met with a friend at his suggestion at this restaurant which is right on the main drag of University Ave in Palo Alto. It was a Tuesday night and at 5:30p no wait for a table, in fact we got seated right up front. The food was Spanish and we had the octopus and empendas tapas and our main was paella. It was good, not great, but typical Silicon Valley pricing which means dinner will run you about $100/person with drinks. The wait staff was good but seemed a little slow hence the reduction of a star.

We arrived rather late at night selling a dessert after an event nearby. The ambiance and experience of a covered open air patio was very pleasant. It allowed us to enjoy the fresh air and people watch.Both outside and in this place shows up as fancy. The staff were attentive, professional, and very timely with our coffee refills...pleasant to not have to request the refills.We had Chocolate CakeDulce de leche, served with house-made vanilla ice cream.It was sensational...so much so I regretted sharing rather than getting one of my own.

The fried Oreos were the best. Food was certainly tasty but relatively small portion sizes compared to the rates.

Really good food, service and vibes. I recommend the chicken empanadas and the churros

A great choice for business meetings, happy hours after work, or many more occasions. Upscale location with tons of seating. Able to be seated without reservations on a Friday afternoon without issues. Food is good and we ordered many tapas dishes and had no complaints. Lots of cocktail variety and each one was very good as well. The indoor/outdoor blended patio seating was very nice. Servers were quick and responsive and food came very quickly.

The Tapas appetizers were right on point.As for the main dish I had the Paella and it good, but it came out a bit cold for my tate.

Took them 15 minutes to serve us after we sat down. It’s just terrible when you need to wait 15 minute to get water. The food was decent, we had tapas, chips, rib eye taco, tuna tartare and empanadas. All of them were average. What was annoying was that there are free waiters but they would stand and joke around and the guy who took our order seemed like the only one doing work.

Always reliable tapas at this spot

Very disappointed unfortunately. My salmon takeout order was very overcooked... to the point it was Inedible.

Delicious. Paella, hanger steak, and chocolate cake are spectacular!

Food is yummy.3 plates 2 cocktails. $100+tipPortion for 2 girls is ok, the 2 mini blueberry on cocktail wasn’t very fresh. Staff was very friendly.

This is the worst restaurant. Okay quality food and zero hospitality. Magically with fake reviews they are able keep themselves at 4.1 this is actually 2 start restaurant if not 1

Fantastic restaurant in Palo Alto. Spent the evening there with a few colleagues and we absolutely enjoyed the food, drinks and service!

Went in for Dinner with reservation so there was almost no waiting time for us!Cocktails & Food was kind of okay for the price, warm chocolate cake was really good!Place was really cramped for some reason, there was very little space between tables.

Nice place! Some really great and unique menu items I had never had before

Surprised to see 4.1 starts, zero hospitality, place was pretty crammed up, so if you planning on doing walk in beware of front house staff / host in particular they didnt learn anything from hospitality school or seemed to have missed the training. She was pretty unwelcoming and said wait time is about an hour and then I immediately checked online made reservations using round table and then they had no wait time, weird. Also she was not happy to see reservations name popped up immediately after she said wait time is an hour. Food is okay our server was also good, portions are small but overall okay restaurant definitely not 4 star as in reviews. One note to manager if possible please conduct some training to your front house staff one can expect welcoming from host it felt otherwise.

So excited that JOYA is BACK OPEN for dinner after the pandemic! Joya is the most romantic restaurant in Palo Alto where you take a date you want to impress! It was also featured in HBOs Silicon Valley as where they had lunch meeting to impress their boss. The Food is amazing, I love the Tapas and the seafood. The bar is also the best in downtown Palo Alto. I usually get a Long Island and am set for the night! This is really the only chill place thats not surrounded with Boomers in Palo Alto. It would also be great for a Girls Night in the Bay Area. It is best to call ahead of time and make a reservation because the outdoor seating does fill up fast!

Service was non-existent. We waited 15 minutes from sitting down to place our drinks order, and we even had to flag down the hostess to get a waiter to come to us. However, the food is terrific.

Would have given it 3 out of 5 stars for mediocre food (reviewed belowbut we specifically told them about my husbands mussels allergy and halfway through eating I found a fully intact mussel in the paella. My husband spent the night in significant discomfort which started about 30 minutes after we left. He was close to throwing up all night- basically ruined his Friday evening.Specific food review:1. Fish Ceviche. 2/5. Fish was chewy and not fresh/ was smelly.2. Empanadas. 1/5. Tasted like store-bought mini chicken pot pies. Some of the worst empanadas Ive eaten at a restaurant.3. Paella Classic. 3/5 in taste- but as mentioned above they dropped the ball in terms of leaving an allergen in the dish and derailing our evening.4. Churros. 4/5. They were pretty good and the best thing we had there.Overall: I would skip this place and go to Teleferic instead. The difference in quality and taste (and attention to allergensis staggering.

Great food and a variety of dishes to choose from. Seafood options and vegetarian options.Service was a miss as the waiter twice tried to bring someone elses order to our table. Took 30min between bringing drinks and coming back to take our order for appetizers.

Their portions were small, outdoor heater was not working, hard to communicate with servers about food allergy. I ended up ordering tacos which they said were suppose to be 3 but ended up being 2. They brought another taco as a courtesy but that was after a wait and they forgot the utensils.Oh and the food was okay at most and not worth the price.

Food was ok. Good place with good vibe to spend time and have a drink!My food was good if you like seafood.

*Our visit was pre-COVID-closures*Great spot for classic tapas (crispy Patatas Bravas and refreshing Ceviche were perfection!and a delicious paella for two! Service was excellent! Definitely a Downtown Palo Alto gem that I highly recommend! We will be revisiting whenever it reopens.

Great Spanish food with great ambience. We were assigned a 2 person seating at the corner but The couch flipped over when you sit too far to the edge and causing uncomfortable thru out the dinner. Ordered seafood chipotle and it was good . Wide selection of meat and seafood as well as wine selection. Attentive waitress and will come again to try other food in order for me yo make fair comments especially the food quality. 3 stars rated due to safety if the seat !

This place is anything but a dinner date place- pretty noisy and cramped up. The cocktails were average and I was very disappointed with the food. The paella looks nothing like the photo on their website- it was very dry. We had the churros with hot chocolate sauce and tiramisu for desserts and both were really good.

The charred octopus was really good but the seafood paella was overbooked a bit ,cant really taste the original flavor

Love this place! Our third time there and we know our favorites - the sangria is good and goes well with the tapas, the fries are excellent and a change from tortilla chips with guacamole. Most of the tapas are good. The place is always full, weekend or not, so reservations are recommended. The chocolate lava cake with passionfruit ice cream was a deeply satisfying finish to a good meal.

The cocktails were probably the best part of the dining experience. We were advised to avoid the rock cod ceviche and opt for either the bay scallops or the mixed seafood with octopus, so we chose the bay scallops since we wanted to try the grilled octopus tapas. Spicy with jalapeños, peppers, shallots and not a lot of scallop in there. The saving grace was the taro chips to soothe our hot mouths. The grilled octopus was a mature set of tentacles (rubbery compared to other restaurants that have younger octopus). The crab cakes were meh (nothing distinctive). So glad we ordered the plaintains as our side dish. They brought joy in large quantities.

Another good experience. The service could be a bit more timely given we were there on a Thursday night and had the largest group in the restaurant. The salads took longer than most of the tapas which was kind of odd. The mango salad is surprisingly very spicy and would not recommend it. The salmon and steak entrees were great. Paella is decent. Everyone seemed to enjoy the crab cakes and not the cheese fondue (not fondue cheese so it was a struggle). Good drinks and nice selection. Would definitely come back.

The location is great. The drinks are good. The food is fair and definitely qualifies as Latin fusion cuisine without truly committing to a core flavor. If you’re looking for ambiance, hang out by the bar. If you’re looking for a dining experience, then you might be in for a disappointment. As I said, the location is great.

Excellent; ambiance, service, food cooked perfectly and quickly. The plantains and feather light churros are a must toward the end of your tapas. Great, strong peerless coffee too. The hanger steak w/potato cubes and dips was supreme. The beet salad was gorgeous and tres tacos were insane. Not a scrap left!

Good choice of dishes with fair portions. Appetizers are sized perfectly for sharing with mains for individuals. Staff was fast and had good recommendations. Sharing the bill was no issue either.Wine list is decent and not overly expensive. Wine recommendations were again good.The lighting was appropriate, creating a relaxing atmosphere while still being enough to see others and ones plate. Chairs could be improved.Overall an enjoyable experience.

Nice tapas! Salmon is a little dry but overall very good. Mini burger is really tasty.

All the way from Jakarta, Indonesia, half way around the globe, and we found this place in downtown Palo Alto, between University Ave and Florence St, Joya. It was our first, and we are so excited with the food, well not only the food but also the ambiance and the staff.I was here with my wife Ade and We ordered guacamole and new world chips, and braised short rib tacos to begin with. Then we have pan fried Skuna bay salmon.The new world chips was great. A full plate of chips from plantain, gold sweet potato, yum and taro root with more then enough guacamole in a bowl. Perfect companion to your IPA.The braised short rib tacos was cooked to perfection. It came in three little portion. The taste was balanced, and it was a perfect matched with the chips.Now the main course, pan fried skuna bay salmon. Grilled summer asparagus, wild rice with arugula, plums, and jalapeño sauce. That description came out straight from the menu. And it was exactly like that. Takes a while before the second bite, cause we try to listen closely to the first one. It was like a fireworks on 4th of July. Yeap, the mix and match, the salt, the pepper, the rice, the salmon, the plum sauce and the arugula, just perfect.Then we finish it with a pudding like desert, a flan. A coconut taste, with fresh cut strawberries, blueberries and whipped cream on top. Not to sweet, good enough to end an extremely good lunch.You just have to try....

Good lunch spot. Sandwiches under $16. You can do $12 or $13. Relax environment. Ice tea is $4 now. Not busy during lunch hr. Good to have conversations.

Love this place! Great for Brunch! Lunch and Dinner there is great too. Food is amazing to share, most are Tapas style. Located on the corner spot on University, with a parking garage located behind to building. Really great ambiance!

Book a reservation on Google Maps. Surprised how busy it was on a random weekday. Food was good - but not memorable. Drinks are better.

Good atmosphere, closes late which is rare. Good tapas and solid cocktails. The service here is ok but sometimes youll need to wave to get proper attention. The atmosphere is very hip and you should definitely try the tuna tartar.

Great atmosphere, good food! Enjoyed crab cake, tuna avocado something, and argentian style steak. One star deducted as steak was little bit salty for me and my company. Still, the steak was a perfect medium rare.