JOYA Restaurant and Lounge

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.

I came here with a large party. While I am grateful that they were able to accommodate a large group, I was not impressed with the food. As a big lover of mole, I had to try the chicken mole. While the sauce was good, the chicken was very dry. The tapas were good too, but the portions were very small. I found everything to be quite expensive for the quality.

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.