Dulces Latin Bistro - Closing January 2011

I am very surprised by the positive reviews of this restaurant. Yes, the service and the ambiance here are good, but the food is a total disaster, with paella being the absolute worst of it. What they call paella has nothing to do with the original spanish dish by that name. Four of us went on a Friday night. We ordered four different dishes and only one of them was eatible. more

My Brother & I had a Milestone Birthday party for our parents here & it was such a wonderful event! My Parents had a fabulous time! I have received several compliments on the party from our guests about how wonderful the food, ambiance, & customer service, were. Several of the party guests have mentioned that they want to go back for dinner because they loved everything. My experience planning the event was wonderful too. Carlos was extremely easy to work with during the planning of the event & patient too, as I know I can be a bit much. He was flexible when My Husband & I decided to come look at the space very last minute one evening & won us over immediately with the great food, the lovely restaurant ambiance & his attentive customer service; which made us reserve the evening right away. Carlos always responded to my daily emails in a timely manner with helpful answers. I never had to wait for a response to an email or a call. He was very attentive & I very much appreciate that. He was flexible with the menu planning & gave us several options that might work for us. When we arrived to set up on the day of the party, he was once again very flexible with us rearranging the space to accommodate our party. All of their staff asked if they could help with anything & made themselves available whenever we had a request. We decided to eat dinner before the party started (since we were doing appetizers only at the party) & they made our meal happen as fast as it possibly could (wish we would have had time to savor it b/c the meal was so good) so we would be ready to greet guests as they started arriving. During the event, the staff was so attentive. The guests were commenting that the servers were bringing out food before they had a chance to think "I wish I could have some more of that" and that the food was so good. We had quite a lot of drinkers at our party & the bartending staff was slammed, but friendly & efficient. No one waited a long time for a drink. The Chocolate Decadence Cake made for the party was to die for! We were all still talking about it the next day. Every single thing from the planning, to the set up, to our dinner, to the event food, to the customer service was an A+. I would recommend you to anyone & plan to. Thank you to all of you at Dulces Latin Bistro for making my Parent's 60th & 65th birthday celebration one to remember! Pros: Amazing food, Excellent Customer Service, Easy to work with Cons: None more

Two words: Paella Valenciana. No better example to capture chef Julie's cooking than this gem! Romantic, modest--as in not trendy, low key in the Madrona neighborhood, and such good cooking. I love the combination French, Italian, Spanish and Mexican dishes that find their way to the table. Carlos knows his wines, and Julie is just completely focused on turning out good food. Leave the kids at home, bring your date or double date, and give yourself a sec to park on the street. more

I thought the decor was perfect, I thought my dinner and dessert were absolutely delicious....the live music just lovely (even dreamy).....the service was just wonderful as well. It's a very warm environment, where they treat each customer, each guest so well. I highly recommend this delicious place. more

This is the first time I'm reviewing a restaurant. Dulces was so fabulous I had to write about it. The ambience was perfect for our anniversary. The food was perfectly seasoned and very fresh. We had prawns as an appetizer. The special was pan seared halibut cheeks with a fabulous sauce. High marks also for the presentation. Even the dipping oil for the bread was fantastic. To finish the evening we had cranberry ice cream, which was surprisingly delicate and flavorful. The champagne was perfectly matched and the wait staff was very friendly. It's always nice to see the chef come out to greet guests and make them feel at home. I will definitely be going back! Pros: Ambience, wine, food, service Cons: Parking more

Maybe the kitchen was just having an off night, but my wife and I didn't experience the restaurant described in the glowing reviews. Our starters (beet & arugula salad, and tomato basil soup) were competent, but far from exceptional. The sides that came with the entrees--rice and steamed vegetables--were completely flavorless. The entrees themselves--we both had the Dungeness-stuffed poblanos--were alright, but nothing to write home about. They would have been vastly improved if, for example, the peppers had some seasoning. The desserts (chocolate-banana cake and vanilla gelato) were good, but definitely insufficient to make up for the rest of the meal. On the whole, an adequate dinner, but definitely below average for the price category. Pros: Wine list Cons: Poor value more

Wine, food, service, low-key atmosphere... did I mention wine? I've been a few times and it has always been consistently good-great food, excellent wine recommendations (or wine-pairings for tasting menus), great service. Used to be a stand-by for when I couldn't get into another nice place, but now is top few of my list. Pros: wine, never crowded, eclectic menu Cons: limited parking more

I recently dined at Dulces Latin Bistro with friends. We were so excited to try this restaurant that had such lovely reviews and delicious sounding menu. Our meal, which reatured many items that had been reviewed, left us extremely disappointed. We collectively decided the food was pedestrian at best and at times not edible. What was all the hype about? With all the truly wonderful restaurants in the Seattle area we came away from our dining experience feeling this was a waste of time and money. Don't bother. Pros: wine Cons: food, too much cologne on w more

We live in the neighborhood so we get a chance to sample Dulces regularly. Each trip the food, atmosphere, and service have been excellent. Julie has the wonderful (and very un-Seattle-like) ability to not mix her culinary metaphors. French dishes are decididly French, Spanish is unmistakably Spanish, and so on. The sopa verde from the summer menu was crisp yet subtle - more daring than a bouilliabase but having similar meshing of flavor. The pork and duck cassoulet is brilliantly smooth and complex. Even if you're a 4th degree black belt in wine I advise throwing yourself on Carlos' mercy. He has an unerring ability to choose a wine for your dinner that brilliantly compliments everyone's entrees, does little damage to your wallet, and is off-beat enough that you would never have thought it up on your own. more

We had dinner at Dulces for a friend's birthday, and we had an incredible evening. The wine list was very impressive, though marked up a little too high. For apps, we had incredible prawns, a super cheese plate, and calamari (not as large and tender as I would have liked). Everyone seemed to love their entrees, though my copper river salmon was a little overdone. The desserts and dessert wines were very good, and we finished the night with some port and cigars in the smoking room. But the best part of the whole evening was the phenominal service! Pros: service, food, cigars more

Dulces went out of their way to make our Valentines Day a truly special occasion. The staff always treats us like family. The food was not only delicious but very imaginative. The wine that was recommended to us was smooth as silk. Weve never had less that a wonderful dinner at Dulces and is always our first choice for a celebration. Where else in Seattle will you find the head chef asking its guests how they enjoyed the dinner? Pros: Romantic, Service, Wonderful food more

This place is great. Julie's food is good, the wine list is extensive (I think Carlos's on-site selection is worth more than my car) and after dinner a retreat to the cigar room for a single malt is a perfect finish. Yes, I know the owners' names and yes I am willing to put my own name on the review. (Reviewing w/out your name is lame and should invalidate your credibility with readers). As for the service, Dulces has an excellent, friendly and knowledgeable staff. I work at a restaurant and truly believe that the custoemrs who complain about the service effectively drive good service away with their own misery and negativety. Carlos & Julie, keep up the good work because Zagat doesn't rate all of us, only the good ones. Pros: Excellent ambiance, Great service, Friendly owners more