Cheese and Coffee — Restaurant in Albuquerque

We normally enjoy this restaurant however the service yesterday was horrible. I ordered a side of green chile for my sandwich. When our food came it was not with our order. I asked the waitress for my chile she then went to ask the kitchen to ask where it was. The kitchen being open to the restaurant I was able to hear and see all that went on. The cook told her it was put on the plate. The waitress then went to another customer saw the chile and asked if she had ordered it. The lady said no so the waitress brought an open container that had been sitting on someone else's plate who was already eating to our table . I politely asked if I could have a fresh side. She didn't respond in words. She grabbed the chile yelled at the kitchen "she wants a fresh side " brought it back again no words no apologies nothing. After that exchange no one every checked on us offered us more drinks nothing. We didn't even get a chance to ask for the avacado that was suppose to be in the veggie sandwiches but wasn't in ours. It was so uncomfortable. We felt like we were unwanted as customers . I understand being a waitress can be hard and or stressful but we were not rude in anyway. This is your job. I don't expect to go to Costco have the cashier drop my eggs and place them in my box to be on my way. If I ask for replacement eggs bc they F'd up I expect they will be kind enough to respect the reasonable request. Sorry for the rant, this just really annoyed me and we will not be spending our hard earned money at a place that does not care about their customers. Just my...

I was trying to eat light, but Raz was starving, so our morning of errands halted for lunch and became a full-day excursion. Raz originally ordered the Lox and Cream Cheese, but the kitchens were unexpectedly out of Lox, which we discovered after ordering. He had to go back to the menu and choose again, eventually deciding on the Focizzaia. I ordered the green Chile Chicken Soup in bowl-size, which I think was the Soup of the Day at our visit.

The wait for our food was not long, but I, too, was voracious by the time it arrived. Raz's unpronouncable sandwich was quite tasty, the ingredients fresh and flavors well-balanced. It absolutely paled in comparison to my soup, though. The "soup" was not some thin broth with a few chunks of meat and veg, no, far from it. This was a thick, almost bisque-like base packed full of savory chicken pieces, visible rosted NM green chile, and a few other bits that add flavor and texture. The "bowl" was bigger than my head, so I shared a significant amount with Raz, and still felt full-to bursting.

Turns out that at the Uptown location, you can actually buy the Soup frozen in 1 gallon bags to take home and make for later. The only thing that kept us from taking advantage of this was that afternoon's worth of errands we'd have had to reschedule to get the Soup to our freezer before melting. We are definitely going back in the not-too-distant future. Next time we will also bring a cooler for take-home soup, since I woke up the morning after our initial visit craving...

We have been regulars of Cheese and Coffee for about 10 years. Recent changes have caused us to reevaluate our decision to dine here. First and foremost. service has been severely lacking - the staff doesn't check on you once you've been served and despite needing a refill on water for over an hour, we never received one. I also asked for lemon slices for my tea and was told by a waitress - who was apparently too busy to bring them to me, or even slow down long enough for me to respond - that they were "probably out" - they weren't because a nice gentleman brought some to me after asking if they had lime instead. Second, it used to take less than an hour to eat lunch here, but lately it has taken much, much longer and when it was time to pay, our check could not even be located and we had to wait for that to be figured out. Lastly, charging customers to pay by credit card is the last straw for me. The cost of running a business should NEVER be passed on to the customer. I hope Cheese and Coffee works on these issues because we sure have enjoyed the food...