D. H. LESCOMBES WINERY & BISTRO - Old Town Albuquerque — Restaurant in Albuquerque

Delicious! I'm not big on meat loaf, but my mother-in-law insisted. For an appitizer, we ordered civiche, and for my entree, I ordered the New Mexico meat loaf.

The Civche was served in a cocktail like glass circled by freshly crisped corn tortillas on a lightly chilled plate with 3 thinly sliced avocado beded on top of the civiche. I assumed the corn tortilla chips were to be used as a spoon to scoop the civiche, so I proceeded as such. Each scoop and bite of this delicious civiche was just as good as the first. Civiche is all about the balance of flavor and texture. Most civiche I've had in the past always had an inconsistent taste to texture ratio. LesCombes takes their civiche seriously. Each bite was a perfect combination of seafood and that zest you expect from a perfect civiche.

"MA! The meat loaf!" Mother-in-laws can be a pain in most cases and offer questionable advice you usually have to take a with a grain of salt. But this time.... the in-law knocked it out of the park with the recommendation on the meat loaf. When our friendly waiter placed the plate in plate on our table, I had questions. The first thing you recognize is 2 beef patties stacked on top of each other. Yes, I said 2 massive beef looking patties. It caught me off guard. Anyways. The plate was served perfectly into 3rds. Veggies, mashed potatoes, and the meat loaf. Visually, the mashed potatoes were just as you expected; perhaps a slight glaze of butter soiled on the top with specks of pepper. The sliced vegetables, which consisted of green beans, onions, and bell peppers that seemed to be serenade in some type of sauce that sounds to fancy for me to pronounce. The meat loaf was topped in golden crusted onions.

For my first bite, I went straight for the meat loaf. I grabbed the knife, expecting to use it for portion control, but it was so tender. All I needed was a fork to cut my portions. I made sure the first bite was all meat loaf with no onion. The flavor was near perfect. Savory? Yes, with a slight taste of caramelized sweetness you would hope for in a real meat loaf. For the second bite, I added the fried onion on top. It was perfectly crisp and a wonderful combination. After a couple of delicious bites of the meat loaf, I worked my way over to the mashed potatoes. Was that a hint of bacon I taste in the potatoes? I couldn't tell. Once again, it's delicious. The texture was very soft but held together on the fork. You can taste a little hint of the black pepper I mentioned earlier, and I was satisfied I could taste it. Moving over to the vegetables. It was hard to point out what type of serenade it was. The mixture of the vegetables worked perfectly together. Not too raw or too burnt. Perfectly sear on the onions and the green beans held the flavor of the butter flawlessly.

This was fantastic dining experience. The wait staff was incredibly friendly and the food was...... GREAT! I will...

I selected this place based on many positive reviews. However, it was a big disappointment. My wife ordered the “Pecan encrusted chicken”. What she received was actually breaded chicken – very overcooked – with a few pecans sprinkled on top. This was hardly “pecan encrusted”. I ordered the schnitzel which was also way overcooked. The breading was as dark as dark chocolate. I once worked for a Munich based company and have had schnitzel at German restaurants many times. Properly cooked, the coating is the color of a light honey. Both of our meals included a side dish of mixed vegetables - also overcooked. For the appetizer, we shared the bruschetta and it was excellent! It was definitely a sharing size. The mashed Yukon gold potatoes were exceptionally good, as was the iced tea. The service was generally good. When a restaurant does some things well and other things poorly, I will provide constructive feedback for the kitchen staff so that they can improve for the next time. We did not want to send the meal back as we just wanted to have a relaxing evening after a trying day. When a restaurant screws up 2 out of 2 meals this badly, I would not trust them to get it right even if we asked for a redo. After asking for the check, I mentioned the above issues to the server. Subsequently the manager came over and was very defensive, making an awkward scene. I did not ask for or expect a discount yet she made a point of explaining why she couldn’t provide one. I think this one needs to go back to managers’ school for a refresh. We did not try the wine. Maybe if you want to go for wine and bruschetta, it’s worth a try. Otherwise, do not bother.

I gave the food 2 stars although some items were very good as noted above. However the overcooked main courses overshadowed the...

Called ahead to see if they were busy and if we needed reservations. Was told no and that they didn’t accept reservations. 35 minutes later we arrived to find a jam packed parking lot. Took 20 to find a spot. Normally I would’ve picked another place to eat but we’ve had great food and service here in the past. Sadly we walked in and was asked if we had reservations. Sigh. Then told it would be an hour or 30 if we chose the patio which they claim was enclosed and heated. When we were finally seated the patio was freezing despite the heaters. Multiple cob webs above the dim lights. We ordered the Brie appetizer, steak bearnaise (6oz filet), Salmon and chicken Alfredo in addition to our sodas. Another 15 minutes passed and they brought our food out… No appetizer, they forgot. Food looked and smelled good. Beware if you have seafood allergies, they did put shrimp on my steak and that was not listed in the item description. The steak was very small and flat, not like a normal filet. It was not tender at all and I began to question if it was another cut passed off as a filet. Potatoes were lumpy and lacking taste. Vegetable medley was squash, onions, bell peppers and was ok. The salmon portion was generous and tasted good according to my 7 year old, and also came with rice and vegetable medley. The chicken alfredo was decent and a generous portion. Throughout the meal the waiter didn’t stop by even once to see if everything was satisfactory. As soon as we were done he dropped the check and still didn’t ask how things were. I had to mention we’d like dessert. My kid had the brownie and ice cream and said it was good and I had the Panna Cotta and it was tasty. Overall disappointing and won’t be planning a return visit anytime soon. Total bill for 3 people was $98...