Dave's High Desert Grill — Restaurant in Albuquerque

My husband and I had our first experience at Dave's Hight Desert Grill yesterday on a whim based on Google Reviews. First, the service was wonderful and our waiter took great care of us. Next, the booth we were sat in had the worst cushions I have ever sat on: they sank upon sitting and both of us had to deal with sitting on wood (yes we could have asked for a different seat, but we love booths so we made it work). This was concerning though, as the place hasn't even been in business more than 3 years at the time of this review. The mural on the wall by the booths was crooked, which was odd and only affected the atmosphere for me (husband can care less about that!) The light above the booth was glaring and was making my husband sweat throughout our time there. Now, to the food and drinks. To start with, all menu items were $2 more then stated on their website which was disappointing. We know the cost of things for EVERYONE has gone up, and we know the cost of a good meal isn't ever cheap, but keeping your website prices accurate is important. Being that we ordered 4 items, that's a steep incline of price point. The drinks we got were on the Happy Hour menu (a Bloody Mary and a House Margarita). Hubby said his BM was decent, but no celery like a classic BM should have and it was served in a short glass. The marg was pretty good! We both got dinner plates which start with soup or salad, green-chili drop biscuits, and come with two sides! Very generous food amount for sure. My husband's soup (their soup staple: Green Chile Chicken) was served not very hot and was very, very bland. He didn't finish it because of this. My salad was fine, a little wilty, but the honey basalmic vinaigrette was tasty. The biscuits were also pretty bland. The main courses were decent though room for improvement as follows: hubby's side choice of broccoli was a bit undercooked. My calabacitas were very bland, but my second side of glazed carrots were perfect! He loved his pork chop: great portion size and taste. My Chicken Poblanos and Cream (I didn't get the rice) was very, very good. Overall, not bad, but the prices on the meals should have been equal to the taste, not true on our first visit. We would be willing to give them another try though. Hopefully this review helps them work on the flavor of their dishes and maybe consider fixing their booth cushions! **One last comment pertaining to drinks not for us: the bartender was pouring two beers (an amber and a stout) for another table and didn't seem to really know how to do this correctly. Oddly, she poured a stout perfectly (almost no foam at the top of the glass) and then proceeded to dump more than two inches of it out then poured more straight on which added about 3 inches of foam. She then just let both beers sit to "de-foam" and get warm, then poured more beer straight into the amber, creating more foam, which then overflowed. Made me glad I didn't order a beer, also super...

We've been coming to Dave's High Desert Grill almost every Sunday with a group and have generally enjoyed it—until now. Unfortunately, our most recent visit was disappointing enough to make us reconsider coming back.

I arrived early and asked for a table for 7 on the patio. The hostess got menus around a table for us. I was told to wait until the entire party was there before sitting down. I stepped out onto the patio (because it was cold inside), but did not sit down. I explained to the hostess I was just stepping outside to get warmer. About 10 minutes later, the rest of our party was pulling into the parking lot. I then sat down once I saw them arriving and walking in. Almost immediately, we were scolded by the hostess and waitstaff for "breaking the rules" by sitting before the full party was present—even though the table was ready and our group was seconds away.

Once everyone arrived to the patio and before anyone else sat, we noticed the table was partially in the sun which I had overlooked. We politely asked to move to a nearby shaded table. We were curtly told “no” due to a strict “no-table-swapping” policy—even though our table had only menus on it and no one had sat or been served yet. It was 8 feet away and was completely shaded. We easily could have picked up the menus and carried them to the other spot. The staff continued with their rude demeanor.

One person in our group tried to raise concerns with the owner, but he seemed uninterested and dismissive. Shockingly, we were told we might want to “go somewhere else” for breakfast.

The restaurant was not busy and there were plenty of tables available. While I understand needing policies in place for certain situations, this was certainly not one of those cases. The staff were abrupt and impolite. This inflexibility and unwillingness to accommodate loyal patrons was unnecessary and, quite frankly, unacceptable in our town.

After being regular customers, we left feeling incredibly disrespected. Nothing we did or requested was unreasonable. It’s a shame, because we’ve enjoyed many meals here—but the way this situation was handled showed a serious lack of hospitality and customer care.

We will not be returning. We will be letting others know about the poor...

The last minute decision to get breakfast out led us to Dave's High Desert Grill after looking on Google. We're in town visiting family and I wanted to have a unique southwestern Albuquerque experience. Dave's is a one-off restaurant and fit the bill. We came in for breakfast but it's apparent that they have a nice evening atmosphere also. After looking on the menu, lunch and dinner look just as good. Breakfast is under brunch when we came in. I'm not sure, because I didn't ask, if they have a specific breakfast menu first earlier. They have a small pastry selection which is made in house. I ordered the zucchini bread and found it to be tasty but I was missing a little bit of butter on it.

My wife ordered the original omelette with sausage. You can get them with red chili sauce or green chili sauce or what's called Christmas, both. She chose the English muffin and it came out grilled. Which made it very tasty.

I ordered the carnitas Benedict. It's served on biscuits with poached eggs, carnitas pork and a green chili Hollandaise. The hollandaise is super delicious and not too spicy. Some of the carnitas was a bit on the dry side, I still enjoyed this dish a lot anyway.

The breakfasts are served with fried potatoes. They appear to be gold potatoes with red peppers in them and they are seasoned perfectly. Very tender and not overcooked. My wife enjoyed her omelette. The eggs were fluffy and fresh-tasting. There was melted cheese on top of the chili sauce.

The portions are larger and neither one of us could finish. I ordered the orange juice but forgot to take a picture of it. I found it perfectly balanced sweetness. She ordered a pineapple mimosa. They have several other flavors to choose from. That particular one was very good.

Our server Jonathan was clearly experienced. With 25 years of experience it was obvious. He has a good hustle about him and took care of our needs.

I spoke with a few other staff and found them just as personable and professional. We left full and satisfied. This one's worth saving on my Google maps. We look forward to coming back here again next time we...