El Vado Tap Room — Restaurant in Albuquerque

7/31/21: Love the El Vado outdoor plaza experience; family and pet-friendly.

Cordial staff at each place visited. Nice size crowd on a rainy late afternoon. Live acoustic guitar during this visit. Parking can be a wee-bit challenging so get there early, stay late.

Eateries that were visited: El Vado Taproom, Buen Provecho ABQ (Costa Rican/Latin Flavor, Happy Chickenzz, Street Foods Sensations, Ikigai Sushi, Bosque Burger and Rude Boy Cookies.

Bosque Burger: Great backyard tasting charbroiled Buffalo Bacon Bleu burger with hot fries. Comes with a piece of cantaloupe and a dill pickle spear. Flat bread Pepperoni Pizza was $9.75. Also ordered an ultimate cheese pizza and added Pepperoni. Hot, tasty.

El Vado Taproom: Swallowed down several ice cold Ghost Train IPA's and the Lemon Mango Hard Cider was very refreshing.

There is something there for everyone's tastebuds so give El Vado a...

Gone downhill. If you sit outside, you are forced to use a plastic cup to drink beer, problem is the plastic cups handed out are not recyclable and even if they were there is no onsite recyclable disposal. Is this 2021? Or is el Vado getting cheap? It'll be a while before I go back (and I was a regular during the pandemic lockdown restrictions.)

Update: came back 9 months later on a Friday night to find a brass cover band doing James brown and tears for fears to jump start the weekend. It didn't work. Much better music options are warranted, especially on fridays. And still no recycling set up. I feel like I'm in Carlsbad, NM.

Service is...

This lil hidden local spot is more amazing then the pictures. Outside patio seating w amazing views of downtown. Eclectic shopping , yoga, bodegas, and more. Food pods, a historic motel, across the street an with in walking distance of so many unique to Albuquerque restaurants and shops, the Aquarium and Botanical Gardens. The staff was even more friendly and amazing. It's a have to spot for anytime the week and specially the weekends. Also serving there very own beers. I'll def make this my lil get way spot weekly...