Ex Novo Brewing Company — Restaurant in Albuquerque

We came here on a Saturday night thinking the place would stay open until midnight, as it said on Yelp and Google. The place seemed like very popular in town; when we drove around earlier it looked crowded, and when we walked in it was also busy. The vibe was nice, very open space included a nice & huge bar area, game tables, and sofas. The tables weren't next to each other, which was nice. When we walked in a little after 9pm we became the last table to be seated for the night. A little strange for a place that open until midnight, but fine. Well, we later found out that the restaurant/bar part was closing at 10 pm. So, we gotta finish it up before 10. Which was a bummer. One of the reasons we selected this place was being open late. Turns out only the upstairs is open late, but they serve only drinks. I feel like they should be more clear about that. The host was nice, but definitely in a hurry to clean & close up for the night. She seated us by the stairs and gave us a dirty drink menu. She also "cleaned" our table with a dirty rag which made the table very wet and hideous. We didn't wanna put anything on the table and my husband went to grab some napkins for the table. Luckily our server for the night stepped in she cleaned it.

The menu offers lots of good selection of food, drinks, and beer to pick from. I went with Michelada, which I liked when I was in Mexico, and when I saw it on the menu, I wanted to have it again. Unfortunately, it wasn't as I was expecting. It was weirdly sour, not enjoyable. My husband went with Kill the Sun Flight. I usually find stouts very heavy or bitter, but when I tested those I liked them. Especially, the almond coffee one. As of the meal; I got a Latin American Power bowl with shrimp. Smaller portion than a regular dinner plate. If you are a smaller size eater like me, then this is for you. The meal was overall good and filling with the salad and rice. Shrimp needed to be cooked for maybe one more minute; the center was closer to being raw. My husband got Roasted Beef Brisket. Beef was tender; and cooked nicely medium. Winter carrots, onion, and puree were...

Ex Novo means from scratch and that is fitting because this from the ground up combination of brewery with elevated gastropub food comes from the vision of multiple award winning Chef Marc Quinones and Ex Novo Brewery. It is just what is needed to move Downtown Albuquerque revival forward. From the time you walk into the establishment you can feel a good energy vibes. The layout of the large open space with a center bar makes it feel comfortable but not packed like sardines. The waiting area is comfortable. The decor is beautiful with eye catching lights and mural on the west wall. I had the opportunity to sit in the upstairs speakeasy which has a cool retro ultra dive cocktail lounge. The combination of laid back beer demographic and the swanky elevated cocktail lounge sets Ex Novo apart there is something for everyone. Two seperate menus in each level provides for two different experiences. Chef Marc Quinones hits it out if the ball park with his unique understanding of elevated gasrtopub cuisine while integrating native New Mexico roots. You must try the Carnitas Tots the flavor combination of just perfectly cooked pork, with the refreshing pinon bbq lime creama works together perfectly complimenting the Pink peppercorn scalllion salad. The Waygu sliders were cooked perfectly with just the right amount of sweetness from the onion jam and sweet roll. The dessert a outside the box eggnog tres leches cheeseckae was a perfect blend of just enough density but not overally heavy and the hint of eggnog was not overpowering. The service was friendly and inviting. I can not wait to go back and try some more of the incredible dishes that Chef and his team have created. Albuquerque this is an example of what happens when passion and vision meet with great ownership empowering and supporting their leaders. Ex Novo has only been open for a little over a week and there will be hiccups along the way but with GM Sean Lewis leading the front and Marc Quinones commanding the back skys the limit. Great job...

First time here and at first the atmosphere looked very nice. The wait was long but definitely expected. When we got sat the host asked if upstairs was ok, with our knowledge of the establishment we assumed both downstairs and upstairs were the same restaurant but when we went up there it was more of a "fancy" type ex novo that had a completely different menu (first ref flag). Remember this is our first time here and our host never informed us of this. Our waiter insisted we ordered from the smaller menu we were very confused and upset. We brought a cake to celebrate a birthday and usually most restaurants we've been to have allowed us to borrow space in they're fridge but at this establishment they charge $25 to use a small space for maybe like 20 min. I understand if you can't and they could have told us that but instead they wanted to charge us?? We thought this was insane and very uncommon, but clearly this brewery is trying to be very "fancy". We have been to many breweries and this place is really trying to hard to be something it's not. That's my opinion of course. We all ordered meals. The steaks were cold and my sisters salad came 45 min after all our meals arrived. How is a salad last and that late in coming to our table??? We were already very annoyed because this place was just not up to the standard they are trying to perceive. If they met those standards this place would be great! Our server was great but he got stuck being a messanger between the bottom floors's inconsistency and trying to run the top floor almost all by himself with incorrect kniwledge of how they even want him to run things. Beer is decent you can go somewhere else for local beer like marble, bosque, la cumbre, canteen, and tractor and many more! For the food it's very underwhelming for the price. I suggest copper lounge, happy accidents, and vintage. Pay for what you deserve and this place does not give you that unfortunately. Hopefully they find a better chef in the future. Maybe one that doesn't...