High Point Grill — Restaurant in Albuquerque

Update 3/725 Tomato bisque, bacon and brie grilled cheese! Nuff said!!! ≈==============% Update 3/5/25 Visited the Fiery Food Show last Saturday, March 1st. The one of many true things regarding the Fiery Food Show… it will “fire” up your appetite. So off I went to my favorite place, High Point Grill.

Chef/Owner Mike White’s culinary team, led by Chef/Manager Ashley Allan, never fails to turn out high quality, consistently great food. The High Point front of the house “family” never fails to deliver great, friendly, and welcoming service.

I judge a restaurant by the quality of the food served and the service provided. My pizza was amazing as always, the shrimp wrap special was satisfying and flavorful and the Guacamole is the best in town. The service was, as always, great.

It seemed odd then that another recent Google post about High Point Grill was chastising Chef White for not being present and assisting his staff. Based on the post, it seemed to reference the same afternoon I was present sitting at the counter with my partner after coming from the Fiery Food Show.

This is like a B-movie plot riff on Rashomon, where each witness to the same event related an entirely dissimilar experience.

It created the need to for me to do something I rarely do – respond to someone else’s post.

The reference to the chef at another restaurant (The SHOP) comparing him to Chef White was to accomplish what? The bathrooms were dirty? Not what I experienced, nor have I ever experienced.

Was the staff down a team member that afternoon, yes, but not for the reasons espoused in the post. And not my business to explain or question.

The situation is the same across the restaurant community. From time to time, I have experienced, and as have we all, a staff shortage at a restaurant or bar.

For example, I was recently in Santa Fe and stopped off at La Fonda’s La Fiesta Lounge. Waiting for bar seating, I was advised by the manger on duty that seating at the bar was unavailable as there was only one bartender, and he was busy serving the La Plazuela bar orders. The wait for table seating in the lounge would be lengthy as they were short staffed.

I do not recall anyone chiming in asking where the “owner” was, or questioning how much the staff was paid or why the chef was not helping waiting tables.

I certainly respect the right of others to express an opinion and offer criticism. If someone did not like the food, fair game. If service was lousy, fair game.

Ad hominem attacks, however, seem beyond the pale.

Update 2/9/23 Reporting live from High Point Grill on National Pizza day. Don't miss out, come on down and indulge yourself with the best pizza in town. Shout out to the staff for always making it a fun experience

UPDATE - 11/26/22 PIZZA is back at High Point!!! Merry Christmas and Happy, Happy New Year to us all! Fire those tomato pies!

Chef Mike and his team are back at High Point and better than ever. Ashley, DJ, Tiffany, Nicky, Curtis et al are back making for great food and lots of fun. The Nashville Hot Chicken (had my bang sauce on the side) is great, as are the pork belly tacos, and the surf and turf tacos (one steak, one shrimp.) Couldn't eat those fast enough. Still serving other favorites like pork belly Mac & Cheese, the Sunrise Burger, and the always amazing Filet Cheese Steak. High Point Grill helmed by Chef Michael White has opened in a new expansive location, and is incredibly warm and inviting with a great view of the mountains. Most important the food is as good if not better. Ask if you made it on a night when Chef White has the braised bison short ribs on the menu. And order them!!! With friendly and personable staff, an expanded wine list and an assortment of local quality craft beers on draught High Point is the...

Went to their Valentine's Day fine dining experience and was pleasantly surprised at how they pulled off a 4 course meal.

The first course was a cold borscht, that hit with the flavors of amazing sweet beets. I would've preferred it warm, but it was wonderful cold. The bread was hard as a rock though. Was barely edible even dipping it in the yummy borscht.

The second course was a flatbread covered in brie, arugula, an amazing balsamic reduction, and honey. I had real issues with this course. The Flatbread was hard and inedible around the edges. He could've done well with half the size and making it somewhat soft so the whole dish could be enjoyed. The flavors were spot on though. I especially loved the choice of brie and honey.

Third course was perfectly cooked scallops and shrimp on a bed of insanely tasty romesco. The sauce was almost a show stealer. There was also mountain of yummy purple potatoe "puree" on the side, which was actually a mash with hefty chuncks in it. It was perfectly seasoned and I ate all of mine. My wife had to leave half on her plate.

The final dish was an "Elvis mousse" which was a beautifully smooth peanut butter mousse served in a really cool chocolate cup. It had perfectly sized crushed toffee, giant over cooked pieces of bacon(these were not good folks), and an sat-out-for-a-while banana sticking up from the dish.

All in all, an amazing night my wife and I both enjoyed. Some nitpicking for the fine dining experience, more silverware than just a table knife, teaspoon, and a standard fork. Also, these really should be changed out every course rather than expecting the diner to wipe them down every time with the fast food style paper napkins. Lastly, try splitting up the tables. There was a whole bunch of people having to sit shoulder to should with other diners on a long bench. Seemed more a BBQ joint than fine dining. Just my worthless two cents lol.

Thank you High Point for the wonderful evening and I hope you keep trying out fine dining. You guys really can do it well. Some more practice and you should see some awards in...

A usual favorite for us has left us with a bad taste, first no complaints about the staff. Our waitress was excellent and the other two were great for them being extremely short staffed. Secondly, for such a high respectable restaurant it’s a shame to see how much they are struggling, having 3 waitresses on a Saturday night while it’s busy is unacceptable, I totally understand the staffing shortage getting anyone to work is hard as it is, but with a shortage that big I would expect the owner to at least attempt to help the staff. There’s so many other local joints where the owner is present assisting ensuring even in a time of need they are helping example: The Shop, the owner/head chef is always there working and helping. It truly is a shame to see a chef/owner not care for their staff in the way other respectable local places do. Thirdly, the food was good, usually is superb but wasn’t tonight which was ok we still enjoyed our time, unfortunately after leaving both my wife and I had to stop at a nearby Dion’s to use the restroom, mind you we used to love HP since it never got us sick but tonight we are super sick after eating there, which is a bummer. Lastly the staff is wonderful they did nothing wrong, just a shame to see a once respectable place show the owners true motive: profit, if you care for your staff show up on a Saturday night and help them. The restroom wasn’t clean, understandable due to only 3 servers, they can’t do everything they already look exhausted and underpaid for their effort to keep this joint alive. Personally I don’t see it lasting more than a year at the rate it’s going, would love to see the owner actually help the staff. And please, if you can’t get staff, raise your wages or benefits, it’s a great place but the owner needs to get...