Level 5 — Restaurant in Albuquerque

It was my 10 year anniversary. My wife and I wanted light dinner and drinks before we had a night out together. I called several days in advance for a reservation. I explained to them that it was our 10yr anniversary, and requested a Mountain View table. Come day of our dinner…No Mountain View table. Ok, no big deal, the restaurant can’t always guarantee placement, especially with a 7pm reservation. We were finally seated, near the service bar, in the corner. Not ideal, but hey, ce la vi.

So we sat. And we sat. And sat. And sat. Watched our server pass us several times, socialize with her coworkers. Socialize with other tables, pass us again. Nearly 15 minutes goes by, when she finally acknowledges us and says she’ll be back in a moment to take our order and leaves. Mind you, we don’t have water, she hasn’t taken a drink order, nothing. Another 5 minutes goes by… The hostess that sat us notices us without waters, menus closed, disappointed and annoyed. She comes over to tell us she’ll find our server and bring us water. I ask for a manager. Another 5 minutes goes by, waters are on the table, but still no server, no manager and my wife and I were not happy and/or willing to wait any longer to get our night started there. We get up to leave. I ask again to speak to a manager to let them know the situation, so it doesn’t happen again to someone else.

I have to wait another 15- 20mins for the manager, Mr. Tapia, to even acknowledge me. Finally, I explain the situation…. And he couldn’t care less. He gives me a half hearted congrats on our anniversary, and even less enthusiastic apology. He did not offer any solution to entice us to stay (not that we would have). But, it was very clear by his body language he didn’t care and just wanted to go back his office, even periodically moving towards the door as he spoke. Mind you, the restaurant was not as busy as you would think, to warrant this treatment.

It was very, very disappointing. I’d been there often in the past to entertain clients, even talked it up to my wife all week as the perfect place to start our night. I never thought I’d experience this level of apathy there. This left an EXTREMELY bitter taste in my mouth. I will not be entertaining clients nor my wife there ever again. Never. EVER.

Bottom line Level 5 gives Level 1 service. Stay well away. It’s gone downhill.

On a brighter note, after my wife and I left we ended up at Seasons Grill just down the street. They were extremely accommodating. Even though we didn’t have a reservation, they got us right in (they were packed), and treated us beautifully. Even bought us champagne for our anniversary and for our troubles at the start of the night. Truly, Seasons gave us the most delicious experience. This is my new spot to entertain my clients, and our (my wife and I) new date night...

This is a restaurant and it should be all about the food, sadly it is not. Chef Marc came out and glad handed around telling us it was a new menu and new staff, since when? If this was the first day with the menu I get it. Overall I was underwhelmed and disappointed. We started with cocktails and small plates. The Pork Belly fell flat, the pork was not hot and the fatty parts needed more time to render yet the meaty portion of it was dry and seared too hard leaving a tough crust. The Anazazi bean and corn added nothing to the dish and was underseasoned, the Harissa sherry reduction missed alltogether, I wasn't even sure what it was as it had little taste. We also had the Foie Gras Tostada, while it looked lovely it was a sloppy mess. There was too much of the bean puree making it soggy, the pickled vegetables were limp and I found no "Cracklin" on the dish. The taste once again fell flat. The tostada shell was delicious when you could find a crispy dry piece. For one entree we had Braised Buffalo Short Ribs, which were dry and tough, and yet it was not presented to the table hot, it was just warm, not what I expect from short ribs. The taste was okay. The menu mentioned Latin Arugula, I found none on the plate amongst the pasta and pink peppercorns, though the buffalo glace was tasty but sparse. The second entree was Chorizo Wrapped Diver Sea Scallops. Lavender-Corn Pudding again was not hot and I found no Champagne Mousse, at least I don't recall seeing it or tasting it. The pudding was almost overly sweet for my taste. The 2 scallops that arrived were fair sized and the first I ate was marginal as to being cooked enough, the second was raw when I cut into it. This dish was returned to the kitchen with no request to refire, I was pretty much done. We had the semi-freddo for dessert which is supposed to be semi frozen, this was solid and it was difficult to eat with a spoon. The Chef was in and out glad handing and taking selfies with different staff. He walked by our table after my entree had been returned and never stopped to address the fact. Maybe he didn't know or he didn't care? I'll never know. Table service was good but the host station seemed disinterested and I was told that the ladies rest room needed attention, this is while the 3 hosts were standing around doing heaven knows what. The views are nice and that is apparently what you are paying for because the food on its own didn't deliver what the prices would indicate what you should get. Bummer, thought it would be a great way to celebrate...

We returned to Level 5 to celebrate my wife's birthday after having been turned away over a year ago. We know the reputation of the Heritage Hotel & Resorts Group and one can see that a lot of resources and energy have been poured in to Hotel Chaco so we carried some high expectations. A quick read of the menu demonstrates an honest attempt by the Executive Chef and the surroundings are certainly special, however a restaurant review of the whole operation leaves me so unsatisfied. If an establishment is going to charge $25+ for entrees then the quality of service and attention had better support the prices. A diner deserves to be a part of a culinary experience for these prices and in my view, this is not the case. My family went in ahead of me as I parked so when I arrived at the hostess podium I asked to find my family and I was told that I could look around. When I found our table we were one chair short. I asked a hostess if I could move over a chair rather than just helping myself. She said she needed to check with the lead. I was left standing for several minutes. Now you tell me why an employee cannot meet the guest’s needs and then replace the chair. When she did return she moved us to another table with less appeal. By the way the hostess and the server never identified that I was never offered a menu. I also question why arriving quests are held in the elevator foyer as the host ascertains their seating. The operation just has no sense of caring for people. If this establishment is going to get broader appeal it is going to have to better manage walk-in guests and non- hotel diners. The seating of the outdoor tables and indoor tables is so uneven that those of us outside feel second class. This does not promote a feeling of being welcome. The staff appears very young, green and well-meaning albeit directionless. Our server was unable to answer questions about the food and was absent for long periods. If there was a floor manager on duty it was never evident. The food was just okay but my impressions are colored by the overall lackluster performance of the service staff. The kitchen may be working very hard to produce top-flight cuisine but if the front of the house lacks the vision and polish then what is it worth. I would ask the leadership at HHR, what they want Level 5 to be? Currently it is a stylish bar with good side dishes and pricey craft cocktails but it is certainly not a fine dining...