Tomasita's Albuquerque New Mexican Restaurant — Restaurant in Albuquerque

Easily my favorite New Mexican place to eat. I find a lot of people including business owners themselves use the terms new Mexican and Mexican interchangeably. This is not accurate. There is a big difference between the people of New Mexico and Mexico. We aren't the same ethnicity. We aren't the same culture. There is some shared things at best.

I am a local New Mexican boy. My family has been in this state since the 1500s. I can trace my lineage all the way back to Spain, the old country. I am what we call Hispano. Not Mexican and not Latino. Hispano. The hispano people are the people of new mexico that are descended from the Spanish. The kind of cuisine that is served at Tomasitas is northern New Mexican Hispano cuisine. It is the gastronomy of northern NM and southern CO or the "cuisine of the mountains"

so don't come here expecting the food you'd find on the border. It's quite different. They have some popular modern things sure but this is the place you will go for an authentic experience. My only complaint with this restuarant is that they have compromised with tourists a little too much the chillie from the perspective of a local boy like me can feel mild and underwhelming. But that's kind of standard in NM now, unfortunately.

I highly recommend the Wednesday special. Blue corn green chillie chicken enchiladas with a fried egg on top. Chilli Rellenos and their tamales are too die for. They call their chillie Colorado a "chilli bowl" but it's Chilli Colorado for sure.

They also make some of the best sopaipillas ever and they serve them with sweet butter and honey. The guac and the salsa is also authentic though I found it to be lacking in Serranos. Again a compromise for tourists who let's be honest are very sensitive to the heat and spices of our food.

I think this place is one of the best places for a native New Mexican to take their family out to eat. I also think before you take a tourist out to Sadie's you should take them here. This is a much better introduction. It's not as authentic as the location in Santa Fe but it's pretty damn close and I give it 5 stars.

This is also one of the rare places that has an actual dessert menu that isn't "fried ice cream and funnel cakes" they have actual gourmet dessert recipes that utilize New Mexican gastronomy. They have a light and heavenly Pinon Cheesecake. They have Natillas. I'm always so irked at the so called New Mexican places that fail to put Natillas on their menu. And of course, they have dessert sopaipillas. Can't go wrong.

I would very much like them to see adding rice pudding to the dessert menu. Made with condensed or thickened milk or even heavy cream is acceptable, raisins and cinnamon with long grain white rice. It's an authentic northern new mexico staple that is often over looked. I think it would be a great addition that tourists would love because it's one of those universal recipes that is shared between cultures.

I'd also like to see them add a more fleshed out lent menu. More fish and torta nuevo, that kinda thing.

In short, this is the place you want to go if you want some good new Mexican fiesta type food. It's very much made in the Santa Fe style which is referred to as "missionary"

I have nothibg bad to say about it. Though I wish the cute European waitress didn't quit. She was very pleasant and great at her job. However the current staff has been there a long time and I always enjoy interacting with them. They are always very honorable and accommodating and the staff is mostly Hispano or otherwise Hispanic and bi lingual which i find to...

I'm sorry but this place is nothing what I expected... first we sat down and waited several minutes before someone took our drink order. Not a big deal but hey I think this should be done very quickly. Our waitress was actually nice and we ordered an appetizer of chips and queso while we waited for our meals. The queso was luke warm!?!? It was still actually good so I didn't make a funk about it. Then came our food which was immediately after our chips and queso, since we ordered our drinks, appetizer and meal all at the same time. So we left the chips and queso alone and went to dig into our meals. The presentation looked great and I could not wait to try this place that everyone was so hyped up about coming to Albuquerque. The food was bland. Period. The tamale was dry and just straight up bland. The enchilada was bland. The chili reneo was just off, a weird breading and weird texture to it, and once again bland. The rice tasted like tomato sauce and that's it. The beans were even bland. The taco had alot of meat and tasted exactly like hamburger meat with the season packet you buy at the store. Nothing special to it all. And no cheddar cheese on a taco? 16$ and some change for the super combination plate... It's been a while since I have left my plate with food on it and this was one of those days. I literally took one bite of everything and just left it. The waitress could tell something was wrong wrong when she walked up and my plate was shoved to the end of the table. I explained that it was just off, and I couldn't exactly explain it but it just straight up sucked. A few minutes of watching my better half pick at her plate unhappily, and me trying to fill up on the sopailla and honey,, a women walked up who I am guessing was the manager. She said she heard I was not happy with the food and wanted details. I explained that this had zero pop, there was nothing to the food and definitely not worth the $16+dollars for what they were serving. I also pointed out that the queso was luke warn. She didn't like when I said I would 100% would have rather gone to Taco cabana for lunch, she literally walked away from the table. The waitress (who is the only reason I am giving 2 stars instead of 1) removed my meal from the ticket which was nice but a little too late. When we were walking out the manager was at the front door and refused to even make a kind gesture to please give them another chance. She just ignored us lol.

Bottom line: OVERPRICED!?! No hype at all here! And the food was straight up BLAND! And some of it was served luke warm!?! My guess is the cook is the problem, hate to call it out like that but... Sensitive manager that can't take constructive feedback. I can think of 5 Mexican restaurants that are easily better than average compared to this place. I unfortunately do not plan on coming back, unless it's an event that I am...

Tomasita's failed on the most important things to me. NO CRACKERS. I am a Mexican food connoisseur, and I have visited hundreds, quite possibly thousands of Mexican food restaurants in my lifetime, and 99% of them have crackers (which I must have). Those that don't never see me again unless they serve excellent food. I will take my own if it is, the second time around, but Tomasita's isn't there. They don't serve salsa with chips (another mandatory desire of mine), and the chips tasted like cardboard, very bland. They did have excellent green chili, but there was so much piled on top that it overwhelmed the taste of the enchiladas. I ordered chili con queso, and it was watery and wouldn't stay on the cardboard, I mean chips. I ordered a margarita and it was good, all 6 Oz. of it, so I had to order a second one. I gave the food three stars only because the place was packed, so apparently not all people agree with my views, or the advertising on TV brought in a lot of first-timers. This meal, over $50, including the 20% tip due to the 5 star service. ADDENDUM: I received feedback from Tomasita's management, which was admirable. It's great to know that they are watching and making an effort to improve based upon customer's feedback so accolades to them. However, they brought up a distinction between "Mexican food" and Northern New Mexico cuisine and I am taking a few moments to state my confusion. 1)Albuquerque is NOT in Northern New Mexico. Taos, where I live, is in Northern New Mexico. Food such as enchiladas, sopapillas, chili con queso, chips and salsa, chili rellenos, etc. IS Northern New Mexico cuisine regardless of whether one calls it Mexican food or Northern New Mexico cuisine. These foods are served far and wide all over my area (Taos, Chama, Angel Fire) and even in the smallest mom and pop cafes and restaurants the food is delectable and outstanding, and they all call it "MEXICAN FOOD" 2) From the age of 3 or 4 (that would be 1963), I began eating Mexican Food (Enchiladas, Chile rellanos, Chips, Salsa, etc.) 3 to 4 times a week, a lot of it prepared by my family members as well as restaurants. I may be a gringo but I figure I am an outstanding judge of what's excellent and what is not. 3) The finest green chilies (used to make green sauce as well as chili rellenos) comes from Southern New Mexico (Hatch) so that is absolutely NOT Northern New Mexico cuisine. I highly recommend everyone reading this try Tomasita's and compare it to any restaurant or cafe in Northern New Mexico that has a sign out front offering MEXICAN FOOD. I'm sure you'll find that the only difference between Mexican Food and Northern New Mexico cuisine is how far it gouges the wallet,...