Ojo Caliente Restaurant and Hotel — Restaurant in Espanola

The 2 star review is mostly based on our experience in the restaurant (except our server Zack was excellent) it was mostly the vibe of the hostess and what seemed to be the managers attitude (and the OPEN TABLE reservation system.)

When you spend over $1000 for a room, food, and spa services for a day you should automatically have a restaurant reservation offered at your arrival since there are no other options around. By the time we checked in there were no reservations available and we were initially told just get there before 8:45 to eat by front desk check in, at 7:30 they were “not sure they could get us in” even though there were tons of available tables throughout the night from 7:30-9 they did end up seating us by the door as an afterthought. We were uncertain we would even get to eat. After they sat us the server Zack was great, the portions are generous, the prices are decent not too expensive for what you get, the food tasted mostly good.

DO NOT ORDER THE CHILE RELLENO if you want an authentic NM dish, they have Butchered this cultural dish (not deep fried chile and the “tamal” is just quinoa and corn in corn husk and the seasoning was not great. We did not eat any of it, but no one noticed we did not enjoy it leaving the whole thing on the plate and I didn’t bother to tell the server because there was nothing essentially “wrong with it” other than the fact it was not at all what we expected. I felt like our cultural food was disrespected by this dish and they should call it something else…

The room stay was great, although a bit overpriced at $600+ for one night with a tub but if you are willing to pay for privacy that part was worth it. Take advantage of the private pool if you do book a room it is extra hot and nice atmosphere. They say of our check out was my moms birthday so we invited her to meet us to have a special day, but right as she arrived at there was lightening so went to back to the restaurant for coffee lunch and dessert but because Everyone had the same idea to wait out the storm all the 4 tops were taken there was one 3 top in the corner that we got sat at by the hostess and when the 4th person (my husband got there from the bathroom) arrived what I assume was the manger was extremely rude and made a scene that we couldn’t sit in the corner at that 3 top and that the person that sat us shouldn’t have sat us and told us we could go back to the lobby to wait for a 4 top or go to the bar where everything was also full.

Do not order a cappuccino here they do not know how to make them, very watery no foam.

In any case this experience could have been stellar if the host staff was friendlier and restaurant management improved. On the plus side they have amazing complimentary cornbread they provide with dinner. For the cost of the spa and lodging the restaurant should improve their customer service and train all their people on how to make a cappuccino.

Bottom line, I recommend you make sure to bring your own food if you stay in the rooms because it’s uncertain you will get a seat at the restaurant and there’s no where else in miles to eat. (I hate OPENTABLE personally) Ojo, please prioritize making sure people who stay there know they HAVE TO MAKE a reservation to not be treated like a second class citizen. There is one older man that works in the spa area who went out of his way to get us locket keys (he was great, good job on customer service) I may go to ojo in ojo caliente again because it is better than Ojo Santa Fe but I’ll most likely skip the restaurant next time. Go to El Paragua in Espanola if you can for a great customer service and authentic NM...

Artesian Restaurant, very disappointing. We were visiting Ojo Caliente for the first time and had a great experience at the natural springs. It was not so thrilling at the Artesian restaurant. The positive thing was that we could dine in our robes without going through fuss of changing into formal clothes. When we first arrive all dining room staff was busy scattered with no one to welcome us, direct us or accommodate us. We found an available table and I went to the cashier to ask if we could take it and we were told that was fine, it would just be a little while to get to us. We were not in a hurry so we seated ourselves and waited. When the server came to take our order he seemed very in a hurry but answered our questions kindly and (we thought) we were all set. My husband got Chile Rejeno, I ordered a lemon kale salad and was asked if I wanted to add a protein, I chose grilled Mahi mahi ; our daughter ordered the burger and was asked which side she wanted (sweet potato fries, regular fries .....) she chose the regular fries, all was set, including our drinks. When the food arrived.... my husband's Chile rejeno was just ok, a little shrunk but ok, my Lemon kale Mahi mahi salad was ok except for the Mahi Mahi which was more like a fish jerky, completely dry and over-seasoned and cold, it was so spicy I could't eat it. It was clear that it was pre-grilled maybe even the day before and warmed up. My daughter received her order as she requested with chili on the side but it came without the (included) side of fries. After few minutes we ask a server and he came back 5 minutes later with the fries. When the bill came, the fires were charged extra...which shouldn't have been since they were part of the burger deal, we did not order them extra we just reminded the server they were missing. I walked to the cashier to address the issue and the same server that took our order was clearly annoyed and insisted we ordered extra fries. I explained to him that they were forgotten and he said "give me a moment", well that moment turned into a 15 minutes wait which was obviously made long in despite because he started to do other things instead adjusting our bill. There was no apology of any kind. Needless to say we din't leave any tip and...

We just got back from our 3rd weekend here spanning over about 8 years and to be fair, the first 2 weekends were fantastic. However, this weekend left us disappointed even after we talked the place up to friends who ended up going with us to this outing. Specifically, the onsite restaurant "The Artesian" was really bad. We experienced bad meal and bad service over and over again. First night, one of us ordered the Salmon and it was not even close to fresh, we have had fresher sea food at fast food restaurants. The next morning our waiter seemed kinda rude, he walked up and uttered "Breakfast?" That's it. That's all he said. Didn't introduce himself or anything. It was just kind of odd. We chose to not eat lunch there because of these first two experiences but we did try dinner again which was a mistake. So we walk into the bar area which is right outside of the restaurant and ask to see a bar menu and the lady was extremely rude as if we were inconveniencing her. Then we were seated in the restaurant and told our waitress would be with us shortly. 25 minutes later, we watched 2 other tables be seated after us and be served before our server even came to introduce herself and it was the same server we had! I got up and walked to where all the other servers were and they obviously could tell I was irritated and asked "did you need something sir?" I replied "yes, our server would be nice" then I was told "she will be there in a minute. Sorry, she is New". I don't find that as an excuse because there was easily 4 servers in the tiny 300 square foot dining area who all saw us not being served and nobody could help us? Or at least tell this supposed "new" server that she had a new table? There is no teamwork here? Every server for themselves I guess. This is a very expensive resort, spa and restaurant and these shenanigans are simply unacceptable day after day. Maybe it was something personal about us, Who knows. but I just wanted to share our disappointment. The restaurant definitely has went downhill since our last visit. Only reason I still gave 2 stars is because we did enjoy the hot...