Genaro's Cafe — Restaurant in Gallup

Genaro’s Cafe is a long-time Gallup establishment catering to the lunch and dinner hours. Their specialty is New Mexican cuisine with dishes that feature the unique flavors of New Mexico chile. Their place has been hopping since we lived in Gallup nearly 40 years ago. Some things have changed since then, but a lot remains from the old days. The restaurant used to be more closed off and cramped inside; now it’s open with all the tables far enough apart to allow easy access. They have added a second entrance contributing to the more open and airy feel of the place.

The salsa they serve with chips used to be famously hot, spicewise. The small bowls they served with the complimentary chips would set your mouth on fire. Back in the day I would go through at least one glass of water trying to cool the bucal inferno from that salsa. Now it’s completely tame — still quite tasty, but just as unaggressive as the salsa you will find at any of our local California Mexican joints. It makes me a little sad. One of the joys of certain specialty cuisines: Thai, Vietnamese, New Mexican, Chinese, etc., is the heat. To me, the endorphin rush from a high-capsaicin dish or condiment is a goal in itself. I really missed that from Genaro’s salsa.

What I did not miss was the great, welcoming, warmth of Genaro’s superb red chile. Although it may be a bit more tame than it was is years-gone-by, it still has that great flavor, color, texture, that only comes from real New Mexico Red. I did a taste test between the excellent red chile from Jerry’s and Genaro’s. This trip, Genaro’s came out on top. Brilliant red, redolent with the earthy pungency you will only find in the finest New Mexico Red. Genaro’s is superb. Do not go in there expecting to get Mexican food like you will find in California or the rest of the country. Do not expect Tex-Mex, it ain’t happening there. What is happening is some of the best true New Mexican food you will find in the state. The restaurant is tucked into an otherwise residential neighborhood of Gallup, several blocks from Route 66. Parking can get tough during busy times since their parking lot is fairly small, but go try it anyway.. It...

If there was negative star rating, I would apply it! Not even worth 1 star! My family and I have been eating at Genaros for about 20 years. Ever since the new management took over it hasn’t been the same. My family and I (5 members) ate at Genaros on 10-1-22, we were seated and the hostess took our drink order. Never saw her again, but she was more than happy to ask other guests how they were doing, if they needed refills, and taking drink orders. We sat and waited for our drinks for about 15 minutes, we had 3 different servers ask for our drink order. We told them some lady took them and never came back. The Hostess came back and asked for our drink order again (very annoyed). We waited for our server to take our order. The waitress gave us 1 menu to share (I don’t know if this is protocol now?). We ordered, no one checked on us after that. Throughout the meal another family of 5 were seated near us. They got the “royal treatment” from their arrival. They must know the owner or others in the restaurant? We get our order and our food was cold. My brother ordered a cheeseburger, which resulted in no silverware. We tried to wave down waitresses but no one bothered to come assist us. So I shared my napkin with him. We did not get one single refill of our drinks, no one checked on us, we didn’t get salt for our meal (despite trying to get the wait staff’s attention). They charged us a $11.92 gratitude due to our party of 5 on top of our tab. We paid $95 in total. We didn’t want to pay for the gratitude due to not getting service! The hostess would not budge and we ended up paying the gratitude. My family and I have worked in the restaurant business and we know how hard of a job it is. We are great tippers when service is done correctly. We won’t be returning! Do better Genaros! It seemed like you have to know someone there in order to get some type of...

Most recent experience at Generos has been shameful. An Navajo elderly couple experienced hostility from staff. The couple waited approximately an hour for their food that never arrived. When the couple decided to leave Genaros staff attacked them verbally right within the restaurant. The elderly Navajo grandmother wanted to pay for the drinks they received and leave, however Genaros staff wouldn't let them leave and threated to call the cops. Only after the couple decided to leave did Genaros produce their food (after the very long wait). When they refused the food at this point to leave Genaros staff began yelling horrible things about Navajos and continued by banning the Elderly couple from the restaurant. Customers could hear the Genaros staff horrible rant while they all ate. The staff complained about indigenous customers and then blamed the lack of staffing for their slow service. The elderly couple was billed $16 dollars for two soft drinks. Ridiculous! The couple was finally able to leave after the staff held them verbally hostage and the staff temper tantrum. Horrid display of obviously racism at Genaros. #ZEROSTARS DO BETTER GENAROS. YOU HAVE ZERO NATIVE STAFF WORKING AT YOUR 80% NAVAJO CUSTOMER BASE. Note: Food: Has been subpar post pandemic Atmosphere: unpleasant when staff has tantrums

Added as reply: incident occurred approximately the end of May 2022 the week of the 31st and person specifically addressing was the young lady at the register who made the scene.

update: Was able to have a discussion with Manager(s) of Genaros after the reply from the establishment stated to contact them. I did. I was able to give a verbal statement of what was experience and the dissatisfaction. They expressed a call should of been made immediately to...