Beef & Leaf Cafe — Restaurant in Los Alamos

As someone who brought their toddler to dinner here, I just want to start off to say this place is not kid friendly. No highchairs and no kids menu. I didn't take off any stars for this because the upscale adult vibe is probably what the owner was going for but I did want to mention it to other parents who are maybe looking for this info.

That out of the way, I have gone here twice, once with a friend where we were told you had to have a reservation or else you could only order from the appetizer and drinks menu (which we ended up doing) and another time with another couple and their kid for dinner. The first time was actually pretty good, we split a bunch of appetizers between the two of us and had drinks. We did end up getting another tables food and the teenager food runner was blamed although I have a sneaking suspicion it wasn't her fault. That said, we enjoyed the appetizers and drinks we had and the service was prompt.

The second time was much worse. The service started out good but the last half an hour I think the waitress must have gotten slammed because the 5 patio tables outside were left unattended for a good 20 minutes before one of the adults from our table went inside to grab a waitress. The food that wasn't messed up was good and tasted fine, though not spectacular. A muscle dish was messed up with half of the muscles being inedible because they weren't cooked enough to open. The gnocchi dish was undereasoned and very bland and for a proclaimed tomato based dish, you could hardly taste the tomatoes. A lemonade drink I had ordered the first time and again the second time was not made the same because I could easily finish it while the first time, I couldn't because of my sensitivity to alcohol. Both times the drink tasted great, however.

Also, I don't know why but they insisted on not opening doors nor windows for their inside dinner service the night we were there and inside was an absolute sauna. Luckily we were sat outside but I felt bad for the diners inside.

Overall, the inconsistencies with food and drink preparation and service was pretty disappointing and I probably won't be...

Wow, I was excited to come to Beef and Leaf! I love a new restaurant. Especially one with gluten free options.

My partner and I went to the restaurant , ordered a few cocktails, one of which the Laura's Lemonade, which was great, and started with the fried cauliflower, which was also amazing! And we were excited for the rest of our meal. I had ordered the red fish and he got the chicken fried steak.

My fish was so tough I had use a steak knife to cut through it. It was obviously frozen when it was cooked, and was so tough it was inedible. The rissotto on the other hand was somehow weirdly crunchy. My partner was very excited to get a chicken fried steak. But unfortunately he had to chew endlessly to the point of exhaustion. This was also obviously frozen when fried and had a tough, sinewy texture. The chicken fried steak sat on top of sweet potatoes that were cooked with so much maple syrup that it was all you could taste.

We both grew up in families where you don't leave anything behind on your plate. We both left at least half of our meals on our plates, spent way too much money on inedible food, and then went to Riggobertos after for something good to eat.

The service, cauliflower and ambiance are the only reason why I give the 2 stars. Save yourself the reservation, go get a drink on the patio, get some fried cauliflower, then get dinner...

Flank steak excellent, fries inappropriate. Buttermilk chicken good, grits and veggies underneath with it good. Snapper tough maybe over done. It's was not light and flaky as I am used to with fresh snapper.. Blueberry Rasberry compote very good. No non alcoholic beer? Please no O'Doules, Heiniken or a local NA please. Now that most have watched The Bear, America's fine dining expectations are growing. For the price of B & L, the tables were modest and light weight, napkins not crisply folded. Staff needs to raise their professional bar. Some were a bit disheveled. All should watch season 2 of The Bear to better understand the transition from a Beef sandwich shop to a restaurant of higher cuisine and stature that the B & L could become. Coaching and mentoring necessary top down. Our waiter was excellent but he was overloaded. Staff could have engaged more to help him out. Will try again but our $140 tab for 4 with one split meal, one shared desert and only two alcoholic drinks was steep considering the above. Good luck to you B & L, if you raise your internal bar you may make it, if not, you may price yourself out of business. Los Alamos needs you, hope you do it...