I want to start this review by saying that I am rarely moved by my experience to leave reviews, whether positive or negative.

My family was celebrating a wedding anniversary that was very nearly medically impossible for my grandmother to live to at the beginning of the year. We decided the Hacienda de Mesilla would have a nice atmosphere and menu for brunch, made a reservation and requested a specific, quieter area prior to the day of brunch. Upon arriving, we were seated in the main dining area and told that our request was simply a request and that another party was prioritized due to their earlier time of their reservation - which was not what was communicated by the host who took the reservation. We later found out that they were not reserved and were actually a walk-in.

So far, I have 10 years of experience working in the hospitality industry with host, server, and kitchen experience at upscale restaurants that people would dress up to go on dates at. I am familiar with the excuses that are given to guests who are surprised to have their plans changed without them knowing. My family, a party of 8, is kind and no one cares to make a scene when plans change. Within 5 minutes of being seated our server, Richard comes and fills our waters, leaves and returns 5 minutes later to take bar drink orders. We wait 10 minutes for our drinks, which are delightful. We don’t see Richard again for what might have been 20 minutes. Another bar order and we place our food order. About 30 minutes into our time at the table, another party (4) sits at a booth near to us, and another (4) behind. I noticed that they got their food before our server returned to us to tell us that there was a problem in the kitchen, “they ran out of the sauce,” and they are remaking “everything.” Perhaps he was referring to the spicy chipotle hollandaise for the 4 Southwest Chorizo Eggs Benedict plates we ordered, he didn’t say. We wait another 20 minutes and before the food arrives and since our server has been absent both from view and from our table, we have no clue why the long wait, so we found a manager at the front to hopefully get some information about the long delay and hopefully figure out why our food was remade and how much longer it will take to arrive since we’ve been there already an hour. Finally the food arrives and mine (the chorizo eggs benny) is very tasty, well-seasoned, room temp-warm… mine wasn’t the only plate to come out lukewarm. Our server set the food down and disappeared again. Our waters did not get refilled until we were all done with our entrees and not even refilled by our server. Perhaps we scared him by asking for information.

The person who came by to refill our waters came back to pre-bus our table and clear our empty plates, and eventually Richard, our server comes back, asks if we’re ready for the check (no mention of dessert, a great upsell), and disappears for 10 more minutes before peeking out of the kitchen to grab a water pitcher and look in my direction. I asked for the check again, and he disappears! 10 more minutes and we go to find a manager for the check- he explains the cantina was swamped (????? there was no one around at that point) and finally Richard comes back and takes our cards and comes back nearly 10 minutes later with the completed transaction.

The 20% auto-gratuity that was applied to the check was more than generous for the lack of service and the multiple excuses we received for our visit. Man, do I hate to leave negative feedback, but this was horrible. My family kept the attitude light in the spirit of the celebration, but the restaurant really failed their hospitality for a brunch shift. I would have loved to have had the tall, long-aproned, bunned-hair fellow, or the brunette server-lady. They regularly checked in on the tables they were serving on and I could hear and see the hospitality that our party did not receive. In my years of serving brunch, I have encountered hard parties. Mine was not hard. Communication can be hard - we weren’t rude and the staff tucked their tails & hid.