Hacienda de Mesilla — Restaurant in Mesilla

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...

We stayed at the hotel for two nights along with the wedding party and extended family. (I believe we booked 8 rooms.) It's a quaint, historic building and we were looking forward to a great experience. Unfortunately, our high spirits were quickly deflated upon check in. Among the three employees behind the counter none of them knew to how to process our check in. The young girls were friendly but obviously new and untrained. Why do organizations do that? The most important customer experience at a hotel is the front desk person and none of the three had any knowledge of how to check in a guest. We never never ate the hotel restaurant so I can't comment on the food.||After a search of the premises they were able to locate someone someone to check us in. In the process, we discovered discrepancies on the bills. After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to explain the errors to the staff person, she said to come back in two hours and she would have all the errors corrected. In the interest of brevity (it's a long story) I'll just say that the errors were not corrected but hey, we're here for a wedding. So, I just let mistakes go and absorb the $ difference. ||The theme of very young, untrained staff continued for the rest of our stay. I'll just mention a couple of them. ||1. On the patio (which is lovely) we tried to order drinks. We never found a server. So I went inside to the bar to order and was told I had to go to the front desk and find a hostess and they would help us. (Oh no! Not the front desk again!) After a few minutes I found a hostess who informed me I that could order drinks at the bar and take them out to the patio; that I didn't need a hostess. Grrrr. Relax, you're here for a wedding. ||At the bar I waited and waited to order drinks for our group but didn't receive any kind of acknowledgement from the five young giggly girls to the side of the bar who were recounting their social events from the night before. The bartender was very busy making drinks. He was great! I commented on how busy he was and he said he would get my order as soon as he could. None of the young girls ever looked my way or acknowledged me. So, after 15 minutes I was finally able to deliver drinks to our party on the patio. Grr. Relax, you're here for a wedding.||2. Story #2.....the room keys cards. After checking in I headed to my room and discovered the card would not work. I went back downstairs and was told that I must have placed my card next to my cell phone which erased the magnetic strip information. Knowing full well I hadn't done that, I ignored the comment and was given another key card which did work. For the remainder of my stay the key cards kept malfunctioning. Each time I was told I must have done something to erase them. When I told the others in my group about my experience they said they were all having the same issue and each of them was told they must have done something to erase the card. The key cards malfunctioned multiple times during my stay.||The room itself was fine. Nothing elaborate or fancy but clean. The bed was comfortable. Its an old building lacking modern amenities like a bathroom counter. Its a pedestal sink. No biggie. The shower "doors" were rather odd. Part of it was half of a sliding glass door and the other half was a cloth curtain. Odd but It worked. It's an old charming building with sloping floors and weathered doors.||I would consider staying there again (maybe) but only if I knew they had properly trained their staff. I didn't want to leave a poor review online so I called the owner, Tom Hutchinson, to give him my feedback. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to speak with him. I hope I have left a fair review here. Overall, I would give the hotel a 6 on a...

We stayed at the hotel for two nights along with the wedding party and extended family. (I believe we booked 8 rooms.) It's a quaint, historic building and we were looking forward to a great experience. Unfortunately, our high spirits were quickly deflated upon check in. Among the three employees behind the counter none of them knew to how to process our check in. The young girls were friendly but obviously new and untrained. Why do organizations do that? The most important customer experience at a hotel is the front desk person and none of the three had any knowledge of how to check in a guest. We never never ate the hotel restaurant so I can't comment on the food.||After a search of the premises they were able to locate someone someone to check us in. In the process, we discovered discrepancies on the bills. After several minutes of unsuccessfully trying to explain the errors to the staff person, she said to come back in two hours and she would have all the errors corrected. In the interest of brevity (it's a long story) I'll just say that the errors were not corrected but hey, we're here for a wedding. So, I just let mistakes go and absorb the $ difference. ||The theme of very young, untrained staff continued for the rest of our stay. I'll just mention a couple of them. ||1. On the patio (which is lovely) we tried to order drinks. We never found a server. So I went inside to the bar to order and was told I had to go to the front desk and find a hostess and they would help us. (Oh no! Not the front desk again!) After a few minutes I found a hostess who informed me I that could order drinks at the bar and take them out to the patio; that I didn't need a hostess. Grrrr. Relax, you're here for a wedding. ||At the bar I waited and waited to order drinks for our group but didn't receive any kind of acknowledgement from the five young giggly girls to the side of the bar who were recounting their social events from the night before. The bartender was very busy making drinks. He was great! I commented on how busy he was and he said he would get my order as soon as he could. None of the young girls ever looked my way or acknowledged me. So, after 15 minutes I was finally able to deliver drinks to our party on the patio. Grr. Relax, you're here for a wedding.||2. Story #2.....the room keys cards. After checking in I headed to my room and discovered the card would not work. I went back downstairs and was told that I must have placed my card next to my cell phone which erased the magnetic strip information. Knowing full well I hadn't done that, I ignored the comment and was given another key card which did work. For the remainder of my stay the key cards kept malfunctioning. Each time I was told I must have done something to erase them. When I told the others in my group about my experience they said they were all having the same issue and each of them was told they must have done something to erase the card. The key cards malfunctioned multiple times during my stay.||The room itself was fine. Nothing elaborate or fancy but clean. The bed was comfortable. Its an old building lacking modern amenities like a bathroom counter. Its a pedestal sink. No biggie. The shower "doors" were rather odd. Part of it was half of a sliding glass door and the other half was a cloth curtain. Odd but It worked. It's an old charming building with sloping floors and weathered doors.||I would consider staying there again (maybe) but only if I knew they had properly trained their staff. I didn't want to leave a poor review online so I called the owner, Tom Hutchinson, to give him my feedback. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to speak with him. I hope I have left a fair review here. Overall, I would give the hotel a 6 on a...