Gabriel's — Restaurant in New Mexico

Let me start by saying this: Gabriel’s USED to be my Mom’s favorite restaurant and one I USED to thoroughly enjoy.

This is how the experience started. My Dad was nearly decapitated with a full tray of food, only to be sneered out by the food runner. This was supposed to be a Mother’s Day treat for my Mom. The horrendous service coupled with the THREE hour wait for food made it a nightmare.

We had a reservation at 3:30. After a few minutes of perusing the menu, we ordered. We received our guacamole we ordered, then waited … and waited… and waitrd for our entrees. There was little sign of our waiter. And people that arrived well after us received their food and left. We sat uncomfortably trying to find out what was going on, only to be told food would be out shortly. We continued to wait…and waited…patiently, pleasantly. Nearly TWO HOURS AND 40 MINUTES later we were told by our waiter that food would be on the house. Another 20 MINUTES pass. Finally at 6:30, THREE HOURS after arriving food came to the table. The food was obviously rushed: messy plates, rubbery shrimp, subpar everything. My Mom was gracious enough to slip the waiter $20 to ensure he received some sort of tip despite the lousy service. We ordered dessert since, hey, food was on the house. We ordered tres leches cake. Who serves DRY tres leches cake?!? That is supposed to be served completely wet. Who serves it dry? Gabriel’s does.

This was a huge disappointment. At the end, after the waiter got his tip, he angrily threw a bill on the table. We just figured it was for our reference/records? No apologies, no thank you for coming, no Happy Mother’s Day for my Mom, and no rose for my Mom, like every other Mom there received.

We casually walked away from the table and headed toward the parking lot. As we started to get in the car, I see the waiter stalking toward us. He asked why we didn’t pay the bill. We told, him that he said the food was in the house. He claims, he meant that dessert was on the house. We reiterated that, that was not what he said. He walked away. We decided to walk back in to talk to the manager. As we tried to do so, the waiter walked back toward us and said everything was fine, everything was taken care of. We decided to get out of there.

I reiterate, what a hugely sad and infuriating disappointment. We will NOT be back. Don’t...

I cannot recommend this restaurant enough. Walking in there was a wooden tunnel with hanging peppers. This caught my eye then I started to smell the delicious food.

We noticed a small table on the way in with hand made items. On the walls were beautiful paintings that were for sale. We chose indoor seating but the outdoor seating looked clean and had great air flow.

We were seated right away and our server was so kind. She greeted all of us. Including the kids, which is such a rare occurrence when eating out with kids.

The menu had a variety of options, including vegetarian and a kids menu. Some of the plates we chose were ribs, fajitas, tacos, and burritos. The food we couldn’t finish we brought home with us because it was too delicious to let it go to waste. We also had table side guacamole that was so delicious we scraped the bowl clean!

On to dessert. So many options! Our server had taken notice that I was trying to not have flour and was able to help us make a decision. Which again is rare for people to pay close enough attention to figure out that we had any dietary restrictions. I was truly impressed by and grateful for our server.

We chose Sopapias and Banana Vallarta. The sopapias were some of the biggest and lightest I have ever seen. The banana Vallarta came highly recommended by our server and was so delicious I had a hard time sharing it. It took a lot of restraint not to lick the plate clean.

The bathrooms were clean and the atmosphere was so happy and friendly.

We stopped by the small table we noticed on the way and picked up a beautiful headband and a bracelet.

The staff was very attentive and made eye contact with us which I am so grateful for. They were busy but still took the time to be friendly. We will...

We are here on Wednesday evening on our way to Albuquerque. Hadn't been here since about 1990, but always loved this place in the past. It didn't disappoint! Atmosphere is clean, but colorful, with colorful original art (some for sale) on each wall, varying by room. In season, Gabriel's has a beautiful enclosed patio and fountain, but too cold for that. While the menu has changed over the years, they still have their signature guacamole made table side, delicious!. They menu is fairly large, staying true to their sign "foods of New Mexico and Old World Mexico". House margaritas are consistently good, and a decent size. I had a Tiger Prawn En Brochette with a creamy chipotle sauce one the side. Comes with black beans (okay), corn, mixed fresh sauteed vegetables, and a very good rice and peas. My husband had a Carne Abodado Burrito with pinto beans, corn, mixed veggies, more guacamole, and the rice. The burrito was smothered in a somewhat mild red Chile sauce. Sopapillas must be ordered separately, but are worth it here, large fluffy pillows served hot with honey on the side. I had a slice of dolce de lece cake with a chocolate and whipped cream topping. Very different than other versions of this cake, lighter, taller, and fantastic with a Fra Angelico on the size. I'd recommend reservations. We'll be back come Spring and the...