Apothecary Dining - One Sacred — Restaurant in Santa Fe

Before I begin with this review I’ll mention I’ve been in the service industry for over 8 years with experience under corporate and family owned businesses in the Midwest and one in Santa Fe.

The immediate impression of the atmosphere was inviting, although the staff wasn’t attentive nor welcoming for a nearly empty dining room on a busy afternoon on the plaza.

We were told to have a seat of our choice. A clear sign of a more casual service and a bit of a surprise coming from what initially seemed like a semi upscale establishment. Sat without any menus, our first member of wait staff within seconds approaches asking if we are ready to order. No menus, no greeting, and no water. It was apparent the lack of training or customer service this business upheld as to not have a procedure for beginning table service. An odd start to our stay and as important as I know how much initial impressions can be for a restaurant, I always hold on for the latter half as things can easily be redeemed. At least I had hoped.

After given an appropriate amount of time, my guest and I order an appetizer and two entrees which I will admit are priced a bit aggressively. We receive the Garlic Roasted Guacamole within seconds and boy was I at a loss for words. Now when it comes to portioning the quality of ingredients become a huge contributor . But not a single hint of garlic within a cup the size a teacup plated next to a near bland salsa and 15 chips at $19 a dish. A complete joke.

After a quick time skip it is now 10-15 minutes after finishing our app and my partners water glass is empty. Mine at 1/3 full. A server then approaches asking if we were ready for the check. At this point, I am confused as to who is taking care of us or if it is a group service. We hadn’t even received our entrees. We were met with multiple members of the staff but with no cohesive idea as to what we needed. The gentleman who took our order passes countless times without a single glance or care as to check on us or to remind that the mains will be arriving soon until after I finish the remaining sip of water and are forced to ask for a refill. Big sigh. All this with only 3 other tables and 4 front of house staff including who I assumed to be the owner. The two tables who were sat before us received there food promptly and yeah, we’re still waiting I guess. I’ll mention that we ordered a salad and medium rare burger. Here comes the most frustrated part. After 2 new tables received their entrées while we had not I had to flag down someone to inquire. The owner says I’ll check that. Few minutes pass and we are now watching the most frantic group of unprepared and untrained staff utilize what little brain power they have to muster up the worst excuse I have ever received. After another apology and quote, unquote, 5 minutes until your food is ready, I wait another 15 only to receive a dry, overcooked and initially request “medium rare” burger. At this point, we just wanna be done. We pay the full amount and are offered a $20 voucher but I can’t tell you how the level of frustration I got just cannot bring me back or recommend this to anyone ever.

I’ve worked and are currently working through COVID. As understaffed as my current company is, there is no excuse as to how blatantly unprofessional an owner can be toward constructive criticism as showed in previous reviews. An absolute shame.

TL;DR: this restaurant has an untrained, unprofessional and odd staff. Overpriced food and decent vibe considering with a crazy owner.

Edit: the owners response proves my point even further. We got one single solitary apology and that was from her, but she was more frantic and defensive than sympathetic. She never asked if there was anything they could do to help in the mean time. She didn’t suggest a single thing to help the situation. She lied about how long the entrees would take. And no one at all including HER, the owner, failed to check on us after we had received the food to see how we liked it or if we needed anything else. She offered to comp my dish only...

I used to love this place. The staff was very knowledgeable on the food and drinks. It still has the very nice ambiance but it just feels different. The current staff members are nice but I just dont get the sense this place is their passion. I don't know if management changed or staff left, but it's just not the same and neither is the food. I tried a coconut curry and it was just ok. The nachos were really good though. The wait times for food seems to be much longer too, it has deterred me from wanting to go more often. What really disappointed me was my last order. I ordered Rosemary fries and a Goddess Revive elixir drink. In the past, the cup was much bigger. This was a to-go order and I don't know ow if they give you more when you dine-in but for $10, it was unacceptably tiny. It still tasted good but the size was out of control for the price. It literally sat in the palm of my hand and I have really small hands. I expected the fries to have fresh rosemary as the restaurant is not supposed to be of sub-par quality, but they were heavily drenched with a crushed, dried rosemary and I couldn't even eat them. I ended up throwing them away. What's more disappointing was seeing the review responses from the owner. From calling people crazy and fake to spoiled Americans. I've lost all respect for this place after reading that along with how the food has decreased in flare. When a restaurant gets honest, fair and respectful feedback, it's the owners responsibility to help train their employees and make the changes to keep customers coming back. This used to be a place where my partner and I had dates, now we don't enjoy it any longer. I also had just picked up my food and was standing outside and one of the workers or owner came outside and started telling my partner and I all about how it's the best food in Santa Fe totally oblivious that she just served me my order. The lack of attention, negativity towards customers who expect more and boasting has changed my mind about this place. My partner was offered a free meal after being demeaned by the owner and we would absolutely not accept that offer, not even for free. If the owner foes decide to criticize me, that will validate my point. If you have mediocre taste, you'll love this place.

Response to owner: Well maybe instead of going on about how great your food is and calling people spoiled; you could put fresh rosemary on the fries and make your latte size appropriate for the price. There's a thought for ya. You want to know what I do for a living? Well I guess since that matters so much to you and you want to compare duress. I'm a registered nurse in a hospital. And guess what? When I get feedback- I make myself better so people can heal. So please fix your fries and up the cup size on your lattes. Oh and your attitude. Annndddd stop using covid to make excuses. I worked through it. Very hard. We have given this place multiple chances and it doesn't get better. And it's ABSOLUTELY NOT OK TO CALL MY GIRLFRIEND NAMES! I don't care about your business....

Let me preface, my initial review is below. Please read what the owner has to say as well. I do not like to post negative experiences, but the way the owner has acted throughout this situation is not appropriate and needs to be noted. She is a bully and refuses to take criticism by putting all blame always on customers. We called and asked if they could accommodate a large party reservation of 9 people and they said yes. We also asked to be on separate tabs from the get go. We also were very respectful and quiet about our problems to avoid spoiling the mood for everyone else. We were not rude and we tried to make the best of a bad situation.

Original Post: Oh where to start, the service from one of the waiters was horrible. He was clueless about the menu and did not seem to even know what we were trying to order. He never came by to check on us or refill drinks and just stood towards the back of the Restaurant on his phone.

The food for some of my party was Okay, at best. Most of the meals were prepared incorrectly or came out after many of us were done eating. Many of the menu items when they came out from the kitchen were not what was advertised. I ordered a sandwich and what I got was a salad. The food for what it was, is extremely overpriced. As well, has anyone heard of nachos being served with cold queso???

Once we seemed fed up enough, the owner came out to talk to us and we explained our experience and grievances with the meal service. She would not take blame and seemed too prideful to even admit fault. As well, she yelled at the waiter and waitress in front of customers and it seemed that the waitress was going to cry multiple times even though it wasn't her fault. She was just trying to fix the situation the waiter had caused.

Once we were done and trying to pay, we even noticed that there were extra items put on our bill. Totaling over $100 of extra items.

The music being played in the restaurant was the highlight of our experience, but sadly music could not save the meal that we experienced.

In response to the Owner: I will be honest, you did offer complimentary dessert, but only after you stared at us awkwardly and made us feel incredibly uncomfortable. You wouldn’t accept the criticism for the food and kept deflecting by saying everyone always loves your food. I see this trend throughout your responses as a deflection technique to avoid criticism. I don’t understand how I couldn’t have been more clear, all I ordered was a burger, a salad, and a drink. I stated this three times to you and the waitress very politely. The fact that you were trying to stiff me with an extra $130 worth of food is what’s barbaric. As well, saying I’m not a good fit for the restaurant is very rude and that just means that I’m not gullible and I see through the scam that your restaurant is. After reading other complaints, it does look like you have a record of behaving poorly to criticism. Maybe you should look at the writing on the wall and close your Trader Joe’s rip-off of...