Del Charro — Restaurant in Santa Fe

Me: Party of 1, 935pm. Had to wait for admittance with no instructions—sign in or just wait? Turns out it was a sign-in situation… after I’ve stood in line 15 minutes. Sit at the bar—multiple seats open. Tenders are busy, but I’m not acknowledged for almost 10 minutes.

Order a glass of wine. Received promptly. I’m wanting to order food. Am not offered a menu. I ask a neighboring table if I can have one of theirs. Review menu, holding it high in the air to alert bartenders that I actually have a menu. Received no recognition. Hold menu above my head for emphasis. Finally am asked if I’d like to order. I order 1 app: Queso. Arrive promptly, but isn’t hot—lukewarm. I am given no utensils, nor napkins. It’s obvious… another patron hands me one of their paper napkins. Finally bartender asks if I NEED a napkin. Meanwhile, both bartenders are totally checking their phones—because that’s more important than customers.

I’m wanting water—which has not been offered to this point. Then, I see bar-backs handing over bags of ice to bartenders. They repeatedly throw the bags of ice on the floor—ever take a close look at floors behind the bars? Bags tear, ice falls out—all meaning the ice is in contact with the disgusting floor behind the bar. The bartenders then tear them open and then pour them into the bins used to serve customers drinks. I’m quite happy I’ve NOT been given ice water at this point. This is a major health dept violation.

After getting my order, a local gent sits beside me, orders a drink along with fish and chips. We strike up a convo and before ya know it, 45 minutes has passed. In the meantime, we’ve both had to raise our hand (like we’re in 3rd grade) in order to get a bev refill. At the 45 minute mark, the local gent asks about his order of fish and chips. The bartender who took his order seems to have no clue, even tho she had repeated his order when it was...

We went to Del Charro, as traveling tourists, with 9 adults and 7 kids so it was a rather large group. It was also Spring Break so it was also very busy, which is to be expected.

We called in advance to make sure it was relatively kid-friendly and they stated they were. I will say they kind of are, kind of are not. The waiting area was essentially the bar, and we had our children with us who are usually well-behaved and that evening was no different. The staff approached our Party and rudely stated “Children are not allowed in the bar area.” Well, being that it was the waiting area we didn’t have many options, and we made that point. They did end up seating us shortly after so it wasn’t a huge deal.

Now, for the positives and the important stuff…

In terms of the food, my Partner and I split the fish and chips and it was very good. It isn’t a usual dish one would order at a Mexican Food establishment, nor one that anyone would expect would be well-executed. However, it was very good. The chips are homemade potato chips and very delicious. The fish was the perfect batter-to-fish ratio. We couldn’t tell what kind of fish it was, but we were guessing cod. We did different margaritas. I usually just do house margaritas, and thats what I ordered. My sister who was part of the Party ordered a pomegranate margarita and it was surprisingly good.

Our waitress was incredible. She handled our entire Party with grace and patience for our relatively large group. I wish I knew her name so I could give her a special mention. It turns out she also waited on some of our Party previously on that trip on another evening.

The venue...

We visit Santa Fe regularly on business and like to enjoy the dining Santa Fe has available. Yesterday we called @ 430 to check for dining @ 6 for a party of 11. We were told they did first come and no reservations but doubted we would have to wait long and they had a family area as we had two toddlers and a handicapped in our party. Several of us arrived early to secure a table and were told it would be 20 minutes. I explained there were several more in our party arriving soon and clarified the total and were then told it would be 30-40 minutes. Then proceeded to take our info said there would be no split checks and they didn’t have a wait area and would call and we would wait outside. I told the host we would wait in the entrance area and he said we were not allowed. I told him to go to hell and we left. I have been in food service over 30 years. Your host did a gross disservice to you by not even showing the least amount of courtesy to our party, hence my anger and comment. Babies, toddlers and the infirm have no business waiting out in the cold. There was plenty of area to stay inside for us but to decline I believe was in very poor taste. Just an FYI……ur not the only game in town and I hope more people call u out for this type of behavior. We will never be back and will make no recommendations to anyone about your establishment. You have no business being in the service industry because u don’t even know what service is. Shame on the...