Leo's — Restaurant in Santa Fe

I understand the hype of this place and fully understand that new business are challenging. But I also think that the seating & organization is a whole mess. We were told 45 minutes wait..not even going to complain about that part. We waited the whole 45 minutes. And then some. There is no reservation system for this place and it is supposed to be "first come first serve". We were put on the list but people who came after us - both bigger groups and smaller got seated before us. Not a lot of communication from service folks about possibility of sitting at the bar...and it seemed like friends and aquaintances of the restaurant peeps got seated before us?? I got a confirmation from my restaurant community friend about this-their restaurant manager got seated with practically no wait time..and some meals were even comped!. Wait...omg...I think all the 5 star reviews are from the restaurant peeps who got seated with no wait times + their meals were comped 🧐)

Anyhoo- Our wait time kept climbing. And I get it ..new restaurant in Santa Fe...lots of people to cater to who are excited. But the lack of communication when the wait time is 45+ minutes while we waited in the waiting front area as others who came after were getting seated before us... RUDE!! If it was opening day or even a day or two after opening day...I get it. You wanna welcome your restaurant homies. But y'all are into week 4. If the restaurant peeps are the only people y'all wanna cater to...welp. That's....a choice.

The food is okay but I don't think it was worth waiting for more than 1 hour for this. Is there a point in reviewing the food if you probably don't even get to eat it because they're just seating their restaurant pallies? Prolly NOT!

Jkjk. See that would be unfair. We waited, waited some more, ordered 3 small plates, 1 large main, 1 dessert & 2 drinks, boxed our leftovers, tipped fairly & got outta there. We started out wait at 7:05 pm & by the time we got seated at 8:20, they were out of sticky rice, the lamb curry, satay and a noodle dish or some such. We got the eggplant- this was nice. Well spiced and went well with the chicharron. The other smalls were the catfish sum tum- also good. Appropriate usage of fish sauce; & the larb. Larb was good. Appreciated the steamed rice that actually came with the dish & the toasted rice in the larb. Got the dorade as a main but I was so overstimulated by this time, I asked for a box ( hence the photo in a box). Fish was fine. Not the freshest. The sauce that came with it was flavorful. We got the first two cocktails on the menu with the food- also not too bad. And got the pandan cake thing for dessert...it was okay.. smelled eggy. I liked the steamed texture of the cake.

The seating is a sensory nightmare. I am a fan of communal tables but not when I am practically sitting on my neighbors lap while the bathroom door is hitting me ever so often. This is some economy airplane vibes I did not have on my evening's bingo card. Me & my husband had like one arm length of space between us and less so between our neighbors. And that a little weird when it's a tapas place and people order multiple plates. Like where are we putting the plates?? im sorry my lap is already full with my neighbor sitting on it. Everyone is so close to each other, you can't hear a thing. Throw in some music in there so you can't even hear your own thoughts. Wanna put your bag somewhere? LOL that's a luxury you shant afford at Leos. Our server was a sweetie and I know he did his best. The servers were working REALLY hard!

I would highly recommend somewhere else if you want equally good food (or sometimes better) and drinks without the obnoxious vague wait times as you watch others get seated before you....or if you wanna have a conversation while you eat. Or perhaps you can just forego your craving for thai fusion tapas and succumb to the sweet siren songs of Tune Up and their 8 billion specials just around the corner because you live in Santa Fe lol. Anyway good...

Leo’s was a fun and unique dining experience in Santa Fe! Delicious, flavorful and spicy food paired with an interesting cocktail. Everything tasted super fresh. Proteins were cooked to perfection. Friendly, helpful host and servers. We waited about 25-30 minutes before being seated, which is pretty reasonable for a busy Saturday night. We arrived around the time of the first turn of tables so that helped limit our wait time a bit.

The place was slammed and the dining room was buzzing! Our server Ryland was excellent and handled the pressure like a pro! He mentioned that the kitchen was backed up, but honestly, I thought our food came out pretty quick. Impressive feat for a kitchen the size of a walk in closet!

If you do not enjoy community dining and interacting with people, this might not be the place for you. Plenty of other options in town. In my opinion, it is a thoughtful use of a tiny space and worked well for the style of cuisine that they are serving. They are still getting dialed in after recently opening, but overall it was a successful dinner and I am looking forward to...

If you are a vegetarian or vegan, do not go here. We waited for an hour and a half to get into the restaurant last night and there are zero vegetarian/vegan options, even though the google description says there is, and it looks like the menu has one option (it has fish sauce in it). No modifications can be made to any of the dishes. I had a cocktail (which was fine) and a literal cup of plain white rice for dinner. I don’t think that every place has to cater to all dietary restrictions, but it a bit unusual in Santa Fe not to have at least one vegetarian/vegan item and I wish that was made more obvious so I could have eaten before I went here with my omnivore friends. Food aside, the rest of the experience was very much like a restaurant in a larger city with super loud music and very cramped quarters. Think a club vibe, complete with waiting in a long line outside, and waiting forever for a drink once you do get in. They were also out of many things on the limited menu. Might be worth waiting a while to let them work out the kinks before trying it, and leave your plant eating...