Museum Hill Cafe — Restaurant in Santa Fe

Normally my review would have been 5 stars across the board, today was different, our 2nd trip to this restaurant. It's beautiful, the food was beyond excellent. Our waiter on the other hand was a different story. We arrived at 11:15 Mike O was the waiter, there were 5 of us total 3 were senior citizens, we asked for separate checks and he said ok. Keep in mind it wasn't busy at this time, the check came and wasn't separated but group gratuity was included. I asked Mike 0 , who we only saw 2 times, once to take the order the other to refill our drinks. Why it wasn't separated, he said he was too busy, isaid it wasn't busy when we arrived, he said its busy now, quite rudely, the senior citizens were appalled. He then gave me a pen and told me to figure it out by price and said that's the beauty of working here because the tip was included. People at another table were looking on. I was not going to do his job..he told us separate checks were OK, he himself included 20% on the ticket. I asked for a manager, some guy didn't identify himself still had me mark what belonged to who and made separate tickets and included the group gratuity that WAS NOT DESERVED. management will not read this and nothing will happen. We were forced to tip what wasn't deserved.. that's not ok. Mike...

I was a hopeful, somewhat captive audience here at a museum cafe. This place does not live-up to what it could be. Patio may be a nicer experience. Location, after all, is wonderful. But alas, a squandered opportunity due to missteps.

Host: only indoor tables available, but AC! And a window table! Me: great!

But:

1. table covered in salt/sugar from previous party. Not wiped down. Not appetizing.

2. flies. Copious flies. Indoors. Dead ones on the dusty windowsill. Live ones buzzing all around table/food and on windows.

I took to waving my hat and napkin to keep them at bay. When finished eating and no check was presented I fled the flies at the table to find someone who could help me pay up front. So unappealing.

3. speaking of windows — filthy. Many spider webs and dust trapped between screen and glass. Those dead flies. Windows themselves did the view no justice. Not appealing or appetizing.

4. the Greek Salad - I added salmon. It was cooked to my request. Thank you.

But a Greek salad is not a salad with mixed field greens.

This salad was missing romaine as its bed, and had no red onions - another hallmark of a Greek salad.

Please raise service and atmosphere/cleanliness to the level of...

It was extremely busy when we went, and we did not have a reservation, but we didn't have to wait too long to be seated. The servers were doing the best they could, and I heard so many people around us complaining about the wait with food, the bill, drinks, etc. But they were doing great with the number of people that were coming and going. Every table was occupied, and you can tell they were short staffed. With all that said, our server was great. She took care of us and checked on us often enough. We ordered the chicken jalapeno tacos, and they were so freakin good! The chicken had a nice grilled char flavor and was seasoned just right. We also got chips and dip, and I loved the guacamole while my husband said the pico was the best he ever had. The chips were so good! Never had anything like them. I don't have photos to post because I left my phone in the car, but the view along with the excellent meal was a great way to wrap up...