Palace — Restaurant in Santa Fe

The new Palace Prime is the epitome of the phrase "if it isn't broke, don't fix it". This was my wife and I's favorite restaurant in Santa Fe for the last couple years, but recently they decided to reinvent themselves from an incredible steakhouse with tons of options and amazing cocktails, to a short menu "tapas" style place with the same prices for less food, none of their previous dishes, a third of the cocktails, and just generally bad culinary inventions.

We went a couple months ago for our anniversary, and we're disappointed at every turn. The sides were the prices of an entree and mediocre, and we got a steak special since we were sad to see the menu was completely different. And it was one of the worst high dollar steaks I've ever had: totally undercooked and flavorless (we always order medium rare but this was barely gray on the top and bottom and straight up raw in the middle), no seasoning, and a weak attempt at a sauce. The best thing we had that night was the oysters because how could you possibly mess up a raw dish. We left feedback on open table, and to their credit the manager reached out and gave us $100 to give it another shot.

So we did tonight, and it was even more disappointing. Both cocktails were super strange and bad. I ordered one called milk and cookies which on paper sounded rich and tasty, but actually was filled with citrus and absinth with clarified milk. Super weird, kind of good, but not what I wanted which is more on me. But then the Caesar salad was flavorless and the croutons were insanely hard; the halibut was overcooked and a laughably small portion with no sides for $40; and I just wanted a burger which was dry, flavorless, had barely any green chile or cheese, and came with sweet bread and butter pickles on it. Disgusting, I have never had a burger like that. Legitimately the parmesan fries were the best part of the meal, because how could you possibly mess that up. And for $26 that should have been the best burger ever. Finally, I wanted a glass of red wine to make up for the bad cocktails, and was recommended a cab from their by the glass wines. It was a lame and flavorless cab, and was $25 a glass. Absolutely outrages prices for the small portions and generally mediocre food. I'm always traumatized by "tapas" since it's usually less food for more money, and this was no exception. Also our server kept disappearing for 10m at a time even though the place was more than half empty, and it took about 45m from sitting down to getting our food. The table next to us had ordered coffee after the meal, but it took so long to come that they actually left before it got there.

Overall just two terrible experiences in a row, and it's so sad because this place was packed, had great service, a huge selection of delicious cocktails, and truly awe inspiring dishes before this. Now, they're trying to be way too unique while straying from the fundamentals of good food. For example, their milk bread used to be so damn good and fluffy with simple whipped butter. Now they made a lemon anchovy butter that is overwhelming and awful, taking away from the simple bread.

Anyways, had to get this all off my chest, and I am truly sad to see this place go so hard in the wrong direction. I really hope they figure out where they went wrong before it's too late, because they really had something great at one point. Sad to see it more than half empty on a Saturday night. The owners seem like great people though, and I wish them luck getting...

I decided to bring my girlfriend here for valentines from the start the experience was bad, we arrived right on time just to have a couple who arrived later be seated first,[ I made a reservation to be (sat at a bar) the same exact spot I got sat at for my birthday a couple years ago], the waiters were in a hurry and weren’t any help when ordering, I ordered the halibut en papilote with lobster only to receive 6 small pieces of lobster. I spoke to the waiter about it and she offered me a new dish to find out (There is no lobster tails, yet it is shown on the website that they serve lobster tails. False advertisement if I would’ve known there were no lobster tails I wouldn’t have came or booked a reservation.) I ended going with the market fish the waiter said it was a sword fish it was bland no flavor all the fish I tried there tasted like it’s was just cooked no seasoning no sauce basic grilled fish including the papilote with lobster tasted like a tasteless seafood boil my girlfriend got the 1/2 green chile chicken for it to be cooked 1/2 ways AGAIN we asked the waiter what she thought about it and she replied that chicken meat sometimes is darker on the other side ( The chicken was literally pink) for her to gaslight us like that was the last straw, The water boy was the only polite one the atmosphere used to be good but just like the food it’s going down but 0/10 never going again do not recommend not worth the buck the food is bland, tasteless, MEDIOCRE cocktails included, tables are small and crowded no arm space they tilt if you lean to much can’t lean back because the servers don’t have enough...

My husband and I lucked into Palace Prime our first night in Santa Fe, and it was definitely the highlight of our trip! Our meal there was outstanding, as was the service. The atmosphere is perfect: it’s relaxed-upscale, with a formal dining area and a separate bar + lounge area.

It’s also worth noting that whatever they’ve done to minimize the typical restaurant cacophony of sound is working: I’ve come to dread going out because it can be SO noisy that I can’t hear or be heard. I didn’t even realize that this was absent at Palace Prime initially, but now that I’ve experienced it it’s hard to go anyplace else. You can actually enjoy a conversation here!

I’ve saved the best for last: the drinks and the bar team. I’m not a big drinker, but if I lived there I would be! We closed out every day at this bar, and tried virtually every incredible drink on their menu! They were also great at customizing our drinks or introducing us to new ones [Mezcal & Montenegro FTW]. During our short visit I became spoiled, and I’m frankly a little disappointed in the subpar drinks I’ve had since we left. ;-)

If you get a chance to go here during your stay in Santa Fe, you won’t regret it. The staff there are just great people. Shout out to Charles, our unofficial Santa Fe vacation advisor. He never steered us wrong!

P.S. On Sunday nights they play REAL vinyl records in the lounge area, and they’ll let you pick one out! I found a Love & Rockets album I listened to in my misspent youth, paired it with the perfect Manhattan, and couldn’t have...