Santa Fe Teahouse & Bistro — Restaurant in Santa Fe

I am currently on spring break visiting from DC with my best friend and a friend recommended the Santa Fe Teahouse to us. I was extremely excited to go as I am a big tea buff and so is my best friend. We arrived around noon with no wait and were seated by the host immediately. The host was wonderful, he was an absolute sweetheart. We sat in one of the greenhouses where no one else was sitting and were hoping for a relaxing, timely meal. The waitress asked what I’d like to drink a minute or two after we were seated and roughly 10 minutes later a family of four was seated in the same greenhouse as us. They were extremely loud, talked over us to the point where we couldn’t hear each other, and the worst part was that the husband kept hacking up a lung and coughing without covering his mouth. This in itself is enough to ruin a relaxing brunch but that’s not the main reason as to why I’m writing this review. A waitress came up to the family and took their orders around 10 minutes after they were seated, completely ignoring us. Someone brought out our drinks shortly after but we did not get our orders taken until 10 minutes after the family, which was 30 minutes after we arrived. While waiting for our food we noticed that the family was repeatedly checked on while we were ignored each time in the interim. The family of four’s food arrived around 15-20 minutes before our appetizer even arrived. I don’t mind waiting for my meal, but I do mind it when we should’ve been waited on and served first. We ended up leaving our table 20 minutes after the family did, due to the lack of service, when we should’ve been able to leave before them because we arrived before them. Our waitress was nice when she did come up to us but the service overall was very poor. We went inside after our meal to buy chocolate and when we went up to the register - the three people behind it ignored us. When I asked, “Do we check out here?” another woman came up and checked us out. I brought my concerns to the manager and she told me that they were understaffed which I don’t believe considering there were at least 6 waiters that I saw and it wasn’t all that busy inside or outside. There was no offer to try to make up for the experience and she had a patronizing tone like she was talking to a teen when saying they were understaffed as if I couldn’t see with my own eyes that they weren’t. She really didn’t seem to care that the service and experience was bad, and after reading other reviews, she probably should. I’ve worked in the service industry for several years and I can recognize an understaffed restaurant vs. when you’re just not a priority. The best she could offer was, “Next time you come back I hope your experience is better.” I won’t be coming back, thanks! It was obvious that the reason the family was being waited on hand and foot was due to the bigger bill and because we were just a table of two, we were not as important. Don’t seat people if you’re just going to ignore them and then lie to their faces when it is politely brought to your...

I have been coming to the Teahouse for 30 years. It has always maintained the same level of great food and an amazing selection of teas and other beverages. Plus I could always count on many really good gluten free options. It was one of my favorite places to go. Until now. I understand the owner tragically passed away suddenly this year and his business partners took over the running of the restaurant. It’s heartbreaking what they have done here. They completely changed the menu and took off every good item I came here for. They took the menu in a completely different direction from interesting comfort food to a very limited menu of mostly Asian/Mexican offerings. And the teas! I don’t know how you can screw up tea but they managed to do it. Both my companion and I ordered different black iced teas and they came out cloudy and bitter. Never in all the years I’ve come here has that happened before. The food I finally settled on - a citrus salad and a burrata/pesto special- was ok but overpriced for what we got. In the end I sadly will not come back here unless the new owners come to their senses and put it back the way it was. There’s a lot of talk around town of people feeling the same way and no longer frequenting this place so hopefully they get it. Not holding my breath on that but they’ve lost another customer, I’m not coming back.

Update 1/25 - I don’t know what to say - the owner just responded asking me to give them another chance as the latest owners. I did give them another chance last month. It was a warm day so people were lined up outside to be seated. Lots of open tables. There was no one at the entrance for over 10 minutes to seat us. People were getting upset, some leaving, one group called in while standing next to us to make a reservation for right now and were immediately seated, bypassing those of us in line. The people in front of me got upset and got into a fight with the owner who was serving and short tempered. Those people left. Owner said they’d just had someone walk out so were short staffed. Then the wife came out and told people to go sit where they wanted, which I did. But then I realized it would be a long time before I was served and I didn’t like what was going on there so I left the table. I haven’t been back. Not sure what’s going on there but that’s no way to do business and treat customers. Lots of excuses for why, but all I know is there were a lot of upset people just in those 20 minutes I was there and that’s going to reflect badly on them. I used to love that place, but it’s not even close to what it was. Besides my favorite gluten free option paninis...

As a long time customer of The Teahouse and someone who never writes reviews of restaurants, I feel compelled to write a review for the first time based on the new menu and changes that have been made to The Teahouse under new ownership. The Teahouse was the favorite restaurant of my wife and myself for more than five years and we have been making the 45 minute drive to Santa Fe multiple times a month specifically to go to The Teahouse. It was the standout restaurant in town which we preferred to even Geronimo’s or the Compound and we would always recommend it to any friends or family coming to the area. For us, it was the incredible food and relaxing ambience that made the commute worth it and we always felt leaving relaxed and fully content. The old menu was so special because my wife has celiac’s disease and cannot consume gluten and The Teahouse offered the BEST gluten free scones and quiches that we have ever had. Getting gluten free scones and the gluten free quiche of the day was perfect.

Since the owner changed and there is a new menu, there are no options for gluten free quiches and the recipe for the scones have completely changed and are now the bland and borderline inedible rocks that we are used to getting as gluten free baked goods everywhere else. The scones used to come with whipped cream and lemon curd; now they come with a thick and flavorless curd and no cream at all. The magic of The Teahouse was the incredible food and the new menu and food does not remotely compare to the quality and variety of the old one. Another staple was the extensive salad menu which is now seemingly nowhere to be found. The wait staff are incredible and friendly as ever, but their excellence can’t make up for subpar food which is so glaring in the light of what the menu used to be.

I understand that the restaurant scene is Santa Fe is highly competitive, but it doesn’t make sense why the entire menu and ambience of highly successful restaurant needed to completely change rather that simply increase the prices on the menu. I’d have gladly paid double for anything on the old menu. Unfortunately, based on the new menu and the quality of the food, The Teahouse is no longer a restaurant that I can recommend and we will not...