Sazón — Restaurant in Santa Fe

I am honestly perplexed by all the amazing reviews here. I can only assume they are made by people who don't usually experience fine dining. We were so excited for this meal and so disappointed by the end. Let's start with the positives though. This is a fabulously decorated restaurant with very nice staff. The cocktails were top notch and I would highly recommend all three of the mezcal drinks we ordered. The mole tasting was a nice touch.

When we arrived, we were seated promptly. My husband didn't want his back to the majority of the room, so he slipped into the seat next to me instead. The hostess did not move the silverware or his glasses to his seat. When she left, I rearranged the table. Unusual for a fine dining establishment but no big deal. Our glasses were promptly filled with water and our server came over and very hurriedly took our drink order. She was obviously in a rush and although nice, we are not used to rushed service at meals we plan to spend in excess of $300. Again though...no big deal. We looked at the menu and right away I was disappointed to see the grasshopper dish that was on their menu on the website was not available. The server also mentioned that two of the "daily specials" were also not available that day. 😳 They had not run out, just started the service that day without them.

We ordered two appetizers. One was the pulpo (octopus) and the other was the Xochimilco (a mini corn tortilla with cheese, corn "truffle," and spices. The Xochimilco was excellent and we were excited for the meal to come. The octopus was sliced and served in a heavy sauce that overwhelmed the flavor of the (overcooked) octopus. The bread served with the fish was dry and not worth eating. But the flavor was nice and we awaited our next dish.

Next up was the chefs signature soup. It was excellent once we removed the sweet foam off of the top. Flavorful and delicious. Would recommend. Try the foam, but if unnecessary sweet added to a dish is not your thing, then you may want to ask it for it without the dollop of sweet foam.

In the meantime we ordered a bottle of wine. We ordered a Mexican wine since we are not familiar with any quality vintages from Mexico. We tried the Nebbiolo, Lechuza, Valle de Guadalupe listed for $125 on the menu (but billed at $145 on the check at the end of the evening.) It was very average. Would never drink again and closer to a $20 bottle of wine. Steer clear. Reminded me why I don't see Mexican wines on menus

On to the mains! I ordered the "fish of the day" and my husband ordered the "Enmolado De Pato." Both dishes were a HUGE disappointment. Even the presentation of my dish was sad. The fish of the day was seabass. I imagine that it is seabass eyvery day because this fish was nowhere close to fresh. It was obviously frozen and served skinless and boneless and way overcooked. It was completed with overcooked rice and boiled, overcooked, and bland brussel sprouts. Literally my teenage daughter cooks better and more flavorful brussel sprouts. It was a meal I would make in a hurry on a Tuesday night at home. Pan cooked frozen fish, rice I forgot about for minute and cooked a bit too long, and I don't even know about those sprouts! I can think of all the restaurants in my home town of 100,000 people and they all serve much much better sprouts. TRY PAN FRYING THEM instead of overcooking them like they do here. Such a disappointment for $57. My husband's meal was no better. Overcooked duck covered in such a heavy mole sauce it was impossible to taste the duck. His spiralized beet side was the best thing on the table. Neither of us came close to finishing our entrees because they weren't worth eating.

We glanced at the dessert menu, but passed. We were looking for something a bit more inspired than the offerings.

At the end, our server finally had time to chat. She was lovely, but obviously had too many tables that night. The extra $20 on the bottle of wine was an added insult. Our bill before tip was $400. We have dined at Michelin stared restaurant for less. PASS ON...

We dined at Sazon during the Santa Fe, NM Wine and Chili Fiesta.  We had to make reservations 3 months early, as Chef Fernando Olea was the James Beard 2022 Winner, Best Chef of the Southwest ... boy was that award well deserved.  Dining at Sazon was one of the most incredible dining experiences we have had in years.  Definitely going back on our next trip to Santa Fe!  Best advice is to put yourself in the hands of the wait staff and let them guide you through the meal.

Our dinner began with a prickly pear margarita and the Clooney Coin, which is basically a straight up margarita with Casamigos Blanco tequila.  Both of the cocktails were phenomenal. As an appetizer we had the sample platter of the chef's seven different moles, all excellent, with super depths of flavor.  It was hard to pick a favorite...  We had the Sopa de Amor next, the chef's signature soup.  OMG!  They tell you to not stir it, just put your spoon in and and lift it out.  The soup had layers of flavor, some hot, some a little cooler, a sublime fantasy of flavor.

For entrees, we chose the duck breast with one of the red moles (I don't recall the names, one green, one red).  The duck was expertly prepared, and the moles off the chart greatness.  We also had the Cholula, a tower of poblano pepper, ground lamb, pork and beef, nuts, dried fruits and spices in a cold creamy walnut sauce, littered with pomegranate seeds.  Crazy delicious!  I've included photos of the menus with this review, read them and dream!  LOL

BTW, service is perfect, attentive but not intrusive. If it were possible to give Sazon more than 5 stars, I would give it 10!

September 2023:

Wow, what a difference a year makes! The bloom is off the rose... Food and service misfires this time...

We're back in town for the annual Wine & Chili Fiesta and reserved our spot at Sazon 4 months in advance. We had a great experience last year; this year was a letdown. We stopped in on a Friday evening, 5:30pm reservation, the place was busy but not crowded. We were seated right away, which was nice...

We started with cocktails (a recurrent theme), prickly pear margarita and the Oro Puro, a nice upscale margarita, which was great. We enjoyed the sampler mole platter! The first food we ordered was the foie gras crostini which was absolutely divine! Round two was the Sopa D'amore, a delightful bowl of soup, so good last year that we each ordered our own to keep the peace at the table! LOL

From there we ventured into the fish special of the day, Norwegian halibut, and a steadfast selection on the menu, the shrimp enchilada. Both were outstanding, perfectly prepared and presented. Our last course was the Dulce Simfonia, a light ice cream/sorbet dish, with way a way too spicy hot, jalapeno finish on the end. Not refreshing at all, I didn't care for it.

Perhaps the folly of the night was the wine service. We thought, this cuisine, let's go Old World Spain. Ordered a $100+ bottle of Spanish white. When the length of time between appetizer and soup reached 30 minutes, we should have known something was up! Our bad... Suffice it to say, a warm bottle was brought to the table, with the promise of an ice bath. The first 1/4 of the bottle was room temp, the second 1/4 of the bottle was 70 degrees, the last 1/2 bottle was temperature great.

IMHO, if you don't have the wine, or cannot present it properly, come and tell us, we'll figure it out. We would have preferred another bottle, rather than what was served. Given the bottle of wine was 1/3 of the total bill for the evening, that was a HUGE miss. With all the superior dining options in SF, NM, we don't need to...

Our experience at Sazon in Santa Fe was nothing short of a disaster, marring what was otherwise a beautiful week in the city. Despite strong recommendations from friends, our celebration of two anniversaries turned into a night we would rather forget. From the food to the service and the overall atmosphere created by the staff, everything was a complete fiasco. Without exaggeration, this was the worst dining experience of my life. How a restaurant this bad can survive in a city known for its high culinary standards is beyond comprehension.

We arrived on time for our 7:30 reservation, only to be met with a chaotic crowd. It seemed Sazon was managing multiple seatings and we got caught in the 7:30 turnover rush. After waiting 20 minutes for someone to acknowledge us (the Chef himself was acting as host, which initially seemed impressive but soon proved otherwise), we were finally seated close to 8 PM.

It took another hour before anyone came to take our drink order. We sat, ignored and growing increasingly frustrated. When we ordered two margaritas, only one arrived. After pointing this out to a member of the waitstaff, the missing drink was eventually brought to the table in a slightly larger glass as compensation for the wait.

Things went downhill from there. The amuse-bouche, a sampling of five moles with tiny tortilla pieces, was a disappointment. The moles were nothing more than tiny droplets on a plate, some sweet like jam, others spicy, but none resembling authentic mole. As someone who frequently travels to Oaxaca, I can confidently say these moles were a poor imitation, not even nearly as good as store-bought pastes in Mexico. The iconic Mole Poblano was particularly disappointing. The tortillas seemed store packaged with the typical crease that is a sign of machine-made rather than hand-made tortillas. Bland and tasteless, as well.

The poor moles persuaded me to choose the Stuffed Zucchini Flowers for my main course. I decided to play it safe. They tasted more like fast food than a dish from a fine Santa Fe restaurant. Heavily breaded and filled with an uninteresting Gruyère cheese, the dish left a greasy, unpleasant taste. At $25 for three blossoms, it was a sad Kentucky-Fried-rip-off. The rest of the food was equally uninteresting and dry. The most disgusting dish was the Sopa d'Amor. Our group ordered three bowls, one without crab meat due to an allergy. However, the bowl identified and said to be crab-free tasted of crab, and another bowl had no crab at all. With no one available to correct the mistake, we switched bowls among ourselves. The soup, a mix of sweet foam and chili spice, was an overall sickening flavor which I sampled since we had one leftover by mistake of the wait staff.

The meal ended with a recommendation for the signature dessert, Dulce Sinfonia. Described as "a masterpiece of flavors and textures," it was a tragic joke. A woman presented the dessert, which was so frozen that it was difficult to cut into. She provided a scripted description of what we should be tasting, but it seemed more like an overly frozen ruse.

As we left, poorer both in wallets and spirits, we noticed the "Happy Anniversary" card on our table. No one acknowledged our special occasion, much like they ignored every element that should make a restaurant great.

Sazon is an awful restaurant. Our experience was truly miserable and has become...