Secreto Lounge — Restaurant in Santa Fe

I went into Secreto for the first time ever, I’ve lived in Santa Fe over ten years and I remember last I was there was before the pandemic and it was an old looking bar that seemed musty and dark. They remodeled sometime after, and now it was a very elegant and chic bar, filled with lovely people from all sorts of life. I arrived thirsty and famished after working a long day, excited to try their cocktails and new adjoining restaurant Wolf and Roadrunner. It was a Sunday afternoon and most of my favorite restaurants were closed, so I decided to settle in and treat myself. The bar staff were very friendly and welcoming, and the bar was set up like a fancy apothecary, filled with herbs, dried fruits and homemade syrups. I immediately felt at home. I had a shot of Lalo tequila, chilled and salted to begin the evening, as I sipped on this I also ordered a cocktail called Diablo which consists of tequila, lemon juice, and ginger syrup. Wow what a lovely choice from their many handcrafted cocktails to order from. The evening started wonderfully and My bartender Cable was friendly, informative, and attentive. I looked over the menu selection from Wolf and Roadrunner and decided to order the Prawns with Iberico Sausage accompanied by a side of Orzo Rissoto. When the Prawns came out I was ready to devour them, and I cut into the first morsel and discovered that there wasn’t much flavor to it, the Iberico sausage turned out to be some form of sliced pepperoni. I let it go deciding that perhaps my second prawn woul be better but unfortunately they turned out to be milly, like if they were old prawns, I didn’t want to fuss right off the bat so I ate the center parts, wondering if I might get sick from old prawns. I left most of the plate untouched. Then I was served the Orzo Risotto, which turned out to be a small bowl of creamy soup with Orzo in it. It was so soupy that I just couldn’t eat it, if I wanted soup I would have ordered soup. The bartender graciously took it away as I sent it back. I had a second round of drinks and I was still hungry because so far two items were a fail. I decided to order a third dish ( three times a charm) . I ordered the Naan and Lamb sausage dish. Meanwhile I was worried about getting sick from the Prawns so I asked the bartender for a shot apple cider vinegar. They brought out a side of Naan, and I asked them where is the rest of the dish, I was looked on with a perplexed looked from the friendly runner. Turns out that there is a side of Naan and the appetizer Naan and Lamb sausage, simple mistake, I’m pretty chill and enjoyed my cocktail while I waited for the rest of the order to arrive. The dish arrived shortly afterwards and it was a lamb patty surrounded by a green sauce that looked like a chimichurri sauce topped with pickled red onions. When I saw the patty on the plate, I had visions of going to Costco and buying hamburger patties , and yes by this time I was jaded. I tried the sauce first and all I could taste was tons of garlic. I absolutely love garlic but this sauce was so garlicky that it could have driven legions of vampires away, I smiled and continued. The homemade Naan was delicious for sure, light, fluffy and tasty. Now time to try the Lamb sausage patty. As I tried the first bite, my mouth was filled with an intense flavor of spices, so much that I couldn’t taste the lamb, I believe the primary seasoning was cumin, which intensely overpowered the lamb, all I could taste was seasoning. Okay maybe trying all the components together might make the dish taste better, so I got some Naan, a bit of lamb, and sauce and went for it. I might as well have had a heaping tablespoon of chopped garlic and spices and swallowed it with Naan bread. I just couldn’t, I didn’t want to fuss so I just asked for my check. I always have dessert but decided against it because I couldn’t handle a fourth fail. I boxed my lamb and sausage and paid for my bill. It was 81.00 dollars plus a 25 tip. They took the Orzo off. I decided to leave my boxed food. Next time I go back to Secreto, on a...

Love this place and always look forward to popping in for a cocktail during our visits to Santa Fe. Bartender (possibly the manager since he was the only one with a name tag) saw us sit at the bar since we asked him if the seats were available and the for 15 minutes we sat with no acknowledgment or an offer to bring us a glass of water. One of the floor servers finally jumped in and took our order and quickly got us our drinks. One drink came out fine, but the smoked sage margarita I ordered tasted of heavy burnt ash and was undrinkable, so I returned it. I have noticed now that many recent reviews has said similar things about this drink. I kindly returned it and asked for a regular margarita instead and the server went on making other drinks and checking on other tables. Over 15 minutes later we asked the possible manager for the check since the drink wasn’t coming anytime soon. He tells the server we want the check so he makes the drink in under 2 minutes and drops off the check with both drinks listed. We politely declined to pay for the one that was burnt, as well as this new one. The server said since I wanted a remake they had to charge me. And we said we asked for the check because it was taking too long to make and we had been waiting over 15 minutes. What was also frustrating was the manager/name tag guy did not intervene and was only focused on one couple sitting next to us for the entire 45 minutes we were at the bar. He never helped any other staff and even came around the bar to chat with the couple during all of this. We are beyond disappointed with this entire experience and do not plan to come back. Hopefully this is a learning moment for the staff and will encourage the management...

Adjusting my rating upon a second visit. The cocktails are inventive and tasty but expensive. The one caveat is the smoked margarita, its a unique concept, but tastes like you’re eating a brick of charcoal. If you do want to try this marg, I recommend forgoing the smoked salt rim, there needs to be a complementary rim but the standard issue only intensified the smokiness.

That said, the boulevardier is quite a tasty libation.

Our first visit was enjoyable, but the service both times has left much to be desired. We received baseline service the first time when we were two people out of a dozen in the bar. However upon a second visit, there were maybe 30-40 patrons and the service hit rock bottom.

The table next to us was refused service at the bar because they sat at a ‘first come first served’ table in the bar area, and were told to wait for the bartender to come ask what they would like to drink. It then took them over 20 minutes to be served.

Our waitress was rather short, to the point where I asked to order last in our group while deciding on what to drink, and she simply walked away without taking my order.

I’ve worked in numerous bars, in much busier environments so I get what its like to be busy. My primary recommendation would be to simply skip table service, and have all orders processed at the bar.

I also have trouble with the variability of the cocktail recipes- two separate visits resulted in two different cocktails, despite ordering the same drink.

Overall, unlikely to go again because of the service. There are ample cocktail bars in Santa Fe so it will be difficult to pay a premium ($12-16 per drink) for cocktails when the service is...