The Compound Restaurant — Restaurant in Santa Fe

This review is meant to inform, and enlighten what I believe the service team of this restaurant should address before implying a $150/head.

First, reservations should be flexible 15mins both directions. My party of 5 had traveled from three different city/states for a birthday that was excited to try this AWARD WINNING restaurant. We started confused because as we typed directions into Maps it let us know the restaurant would close at 8:00, though that was when our month long reservation was also scheduled for; 8:00. We ran over quickly to investigate, and were met with more confusion.

The table wasn’t ready, we were early and there were only three seats at the bar and the other two could hover…. On a recessed bar that’s sunken two feet into the floor… we elected to return to the waiting room where the dirtiest stained single chair was our option to wait, I was in white pants and we opted to go for a walk instead. We returned at our reservation time and were told it’s still not ready.

At this point, a server comes up to the host returns his chit and says “nononono, I’m swamped, and can’t take that table” The host said “that’s too bad, they’ve been waiting, it’s a birthday” he said “I can’t.” And then began the limbo of finding a server. We were eventually combined and sat in the back corner of a inclosed patio at a table of five- then because of the server confusion- let’s all go look at the table, but not talk to it. I watched as blazers, servers, bussers, and even one chef walk through our room before someone spoke with us.

The bussers managed water immediately (thought Still Water is still ten dollars a bottle) and we were left again. Over 20 minutes until all guests had cocktails, 40 minutes to bread and ordered apps, 50 minutes to our bottle of wine being opened, 1:15 to starters on the table.

At 9:30 I stood up to address the manager as at this point my table is concerned, frustrated, and frankly embarrassed that so much work had gone into this dinner and we couldn’t get anyone to engage with us. We were waiting on mains and I wanted to confirm the notes for the severe allergies had been addressed before my partners food came to the table & that I understand overlaps, gaps, and mistakes but as someone who has also managed restaurants of this caliber, I really hoped the service team could readdress our table and get us back on track.

Then, management elected to move us and our beverages from the back patio to the front room, where we were watched and accompanied as the last table in the restaurant, to no fault of our own.

The food was beautiful, and the steak was some of the best I’ve ever had. But by 8:00 they were out of the lamb which is what the birthday guest was hoping for, perhaps we should have preordered. Either way a table of five came out to over $800 with tip, there was no service recall, no comp dessert for the birthday or the troubles, really the bare minimum from this entire service team. Any version of “we apologize for the evening, we are happy you chose to celebrate your birthday with us, I gotta ask, where did everyone come in from?” Any effort to connect with this table after such an evening would have been appreciated.

Truly an embarrassment for this place with a James Beard Plaque on the wall. The manager and the host both watched our table fall through the cracks and it took myself standing up and asking as a guest of the table, not the host, that things be addressed. I hope that this can be understood as hopes for your team to display the same level of service that’s been advertised.

Take this restaurant...

Really, really expensive disappointment. Nothing in this meal even approached what we paid for it. We ate at the Compound for Thanksgiving 2024 - it was a 3-course meal for $145 per person. The bread/butter/crackers was literally out of a box (see photo) - Carrs water crackers, plain butter, and rolls that seemed pulled from a Pepperidge Farm bag - down to the little dots found on the bottoms of an industrially produced roll. Come on. Really?! Would’ve been better to not even serve that.

1st course - I got the hamachi crudo (photo), my husband got the goat cheese philo pastry. The hamachi was at least fresh, but not sliced with skill (we eat sushi a lot) and the main flavor was salt - no dimension. The beet juice didn’t even taste like beet. The goat cheese philo starter my husband had was more flavorful, but the middle of the pastry was collapsed and doughy. Pretty unacceptable for a supposed James Beard level dining experience.

I had the lamb shank for the second course. Thankfully it was fall of the bone tender, but again, none of the meal - including the jus or greens - had flavor or dimension - it was just salt. My husband had the tenderloin, which, at least was tender and cooked to order (med rare) and the sauce had some flavor. But overall, we could’ve gotten this almost anywhere.

We both got the same dessert - chocolate ganache. It was rich with lots of dark chocolate. Nothing memorable.

One thing we can say is the portions were generous.

Service was ok, not 4-star. I had to stop someone to get my water refilled, we had to waive someone down for our almost $400 check (it was nearing the end of the night, almost empty in our room). We did tip, since it was a holiday.

The ambiance was descent (its Santa Fe) but the ceiling of the room we ate in looked like they had covered the vigas (wood beams) years ago in sound absorbent popcorn ceiling (like homes from the 1970s). The women’s bathroom was less than stellar - rundown, cramped stall, toilet paper on a stand. You could see where the wall mounted dispenser had fallen off and not been fully repaired. Not 4-star.

If the meal had been excellent, I wouldn’t have really cared about the bathroom or the destroyed vigas, or even the service. But for a $400 bill, I expect quality all the way around. All of this added up to me feeling ripped off - so much so that I am up at 3 a.m. writing this review.

The Compound is legendary and it should have, at the very least, risen above “meh.” But it fell below that into disappointment.

Santa Fe is a culinary paradise, with so many other options. This was my first time eating at the Compound and I can tell you I will never, ever give them my business again. A restaurant is only as good as its last meal - and, even though this was a “holiday” meal, for $145 per pop, they could have done way, way, way better. Right now, i’m feeling like I should’ve gone somewhere else and just gotten a $15 plate of green...

I'm very confused by all of the 5 star reviews for this restaurant, but it makes me think that there is just a general lack of consistency overall that was the theme of our entire meal. We made reservations for 6pm, on the early side, and we were indeed some of the first diners sat in a fully occupied back patio room (it was basically a covered patio with covid tent walls) in an otherwise empty restaurant. The floor was angled concrete off of the courtyard, so I was sitting at a slant for my entire dining experience on a very hard wooden chair. It was a chilly, and kept my coat on through the entire meal. Glad I brought it, I was not expecting to be eating outside for my 5- star meal.

One server brought bread service with ice cold butter (that they awkwardly served with tongs, weird) that we couldn't use it was so cold. Another server came to take our cocktail order. Yet another server came to take our drink order a second time 5 minutes later, and "went to check on them" rather than asking if we wanted to order our food. At this point, we had been served by 5 different servers, but they all seemed to be chasing their tails in a circle rather than doing anything constructive to provide good service. A server finally took our food order, by this time we had been at our table for 35-40 minutes, and still no drinks. Onto the pros of our experience, the food; The first courses were excellent, a corn vichycoise and scallops, although the searing on the scallops was inconsistent, they had good flavor and texture. Our second courses came about 15 minutes later, and were also excellent; a halibut dish that my husband said was The Best piece of cooked fish he'd had in a decade, And a pork tenderloin so tender and juicy I barely had to chew it.

We finished our meals, and one of the 5 servers who had been at our table at some point during our meal came and boxed up our leftovers. No one asked if we wanted another drink during our first or second course, and another 15 minutes later, another server asked if we wanted dessert. I was so annoyed by the service at this point I just wanted to leave, so we declined. (If the food is good, we almost never leave without trying a dessert, as I have a passion for baking and pastries.) Another server came 10 more minutes later and asked if we wanted dessert again, we declined again and asked for the check. Another 10-15 minutes for the check, and we were finally able to escape. It's not often that the service actually ruins a meal for me, and although the food was generally excellent, I would not return. They are basically charging $100+ per person to experience frustration and annoyance. The ambience is just ok, it was not what I was expecting for a 5 star meal. Their team approach to service is not working, they should consider changing the way the waitstaff handles service, it's not giving the customer the desired effect...