Hatch Cantina — Restaurant in Seattle

As a native New Mexican, I was absolutely thrilled to find a New Mexican restaurant in my new city. New Mexican cuisine is unique. Things New Mexican food is NOT: Tex-Mex, Mexican food, Southwest food, easy to find outside of New Mexico. Things New Mexico food IS: Rich, bold flavors; drenched in roasted green chile, red chile (we don't have a Chile Institute in NM for nothing folks), or both (Xmas!); representative of the unique mix of cultures that is the state of New Mexico; extremely tasty. While all of these food cultures use some similar ingredients, the flavors and the handling of the ingredients is not the same. As in Italy, one might find regional differences in the food even though similar ingredients are used (even in the US, think of all the different styles of pizza!), the experience of those ingredients is different, such is the case here.

Back to my review....I was thrilled to walk in and smell the deep, smoky, spicy aroma of roasting green chiles. It instantly brought me back to the first 18 years of my life walking down the sidewalk, watching the roasters turn and getting hungry just smelling the air. I loved seeing the Ristras hanging on the wall and all the books lining the shelves, some showing their age. Everyone was extremely friendly and the servers attentive. Largely, the service was very fast, but for some dishes, you should not expect speed if you want perfection, which is exactly what they delivered. I also disagree with some reviewers who say the area is sketchy. The area may have an alt-culture vibe, but that is exactly what it is trying to be and I love it for that. Anyone who has been to any larger city/metro area knows that some of the coolest places in the city sometimes also have more grit. This adds to the character and vibrancy of the place in my opinion.

The food was largely exactly as I would want and hope for a New Mexican meal to be. I had the stacked chicken enchiladas, Xmas style, served with rice and beans, and a small sampling of the pork-based green chile stew. My husband had the green chile burger and fries. The food was all excellent and exactly the kinds of flavors I would expect from a New Mexican meal. We were both very happy with our food selection. I was too stuffed for dessert, but next time it is on the list.

It is hard to find any critique of the meal, but if I had any it would be that cilantro isn't a very common spice in traditional New Mexican food, so just embrace the NM flavors as they are. No need to try to appeal to the SW food crowd. Let them fall in love with NM food as it comes. Also, embrace the bold chiles. Go ahead and get some of those Sandia variety chiles and liberally apply to everything. There's always an on-the-side option or the Big Jim cultivar chiles for those who don't like it as spicy.

Overall I loved my experience and will definitely go back. My advice to anyone who is hoping to experience this restaurant is to go there not as if you are going to it Tex Mex, Mexican food, or Southwestern food, but as if you are going to try something entirely new, because for many of you, you...

I am from New Mexico, and learned to really love fresh-from-the-field Hatch chiles when I attended New Mexico State University, which is around 40 miles south of Hatch. They truly are the most amazing chiles in the world! We were strolling to the waterfront when I spied the Hatch Cantina sign and we stopped to check out the menu. We had already eaten, so made a point to try it the next night and we weren't disappointed. We enjoyed the chips and salsa, a huge "cup" of green chile soup (which was really authentic stew), and the enchiladas with grilled squash, and we added the carnitas. What the menu doesn't mention is the blue corn tortillas used in the appropriately stacked (we aren't talking Tex-Mex here!) enchiladas. Blue corn tortillas add a deliciously nutty flavor, as well as gorgeous color. We ordered Christmas style, which did not disappoint...the red is mild and the green spicy! The green chile stew was outstanding and had a good amount of heat from the green chiles; it was served with very nice grilled tortillas. And did I mention the "cup" size was the biggest "cup" I've ever seen....keep that in mind when ordering. My only regret is we won't be in Seattle long enough to go back!!! Oh....and I should mention that the service is exceptionally good. Friendly and enthusiastic without being in-your-face; just glad to see you and delighted to serve you with lots of helpful information about the menu and the restaurant. We were there during grand opening, and while they mentioned they had a few kinks to work out.....we didn't notice anything lacking AT ALL! Do yourself a favor and get on over to Hatch...

Update: The owner reached out to personally to discuss my experience and completely made me do a 180 on this business. He listened to all of my concerns and genuinely addressed them. After talking with him it really feels like a random off night and I'm definitely going to be coming back to give this place another shot. From how serious he took my experience I can tell this place must be normally be operating very well. Its rare to find owners like this in Seattle nowadays and it really takes a 1 star experience and makes it into a 5

Worst experience I've had in a year. My first red flag was that it was empty, but I chalked that up to it being Monday night. After we got seated a couple came in after us and got seated as well. They were served first which I didn't really care about initially. We finally get to take an order and a group of 4 walk in and get their order taken promptly.

After this the couple and the group are checked in with regularly and often while we are ignored. Both of them get boxes and checks long after we are finished with empty plates without a single check in. We eventually CHASE down some high dude in a tank top serving there to get a box. He said okay and disappeared for 15 minutes. We then see him at the front assorting silverware. I eventually go to the bar to close out and its another 15 minutes before we get the check and the girl doesn't even apologize and seems annoyed that we even asked to close out.

All of this wouldn't have felt so disrespectful if the food wasn't hot garbage for BIG prices. The total was 90 for one entree that was worse than Chipotle and...