The Blonde Bear Tavern & Cafe — Restaurant in Taos Ski Valley

Look, normally I don’t write reviews unless something is so amazing I cry or so terrible I can’t get it off my mind without breathing the truth of the experience into the world.

I... it was just sooo bad.

Where to begin?

They didn’t have a host or anyone to greet us (she was in the back somewhere for a while?) so we had to roam around the place lookin for someone., okay cool can do.. found the bartender but she wasn’t too nice.

Our reservation was 15min late (we’re pretty chill about this, but remember I’m giving you all the meat and potatoes)

They DID accommodate an addition to our party tho!

Seems like the place to drink nice wine, but they didn’t know anything about their selection. What’s a bordo? Like I get it.., but you sell fancy wine..

Apps came out before drinks...

Except tea... which the server kept forgetting to bring the menu out for... 3 times... with like 10minutes in between each visit we almost gave up.. glad we didn’t though! It was good tea.

The special tasted like chef boy R special which was disappointing considering we waited 50minutes between apps and dinner... with empty drinks and plates staked.

In total it took 2-3 hours to eat there.. but not by choice. (Luckily we had good company but we were in the village for them... we were in the restaurant to eat)

Did I mention that it wasn’t slammed when we got there? And was empty by the time we got out food? Like normal restaurant load?

Oh and they let one of our party walk out the front with the door locked behind him.. effectively locking him outside in the cold for 20minutes knocking on their door.

If you gotta eat in the valley just go to the Cantina across the street, that rag tag group Puts together some delicious food quick and can handle a good size party no matter the time of day or how busy they are. Seriously, the enchilada were on point.. or the Bavarian up the hill is also much more convenient even with the drive

Why fork for something that wants to charge you upscale prices for low quality...

Among other things, we'd ordered 2 Veggie Bear bagels and 2 lattes (I'll come to the lattes later), one with chive schmear and one plain. When we got the food, it was both chives. I can't stand chives so I went to the counter (no one was there for a good 3 to 4 mins). Then when one of the baristas came to the counter I told her. She didn't apologize or anything and on top of that said disbelievingly that "My ticket had both chives". I insisted politely that no matter what her ticket said, I'd asked for plain. She brusquely took the bagel from my hand and threw it into the garbage bin.

Of course, no one was going to eat it, but it was evident from the way she took it and threw it that she didn't believe me and was irked that a paying customer was asking for what he'd already paid for. How dare he?!

Later, another barista (the one who'd actually taken out order and who later admitted that she mistakenly entered the wrong order) gave me the correct bagel.

Meanwhile, not seeing any work being done on the coffee front, I asked for our lattes. It was pretty evident that they'd forgotten about it. The nicer one made one and gave it to me. Due to the earlier bagel snafu and also the reminder I had to give her for the coffee, I asked if she had another one coming. To this, the one with the bad attitude replied in a condescending tone, "We can only make one at a time, sir!"

I told her that her attitude was unwarranted. I was going to further explain that their earlier snafus were why I was making sure, that's all, but my wife stopped me.

After all this, the one with the bad attitude says to me "We're all doing the best we can sir, it's Christmas Eve." Well I appreciate that it is Christmas Eve, but that doesn't give you carte blanche to be pissy towards your customers. It also is not that you're doing your customers any favors, you're working there of your own free will.

I would avoid this place if I...

My fiance and I went here for our last dinner in Taos. This is a cute little quaint Fine dining restaurant located in One of the hotels walking distance from the Blake Hotel.  Highly encourage making reservations as they can get busy pretty fast!

We started off with the cheese plate and Caesar salad. I am big on Cheese plates and charcuterie boards and have had quite a variety, and this is probably the most disappointing cheese plate I've ever had in my life. Feel free to reference my photos, we essentially got four thinly sliced pieces of cheese cut into further smaller pieces. I was very disappointed, and an embarrassing plate to present - photo speaks for itself. Our server just got sat with 3 tables back to back so she didn't get the chance to check in with us regarding the apps.

Although off to a bad start I was pleasantly surprised and happy with our main dishes! I ordered the Scottish salmon, the fish was nicely crisp on a bed of crispy rice surrounded by a tasty Vietnamese yellow curry. My fiance ordered the steak and fritz, he said his steak is slightly over cooked but overall very tasty and ate every bite. I think it was the manager or similar checked in with us regarding our meal to see how everything was, I explain to her my disappointment and the cheese plate, she appreciated the feedback and gave us a...