Outback Bar Upfront — Restaurant in Taos

It was all I could do to stay objective and give my experience an appropriate 3 stars instead of fewer. I’m visiting Taos and chose this restaurant based on the menu that’s shown all over the internet. A huge part of my travel is choosing interesting local restaurants and I’m willing to spend a stupid amount of money for a great meal. I arrived and the menu attached is what was on offer. I was looking forward to an interesting, inventive, and delicious meal but was presented with a menu that I could get at any diner in any city. Between my tight timeline and my ingrained Midwest “nice” (meaning I carry too much guilt to just get up and leave plus I didn’t have time to look for another restaurant) I decided to make the best of it. sigh Also, the promised baked goods/pastries consisted of just a couple of things I didn’t ask about. My order was biscuits and gravy, one egg scrambled soft, a cup of a cafe du monde chicory coffee (a nice surprise), and a hot chocolate to go. The biscuits and gravy were two huge entire biscuits covered in a milk gravy with sausage. I mentioned to the server that this dish is normally one biscuit cut in half so that the gravy can sink into the bread. She took the info to the back (it’s an open kitchen) and that’s when I realized that this must be new ownership. The refrain I kept hearing from the back was “we’re still learning!” The biscuit was big and nicely cooked but largely tasteless and the gravy was okay. Not traditional in any way but if you’ve never had proper southern b&g I can see how this would be an iteration. I would have liked it better if it had been intentionally New Mexican - like, with hatch chilis or something. My egg was sort of soft but cooked with no finesse. It was browned, which I really dislike. The hashbrowns were the best thing on the plate. I decided I wanted something sweet and since the pastries didn’t appeal to me, I ordered a hot chocolate made with milk. The first one delivered to me tasted “off” so I quietly stepped back to the kitchen area and told the server. Turns out the milk was bad. She made me a new one but didn’t offer to comp the drink. Three stars because if you want a basic diner meal (similar to Denny’s), there’s nothing wrong with this place. But if you’re expecting the meal promised by the 5 star reviews, you’ll be...

The server did their best but the manager canceled those efforts.

Good job on the eggs - runny yolks and solid whites. Good job on the toast- I usually order dry toast to avoid the over application of melted butter but did not so it was a pleasant discovery to find the toast was lightly buttered.

The potatoes looked good but were inconsistent in texture, al dente works well with pasta but not, in my opinion, with potatoes. Some were nicely done and tasted good but a significant amount were undercooked and unpleasant to chew.

When ordering Deb asked to substitute a small pancake for the toast. There ensued an effort to accomplish this seemingly minor modification during which we were told that it might could be done. We were advised that pancakes were plate sized. The one pancake would cost $7. The cook was willing to try but the manager said no. I would have thought a restaurant whose personnel think so highly of it would understand the concept of a small pancake being made with less batter. At this point I said to cancel my order but apparently everything was ready and so was served. Since Deb handled the bill I don’t know what if anything the pancake cost.

It was acknowledged by the server that they figured we would not return so it might be that they figured a pancake was worth our departure. It wasn’t.

I do have a suggestion for the staff. When it’s just you and two customers within sight and sound of one another it’s not a great idea to suggest that your customers should have gone to a Denny’s instead.

Taos has enough restaurants where condescension is...

Ordered breakfast gumbo (basically a typical grits bowl w/ some andouille sausage to give it a little New Orleans flair), and the spinach quiche with a thin layer of sausage on top (which we were charged $3.95 extra for even though it was clearly baked in and did not amount to "extra patties") + coffee. Coffee was served luke warm and very thin like coffee flavored tea. The $8.95 + $3.95 "extra sausage patties" slice of quiche was cold in middle. The andouille sausage in breakfast "gumbo" bowl was cold and it didn't appear to have ever been cooked to temperature (no grill/skillet marks at all). Server was impatient and only took the coffee off our bill, but insisted on charging full price for the baked in "sausage patties" on the quiche (more like a few crumbles) and didn't deduct anything for the uncooked andouille sausage I didn't eat in my so-called breakfast gumbo bowl. Otherwise, place looked clean and inviting. Much better options in Taos as all our other meals have been solid with good, friendly...