The Earth Oven — Restaurant in Taos

I don’t mind paying a high price for high-quality food but it’s a real gut punch to pay a high price for such utter disappointment. As stalwart customers of Middle Eastern food wherever we travel, this is the worst experience and least genuine we’ve ever had. If I could give zero stars, I would; this ranks as one of the worst dinner experiences we have had.

We made the necessary reservation and then arrived at a virtually empty restaurant. There was a sign that said to seat yourself - but that’s unusual when you have a reservation so we entered and told the host we had a reservation. He said, “oh, that doesn’t matter, just sit wherever you want”. We sat inside and after a few minutes, no one brought a menu; we saw some near the door and got our own. We were brought glasses of warm water that were never refilled during our visit.

After some delay, we ordered the special for two which is two appetizers, two salads, two entrees (far too much food for two people, our fault - but we were disappointed that the waiter didn’t bother to warn us the size of the servings). We chose the shish-taouk chicken, the earth oven beef, the fattoush salad, Lebanese lentil soup, hummus, & beets tahini.

First .. instead of serving us in customary order (appetizer, salad, then main course), our food was all brought to the table in one overwhelming slam. When we commented, the waiter replied, “yeah, sometimes they all come out at once”. Our expectation of a fine dining experience vanished at that moment. The chicken was underwhelming and extremely dry. The beef was horribly infused with the flavor of lamb (I am assuming they are cooked in close proximity), and I hate lamb so it completely ruined the meal. Additionally, as shown in the picture, it was a pile of fat chunks, quite obviously a cheap and fat-laden cut of beef. The hummus was generically acceptable but very thick and impossible to scoop with what seemed to be grocery store quality pita bread. The lentil soup was served lukewarm and, while the flavor was nice, was completely cold and off-putting in minutes. Had it been presented as a single dish prior to the main meal, it may have tasted better warm. The salad was served with so much dressing (which was quite sweet tasting) that the lettuce was literally floating. My husband muttered “salad soup” more than once. The beets with tahini were good enough, as was a lemonade spritz drink. (Back to the entree: I asked the waiter if the beef was cooked with the lamb and he said they were cooked separately. I then suggested that it seemed that they were cooked in close proximity such that the steam from the lamb could easily infuse the beef and he said, “yeah, probably”.)

The waitstaff kept walking out to serve the folks seated outside and leaving the front door standing open so, we dealt with flies around our table and on our food.

While there were only about five tables occupied with small parties (four tables of two, one of four), the three-person waitstaff was extremely harried and rushed and we waited almost 15 minutes to get someone to bring our check. We complained about the almost all-fat beef dish and were given a 20% discount.

We are usually willing to give an establishment a second chance but there was nothing we can imagine that would be redeeming about this place, so we won’t be back. As New Mexico residents it’s a shame that our first night of this visit to Taos was marred by this experience because we are faithful returning customers when we find a great place.

Heed the bad reviews - this place is not worth your hard-earned money.

The photos are the whole spread served at once, the plate of fat served as beef, and the remnant of...

I’d give this place zero stars if it was an option.

We were so excited to try this place after all the rave reviews but either everyone in Taos has buried the bar below the earths crust or this place had the worst night possible.

We were told to seat ourselves and waited over 20 minutes to be acknowledged on a slower night. Other tables sat after us and got service. Some people next to us noticed and told the server to get our order first as we had been waiting. The waitress HUFFED over to our table, slammed her hands down, and said “ OKAY I’m your server, don’t freak out” like we had offended her for wanting to eat and tip. Then she walked away without helping us and I saw her talking to another server, pointing at us, and rolling her eyes.

The second server came over and took our drink order and ran away, we knew what we wanted. 15 minutes passed (up to 35 minutes for visit now) before we got our water and lemonade. Then our order was finally taken. Server litterally laughed when we asked a question about the menu and rolled her eyes.

Food came out another 30 minutes later (never once got a refill on our water because server never came back to check on us and ignored request when dropping off the food).

The sandwiches we ordered that were supposed to be on warm pita bread were served on cold and soggy tortillas. Lamb was tough and disgusting.

Ultimately the only decent thing was the tiny expensive lemonade. Manager of the place saw us struggle all night, no discount offered.

All in all it took us nearly 2 hours to a it down and get served a terrible meal with terrible attitude by time we finally got the bill and left.

You couldn’t pay me...

It was a brutally cold day with strong winds and our first visit to Earth Oven. Our experience was quite good and we expect to return to further explore the menu.

We weren’t the only ones to brave the weather as seating quickly filled soon after our arrival.

Deb had a pork bowl with Batata Harra (fried potatoes with spices), Zaatar Muffins and Beets Tahini. I had a lamb bowl, Lebanese Lentil Soup and Fattoush Salad. The food arrived in a timely manner and we began our exploration. I’ll leave it to readers to look at the menu for details on the dishes and the photos I posted for how the food looks and is presented.

The only item that was less than satisfactory was the Raspberry Lemonade that Deb had. There was what we think was residue from Raspberry seeds and it was similar to grounds in a cup of coffee. A strainer might eliminate the seeds. Deb points out that it was her sensitivity that made it an issue and so shouldn’t be a ding.

I was taken by the flatware - nice heft and balance, cool design and an interesting color somewhere between brass and bronze.

The staff were warm and welcoming and very helpful with ordering. Once served there was a quick pass by to ask if all was as it should be and then we were able to explore and enjoy our meals without the frequent interruption of meal and conversation that has become so commonplace in the US.

SO!!!! The food was great, the service was great and I would...