Cafe Abiquiu

Good service. Even as they got crowded. Food was good. Loved the jalapeño slaw. My five year old ate the spinach — artichoke fritters, which is great as she hasn’t been into vegetables (like most 5 y. o). They were a little pricey. 6 for $ 9. I had the portabella mushroom spinach panini which was good — the caramelized onions were delicious. Friends liked the trout and ribeye. 5 y. o liked the grilled cheese. And they were very generous with the French fries, which were also good.
Had the monk’s tripel. Which was a pungent upon opening but aired nicely. Great for a local brew at $ 6.

Excellent N. Mexico cuisine! Service is top notch. Fantastic flavors and attention to presentation. Comfortable dinning room with art on the walls makes for a pleasant atmosphere for an evening with friends. Gay friendly with no intimidation factors or stares from other diners. A must stop for those that enjoy a properly prepared meal!

This café is part of the wonderful Abiquiu Inn complex, and we have visited several times for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The recent (ish) addition of an external terrace just adds to the great all round atmosphere and food — and of course, all in the beautiful New Mexican environment. On our last lunch visit, fish tacos were superb, nice wine, good coffee, plus a chance to visit the excellent gift shop. If you’re going to O’Keeffe country, don’t miss this local business making good.

Don’t let the title fool you-​this is much more than a Mexican restaurant! Don’t get me wrong, I love Mexican, but the Ahi Tuna with the cucumber relish was EXCELLENT! The presentation was a great prelude to a wonderful meal. Placed on a bed of mashed garlic potatoes and asparagus spears, the flavor mix was fantastic! This meal would cost you double the price in Santa Fe! Well worth the drive!

Not sure what is going on with the new Abiquiu Café. In the last year and half, food went from being really good to — well, I have gotten sick 3 times from eating there.
First time, I had green chile burger. It was charred on the outside and cooked so hard it was about ¾ the normal size. Yet inside it was raw! Can that even be possible. Like a fool I ate it. Had me retching about 2 Hours later.
I guess I forgot about that, and ate Thanksgiving Buffet there. Everything tasted abit like it was from a can. Dessert was good, pie. I ate several servings. For next 3 days I was bloated, nauseous and queasy. I thought I had overindulged.
The last time I ate at Abiquiu Café, I had the grilled chicken sandwich. Big mistake. It was literally frozen in the middle. My woes began about midnight. I couldn’t stop vomiting. Then the other problem… For next 5 days my stomach was expanded out like a balloon. I literally looked pregnant. For almost 3 weeks I cycled through intense nausea, bloating and pain.
I don’t believe the new Innkeepers are doing anything good for Abiquiu Café. This is truly a loss!
Note to Ben Manager:
Your anger and lack of remorse are disturbing.
I am simply a longtime, good customer who became deathly ill from eating at Ben’s restaurant. I didn’t complain after first time. Or, even after 2^nd time. I only complained after 3^rd! time. I think that shows my goodwill.
(For the record, I am not an employee or competitor or disgruntled or banned. That’s very unfair to falsely accuse me on this forum, and make me have to defend myself — when you already about killed me with your food.)

This place is getting 2 stars because the staff was friendly the first two times we went, but the food consistently wants to be something better than it is. This morning, the waitress (Desiree — who is she related to that she still works here after all the terrible reviews?) was unbelievably rude, literally the worst waitperson I’ve had in my entire life. It was everything from just glaring at us every time we said anything, to leaving the door to the outside open (it was chilly early today), to arguing about what the menu says. I was so excited to learn that the gas station sells b-​fast, b/​c we are staying at the Inn, and I would never want to sit through that again — not the rudeness, not the soggy bacon, and not the burnt, albeit fluffy, pancakes.

The Napoleon appetizer described in another review below is good the French fries were good and the cheeseburger was excellent suggested by Monique my excellent waitress … outdoor seating in the evening is a cool deal …

We decided on the café because we were staying at the Inn and didn’t feel like going anywhere after a afternoon of hiking. I will be honest that we did not have very high expectations being that the dining room was pretty full and it looked like most had just sat down. We decided to stay although we expected a long wait for service and food. We were so wrong! The waitress was calm and organized. Kept the tables in order as to who was there and the order of ordering. There was a big group that had their order in first which I figured would hold up the kitchen, but again we were wrong. They got appetizers out for all the tables, the food followed and we were eating before we could finish the deliciously fresh salsa, guacamole and queso dip. The orchard salad was very tasty and should have had that for my meal, but we ordered the cheese burger. Once again we were proven wrong since we had expected to get a not very tasty frozen burger patty cooked well done… instead we were served to our surprise a fresh made burger cooked medium and was delicious! Everything was VERY FRESH, cook as we ordered and was pleasantly surprised by the friendly & efficient service. We had looked at the reviews before deciding on the café and I am glad we did not let the recent poor review that was posted sway us from trying the café. The café as well as the stay at the Inn was excellent. The room was clean, quiet and very comfortable. I would recommend staying and eating there… We are looking forward to returning soon!

We’ve visited Café Abiquiu for years and have often gone out of our way to go there for a meal that we knew would be different. This time we, once again, went out of our way to have lunch at the Café and were thoroughly disappointed. Not only were the staff unprepared for luncheon visitors (that arrived at 2:00), with dirty tables and almost surly staff, but the food was mediocre at best. And we were not only one disappointed. We overheard guests at the adjoining tables talking about how they were unhappy as well. We won’t go out of our way to eat there again. What a shame.

I love this place. I really do… BUT…on my last visit there was such a rude and inattentive attitude I got the impression that I and the other guests were an annoyance to the staff. The front desk clerk never looked up from her computer to greet anyone. I walked right up to the counter and she didn’t even flinch. The hostess in the restaurant was so rude and had a nasty attitude. The waitress was actually polite but so slow and inattentive I was just shocked. there were only three tables with customers. It took a long time to get my breakfast and it was cold all the way through. It must have set for quite a while in the kitchen before she brought it out. Then she simply disappeared. she never returned to the dining room to check on anyone. No coffee refills. NOTHING! It was dreadful. It was necessary to chase her down in the kitchen where she was just hanging out to get a check. She finally brought it, then a long wait to get the CC slip with a pen that was out of ink. I sat for 20 minutes waiting and had to track her down again to get a working pen so I could sign and leave. It was so frustrating ! ! ! but I go here pretty frequently and I do recommend it because it’s a nice place to go when they are on top of things. But many times the service described above is what I get. I want them to do better. TRAINING AND COMMUNICATION from management might help. Please improve guys… PLEASE!!!

Amidst a gorgeous stretch of road in north-​central New Mexico, lined with red rock canyons, verdant mesas, and undulating hills, it’s easy to miss the humble array of abode buildings making up the Abiquiu Inn. If you do happen in, the Café Abiquiu, in the main building adjacent to the lobby, offers a range of well-​prepared Southwestern specialties that are sure to give you enough fuel for rambling and ambling through the countryside.
This is Georgia O’Keeffe country, and that means that O’Keeffe and other local artists are well-​represented in art and photographs lining the walls of the Abiquiu. Taking in the scenery, inside and outside the restaurant, makes for a fine way to spend your breakfast. The hospitality is warm, and the eating ain’t bad either.
I have to indulge in huevos rancheros when I visit this part of the world, and their version of the classic seemed a bit healthier than others I’ve had, sporting thick layers of black beans and blue corn tortillas which also gave it a bit more substance. I asked for mine to be smothered in both green and red chile, a style the kitchen dubbed «Christmas» — both the sauces were fresh and had a pleasantly moderate zing, and I could never have chosen my favorite, so I’m glad I didn’t have to.
We also tried corn cakes topped with pico de gallo, avocado, and sunny-​side up eggs. What seemed like a can’t miss combination was perfectly acceptable, although the corn cakes were a bit dry and flavorless.
Hard to know whether Café Abiquiu beats its competition, as there’s nary another meal to be found within sight of the Inn (unless you count the trusty gas station), but if I am lucky enough to find myself in these parts again I’ll definitely make a point of stopping here for solid roadside grub.

The Abiquiu Café tries to be a full service restaurant (breakfast, lunch and dinner) for the adjacent Inn, but the Inn is small and can’t really support a restaurant very well. During my two-​night stay at the Inn, I ate one dinner and two breakfasts in the Café. There was only one server on duty each time, but only one or two other tables were occupied, so service was reasonably fast. If the Café is more crowded, service might be slow.
On my first evening at the Inn, I ordered a chicken, pasta and broccoli casserole ($ 13). It was quite good, very hot, and was served amazingly fast. The service was prompt and professional.
The next morning, I ordered the «design your own omelet» ($ 10). I expected a fluffy yellow egg pocket wrapped around mushrooms, asparagus and melted cheddar cheese. Instead, I received a pile of mushrooms and asparagus covered with melted cheddar cheese, served on top of something brown that might have been a single fried egg. The «omelet» and a small serving of fried potatoes were barely warm. The unbuttered toast was stone cold. In my entire life, I have never sent a meal back to the kitchen, but I was tempted with this one. The only reasons I didn’t send it back were that I was pressed for time and I had no confidence the cook could do better with a second try.
The second morning, I ordered the French toast ($ 10) with considerable apprehension, no knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to receive properly prepared French toast, which was hot and very good. Either a different cook was in the kitchen that day, or he/​she knows French toast but is clueless about omelets. Service for both breakfasts was average.
So, my rating of two stars overall for the Abiquiu Café is based on four stars for the dinner and second breakfast, and zero stars for the «omelet».

We shared a lovely light lunch here on our sojourn to the GOK home. The atmosphere was very charming. The food was very enjoyable. We had the chilled summer soup which was light and refreshing. The smoked salmon sandwich/​salad was nice. The salad had fresh pinion seeds which totally blew me away. Their favor was so unexpected but nice– setting a tone for the location. They served some local wines which were very nice too. We enjoyed the gift shop and our walk on the property after lunch. The casitas looked really sweet. I’d love yo stay here on our next visit to the area.

If you ever needed an excuse to pull off your scenic route on 84, then Café Abiquiu is it! My massage therapist Lisa, at Ojo Caliente Resort & Spa, recommended we stop off at Café Abiquiu for some grub on our drive to Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch, and I am so glad she did. Thanks Lisa! Café Abiquiu is connected to the Abiquiu Inn, gift shop, and gallery. Pull off, sit outside, rehydrate, and enjoy some flavorful New Mexican cooking.
For starters, the Tamale Cake Napolean ($ 8) is a must. If you don’t order this, you may live to regret your decision. I would say it was one of the best, if not the best, things we ate over our entire trip. A tower of sweet, oh so sweet, corn cakes, layered with avocado, topped with pico de gallo, and drizzled with a chipotle cream and a red pepper sauce. After I expressed interest in the ingredients of the Tamale Cake Napolean, our server returned with a print out of the recipe for me to take home. Oh yeah, baby! Yes, I do accept bribes. Make me an offer if you so wish. ;)
In addition to our Tamale Cake wonderful-​ness, we also ordered the Chilled Summer Soup (cup $ 4, bowl $ 7). Afterall, we had just been driving an hour in the New Mexico heat. Cold soup sounded pretty good! The Chilled Summer Soup was a blend of cucumber, avocado, yogurt, and mint. I believe it’s an acquired taste for one to enjoy a cold cucumber soup, but on a scorching day, it may be just what you need, although I don’t think it’s necessary to get a portion larger than the cup.
For our entrée, we went with the Trout Tacos ($ 11). Grilled trout filled crispy blue corn tortillas. Let me tell you, we overdosed on everything blue corn related on this trip. If I see blue corn taco shells or blue corn flour anywhere in my future shopping adventures, I am buying it. If you happen to see any, help a girl out, and let me know! The tacos were sprinkled with pico de gallo, cheese, lettuce, and a chipotle cream.
If you plan on seeing Abiquiu, which you should, save your appetite to enjoy your lunch or dinner at Café Abiquiu. You won’t be disappointed.