Blue Corn Cafe

Went back to Blue Corn today and the food seems over rated. There are better choices for sure. I ordered the grilled chicken wrap and the chicken was super dry, the guacamole inside was sour tasting. Several days old for sure. That’s the second time the guac has tasted badly at his restaurant. In both locations… the chefs need to taste their food more often. Our server was great as was the rest of the staff… but the food? Meh.

My favorite thing about this restaurant is the location. Prime plaza spot, right next to a couple of fun bars. I hate to say the food really is just average. I got the green chile Mac and cheese and it just had that «artificial» taste. Got a couple of drinks and the sampler app and they were all just ok. Our server was extremely nice and accommodating (we were with a bachelorette party)… Can’t say if I will be back or now. Might try for lunch or just a drink sometime!

Service is good food is awful. My food arrived literally refrigerator cold, no attempt to warm even under heating lamp. Definitely skip this place as there are many other places around the area that actually care about providing good food.

Great lunch! Blue corn chicken tacos, excellent seasoned pinto beans with some damn fine rice. The roasted tomato salsa was to die for. The chicken was tender and moist. Flavor combinations were superb. Blue Corn is also a brewery and their beers on tap were excellent, as well. At $ 5 for a pint, you can’t go wrong. Overall, this is a truly excellent lunch spot in downtown.

We came here to try the beers and figured other beer lovers would appreciate our feedback. We did not try the food and it might be excellent for all we know. The beer was decidedly not good. If you had blindfolded me and had me pick out the honey wheat from the amber, I’m not convinced I could. The best I can say is that the oatmeal stout was perfectly acceptable and drinkable. The ipa had a distinctly burnt aftertaste that was unpleasant. The blonde ale had a pleasant crispness, but was otherwise forgettable.
The service was decent, hence the 2 star review and not 1. Bottom line, if you come here, avoid the beer.

We waited almost an hour to be seated and to finally eat! Wish they would give you some chips while waiting. The food finally came and we were quite delighted with our Chipotle bbq ribs and shepherd’s pie. The kids cheese-​adilla was a good portion. The ‘pear’ ice tea tasted like ordinary ice tea — disappointing– and the volcano dessert was not quite ‘overflowing’ with ‘lava’. It could have been warmed up more with more liquid in the middle. Overall 3 stars.

Great place! A 10! My husband agrees with the earlier comment about the Shrimp Fajitas, better than anything we’ve found in California. I had the New Mexico Steak Salad and even though it’s appearance wasn’t that of the traditional salad it was delicious. We both highly recommend this place.

Seriously, I have to go to New Mexico to get the best carnitas that *isn’t* California?! Ugh, been on the search for-​ever where I’m from and this place *nailed* it. Heck, the only reason I went in is because it was close to The Matador and I have to eat if I am going to drink.
I’d had a heck of a journey to find the Matador (see my other review) and straight up, I let the waitress know that I was just looking to eat (after grilling her on how the Carnitas were — shredded, carmelly, tender and juicy but not wet. The sauces were superb — nice and spicy. Not terribly fond of the beans or rice but after the carnitas, I didn’t care. Do ask for corn tortillas. Flour is for sissies or people who just don’t know any better.
Off to see if I can make a ‘best of’ list of one.
Oh! And the people who worked there were all shining lights. Remember, wrecked kind of bad but frustrating bad, end of my tether, tired, hungry, wanting drinks and something easy… and one of their employees hand walked me down to the Matador. (and this was before I came back to eat).
Damn them for having beer battered chile rellenos. I bet they would have been good too.
Another Oh! The waitress, after grilling her, I told her that I was having a rough day and just wanted to sit somewhere far from other people where I could be alone. They put me off in a corner by myself and I told her that I would be putting on my headphones and playing really loud music (this calms me down) and I wasn’t ignoring her and I didn’t want her to think I was being rude. She was so nice about it. Had something done that to me as a waitress (okay, most people wouldn’t give their waiter a heads up), I would totally thought they were rude. A restaurant is supposed to be a sensory thing… but I just needed a different kind of sensory escape.
So kind and so considerate. Lovely people… and the best carnitas.

This mostly Mexican food Restaurant /​American food micro brewery was recommended by our Über driver so we gave it a shot. Both of us had fajitas, and iced tea. I also ordered a chile relleno and sopapillas for dessert. You also have to pay for chips & salsa as an appetizer, which I did. That should have been a red flag and was the first of a few surprises.
The Restaurant is quaint and friendly. Our waitress was cute and nice but seemed overwhelmed even though it did not seem very busy. Our drinks sat empty long enough that the manager came by and refilled them for us. Maybe she was new.
The chips & salsa was good. The home made chips are fire roasted, and the salsa was home made and definitely on the spicy side. Good salsa.
The Fajitas were tasty but disappointing, as they were 90% grilled onions and some (very little) green peppers, and barely enough meat, however the little bit of meat was flavorful. For the fajitas I usually make, the meat provided to me would have only made about 1 ½ fajitas. I had to stretch out the meat and load up on the massive amount of grilled onions to make 3 fajitas out of it. On the other hand, if you like grilled onions, I had at least a small onion’s worth.
The chile relleno was a very small (jalapeño sized) egg breaded poblano but was tasty.
The sopapillas were fine, appropriate portion and served with honey.
The surprise came with the bill. I had 2 glasses of iced tea and was charged for both glasses as was my partner, who paid separately. We also ran out of salsa with the chips I paid for and had asked for a refill on the salsa, and they charged me $ 2 for that. On top of the like $ 8 I had already paid for a large basket of chips and a normal, small-​sized tiny bowl of salsa. We were not told by the waitress that we would be charged for the additional drinks or salsa when we ordered them. The manager did not tell us we would be charged either when she refills our drinks. There also was no mention on the menu that I saw that there was no refills on soft drinks or salsa.
I think it is tacky and cheap to charge for chips and salsa, and an extra slap in the face that I was charged additionally for another refill on the small bowl of salsa to finish the expensive chips we had paid for. Do you realize how many bags of chips $ 8 will buy at a grocery store?!
My thoughts on the restaurant is that their food tastes good, above 2 stars. But they are obviously struggling since they are loading up food with cheap «filler» onions, and charging for refills on tea and charging for chips & salsa knocks them down to 2 stars. I am not from the area and there are very many restaurants to check out. I doubt I will be back for a very long time, as even though the food was good I did not appreciate the nickel and diming on things that are nationally recognized as «expected» from a reputable Mexican restaurant. I also want more than grilled onions in my meal.
Too bad! They have potential but lost me as a repeat customer by being cheap. If I do go back I will have appropriately lowered expectations.

Was recommended by a friend to go to this restaurant during our vacation. Interior has no personality. It felt like a mall restaurant. Our server was pleasant and helpful. We ordered the shepherds pie and the most popular number one plus kids meals. The food was ok at best. My husband remarked that his beef taco reminded him of Taco Bell. The beans looked like they were scooped from the bottom of the pot. dry and sad. All the food was luke warm. Felt disappointed leaving as if I wasted one of my meals on this place when there are so many wonderful restaurants in Santa Fe.

We found this place by asking a local. glad we did. Beautiful view, warm ambiance & good food. Dined on the chips & dips, Fish & Chips & Frito pie. Although I didn’t get to take photos of the Angus burger & number 5 combo we had a good dining experience. Only downfall was the service, didn’t get drinks when we ran out. Restaurant wasn’t even busy, but just took 1 star off. Definitely going to try again.

The green chili was awesome, but I was not prepared for the heat! Fire going down and fire coming out! But I’d get it again in a heartbeat! Yummy!!!

On a Friday night we didn’t have any wait to get a table for dinner. The amazing smell of the food hit us as soon as we opened the door and we knew we had chosen well.
We started with a Prickly Pear Margarita and a Blood Brothers Beer. The margarita was delicious and the perfect amount of all of the ingredients. The beer was packed with flavor, a shock to the senses at first, but it became more better with more sips.
I had the Combination Number Two with a Blue Corn Taco and Green Chile Tamale. The taco was simple, but delicious and I liked the flavor of the chicken. You can’t go wrong with a green chile tamale. The rice and beans were delicious as well.
My husband had the New Mexican Shepard’s Pie which was ground beef, mashed potatoes, cheese, and green chiles. Wow. This was delicious and hearty. What a great entrée idea and perfectly prepared.

The food is awesome and the green chili stew is reason enough to visit. Tacos, stuffed sapodilla was wonderful. So why 3 stars? The service or lack there, of was pitiful. To the credit of our waitress, she greeted us with «Your going to have to work with me, I have every table in this room.» Looked like she was waiting on 15 tables. 20 minutes to get drinks, after sitting there for over an hour we asked for the manager, telling him, we had yet to get our appetizers. Our friendly waitress bought us chips and salsa «on her» because of the wait. We ended up sending back the dessert we ordered, as we had been eating chips for 70 minutes.
It was nice that the manager took ½ off the check, but really would have been nice for him to personally apologize rather than hit the 50% off key on the cash register.

Cute, funky SF café. Had dinner and interesting drinks. New Mexican Shepherd’s pie was interesting and my cocktail was quite good. Wide array of brews and some fun mixed drinks. Staff was friendly and attentive.

Huge portions – one dish is enough for two people! The service was really good, but the star of the place… Their bloody Mary, which I was told, the blend is made in house! It was one of the best I ‘ve had! And their red sauce for quesadillas was exceptional– I think it was a mole sauce or something. Anyway, really good.

As we walked around the plaza we needed to find a restroom and we stumbled upon blue corn. We went for lunch and were not disappointed.
I had the special of the day, carne Asada tacos. Good tacos just not enough of them. More like fun sized, but tasty. My wife had the taco salad with calabacitas and she loved it. The beer selection was great, as well as the atmosphere.

I really enjoyed my meal here.
On a day trip to Santa Fe, we walked around the plaza and surrounding areas to find a place to eat lunch. This place fit the bill.
I got the special of the day: chipotle pork stuffed poblano chile. It was definitely good. Required a better knife than I had…
The highlight for me was the beer. I got the beer sampler, and surprisingly I liked every single beer I tried! I highly suggest trying their beer. They are awesome!

I’m from Houston where we have some of the best Tex Mex in the country. Every time I come to Santa Fe, I am so disappointed in the food. Most places have bland Santa Fe Mexican food. I was pleased to find this place with a menu that had similar items featured on most Tex Mex menus. For example, they had Queso and Texas nachos. I ordered the nachos and I thought they were really good.
Something else I like about this place is that it is also a brewery. I can’t remember the beer I had but it was very good.
The atmosphere was also pleasant. A little bit younger than most Santa Fe places.

Went here on a very slow weeknight. Service was acceptable, but quite «forgetful» after we had finished ordering, i.e., lots of empty waters, empty plates left uncleared, etc.
Food was unfortunately nothing special. It met expectations but just didn’t wow me much. I tried 4 diff entrees (with fam, we like to share ;), found them all to be «acceptable,» not much more. One bright spot was the chips, salsa, guacamole, & cheese dip platter, that was actually very good, albeit with not very many chips. No complimentary chips & salsa, expect to pay $ 5 for those if you so desire. No complimentary sopapilla either. I understand that businesses need to turn a profit, but either chips/​salsa or say one sopapilla per entrée might be a nice touch. Alas, it is SF but still…
Last but not least, Blue Corn *does* have great beer! Hallelujah, there IS a God and He loves beer snobs ;) this may be the saving grace of your visit, as it was for ours. Even though our server didn’t come back until we were ready to go to ask about another round, my IPA was so good that i *would* have ordered another if given the chance. Alas, apparently on certain tuesdays you have to walk up to the bar and ask yourself (we were seated about 30yards from the bar, table of 6). Maybe the brewhouse is a better bet than this (downtown) location? Good luck on the service and enjoy the beer.