Old House Restaurant

Excellent for Breakfast. Try the Open Face Sandwich. Wolferton’s engish muffin topped with herb crema, smoked salmon, scrambled egg and citrusy arugula. Excellent combination of flavors and textures.

Beware! I took my sweetie here for Valentine’s day. We selected the prix fide Holiday menu. It was adequate, but nothing spectacular. A 20% service charge was added to the check; the waiter cheerfully informed me that «Everything’s included.» Service was fine, however, I prefer to determine the amount that I tip. Maybe that’s a problem for the staff here.

Luckily was here during Restaurant Week (otherwise it would have been a bit overpriced for me). But $ 30 for a three course meal here? Yes please.
Started off with the soup of the day, which was a bacon cheddar soup. Really good — had a nice crunch from the bacon and a spice from the broth (⁵⁄₅). I then had the veal and butternut ravioli. I felt that this dish was not very balanced and tasted extremely salty, from the broth to the food itself. Wouldn’t order it again (1.5÷5). The crème brûlée was exquisite. Great brulee texture, and the berries and cookie complemented the custard very well. I’m a sucker for a good crème brûlée, and this one definitely lived up to my standards (⁵⁄₅).

The Old House Restaurant can’t seem to handle a New Years RSVP’d capacity– our waiter cont’d to complain about how he had to service «half the room». But with a 20% gratuity charge (standard to this restaurant) Our waiter made no pretenses that serving food on New Years Eve was a personal ‘pain in the ass’. As well the food was sub par with plenty of $$$$. The filet here advertised as ‘dry aged’ was served inappropriately ‘well’. Seasoning was also disproportionate to the scale of serving– (trendy chunks of sea salt added to the finale; choc Ganache set this meal unvaryingly SOUTH. Save your palate/​wallet– when heading to the Eldorado restaurant– Turn South instead, CC

Grabbed some dinner here one night on vacation. We were staying at the Hilton so the location was convenient after walking around town all day. Upon entering the El Dorado, there’s a feeling of grandeur. Then as you make your way further, you notice that the lobby bar is shut down and not stocked, the piano is covered up and there’s no fire going. I guess this foreshadowed our dining experience.
The Agave Lounge actually seemed alive and kicking, however, the Old House only had a few tables occupied in the dining room. We were seated immediately, but the service went downhill from there. It took forever to get a drink order in and then it took another forever to receive them. In fact I ordered my second cocktail when she brought my first one in anticipation. We also had a mix up on our order. We were given something completely different from what we ordered. It just wasn’t a good night. With that being said, I don’t know if it was entirely the fault of our server. There was an event of some kind in a private room and most of the staff was tending to that event. There seemed to be no other servers in the dining room or bus boys or food runners.
The food here is ok, but not worth the price in comparison to many of other great places that we dined. The cold seafood platter was good, that’s hard to mess up. The tomato salad was meh. The veggie tostadas were probably the best dish we had. The blackened flat iron would have been ok had they not laid it down in a pool of BBQ sauce. The trout was not tasty although the little blue corn muffin on the plate was great. The girls loved the chocolate pyramid thing.
Honestly, even if the service was 10 times better, I probably wouldn’t return here. There are so many terrific food options in town. There were places that I could eat at for several days in a row in fact.

Slow service at the restaurant and the Agave Lounge. Place looks run down. Food was edible — not good.

I had the Ribeye, my husband the prime rib. The meat was tender and delicious! It was a wonderful dinner. I would recommend this restaurant to everyone!

Stayed at the el Dorado and tried the restaurant the first night. Expensive and bland. Asparagus over cooked, salad boring, not much to justify the cost. The service was very good and the margaritas were good. And it was handy!

Heard the Old House Restaurant was good and decided to try it. So happy we did as we enjoyed the best steaks we’ve had in a long time. The filet was a generous cut and cooked to perfection… WOW it was so amazing! Hubby had the aged rib-​eye and was wowed too! The accompaniments were equally as good… again cooked to perfection. Kudos to the chefs — superb meal!

So, we’ve been coming to the Old House for 15 years now and been pretty pleased. When we decided to bring friends out to Santa Fe it seem like a good idea to bring them here. WE WERE SO WRONG! We waited 50 minutes for our salads. and another 45 for our dinners. None was delivered correctly. The lobster must have been set under a heat lamp for a considerable time. We also ordered 3 ribeyes medium rare. The 3 steaks were all medium– the manager agreed but did nothing. 2 of the three steaks were strip– the wait person initially took one back because she also saw that they were different cuts of meat. When she returned it was a different story. She insisted that we were wrong– that all were ribeyes. And her service deteriorated after that. The sides that we requested were not delivered as requested. I am allergic to dairy and asked for the spinach and not the mac and cheese as did one other person at our table. They came with the mac and big chunks of butter. Again, I had told here I was allergic. When noted to the wait person she took it back to the kitchen and changed it but only flipped the steak over to make it look like a new steak because it had a block of butter that she had removed. It was not a good night at Old House and I had a rough night afterword because of the butter.
None of us was able to eat out full meal.
The manager’s solution– «Here is my card. Call me when you return and I will take care of you personally.» He didn’t seem interested in taking care of us last night. We will not be returning.

Waited 45 minutes to get my appetizer (beet salad) and than another 40 minutes to get my steak. Now after seeing the dry aging cabinet in the entry way and reading all the great reviews of the ribeye — I ordered the ribeye medium rare. What I ended up getting was a NY strip cooked medium. I told the waitress this wasn’t a ribeye, she went back, checked with the chef who proclaimed it was a ribeye, told me it was a ribeye and left. A quick check of Google images to compare ribeye vs NY strip confirms I’m neither a moron nor blind. Do yourself a favor and find somewhere else to eat.

Having been to thousands of restaurants through the decades I can positively say that a dining experience at the Old House was one of the worse in our lifetime. My wife and I should have left when the parking attendant said, «There is no charge for parking, but a tip would be appreciated.» It’s classless to ask for a tip, but that was a harbinger of what was to come.
The hostess saw us coming and instead of greeting us and escorting us to her podium, turned her back on us to walk to and await our turn at her podium. We only saw our waiter twice during dinner, once when he took our order and again when he brought the bill. No one ever came by at any time to check on our dinner.
We had to flag someone to come and refill our ice tea. Then we had to flag (waving hands in a dining room should never have to be done in a dining room), but the Old House is organized in such a way that if you want anything (others were doing it too), you have to flag someone down. We then had to flag a manager (Layton) who was at the next table to ask for more Splenda. The container was never returned until the end of the dinner.
As the dishes were cleared at the end of the dinner, I told the bus person my displeasure of not having the Splenda bowl returned and to tell the manager who took it away of my displeasure. He (Layton) came and abruptly said, «I apologize; I will talk to the workers.» And wanted to leave quickly. I said, «What about the lack of a knife. It was never replaced after the appetizer and when the entrée came, I had to wait ten minutes while the entrée became cold to find someone for a knife. «He said, «I apologize; I will talk to the workers» and left with a disingenuous attitude. He could care less. It’s not the workers fault. It’s management, so that should tell you why dining at the Old House will be such a bad experience.
As for the food, it was as basic, pedestrian and as bad as can be. You will not leave praising the food.
When we left, there was no one to thank us for dining at the Old House. As for tipping the parking attendant, here’s the best tip I can give anyone trying to decide where to dine in Santa Fe. With so many restaurants to choose from in Santa Fe, go elsewhere but not the Old House.

The wine list is awesome!!! The service was impeccable. The food was 5 star! I can highly recommend this place!

I stayed at the El Dorado Hotel and wasn’t expecting much from a Hotel Restaurant, especially one called «Old House.» I was pleasantly surprised at the breakfast selection and the tastiness of the dishes that arrived. The staff was more than accommodating at our request for egg beaters and even gave us coffee to go. The atmosphere is comfy and quiet.
I ordered the Three Egg Omelet and Hash Browns. The ingredients were tasty and the waitress even let me ordered an extra topping. My dish was warm and flavorful, I was pleased with the heartiness of the ham. My co-​worker ordered the Huevos Rancheros. Clean plates all around!
If all hotel breakfasts were like the Old House Restaurant and as reasonably priced, I wouldn’t bother bringing my breakfast bars and using the in-​room coffee maker.

Best meal I’ve had in a long time.
Lobster bisque was tasty. Interesting presentation — the solids are in the bowl, and they pour the liquids over it. Not sure it actually improved the taste, but it was interesting.
Perfect lamb shank in a nice sauce.
The standout item was the parsnip purée, which is something I never would have ordered a la carte.
Nice fresh bread.
Good service from staff who clearly, and appropriately, are proud of their restaurant.

This review is for breakfast. We stayed in the hotel one night on the way to Taos. Beautiful restaurant. The breakfast burrito and huevos rancheros were superb as was the service.

For the lounge area only… since we stayed at the Eldorado hotel we made the Old House lounge our home-​base for a glass of wine in the evenings. Good selection, reasonable happy hour prices. Spotty service. In the comfortable, dimly lit space we had apparently become invisible on a couple of occasions. Nice for unwinding. Food smelled amazing but alas, too many restaurants in Santa Fe and not enough time!

Fair warning: I’m a Foodie, so I’m a little more picky about restaurants than most people.
My ribeye was terrific! The sauce was really good and I’m not much for sauce on steaks. There was some type of green leaf garnish that looked like something I’d pull out of my parents’ front lawn that I didn’t eat. The macaroni and cheese with green chilies was surprisingly delicious. Although… mac & cheese? In a 4-​diamond restaurant? Seriously?
We were a party of nine. That being said, they mixed up dinner plates and drinks a few times. Desserts took a long time to be delivered to our table. There were a couple people in our party who suggested we cancel the dessert because it was taking such a long time. I ordered their banana split — think «minature banana sundea» on a flat plate. It’s amazing how quickly melting ice cream travels on a flat surface…
This place seemed a little pricey to me. Mac & Cheese… really?
While the dinner was delicious, I would probably find some place else to eat.

New Mexico’s Best, AAA Four Diamonds, Zagat… and steaks aging in a glass case in the lobby! I was expecting the meal of a lifetime.
Sadly, just like the El Dorado Inn, Old House is way overrated. Granted, the waitstaff was fantastic, but my steak was charred and tasted like carbon, and their dessert was only OK. If it had’t been so hyped up, I would have been happier, but I was pretty disappointed overall…

We went with friends during Santa Fe Restaurant Week. Had been before and love the atmosphere. The food was wonderfully done & presented. The menu for the promotion was original and beyond what many others offered.
The service could have been better so only 4 stars for this review. I will definitely go back because going to The Old House is special and certainly a way to «treat yourself». We commented around the table that night that The Old House would be a very nice «first night in Santa Fe» dinner for visitors coming into Santa Fe.