Ore House at Milagro

The Ore house is terrible! We sent back our cold food and left! Will never go there again! Cold food and terrible service.

Amazing Marlin! It was a special though so you’ll have to ask if they have it.

We happened across the Ore House @ Milagro after a day of stressful travel. What a delight! The food was delicious. The Chilies en Nogada was as good as homemade. (And they are almost impossible to find in a restaurant.) The service was superb. Our server gave us a lot of tips on where to go and what to do in Santa Fe – all great recommendations. There are two fabulous bartenders — who are really world-​class. One of my favorite cocktails was a carbonated margarita with wild hibiscus/​Cabernet syrup. I was blown away by the knowledge of the bartenders — and their willingness to share techniques and recipes. Even though we were only in Santa Fe for a few days, we dined there twice. I give it my highest recommendations. (Be aware they do turn the restaurant into a disco somewhere around 9 p.m.)

Came here as part of the Santa Fe School of Cooking Walking tour. We did a tequila tasting paired with salmon tacos and posole (which is rumored to be the best in Santa Fe-​recipe in chef’s family for 85 years. It was the best we ever had.)
We received quite the education on tequila. Very interesting and fun. Note that this was a tasting and we were not tossing down shots! LOL. Tasting pours, but if you finished them all, one might not make it to the next place on the tour!
The salmon tacos were so, so. Salmon tasted fishy to me, but then fish tacos never appealed to me. Posole was outstanding — see mention above.
Great tequila selection.
Very nice atmosphere.
Great location.
Would come back especially in the evening as it seemed like they have a hopping crowd.

went here after dinner about 8 p.m. Sat in the bar area, ordered drinks AND dessert. excellent array of drinks and surprisingly the dessert was very good. The bartenders were kinda setting up the the «younger» club crowd BUT they remained attentive and did not overlook us. When the «younger» crowd began arriving we left.

We arrived at the restaurant at 8:15 on Saturday night. The restaurant was not busy. Service was totally terrible. The hostesses argued and then right in front of my partner and I kept asking servers if they wanted another table to wait. After we were seated another couple was seated at the table next to us and they had been served water and had a waiter at their table and we had yet to get a glass of water. We left the restaurant at that point. At their price point I expect good service.

Wow. This past weekend, I experienced the absolute worst example of customer service in my entire life at this place.
We sat down and were handed 2 drink menus, neither of which listed wine. I rarely drink any alcohol other than wine, because I dislike the taste of most of it, but I decided that I would give it a shot (no pun intended), and I started to read the descriptions of all of the mixed drinks to try and find one I might enjoy. The bartender came over, and while I was in the middle of a question about one of the drinks, he turned around and walked away (mistake #1). When he returned, he started lecturing me, almost indignantly, on how they have won awards for their cocktails there. (Um, okay, that’s not what I asked, but okay, good for you. I really don’t care, though, so can I ask my question please?)
So he saw me looking at one of the menus he had given us, and he told me that I shouldn’t read that one, I should only read the other menu. He said the other menu contains everything. I responded that I had already read the other one, and I didn’t see the same ones listed, and I really wanted to consider all of my options. He took the menu out of my hand, and said that the prices are wrong on this menu, and he’s just trying to save me some money.
(Let me get this straight. So if «Menu A» lists «Cocktail X» for $ 15 (and that price is wrong) and «Menu B» lists the exact same cocktail for $ 12 (and that price is right), but I order it off of «Menu A», you’re going to charge me the «Menu A» price, which is wrong? And somehow that is my fault for looking at the wrong menu?)
I started to explain to the bartender that I usually only drink wine, and there are very few kinds of alcohol that I actually like, so I really need to read everything. The bartender interrupted me, did not listen to what I was trying to say, and instead kept asserting that the prices were wrong on the menu. I asked him if I could have the menu back because I just want to read it, and he said that no, I could not have it back, because the prices are wrong. So I told him that I would just have water.
At this point, he turned to my boyfriend, and started trying to explain to him about the prices. My boyfriend had been talking to one of our other friends who was also there, so he hadn’t heard any of what had transpired previously. Therefore, he was looking at the bartender in complete disbelief, as he had absolutely no idea what the heck he was talking about, or why he was so animated in his conviction that I was all wrong. My boyfriend was like, um, okay, whatever!
The really stupid thing about this situation is that we don’t care whether the drink costs $ 12 or $ 15. We are in a financial position where we really don’t need to give a rat’s ass. So this bartender could have charged us $ 40 for each drink, and we wouldn’t even have noticed. What DID matter to us was the service (or lack thereof). We have a habit of tipping exceptionally well. When we are happy with service, we tip 30% or more. Not this time!
At this point, we asked a different employee if they have a wine list, and it turned out that they do. So we ordered wine, and were very happy with it.
I am in an industry where I provide customer service all day, every day. I have been very well trained in how to communicate well with customers, and ensure that they are happy. I think this bartender broke every rule in the book. Had he listened to what I was trying to explain, about how I usually only drink wine, he could have said, «Oh! Well we also have a wine list!» and brought over the wine list. The problem would have been solved, and everyone would have been happy.
Last night, my boyfriend brought up this situation again, just to sort of say «WTF?!» about it, and he said that his impression of the bartender is that he is a man with an inability to communicate with women, and when I didn’t fit his expectation of what I should have been saying, he couldn’t continue communicating with me, and had to, basically, start «telling on me» to my man.
Wake up, dude, the year is 2012, and this is the United States. Some women are intelligent, well-​educated, successful, independent, and have the financial means to choose where their money is spent. I am a firm believer in «voting» with your consumer dollar, and by that I mean paying for goods and services that are worth paying for, and not paying for goods and services that are not. Can you guess what my consumer-​dollar-​vote for this place is?

This place was very busy. It had GREAT margarita’s too. Staff was fast with our drinks. I did not have the food, so I cannot evaluate, but the happy hour for drinks was good.

Loved the food and the restaurant has a great feel. The food was tasty and they had live bands on Cinco de Mayo, which made the experience more fun. I’d be interested in going back if someone wanted to go, but I’m not certain would have been as great if it hadn’t been a day to party.

Wow! Great guacamole, awesome margaritas, to die for steak! Ore House Steak melts in your mouth! You can order something else but you’ll regret it! Our waitress was so awesome! If you’re in Santa Feel this is the place to go, make a reservation and get ready for a culinary delight! My 5 year old wants to eat there every night, I wish we could!

The food here was fantastic. The highlight was the poblano pepper stuffed with a fine combination of a little ground beef, a black walnut cream sauce, pomegranate seeds, and a few other creative ingredients. The beef tenderloin I also had (split with my mother in law) was done to perfection, and the black currant sauce on this was superb as well. My wife’s special order substitute white wine and garlic sauce on a pasta was also very nice. We had a fine bottle of spanish red, and the wine prices were surprisingly reasonable.
Service was quite good and attentive throughout. The only real complaint we had was the somewhat uppity attitude from the hostess who informed us that we couldn’t have the table we requested (with a reservation) because they were reserving it to push together with an adjacent one for a larger party — that never showed, and the table was later given to a party of four. Not that big a deal; I don’t mean to be snooty.

So loud. If you like having to yell at people to have them hear you. Or if you like being yelled at while people are serving customers next to you, this should be up your alley.

I can only speak to the happy hour specials, but they were above average. Santa Fe is not a cheap culinary town and it’s pretty awesome when you can get discounted drinks, $ 1 tacos, and $ 4 burgers. The tacos were small, but packed some serious flavor. The bartender was nice and made sure our drinks were topped off. If I lived here I would be a happy hour regular!

Wow. This restaurant pretty much sucks. Arrived with a party of about 15 people tonight. It took FOREVER to get anyone to cme and take our drink orders, our waiter explained that they had let the «guacamole mixer» off for the evening because they didn’t think it would be busy… On a Saturday night… In downtown Santa Fe… Hello alarm bells!
So we finally get half our drinks, and then half our party had to wait another 20 minutes to get their drinks that they ordered at the same time… Lots of grumbling was heard.
So we order, and the food came quickly enough. Most of the people in our group ordered burgers, which was interesting. I ordered vegetarian black bean nachos, and my friend next to me ordered the calimari. The nachos were pretty gross, augmentated by the green chile sauce that they poured on the order… Not the greatest green chile sauce in town, that’s for sure.
My friend’s calimari plate waas as she called it, «calimari abortions», namely the tiniest calimari ever… Now this is not specific to Milagro, as lots of restaurants in this town make the same mistake… But they could have been much higher quality, that’s for sure.
As dinner wound down, I looked at all the plates of people who had ordered burgers, and not one person in our party ate more than half of their burger… The general concensus was that the food was pretty mediocre across the board, and not one person said that their drinks were poured well… FTR, most everyone at the table is or had been at one time catering or high-​end restaurant staffers.
Finally, WHY is this venue named «Ore House at Milagro» on Unilocal,and not «Milagro 134» like it is named at the venue? I’ll tell you why, because the same owners of the Ore House own Milagro 134. If you go to the Ore House reviews on Unilocal,you’ll notice the reviews are getting consistently worse (and don’t get me started about the well publicized health code problems there)… The owners have been saying that they are going to close that venue and focus on Milagro 134, but obviously the Ore House is still a tourist cash cow, so they arent letting go.
Hello Owners: Focus on one business or the other and make it good please… And do it soon because people are hungry and don’t like being ripped off.
Finally, the cover band started playing Elton John covers at 9:00, and everyone on the restaurant floor quickly beat a hasty retreat. You have never seen a restaurant lose it’s customers faster…

Every great getaway needs a great happy hour haunt, and Milagro 139 was ours for two nights while in town on vacation. Cheap, strong drinks, an informal atmosphere and a super hot bartender… What more is there to ask for?
We didn’t eat, but the restaurant itself is kind of cool looking. It’s sort of reminiscent of the courtyard restaurants in New Orleans but without being outside and without serving creole.

When Christina S. and I were conducting our Sips & Apps tour we had such a delicious experience at Milagro 139– their happy hour and bar atmosphere is OUTSTANDING! I enjoyed the ceviche and ahi tuna tartar– fantastic!
So, we then chose to have a full dining experience in the actual dining room, and it was lovely. The service was very slow– but they apologized and offered a dessert on the house to make up for it. It was an hour wait after we ordered our entrees, which is a long wait– but the wait wasn’t the problem. The problem was the super sweaty chef was almost NEVER actually in the kitchen preparing our expensive meal. Disappointing really.
But– I did enjoy the food! They prepared with with no raw veg and no wheat! I had Empanadas del Mar + a Beginners Luck marg. The food was presented beautifully and tasted nearly perfect– with one horrible exception: The 3 corn tortillas were stacked with crab, shrimp and lobster in layers, but the tortillas were super crunchy– and every bite was the same texture as catching crunchy shrimp peels in my food… Ugh– how unappetizing.
I would love to eat there again, the flavors really were that lovely, such a shame about the texture. I think I may just stick to the bar apps for a while.

After a wonderful experience at the happy hour, this place was first choice when it came time for a full dinner. The Canyon Salmon was an absolutely amazing dish! Unfortunately I had to wait over an hour for it.
Having heard that the chef had recently returned from an arm injury, I made sure to schedule our reservation for a time when he would be in the kitchen. While we waited it was clear that while he was back, he was still not in the kitchen and wandered around and even sat with diners! I could not have been more outraged. The waitstaff was apologetic and offered free desert, which was declined, and discounted our check (5%, I think).
This would have been a terrible review had it not been for the unbelievably good food that we eventually received. I would highly suggest this restaurant on a week night when it might not be so busy. It had a nice, open atmosphere and beautiful décor.

Wow.
Went in at the recommendation of a friend. I had a dish I forgot the name of… a chili stuffed with beef and pumpkin seeds and other things with a pomegranate drizzle. It was such an amazingly crafted dish. Different sauces complemented and changed flavor. It showed the real care that a true chef has for his/​her food. My wife had the salmon and was equally impressed at the attention to detail in the food.
Service was so-​so… not bad at all, but didn’t stand out.

Milagro how I wanted to love you. You have nice interior a beautiful patio and it seemed an excellent selection of wine and beer. However after being completely and utterly ignored by not one but two of your obviously well trained staff all I can say is you suck. Thanks for nothing.

Bite me, Milagros. No, really. Because I’m sure you’re hungry — it’s not like anyone gets to bite anything else around here, given the crappiest service I’ve ever experienced. And people, I’m a local. I understand that service in Santa Fe ain’t Seattle — but really. Come on.
Our waitress had to remember one glass of wine and a single dessert order, and we had to ask three times and then flag her down. She then looked at me blankly and said, «Now where did that wine go?» I’m not sure, hon. I was wondering the same thing.
The place is pretty and pretentious and noisy. The guacamole gets dished up tableside by sexy Guac Girls, and the food looks interesting. But see above. By the time you get a chance to eat it, you may be sliding below the table in a dead faint.