The Compound

Very good, great seating on the back patio. We were there for a larger party (8) girl dinner. They took great care of us and the food all was great. I had the lobster risotto. There were 3 of us that went with that. There was at least one salmon and a polenta amongst the group.

My wife and I are locals. The Compound usually has very good food and service. However, Monday, June 20^th was an «off» day for some of the employees starting with the 24K bitch hostess. We should have left immediately after her first bit of rudeness, but we were hungry and had an appointment nearby soon after. There were several empty tables inside, but because we didn’t have a lunch reservation, the Queen Bee hostess sat us outside in 95 degree heat. She obviously was judging me for some reason. I am always polite to the hostess and servers as I waited tables in college. I know the abuse they sometimes endure. The waiter assigned to our table was clearly upset with the hostess for adding us to his workload. We ordered quickly and wanted to leave asap because of the heat. We don’t drink alcohol or sodas and usually stick to water. I actually had to get up and take our glasses inside to get ice as the water was very warm. I asked for the check and the waiter pulled the stall tactic to get us to spend more money on dessert and coffee. Again, I politely but firmly asked for the check. It seems the waiter could find room INSIDE if we ordered dessert and coffee, but the hostess couldn’t find room inside because we didn’t have a reservation. This behavior happens every year about this time. The tourists start coming to town and the businesses assume everyone that walks through their doors are rude and demanding tourists. Dear Compound hostess, you are just a minimum wage employee Don’t like your tough job? Sounds like justification for higher education. Get off your fat lazy ass and go back to school. You want rude? I’ll give you rude!

Ok, it wasn’t the restaurant we were looking for, but it is a very pretty place with a decent menu
The food is decent
The service was deceptive
Very nice waiter
Had to ask for lemons 3 times
Asked for more water and a pepper mill and he just went went to back and was chatting with another waiter
I had to wave my hands to get his attention
Manager has to watch things like this
Not likely that we will return

We were visiting Santa Fa and and stopped in a CVS to pick up a few things. We asked the manger for a local dinner recommendation. We told him we have GPS and wanted to enjoy Santa Fe. He told us about the Compound. We did not know about this art district. We were very happily surprised when we parked and looked around the property. The dinner was very good. We had the sea bass and the chicken. Both were perfect. The service was very good. Very nice restaurant and meal.

Never have I been to such a highly praised, infinitely recommended, and classy yet expensive restaurant that failed to deliver on so many levels.
First the good:
1^st star: Promptness of food service. (Not waiter service however). Between the time we ordered, until the first course came out must’ve been about 5 mins. For fine dining that is very impressive. Even the main courses came out very quickly which is not easy to do with thick cuts of meat.
2^nd star: Quality of ingredients. From the second you open the menu, (whether cocktail, wine, or food), its obvious the ingredients are of great quality.
Misc: Front of house staff is quick, prompt, polite, lovely, and even helped us with our jackets.
Butter for the bread was actually served at room temperature. Thank the gods! Why can’t more places figure this out??!
Now for the bad:
1. Wait staff. Our server seemed to not care about us at all. Was busy with other tables, rushed us thru ordering, offered extremely limited help with our questions, and did a crap job at wine service (didn’t show the cork, splashed the first pour, poured too heavy for the taste, and was loud and fumbled with the bottle). He had a junior server shadowing him who got infinitely more of his attention than we did.
2. First course. Tiger shrimp scampi putanesca was good yet the shrimp were very undercooked. Cauliflower soup was so lacking in seasoning it was like they used all their salt for the snowy streets and left it out of the kitchen.
3. Second course. Tenderloin vegetables must’ve been cooled in a full stick of butter. The foie gras hollandaise didn’t taste like foie gras at all. The lamb shank was very tender, but once again lacked any seasoning what so ever!!! The lack of seasoning at every step of the cooking process in every course is bewildering and completely unacceptable. I appreciate a chef who is sticking to a low sodium menu, but this is insane.
4. Dessert. Bread pudding tasted more like butter than the vanilla it was described as. Oh, and the ice cream had ice crystals all over it. Figure out the temperature of your dessert freezers please!
5. Misc. The men’s bathroom. God forbid u have to go #2 as the top edge of the only men’s stall door is so short that it allows you to make full and complete eye contact with whoever is standing at the urinal! Talk about stage fright! Also, expect to rub shoulders to the guy taking a leak next to u if you’re at the urinal as they are very close together and don’t have a partition.
And for the neither negative or positive:
1. The restaurant was very loud, which could just be a sign of its popularity.
2. They didn’t have the first bottle of wine we asked for, but had sometime similar.
3. Check your bill. A glass of another tables wine was accidentally added to our bill.
(All of these things are common things that I’ve found after working at restaurants for 6 years and cannot be counted against the restaurant quality itself).
4. Every. Single. Person. Is. White. And. Old. I don’t know enough about the Santa Fe population to say if this is outside the general demographic, however it did feel strange.
Could all of these be coincidence and we just got the short end of the stick with a bad experience? Sure. It’s possible. But the fact that every single course was lacking seasoning is inexcusable on a $ 230 bill for 2, and is mostly the reason for this review.

I really wanted to be blown away by The Compound. After reading about it in both Oprah and Sunset (Yes, I realize I am admitting to reading both regularly and love both magazines unabashedly), I had high expectations. Perhaps this is why The Compound fell short. I simply wasn’t blown away, or really anywhere close.
The building itself is beautiful. It’s fun to drive up and to feel like you’re crashing a party as you walk into a home turned restaurant in a residential area. It was all dressed up for the holidays with icicle-​style lights, though I believe we may have missed the full-​blown Christmas décor ad we were there after Thanksgiving.
That said, the architecture and the vibe felt a bit 80’s to me (which I suppose is in style right now, but it felt like it was stuck there a bit rather than being hipster or ironically 80’s). Not sure if it was all the white or what, but I was just feeling 80’s. The restrooms were also a bit dingy for an upscale restaurant.
The appetizers were the best part of the meal (although they were listed as sides but we ordered them as appetizers). The onion rings were buttery and not too fried, heavy or salted. The truffle macaroni and cheese melted in our mouths.
The chicken dish was boring. I know, I know. Chicken is a pretty boring dish to order (I regret not going for steak, but had eaten it the night before and wanted something new). I expected more flavor from the «Moroccan-​style Harissa», and having been to Morocco within the last few months, I can say that Moroccan chicken has more flavor both by being slow-​cooked tagine-​style until it is more tender and is much more heavily spiced. The carrots and grains made it a bit more interesting, but overall the dish was bland. And at $ 32 a plate, I was hoping for more than bland.
Hubs was also disappointed by his Manhattan with ice. It has many, many small cubes rather than 1 – 2 larger cubes, which diluted the flavor a bit. Again, I know we’re splitting hairs a bit (It really is a first-​world problem to complain about ice cubes in a Manhattan in a nice restaurant one visits on a vacation, and I feel a bit guilty typing this). However, these are the kinds of touches one expects an upscale restaurant to have dialed.
The pecan pear dessert was too complicated. The citrus sauce overpowered the brown butter ice cream and the pear flavor was almost entirely absent. It wasn’t awful, but it wasn’t great either.
I’d definitely give The Compound another chance (especially during summer when the vegetable selection/​side/​appetizer choices are not majority cauliflower, which I loathe), but am unlikely to do so given the other great choices for fine dining in Santa Fe,

I can’t believe I still have places to review from NM. How could I have eaten at that many places in just 3 days? Well this was truly my most favorite. My friend G., who grew up in Albuquerque recommended it, although said she hadn’t been there in years. During my obsessive pre-​trip restaurant search (I just can’t restrain myself) I decided this would be S.‘s birthday meal, and here is the reason — Sweetbreads & Foie Gras Cėpes, Cayenne and Spanish Sherry. Could there be a more perfect union? I don’t think so.
The restaurant, though on Canyon Rd., notorious touristy art gallery district, is set back from the street and has a deceptively plain looking entrance. I think this leads to most of the clients being locals, lots of movers and shakers, from my eavesdropping. It’s lovely and cave like inside, with a pretty atrium garden that I’m sure would be great for a special event. Our waiter, Alejandro was gracious with sort of an old fashioned restraint. Now back to the food!
We each had a glass of Gruet Blanc de Noir, a sparkling wine we’d liked last night at Café Pasqual’s, and shared all of the following:
Foie gras and Sweatbreads (5+, must order)
OMG and any other superlative you can think of. It was my favorite things in a bowl! The sweetbreads were done perfectly, not too firm or soft. The foie was silky with crisp exterior and the cepe broth was deeply earthy and mellow. The sherry they mention is served in a glass as the perfect pairing.
Jumbo Crab & Lobster Salad — Mango, Red Onion & Butter Lettuce with Tangerine Vinaigrette (4.5)
We had to have something that be light on the pallet, and this was a great choice. I especially liked the vinaigrette — lots of tartness, with a just hint of fruitiness. The use of onion was restrained, just a few thin cross-​section slices for great bite and flavor. My only criticism is the lovely claw piece was cooked too long and had little flavor
Shrimp Scampi (4.5)
The shrimp popped with freshness and napped in a sauce that seemed almost like an arrabbiata sauce, unlike any scampi I’ve had, but with intense tomato and garlic, and just enough heat.
Bittersweet Chocolate torte (5 — must order)
This was sooooooooooo good. Chocolate to the max, with the contrast in texture provided by the little bittersweet tuile cookie
Panna Cotta (4)
This was smooth and silky and accompanied by some sort of compressed watermelon gelee. I’m a sucker for panna cotta. It’s usual downfall, when it misses the mark, is texture, but in this case they nailed it. The flavor was a little weak here, though, but the watermelon helped.
It’s a good thing I don’t live too close. I’d be over for that sweetbreads and foie way too often. They graciously split everything for us, right up to two cloched plates for the this dish, and I was surprised and delighted to see there was no extra charge. This is a classy move that more high end restaurants could copy. It was pricey ($ 106 before tax or tip), but worth the experience.
Food: ³⁸⁄₄₀
Service: ¹⁸⁄₂₀
Atm/​intangibles: ¹⁸⁄₂₀
Value: ¹⁷⁄₂₀
Overall: ⁹¹⁄₁₀₀

Never once have I been disappointed by The Compound. Their crab Po’ Boy is killer. The chef here is tops! In my experiences, the wait staff is what most restaurants strive for. There is really nothing quite like being there, soft bossa in the background, quiet ambiance, and the rustic charm of Canyon Road. If you haven’t tried it, don’t. It’s my secret! Go away! Lol.

Just came from lunch. While the food was good, the service from our waiter was terrible. He was quite attentive to the two tables around us but wasn’t interested in checking on us, refilling our drinks, or offering us fresh pepper as he did for the others. After a runner cleared our table, our waiter walked by 4 times without acknowledging us. The fifth time I asked him to bring our check. The restaurant was not particularly crowded. The restaurant is pretty and the food is delicious, but if adequate service in a full service restaurant is important to you, this might not be your place.
If I had seen how many negative reviews this restaurant had prior to our visit, my husband and I would have chosen another restaurant.

Disappointing.
Though highly recommended by people around town, the food here was extremely overpriced for the quality of their dishes.
Steak was sent back the first time because it was overcooked. When it came back the second time it was charred.
Halibut was very dry and hard to eat.
Needless to say, both these dishes were unfinished at the table.
Only good things were the wine selection and the staff.
Management, I recommend keeping a closer eye on your quality.

The food was excellent, but the overall experience was a disappointment.
We arrived on schedule and stood for five minutes at the desk before the hostess rambled back from wherever she had been. We actually ventured into the dining area to see if we could attract some attention. The maitre — on crutches after an ankle operation — stayed seated at the bar, in sight of the desk.
We were escorted to the table at the entrance to the kitchen, which only became obvious after we were seated and realized that the flow of staff past our table were not to provide service.
The waiter appeared after five more minutes and opened by asking if this was our first visit to the restaurant. It wasn’t, but it might be our last.
We had been branded with the big «T» — tourist.
It is one thing for a restaurant to treat regulars better, but something else to treat incidentals worse. All that was missing was the symbolic placement of the salt cellar.
The staff noise level in our corner made conversation difficult and contributed to a misorder of one of the entrees. This was removed from the bill. Nice recovery, but a little late. But the staff conversations did suggest a shortage of waiters. Not something we needed to know.
Lesson learned: have your realestate agent or art dealer — or their staff — make the reservation!

While we likely lowered the median age in the restaurant by about thirty years, these Santa Fe retirees really know their fine dining.
We got reservations for a fancy lunch date at The Compound at the behest of some friends in the New York restaurant biz, who must’ve known we’d be ready for a change of pace from the strict regional fare of green chiles, burritos, and beef-​heavy dishes (not to knock it by any means, but it was time to cleanse the palate), by switching to simple, delicious, wonderful, award-​winning American cuisine.
Or in my case, German schnitzel.
Despite some distinctly American buzzwords populating the menu like Wild Mushrooms, Butter Lettuce, Burger, and, er, Artisinal Salad, I kept circling back to the Chicken Schnitzel and wondering to myself why it was there, and how good it must be to be weirdly included in this lot. I told the waiter I was intrigued by it, but that it seemed a little out-​of-​place and basic (in both the literal sense and the white girl sense). But the way he declared it «amazing» was probably the most convincing single-​word recommendation I’ve ever gotten from a server, so that was that. Spoiler alert: dude was damn right. The Chicken Schnitzel was likely the best I’ve ever had, even better than the ones I’ve ordered in German joints. The strong-​but-​just-​right level of buttery, lemony flavor brought out everything in this dish. It’s weeks later and I can still taste the drowning capers and chicken combo. Amazing really is the only word to describe it.
Speaking of apropos diction, The Compound itself is aptly named. As I made my way to the restroom, I realized the restaurant was a labyrinthine system of one adobe-​style room after another, including an outdoor patio, overall larger and more accommodating than the establishment looks from the inside. It’s also located on the art gallery destination Canyon Road, so it’s no secret the place attracts customers with expendable incomes. It was easily the nicest place we ate at in Santa Fe, and the world-​class service was just as much a highlight as my food.
Critics may call The Compound crusty, old, rich white people food*, and judging by the clientele, it’s hard to say they’re wrong. But it’s damn good, crusty, old, rich white people food. And frankly, retirement never tasted so buttery, lemony delicious.
*These adjectives are mockingly, endearingly for the diners, not the actual dishes, mind you.

They erase reviews. It was my b-​day and arrived five minutes early before restaurant was open for dinner. The made us wait in lobby area even though tables were set and we were the first to arrive.
The waiters were somewhat disinterested in serving us yet stood around the table making experience uncomfortable. Dinner was not great. This place is way overpriced and overhyped. For dessert they gave me cookies not a b-​day dessert. Will never return. Waitors were self conscious and unhelpful. There was one female server who was nice but didn’t pop up until we were leaving.

Excellent food. Our wonderful waiter Mac went the extra mile to get us the molten chocolate cake, which was Mediterranean style with cherried, apricot and one of the best Ive ever tasted. Great experience

the positives: tasty lunch fare. the crab and lobster salad was delicious and the steak salad had wonderful flavor. the knock: the meat was way too chewy. even the steak knife I requested wasn’t strong enough. the waitstaff seemed snooty, and when our waiter almost spilled our bottle of water on us, I wanted to tell him it was karma.
overall, a white tablecloth place perfect for a lunch with mom.

I had wanted to try this iconic Santa Fe restaurant for some time, but timing and budget hadn’t allowed me too until recently.
The décor is unimpressive and somewhat outdated, and the maitre de was snobby and unwelcoming like you might expect if you’re not a pompous person and just somebody who appreciates really great food. My waiter was also somewhat clueless, having to come back to my table three times to confirm my order.
But the food was amazing! I started with tuna tartar which came with aioli and a tiny accent of caviar. I truly enjoyed this.
Morel mushrooms in a bitter and reduced white wine sauce was on the menu, and the mushrooms and the sauce were bursting with delicious earthy flavor.
Our entrees were delicious too. I had halibut with pork belly, but my wife had salmon with something like a crab salad on the top and it was amazing. Although the halibut was good I was heart broken that had made the wrong menu choice.
I’ll definitely go back. I’ll look past a snobby maitre de and a dopey waiter anytime I can have such delicious food.

I enjoyed a wonderful meal here while on vacation with my wife. First of all, the property is stunning. I loved the architecture of the house and the cozy confines of the patio.
The food was superb highlighted by the foie and sweet breads. The pan seared duck breast was a close second.
The service was fabulous. We had a late reservation and by night’s end, we were the last table dining. I felt bad and told them to expedite the service so they could start cleaning up. Our server insisted that we take we our time. In fact he even brought me another drink after we finished dessert and told us to relax. Top notch.
Was it cheap? Not really, but comparable to most restaurants of this caliber. I found great value in fact because of the entire dining experience. I’d love to return to sample more menu items.

Super high end «fine» dining? Nah. I would say good stick to your ribs American style cuisine.
This is one of those restaurants that I feel relies too heavily on pork products for flavor and as a non-​pork eater it made it difficult for me to navigate the menu.
Started with the Iceberg salad (no bacon please) then ordered the Halibut (no pancetta risotto please) with the salmon sides which I didn’t enjoy at all. There was a balsamic reduction which was syrupy and heavy and not compatible with the flavor profile of a fish option.
With wine the check worked out to be about $ 100 per person and I frankly didn’t have a $ 100 per-​person sort of experience.
Not terrible, but not earth shattering either. If you feel the need to check this off your list and have $ 100 burning a hold in your pocket, go for it. Otherwise I feel there are other options that are a better value in Santa Fe.

I finally found what I was searching for!!! After several poor to mediocre meals in Santa Fe, a town that prides itself on haute cuisine, we ventured into The Compound. Mark Kiffin, a James Beard award winner, mixes fresh ingredients with solid kitchen fundamentals to create a very satisfying experience.
Starters included a baby iceberg salad with Maytag blue cheese and pancetta. Main courses included a veal chop with wild rice and duck breast finished with pistachios and cherries. The foie gras and sweetbreads were the lone disappointment. They were WAY over truffled and did not taste «clean».
The service was top notch, going out of their way for our large party. The chefs visit was more than the typical BS and he went out of his way to make a special dessert for our party. All in all a great time!!’

Very special family favorite in Santa Fe!!!
Waitstaff, food & ambience is perfection!