Hotel La Fonda De Taos

Great location! It was fun to stay right off the square. The building is gorgeous & historic. Private parking for an extra fee (it is worth it). Attentive staff, I will be returning! Great place.

Having traveled to and through Taos for years and always saying that we would stay here some time, we made reservations for a couple of days during Woolfest one year.
Remember that the words «Old», and «Historic» are used to describe this building. The lobby, and rooms are clean and decorated in the local fashion.
Our room window opened up overlooking the Plaza so we could enjoy the breeze that carried in the smells of the pinion, cry’s of the ravens, and the coolness of the mountains.
Everyone should stay here at least once and just let the vibe of the history fill them.

Great location, awesome room, great staff! Parking is private, but was a gravel lot. I highly recommend this place if you are going to Taos for the first time!

What an awesome hotel! I haven’t checked-​out yet but I want to comment while it’s fresh. The staff was so very accommodating when I had to extend my stay due to heavy snowfall. What an enchanting place to be snowed-​in!
They all have made me feel so special. I’m a recent widow and was not looking forward to the first Christmas without my husband so I decided to come to Taos for a Holiday sabbatical. What a blessing to be staying here. The staff has gone far more above and beyond to accommodate me than any other hotel I have ever stayed at. Be sure to tour the D.H. Lawrence forbidden art, found only here. I hope you’ll be as intrigued by the hotel’s historical aspects as I am. It’s definitely not a cookie cutter hotel. Thank goodness. Oh and I love the Bath & Body Works amenities!

My husband and I stayed here for one night a couple of weeks ago. I expected to love this place. I thought it would fun to stay on the Plaza in such a historic spot. We were on the second floor, corner. Had 3 windows looking out over the Plaza. We immediately opened the windows and enjoyed the lovely cross-​breeze. Had a great night’s sleep. About 8 AM, while my husband was in the shower and I was reading the newspaper, I looked up and saw a man looking back at me. He was about 12 feet away from me, just outside my second-​story window, standing in a bucket, part of a giant crane. For the next hour, the crane transported various men back and forth in front of our windows. Of course we talked with management. Turns out, the men in cranes were installing artwork on the La Fonda building, just outside our room. (In the picture I have posted of the front of the hotel, our room was on the 2^nd floor, corner, right next to the «giraffe art.») Management told us it was «not their fault,» as the men didn’t have permission to be «on» the La Fonda’s building. Management offered a discount on our «next visit to the La Fonda,» but we will not be back. It was a very unpleasant experience.

Cute and comfortable hotel. We came here after the hotel we were at had no water due to a water main break. Service at the front desk was fantastic.
We had a suite with a fireplace and it would’ve been romantic if we weren’t on a family vacation. Reasonable prices.

After a 24-​hour Internet access outage at a much more expensive hotel in Taos, the more expensive hotel eventually sent me to Hotel La Fonda.
The facilities and food at La Fonda may not be five star, but the service sure is. The staff offered me free water, gave me free Internet Access and let me set up office in my choice of the lobby or its Plaza Café restaurant. The lobby staff and the restaurant staff checked in on me repeatedly to make sure I didn’t need anything.
I overheard the lobby staff praising a waitress employee «behind her back» for excellent service to which I can attest. Everyone was just SUPER nice and accommodating — exactly the kind of people that should be in the hospitality business.
I overheard other guests complimenting the front desk on service. How often do you hear that at a hotel? Not often, in my experience.
Although I wasn’t crazy about the beef tacos, the waitstaff at the restaurant was the nicest waitstaff I have experienced in New Mexico and the chocolate cake was delicious. If I return to Taos, I would rather stay here than the fancier hotel at which I stayed. If service is important to you, consider trying this place.

I have been eating at this restaurant, on and off, dating back forty years. For many years, I passed it up in favor of the much better La Cocina Restaurant, across the Plaza. That restaurant closed many years ago, so I recently revisited La Fonda and found the quality of the food had much improved.
We started with Posole, which is a classic New Mexican dish of pork and hominy. The pork was tender and the broth was very flavorful. I love the texture hominy adds to this dish. It was served with soft flour tortilla wedges and a squeeze of lime. I had ordered only an appetizer portion, but next time I’m in town for lunch, I will be ordering a full bowl.
My companion, who does not really care for spicy food, was very happy with the burrito in red chile sauce. This sauce, like most New Mexican chile sauces, relied more on flavor than fire. The portions were large, filling, and tasty.
I ordered the rellenos de queso and was quite pleased. The cheese was bland but nicely set off the green chile sauce, which was, again, tasty without being too fiery. I generally love hot and spicy flavors, but this dish managed to be spicy enough to please my palate yet mild enough to appeal to many who don’t care for highly spiced foods.
Our waiter was prompt, courteous, efficient and helpful. There was only one other couple in the place at five in the afternoon on a Sunday, but there was no sense of being abandoned. The bill for two main entrees, an appetizer and two beers was astonishingly low.
My only caveat with La Fonda is the same one I have with all the local Taos restaurants lately — what’s with all the flour tortillas? This is blue corn country. Restaurants around Taos used to feature blue corn, or yellow corn tortillas. Now they don’t seem to serve corn tortillas of any color. I hope the management of La Fonda puts blue corn, or at least yellow corn tortillas back on the menu soon. They are a signature of Northern New Mexican cuisine, and I miss them.
Otherwise, I recommend this icon of Taos to anyone who wants a good dinner at a decent price, at any time.

We stayed here and it made for a great Taos experience in an old adobe hotel, however they were painting next door and we smelled paint thinner for most of the day and the square was worry some at night. Very friendly clean place and their restaurant served good cheap food.

We have stayed in the main building on the Plaza a number of times. We tried their new «casita» on LeDoux Street, about two blocks south of the Plaza. These rooms were converted from an art gallery, right next door to the Gorman Gallery.
The Bad — no a/​c on the hottest day in June, no cross breeze and no ceiling fan. They said to call the front desk if there were issues but there were no phone.
The Good — the place had a niece size living room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms and a King bed. There is a perfect little porch to sit out with a bottle of wine and enjoy the beautiful, quite street scene. This place still needs a little work but it has great potential. I am sure it will be a BIG hit during ski season and earn 5 stars.
.

My experience was the WORST I have had in a long time with restaurants! We eat out a lot, especially being on vacation in Taos.
We entered the La Fonda restaurant hungry for lunch and thirsty after shopping. We were brought water right away (temps into the 90’s every day this week). Then we waited, and waited, and WAITED for someone to take our order. There was only ONE other couple in the restaurant. After 20 minutes the waitress came over giggling and apologized saying something about «horseplay». We were not laughing.
She took our order and seated another couple. After about 10 minutes, the other couple was SERVED. We were still waiting! After another 10 minutes, our order came WITHOUT the extra tortillas we had ordered.
Another 10 – 15 minutes elapsed while we waited for the tortillas and ate most of our meal without them. My husband finally GOT UP and FOUND the waitress telling her we wanted our tortillas. She giggled, apologized, and tried to make a joke of it then told him she had forgotten.
After about 10 more minutes, the tortillas came! The service would not have been acceptable even if the food had been good, but the food was MEDIOCRE at BEST.
I will NEVER eat here again and I will recommend that any of my friends and acquaintances NOT eat at La Fonda.

I did not stay at La Fonda, but I did have a coffee and enjoyed the R C Gorman collection in the lobby. I spent money to enter gallerys in Santa Fe that did not have the appeal that La Fonda’s lobby has a gallery.
The coffee shop only takes cash.

I genuinely like this place and absolutely come back. With welcoming and warm smiles, the hotel customer service is awesome. The lady at the front offered to roll our baggage in which we said that there is no need, since we only had one suitcase with rollerblade wheels. Prepared! The people at the front desk were funny and charming. They made us feel very welcome, as we came in around 10:30 pm from a short flight followed by a long drive (6 – 7 hours. They were sweet as they told us places that they recommend for us to see and also accommodated us to a room away from jackhammering renovations. The hotel concierge mentioned to us some history and told us all about the art gallery and the D.H. Lawrence painting available. It was quite nice when you walk in. Almost like a cool crisp eco-​friendly home with the adobe walls (smooth as ceramic bathtub) and wooden ceiling of textured scales. This hotel is like a museum with its fine art, sculptures, tiles, and paintings. I like how quiet it is. The room has a television which I am not sure how to work since I have no clue on how to autochannel scan (not technologically savvy) and it has an iron, ironing board, hairdryer. It has small towels to remove makeup, Bath and Body Works, Rainkissed Leaves scent fragrant soaps, shampoo, and body lotion. In my room, the mirrors are lined with handmade and painted tiles which are adorable. There is great water pressure in the bathroom when you shower. The window view was a top of another building. I stayed in room 205, and it was spacious compared to a bed and breakfast in the next town over. There is complimentary coffee, tea, and hot chocolate downstairs. Not to mention the newspaper is free, too! =)

Ooohh, one of the oldest hotels in Taos. The rooms were small, but you expect that from and old building. Walls are smooth and very cozy with fireplaces in the lobby and the loft. The bad thing, they charge extra for parking, which is behind the hotel and the gate to get into the hotel is locked from the outside. So you have to walk all the way around the front to enter. Is good when you’re leaving, but when your bringing in luggage is kinda annoying. I don’t know if anyone has experience any floating visitors in the past, but I sure did. We stayed in room 210.

My BF and I set out on a trip through NM from Denver recently. Our first evening we stopped in Taos, and without a plan or knowing anything about the town, we stopped in at Hotel La Fonda De Taos looking for a room for the night. I enjoy supporting local business and was pleased to learn that the owners are actually from Taos. I do, however, feel a bit apprehensive when you staying somewhere that isn’t a chain, because you never know what you’re going to get. Before we committed to getting a room, the very friendly ladies at the desk offered to show us the room. We were happy with our first impression and decided to stay the night. The décor in the lobby and in the room was charming and what I expected to see in NM, so we settled our belongings into the room and headed out for a cocktail and a small bite to eat. When we returned, the hotel was quiet and cozy with the fireplaces lit. We had a relaxing stay and felt so comfortable that we stopped for another night on our way back through town 2 days later.
We didn’t eat at the restaurant, because we wanted to be out and about, but is was open and smelled wonderful. We did take them up on the complimentary bottled water and morning coffee. They also offered to make us coffee or tea in the evening and there is a quaint coffee shop attached to the hotel.
Hotel La Fonda De Taos is as comfortable as a B&B, with the privacy of a hotel. The room was clean and comfortable and we felt welcome and appreciated by the staff.

In a lotion/​potion gift shop in Taos, we asked the owner what would be a lovely, unique experience for lunch, and she told his the La Fonda Hotel, and that her son was the chef.
I went here for my birthday June 2008 and had a lovely time.
They have these wonderful booths, sort of built up off the floor, with walls, and your own window, and very private. Very romantic, or just private.
We both had salads. I had a green salad, nicely dressed not too heavy, and my friend had a fruit salad. Our service was wonderful, and I got a birthday glass of wine from our waiter which was thoughtful.
We also got as much bread as we wanted, and it was wonderful crusty bread with a plate of basalmic vinegar/​olive oil.
I think what made it so special was the quaintness and soft elegance of the window seat/​booths and the fact that it felt so quiet and peaceful, not super busy.
I would go back again for lunch.

This review is for the restaurant, only.
We wandered in, a few days before Christmas, for a quick lunch, before shopping for last minute gifts.
There was a buffet going during lunch, but we chose to order off the menu. (In retrospect, I think I would have been happier with the choices on the buffet.)
Jeff ordered the green chile cheeseburger. It came with fries.
Deb ordered a chicken quesadilla.
I ordered the spinach salad, with the intention of splitting the burger with Jeff.
I tried a piece of the quesadilla. The tortilla was perfectly crispy. The chicken was shredded, which actually surprised me. I typically see restaurants put in chunks of grilled chicken. I prefer the shredded chicken. I wasn’t blown away by the quesadilla. I think they needed a better cheese.
My spinach salad had cranberries, roasted garlic, sliced cherry tomatoes and little cubes of something white. It might have been hearts of palm but it could have been cheese. It was super indistinct and didn’t add much to the salad. The spinach was fresh and the dressing was light and tasty. The salad was chintzy for the price.
Jeff’s burger was well-​seasoned. I thought it was tasty and the green chile was a great complement. The cheddar cheese was perfectly melted. The fries were fine, if a little lukewarm. The bun on the burger got a little soggy, but not terribly so. I would order the burger again.
Deb looked at the buffet and wished that she had gotten it because of the variety. There was a gentleman behind the buffet who would open the covers to the chafing dishes, so that you could look inside. I appreciate that kind of buffet, as the food tends to stay hotter that way. I saw that most people in the restaurant were eating the buffet food.
Our waiter, though handsome, was rotten. The bartender was super helpful and chatty. She was telling us stories of where she lived. Apparently, Dr. Pepper and toilet paper can get you out of any fix in Mexico. I hope I never have an opportunity to find out. She saved this restaurant from a 2 star rating.
The lobby was a little strange. There was only one real cozy area. The rest were little strange shops and an optometrist. I wonder what the rooms looked like.