Restaurants in Santa Fe
Santa Fe abounds in dining options, with hundreds of restaurants in all categories. That’s the good news. What’s the bad news? There are hundreds of restaurants in all categories. The fierce competition means that not all will survive. We suggest calling ahead to check not only on whether a particular restaurant is still there, but what the current hours are, since restaurants here frequently change their hours of operation.
Many of the long-time favorites serve traditional northern New Mexican cuisine, which emphasizes spicy chile sauces. If you’re not used to spicy food, you may want to ask the servers how hot the chile is; many restaurants will either bring you a sample to taste before ordering, or put the chile on the side. There are also a variety of American restaurants here, as well as those specializing in European, Mexican, South American, and Japanese cuisine. Especially during peak tourist seasons, dinner reservations may be essential. Reservations are always recommended at better restaurants.
In New Mexico you’ll find that many restaurants serve beer and wine but no spirits; that’s because a beer and wine license is easier to obtain and cheaper than a full liquor license.
Looking for a familiar chain? Many are on the south end of town, on or near Cerrillos Road. You’ll find Olive Garden ★ at 3781 Cerrillos Rd. (www.olivegarden.com; tel. 505/438-7109); Applebee’s Grill & Bar ★★ at 4246 Cerrillos Rd. (www.applebees.com; tel. 505/473-7551); and Red Lobster ★ at 4450 Rodeo Rd. (www.redlobster.com; tel. 505/473-1610). If you’re getting in late, leaving early, or just hungry at 3am, there’s a 24-hour Denny’s ★★ at 3004 Cerrillos Rd. (www.dennys.com; tel. 505/471-2152); and a 24-hour IHOP ★ at 3301 Cerrillos Rd. (www.ihop.com; tel. 505/438-3773). An excellent choice for a healthy sandwich or soup to take back to your room or on a hike (or eat on-site) is the well-respected chain Panera Bread ★★★, with its Santa Fe branch at 3535 Zafarano Dr. (www.panerabread.com; tel. 505/471-9396).
Family-Friendly Restaurants
Blue Corn Café — A relaxed atmosphere and their own menu pleases kids, while excellent brewpub beer pleases parents.
Cowgirl BBQ — A casual atmosphere, lots of old photos of cowgirls, and the ice cream baked potato makes for a fun time for kids and their parents.
Plaza Café — Burgers, sandwiches, a funky atmosphere, and an old-fashioned ice cream–style counter make this a kids' favorite.
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32 Results
- New Mexican/American
Baja Tacos
Known for its millionaires and billionaires living in multi-million dollar hillside homes, Santa Fe also has plenty of regular folk, and Baja Tacos has been one of their restaurants-of-choice for about a half-century. In fact, at our most recent visit we parked next to a local…$Downtown - New Mexican/Brewpub
Blue Corn Brewery
A sister restaurant to the Blue Corn Cafe, this is where they actually brew the beer, so it’s appropriate that the first thing you see as you walk in are the huge copper-clad tanks. The rest of the decor is also total brewpub, with beige adobe-style walls, heavy wood ceiling beams…$$Downtown - New Mexican/Brewpub
Blue Corn Café
This is a good spot for lunch or dinner, especially on warm days when you can dine outside under an umbrella in the attractive but protected patio overlooking historic Water Street. Inside, the dining room looks like an upscale New Mexico cafe should look, with large windows, wood…$$Downtown - FRENCH BAKERY
Clafoutis
A cheery Gallic bakery that serves light-as-air baguettes, rich French onion soup, flaky-crusted quiches, and breakfast crepes that melt in your mouth? Yes, please. Everything about this bakery says "French country kitchen," except, perhaps, the welcoming attitude of the owners,…$Downtown - AMERICAN, COFFEESHOP
Counter Culture
This locals' favorite isn't on many out-of-towners' best-of lists, which means you'll feel (correctly) like you've stumbled onto a Santa Fe secret when you walk into this postmodern, warehouse-y coffee shop and eatery a mile or so west of the plaza. …$Downtown - American/Barbecue
Cowgirl BBQ
Good food in a fun and funky cafe atmosphere: low ceilings, lots of photographs of cowgirls and other western memorabilia covering the adobe walls, and something sparkly in the wall paint. There’s patio dining in warm weather. The service is good and the menu includes solid American…$$Downtown - International/American/Southwestern
Coyote Café and La Cantina
Among Santa Fe's most popular special-occasion restaurants, Coyote Café offers creative fine dining and an atmosphere of casual elegance, with comfortable upholstered seating and just enough colorful touches to add interest to the dining room. The main restaurant is open year-round…$$$Downtown - AMERICAN, COFFEESHOP
Flying Star Café
A sunny, colorful place next to REI in the Railyard, the Flying Star is part coffee shop, part diner, with big windows and lots of oranges, blues, and purples in the décor. It's one of nine branches in northern New Mexico, but the only one not in or around Albuquerque. The…$Downtown - French Bakery
French Pastry Shop and Creperie
Looking for a cheery bakery that serves delightful cream puffs, eclairs, napoleons, and both breakfast and dessert crepes? This is it, a genuine French patisserie right in the middle of the action on Santa Fe Plaza. All freshly baked on-site, you'll want to get there early for the…$Downtown - SOUTHWESTERN
Gabriel's
Off Highway 284 just north of the opera house, Gabriel's has been serving Southwest specialties for going on 20 years. The restaurant is known for its excellent fresh guacamole, made right at the table. Other dishes like steak fajitas, carnitas, and …$$North of Santa Fe - Italian
Il Piatto Italian Farmhouse Kitchen
You’ll think you’ve been transported to the Italian countryside when you step inside this upscale Italian restaurant, located 1 block north of the Plaza. Large front windows and a sidewalk patio make this eatery a sunny favorite for lunch. Chef Matt Yohalem sources as many…$$$Downtown - American
Joe’s Dining
It used to be called Joe’s Diner, a name we liked better, but whatever they call it, this casual and comfortable eatery is unpretentious and easy to like. Decor is ‘50s diner, complete with red vinyl upholstery and a checkerboard linoleum floor. The menu is old-time diner as well,…$$Downtown - JAPANESE
Kohnami
This reasonably priced sushi restaurant on South Guadalupe Street does a good job with the usual suspects: sushi, sashimi, miso soup, and tempura. The menu also includes sukiyaki, katsu (deep-fried cutlets of fish, pork, or chicken) and dolsotbob (rice cooked in a hot…$Downtown - New Mexican
Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen
Maria’s was opened back in 1950, which explains its somewhat odd location just off the busy intersection of Cordova Road and St. Francis Drive. No matter—Maria’s is a Santa Fe tradition, with creaking wood floors and dependable New Mexican comfort food like blue corn enchiladas,…$$Railyard - BRAZILIAN
Omira Bar & Grill
Even if a Duran Duran song is the closest you're ever going to get to Rio, you can still experience an authentic Brazilian churrascaria (barbecue) at this family-friendly place near the Railyard. Although vegetarians are welcomed—the set meal price includes unlimited…$$Downtown - Pizza
Pizza Centro
Tucked away inside the Santa Fe Design Center, Pizza Centro turns out an excellent hand-tossed New York–style pizza in a suitably modern, no-frills setting. The restaurant makes its own dough and marinara sauces, with a menu full of specialty combos named after New York…$Around Town - American/New Mexican/Greek
Plaza Cafe
Santa Fe’s oldest continuously operating restaurant, opened in 1905 by Greek immigrants the Ipiotis brothers, offers the best diner food in Santa Fe. It’s served in a suitably funky atmosphere, too, with colorful ceiling lights, linoleum-top tables, a neon wall clock, old…$$Downtown - American/New Mexican
Plaza Café Southside
Next to a movie theater off Cerrillos Road at the south end of Santa Fe, this sister restaurant to the downtown Plaza Cafe may be out of the way, but it’s worth the trip. The wide-open restaurant has a 1950s diner look, with strong colors, vintage black-and-white photos, and a mural…$$Downtown - Steak/Seafood
Rio Chama Steakhouse
Among the best places in Santa Fe for prime rib, this steakhouse is loaded with Santa Fe charm, with soft adobe walls, lots of wood, and a handmade tin chandelier; the bar has the atmosphere of a mountain lodge. There’s a limited amount of prime rib nightly, so get there early. The…$$$Downtown - Southwestern/American
Santa Fe Bar and Grill
Everything’s colorful in this Mexican-themed restaurant, with a busy open kitchen, handcrafted Mexican furniture, and walls decorated with still-life paintings and copper and ceramic pots. The menu here is more Mexican than New Mexican, blending foods such as squash, beans, and chile…$$Downtown - Burgers and Shakes
Shake Foundation
This is fast-food Santa Fe style, and one of the top spots to get a genuine New Mexico–style green chile cheeseburger. The burgers aren’t huge, but they are tasty. All the patties are made with a mix of prime sirloin and brisket, the fresh-cut shoestring fries are perfectly crispy,…$Near Railyard - JAPANESE
Shohko Café
Ordering raw fish this far from the ocean is always a bit of a gamble, but Santa Fe's favorite sushi restaurant is a sure thing. The atmosphere here combines Asian minimalism with the Old West, juxtaposing rice paper screens with viga ceilings. (The 150-year-old adobe…$$Downtown - SPANISH, TAPAS
Taberna La Boca
The less formal sister restaurant of Santa Fe Spanish stalwart La Boca, the Taberna is a relaxed-yet-upscale Iberian tavern with an outdoor patio. True to its heritage, it's one of the few places in town open late. Good thing, then, that the tapas are tasty, from…$Downtown - Steakhouse
The Bull Ring
There are quite a few northern New Mexico restaurants that serve good steak, but for the very best you’ll have to go to the Bull Ring. For years, the Bull Ring, then located next to the state Capitol, was famous as the hangout of the state legislature and other New Mexico movers and…$$$Downtown - New Mexican/American
The Burrito Company
Located just off Santa Fe Plaza, this family-owned fast-food eatery has been a favorite of locals and tourists alike since it opened in 1978. It’s noisy, busy, and fun, with red vinyl booths and colorful Mexican-style murals on the walls. You order at the counter, find a place to…$Downtown - Contemporary American
The Compound
Among Santa Fe’s fine-dining classics, after a brief closure the Compound reopened in 2000 under executive chef/owner Mark Kiffin, who was named James Beard Best Chef of the Southwest in 2005. Kiffin kept the old white adobe walls, brightened with folk art chosen by designer…$$$Downtown - New Mexican/American
The Pink Adobe
Named for the pink hue of its 350-year-old adobe walls, the Pink Adobe has been a local favorite since it was opened by New Orleans transplant Rosalea Murphy in 1944. Each of several small dining rooms has its own kiva fireplace, and the hand-carved wood furnishings and heavy log…$$$Downtown - BARBECUE
The Ranch House
Chef Josh Baum was so successful at his smaller restaurant Josh's BBQ on Zafarano Drive that he had to move and expand in 2011. The result is the classy-yet-casual Ranch House, with a spacious, well-lit dining area with high windows. This is probably the best barbecue in…$$Southside - New Mexican
The Shed
The long lines, even at lunch, are proof enough that this local institution just east of the plaza is something special. The restaurant is set inside a rambling hacienda, built in 1692, and decorated with bright, folky paintings. The Shed is known for its shaded brick patio and its…$$Downtown - New Mexican
Tomasita's
Occupying a 19th-century former railroad depot on the “Chile Line,” this local standby cooks up fresh red and green chile every day. No surprise, then, that both are often voted the best in Santa Fe, and the lines here often stretch out the door. Tomasita’s has been run for over 40…$Downtown - MEXICAN, AMERICAN, CAFÉ
Tune-Up Cafe
This small, no-frills spot is a local favorite that serves Latin American dishes and a whole lot more. Order at the counter before finding a table, which the restaurant packs in elbow-to-elbow. Try not to be overwhelmed by the options. The choices start with chile rellenos…$Downtown - Salad
Vinaigrette
Tucked away off Cerrillos Road, this casual salad bistro offers up-to-the-minute-fresh ingredients in concoctions like duck confit tossed with baby arugula, and “Eat Your Peas,” with bacon and Asiago cheese mixed with sweet green peas. Much of the produce comes from the owner’s…$$Downtown
