Joseph's Table

After a bad experience last night at the "other best place of Taos"...we decided to give Joseph a chance. I was glad we did. From the moment we walked in until we left our experience was magnificient. We love gourmet food, but this exceeded our expectations. We had the blue corn panckakes with salmon for appetizer...something different to die for. My husband had the medallions and and I had the salmon. We were both blown away. The service was fantastic...the only reason why I am not giving them a 5 for service is because they never poured our wine. However, they didn't either at the other place we were at the night before, also a 5 star restaurant....so I am beginning to wonder if they only pour the wine for locals...because I did see waiters pour wine to locals at both locations...weird. But we are definetely impressed with Joseph and are even planning on going back before we leave Taos. I highly recommend this restaurant.

My husband and I had an excellent dinner at Joseph's. We had Tuscan shrimp with crostini and the crab scallop cake for appetizers. Both were excellent. The crab cake was served with the most intriguing coleslaw. Very wonderful. The waiter made excellent suggestions of wine for our entrees. I was having the lamb shank and my husband had the pork loin dish. (The wines were French and I can't remember exactly what they were - but they were perfect.) The wine for the pork would have been particularly challenging because the pork had southwest spices - a hard match for wines. The pork was a bit on the dry side but the lamb shank was absolutely superb in every way. We finished up with the vanilla bean ice cream and a cup of coffee. The service was just right. I especially appreciated receiving my coffee hot at the same time that the ice cream was delivered. (Many restaurants don't get that timing right.) The atmosphere is lovely and the quiet music was lovely. (We later tracked down a song that we heard there.) The only reason I'm not giving 5 stars across the board is that I feel that >$30 for entrees is just too expensive.

We were disappointed with our dining experience here. A couple dining in the "cubby" space had their not-so-well-cared-for bare feet fully exposed from under the curtain within 5 feet of our table -not very appetizing, the salmon was overcooked and when I asked the waiter what he would recommend to combine with a shrimp appetizer to make it a meal, he was not helpful at all. Lastly, when the waiter poured our glass of Hendry Chardonnay, a huge glob of jelly-like sugar filled the bottom of the glass (which was full), making it undrinkable, to which he replied that it was standard for white wines!

Our last evening in Taos featured dinner at Joseph's table. First, you need to know that they only serve beer and wine, no hard alcohol and their drink list (origin) is so obscure it's difficult for even an educated diner to know what to choose. The menu looked interesting but after ordering it went down hill fast. The waiter would consistently come to our table and place his elbows on an empty chair and lean into our dining space!! Incredibly intrusive and rude. Oh, I forgot, the restaurant has three booths that are recessed and can be private by drawing a curtain that makes these cubby holes look like Turkish harems. We had the enjoyment of watching three different couples be lewd all evening, groping, kissing, touching. Incredibly improper!!!!! Took everything away from what could have been an enjoyable evening. An extreme disappointment.

Excellent food and service in a wonderful environment.

Ate here a couple times with my wife during the week of 3/11/07. Ate from regular menu one night, from the bar menu another. Good selections each time, good wine list (prices seemed reasonable on the wines). It is a little noisy, but the food was excellent, very interesting preparations. We recommend it.