2 Best Restaurants in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Background Illustration for Restaurants

Eating out is a major pastime in Santa Fe and it's well worth coming here with a mind to join in on the fun. Restaurants with high-profile chefs stand beside low-key joints, many offering unique and intriguing variations on regional and international cuisine. You'll find restaurants full of locals and tourists alike all over the Downtown and surrounding areas. Although Santa Fe does have some high-end restaurants where dinner for two can exceed $200, the city also has plenty of reasonably priced dining options.

Waits for tables are very common during the busy summer season, so it's a good idea to call ahead even when reservations aren't accepted, if only to get a sense of the waiting time. Reservations for dinner at the better restaurants are a must in summer and on weekends the rest of the year.

So-called Santa Fe–style cuisine has so many influences that the term has become virtually meaningless, especially with many of the city’s top eateries embracing a more international approach to cuisine, albeit all the while sourcing more and more from local farms and ranches. At many top spots in town, you’ll detect Latin American, Mediterranean, and East Asian influences. Yet plenty of traditional, old-style Santa Fe restaurants still serve authentic New Mexican fare, which combines both Native American and Hispanic traditions and is quite different from Americanized as well as regional Mexican cooking.

Santa Fe's culinary reputation continues to grow not just in terms of restaurants but also in businesses that produce or sell specialty foods and beverages, from fine chocolates and local honeys and jams to increasingly acclaimed New Mexico wines, beers, and spirits. Don't miss Santa Fe Farmers' Market, one of the best in the Southwest.

Counter Culture

$ | South Side

This low-key, slightly off-the-beaten-path café is worth finding for its delicious breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, or even just for an afternoon coffee break. Inside the industrial space, tuck into plates of huevos rancheros and other eggy fare in the morning, and a mix of Southwestern and Asian dishes later in the day. The dog-friendly, covered patio beyond the dining room has long communal tables and a few smaller, more private ones. There's a good selection of house-made baked goods and espresso drinks as well. It's cash-only and casual—you order your food at the counter. Prices are reasonable for the quality and amount of food served.

Rowley Farmhouse Ales

$$ | South Side

Tiny Rowley Farmhouse Ales has won several awards at the Great American Beer Festival, including three medals for its sour-style ales, so if you like beer (any kind of beer) a stop at Rowley is a must. In addition to offering its own brews, Rowley also has an extensive list of local and imported beers and ciders that it finds inspiring, along with comfort foods like shrimp po'boys, cast-iron skillet green chile mac 'n' cheese, and chicken and waffles. Tucked off Cerrillos on a side street in an industrial-meets-residential area, it's a comfortable neighborhood spot to enjoy a beer and meal.