Church Street Cafe

Food and service were great. We sat at the outdoor patio in the back as we had our small dog with us. They were kind enough to bring a small bowl of water for our dog! I ordered the pork adovada, and my wife opted for the beef taco salad. Both dishes were absolutely delicious! Plus we were served warm sopapillas with honey! Heaven! The red and green chile served on the side were out if this world. Highly recommended!

The only thing which attracted me was the cactus planted outside. The food was awful, especially the burrito. The source was overwhelmingly salty and spicy, left no taste for the meat or whatever inside. Taco was ok, side dish spinach was very very salty. Short staffed. There were two waiter serving the entire hall (more than 15 tables). Drinks were never refilled, we were also not provided the desert until we asked for it. Overall unpleasant experience. Feel more like a tourist trap.

I often eat southwest style mexican food. I ordered the conbination plate. This, by far, is 2nd to the worst I have had. The rice, beans, enchilada, chile relleno, and tamale were all dried out. Basically, the food was old, not fresh to any extent. The rice was hard, clumped, and tasteless. The masa was flavorless without any resemblance to a true masa. I took one bite of everything-which was more than enough. An employee, at the resort where we stayed, recommended this place who was at our resort. I don't know if they just had a bad day or they just decided to give us the left overs from two days earlier. Our server was very nice.

Traditional New Mexican food right in Old Town Albuquerque in a very cool building with a secret garden area. I ate the Navajo taco which was more filling than i expected. Loved the bread. My daughter loved her grilled cheese. Forces us to take half home. Didn’t finish it. Local beers were fresh and tasty. I preferred their green chile over the red.

You walk in to a small front and a tiny waiting to be seated area, then they take you back and restaurant is huge. I didn't think it would end. Our table was inside and next to full glass wall that looked out over the outdoor seating. It was great experience.

A lovely cafe in the Historic Old Town District of Albuquerque. Walk through and see the old style and the period influences—especially that lovely fireplace and the tiled tabletops. A nice place to sit, relax, and have a cup of coffee ☕️ in the morning and there is a fluffy cat 🐱 there (a bit shy) you can try to pet. Will come again if I am fortunate enough to return. Recommended!

The overall experience was five stars. Great ambiance and history of the building. Our waiter gave us a tour and explained each room, which I enjoyed. Service was good with an attentive waiter. Food was mostly excellent. Flavorful salsa, amazing sopapillas, and excellent tamales. The side dishes could use more seasoning, but that was the only aspect of the meal to improve on. I would return.

Church Street Cafe (Casa de Ruiz) was an terrific choice for lunch, and our first food in New Mexico. I had an excellent vegetarian entree, the handmade tamale plate with red and green sauce ("Christmas"). It came with beans and I chose calabicitas (homemade squash and corn) as my side. It also came with my first sopapillas (sort of like fry bread or a beignet but puffy and served with honey). The server was friendly and very helpful, the restaurant was attractively decorated and the entire experience was a delight.

If you eat anywhere in Old Town & want great atmosphere, Mexican cuisine, fantastic service this is your place. We went in on Halloween day, Aron greeted us with a smile. He took us back to our seats as we got to admire all the Halloween decorations. I ask Aron about the history of the building, he was very knowledgeable on place. That the building was built in the early 1700's. Being one of the oldest buildings in Old Town. He gave us a pamphlet/menu that had wonderful information on it about the long history of this building. Ask him about the lady buried in the floors when you visit, that was a great story. Cafe was clean & spacious. Waitress Shelby was quick to get out drinks, take order, & answer any questions about menu/food available. I ask if I could take pictures for this review she said yes, then showed me the great room & courtyard. The food was plentiful, hot, delicious, & green chiles perfect. She gave us the option to have the sopapillas with meal or at the end. We chose at end. She brought them out hot with a honey bottle, they were outstanding. I highly recommend this cafe, you will not be disappointed. We will definitely be back. FYI: there is no parking out front, so you will need to park in the square or around Old Town. There is no place to park a large RV, but there are fee parking areas with in the area.

The food is fantastic !!! The atmosphere is great !! The service is absolutely terrible!!!!

Oct 2024 Food and service was great! Request chips and salsa if you like. But I did not find it in essential to the meal. This is the oldest house in Old Town and it is beautiful and supposedly haunted. The haunted tour I took later led right to this restaurant. It's clear this place is special.

I give this place 3.75 stars. The atmosphere is great, the frozen pitcher of prickly pear margarita was the best I had in all of New Mexico, and the price was right, 5 stars! We were also seriated by a local band and that added to the fun! The food was ok 3 stars, had the fry bread green chili cheese burger with kinda sad fries and chicken enchiladas. Both were fine just nothing to write home about.

This is definitely a must try if you are a tourist or a local! For me, I would say they serve authentic New Mexican food :) You can't go wrong with chicharrones for an appetizer! They always come out hot and fresh with tortillas and chili. Going on a week day, I was surprised to see it packed. Service was on the slower side but it was expected because of the full house. You can't go wrong with sitting outside. They have a beautiful established patio with a waterfall, beautiful decor and stunning greenery.

Like any other review, please take this one with a grain of salt lol I only ordered hot chocolate here lol We were in Old Town late in the evening and NOTHING was open. It was cold, we went to see the tree/lights, and were craving hot chocolate. This was the only place open around 7 pm at night. We went in and ordered 2 hot chocolates. It tasted like Abuelita hot chocolate with a dash of Chile powder, extra cinnamon, and richer chocolate. It was delicious and hit the spot! So in reality, we did not order food, but rather only Hot Chocolate. Service was great. The workers made conversation with us and did not make us feel like a bother. Old town was very quiet as was the restaurant. So if you're in the area and craving some hot chocolate - I recommend visiting Church Street Cafe!

Oh my goodness! We had the best waitress! I loved how she sat down with us to see what we wanted for lunch. I went with a friend to try out a new place and we were not disappointed. The beans and the potatoes and the chili!! Everything was delicious. The natillas for desert were a wonderful reminder of my childhood. The atmosphere was fantastic! So much greenery and flowers made for a wonderful time. Inside was much bigger than I thought it would be. Old Town can be tricky for parking but so worth it. It's located behind the church and I promise you, you won't be disappointed. Nice local restaurant! I will definitely be going again!

Food was just ok. We got the green chile chicken soup and the huevos rancheros. There was live mariachi that was entertaining. Conveniently located in old town.

First time at Church Street Cafe. The location is very cool with dining areas woven throughout an adobe structure dating to the early 1700's. We started with the chili con queso. The queso was mild/medium heat but I couldn't really taste the chili. It tasted more like a processed cheese sauce than anything unique. The chips were homemade and crispy. $12 is a bit much for this quality. My entree was chicken tacos. The meat was tender and moist with chunks of white and dark meat, cheese, lettuce, and tomato to accompany. The bean and rice were not very flavorful and I had to eat the tacos with a fork because the tortilla couldn't handle the amount of liquid from the chicken. Good flavor but nothing special. My partner had the vegetarian combination plate. One major positive from the menu is many vegetarian options. Her combination plate included chili relleno, enchilada, tamale, and calabacitas. The food was average in flavor but we truly appreciated the vegetarian options. In conclusion, Church Street Cafe is a beautiful building with many vegetarian dishes of traditional New Mexican food. Unfortunately, the food is average at best and there are probably better options nearby in beautiful old town.

Service was ridiculously slow, took 30 minutes for us to get water! We couldn't get chips/salsa refills to save our lives!!! The food was just OK but the salsa (the very small amount we got) is outstanding! Very disappointing all around experience.

We had a tasty meal at Church Street Cafe. I heard it's one of the oldest buildings in Albuquerque. The outside looks small but the restaurant is huge! It's cute inside too. We started with the queso dip and chips. Yum! The queso was so tasty I couldn't stop eating it. And it came out super fast. The salsa was also good. Then came my frozen mango margarita with salt - double yum! It wasn't too sweet. Then I had one chicken and one beef enchilada with green chile, beans and spinach. I wasn't expecting whole pinto beans but they were really good. And the spinach was an interesting side dish I've never had. A little too spicy for me but flavorful. I liked the beef enchilada more than the chicken. The chicken was a little bland. But the beef was spiced nicely. Then if I wasn't stuffed enough... they brought out sopapillas. Basically fried dough you dip in honey. Someone's going to have to roll me out of here! Super yummy meal!

If you are in Old Town and want to have great food in a cafe that is wonderful to sit and take in the ambiance the Church Street Cafe fits the bill. From the outside it is so deceiving. The cafe goes back it is not a little place. The main part of the building is very old . There is outside seating too. The food was wonderful. I had the corn posole which was with the $7.95 price Chips and salsa very good, a ton of chips . Took them to go and they were still crunchy the next day. Tried the beef tacos , soft shell. They were tasty . No room for dessert The server was efficient and friendly young man. The food came out and we dug right, no pictures were taken.

We had high hopes for our breakfast here based on everything we'd heard. The space is great - live the history of the building, the family, etc Service was okay. As was the food. Huevos rancheros for me, Carne asada for him. I'm slightly bummed that our last meal in Albuquerque wasn't our favorite. The sauces were good, yet lacked some heat. The tortillas tasted sore bought. His steak was in several small pieces, so it was overcooked.

We were taking a road trip. We were in Albuquerque and decided to stop in at this restaurant. It looked good from what we saw. We were seated pretty quickly. We had a waitress come and ask us what we would like to drink and we ordered some salsa and chips, she came back pretty fast with our drinks, but took a while to take our order because for some reason about four or five of the waiters and waitresses were just standing around by the bathroom area just talking and laughing and being super loud about their personal business finally she remembered that we were sitting there and apologized and came over and took our order we placed our order again we waited. We ran out of chips and salsa. That's how long it took. We flagged her down. She finally refilled. Our drinks, asked for more salsa and chips again that took forever because again they were all standing around just talking and it looked like it got pretty busy pretty quickly because they were sitting down a lot of people And hustling comes over and brings us salsa but no chips after about another 15 minutes we received our food but no chips and no refills on our drinks. She proceeded to help other people and again laughing and talking and just hanging around. Food was ok the fajitas were basic fajitas nothing special way more vegetables then meat I got the green chili chicken soup and that was delicious a bit spicy but very good Chicken was a little dry We finished our food and it took forever to get the bill we finally had to flag someone over Received our bill and took forever to pay I would of loved to give a better ranking but customer service is very lacking

We came here on advice of a friend and when you walk through the entrance, it seems much smaller than it really is. As you walk to the back there are tables to the side in cozy nooks, in a hallway and in a banquet hall. In other words, this place is a lot larger than it seems and they have outdoor seating as well. I started off with frozen margarita, which sadly was nothing more than a concoction of frozen slightly flavored lime slush with hardly any discernible tequila for $13.50. I returned it and got a local beer instead. The menu is fairly limited with only nine New Mexican entrées and 10 breakfast items. You can even get a regular hamburger or vegan burger. They do have a few specialty drinks, frozen delights, wine choices, and even some local craft beers. Chips and salsa are not complementary here and you will not receive any tortillas unless you ask for them. We got the chicken fajita nachos and beef enchilada plate. The chicken did not have that expected char you would expect from flame grilling, although the enchiladas with the red sauce was pretty decent. This was similar to Tex-Mex, but being in New Mexico, it has its own twist. I will admit our server was attentive and informative. When it's time to cash out, they'll just take off with your card and bring back your bill to sign and tip. Overall, it was a good experience and worthy of a second visit now that we got the feel of things. When you leave, you can get some pastries and a drink to go. Overall 31/2*. Plenty of photos for more insight.

Decent food and nice ambiance. Continently located in Old Town. Nice spot to pop in while hanging in the area.

Tourist trap reminiscent of Hotel California - once you are seated you will never leave because the service is super slow and the kitchen is even slower. We came early on a Thursday evening for dinner. When we left we were surrounded by many other tables full of people twiddling their thumbs. They need to add more employees. The food was ok. The prices were not bad for being in a prime tourist location. One star because the interior is grand and full of interesting decor, and there is a charming back patio. Second star because my niece said their battered fries were the best she had ever had in her life. She's six so take that as you will. Last but not least apparently the building is haunted so even more worthy the comparison to Hotel California.

Authentic NEW Mexican cuisine. Amazing building and ambiance. Good value. I got the combination plate and girlfriend got fajitas.

The place gives a very relaxing vibe with a retro interior look and a calming small water stream in their patio. The food is amazing with quite a few options. The place has lots of seating options for a large group and quite centrally located.

I ordered the 1/2 sandwich with the green chili chicken soup. This is something I try to eat while in New Mexico. My husband had the tamales. I tried both. My Reuben was okay, I had better. The tamales were very delicious and came with Sopapilla,which were very light.

Great food and service We shared the chili relleno and chips each meal comes with sopapilla and honey

This one kills me. I have loved church street for years and years. However, the service has been steadily going downhill and is pretty much at rock bottom at this point. My husband and me went there about a week ago. There was maybe 3 tables being occupied. We were sat immediately by the hostess, and twenty minutes went by without a single person acknowledging us. We tried! Finally, two waitresses started Giving each other the nods and staring wide eyed at one another and nodding our way shaking their heads shrugging their shoulders, not sure what to do. They both come to the table. One drops waters and the other asks, "Has anybody helped you?" To which I reply, "No, we have been here for about 20 minutes, and nobody has said anything to us at this point." They look at each other and without a word, both walk away. We sat for another 5 minutes without a single interaction, so we just got up and left. Sadly, I think that is the last time me, my husband, or anyone in my family will probably ever patron church straight again. It's sad. I LOVED this place but EXTREMELY and CONSISTENT poor service makes it a "no go."

Most amazing food. We had the tamales and they were the best i have ever had full of meat and the masa was fresh and flavourful. The sauces are amazing the green sauce has chunks of grilled chile . The enchiladas were so full of meat that was well seasoned. The chile rellenos were amazing and so tasty. The Sopaipilla with honey at the end was perfect

Great service ! Fun ! Food fresh ! Ambience fantastic ! If in the area, we would come back :)

The food is blahhh! Last we were there the server couldn't have been interested less about what she was doing (I understand we all have those days) Ambience is different for the restaurant looks like it may have been a residence some time ago! Glad I don't have to rush back to it!

I have not been here in years, and I don't know why. We had family in from out of state around the holidays and I thought this place would be perfect. We could eat at this lovely place and then stroll the Old Town. We had a party of seven and our server was attentive with and made sure we had extra water. The restaurant has so much history and I will definitely make sure to be back and drink Margaritas in their beautiful back patio. I ordered their delicious green chile chicken enchiladas and their sauce had a nice flavor poured over the fresh stuffed rolled green chile chicken tortillas. We also enjoyed their fresh sopapillas and found room to share a tasty creamy flan topped with a light caramel sauce.

Lovely spot in the Old town area for a hearty meal. We went in for a late lunch on Christmas eve, the cafe was decked up with cutesy decor, gearing up for the Luminario lighting event and the entire staff passed the Christmas vibe check! We tried their prickly pear margaritas (decent), veggie enchiladas (cheesy!), vegetarian tamales (which were delicious!) and I never thought I'd say this but the wilted spinach side dish that accompanied the tamales (I do not know the proper name of the dish) was surprisingly yummy! We were served sopapillas alongside the enchiladas which were SO SO good! Good food, great service, and a big shoutout to our host Jesus for the awesome meal recommendations.

This is a cute place that is definitely bigger than it looks from the outside and they were able to accommodate a group of 8 of us on short notice. I had the spicy version of their house margarita which just meant a tajin rim so don't worry if you don't want something super spicy. It was good and went nicely with the tamale plate I ordered for my entree. I went with the Christmas chilis - half red and half green and the pork tamales. They were good and the chili sauces were very mild; I am assuming this is due to the location being in a tourist area. I didn't ask for a side of hotter chili sauce, so I'm not sure if they have it but would likely ask up front at a return visit. I liked the option of a squash side instead of rice. This was unique and helped get some vegetables into my meal! The basket of sopapillas was a nice way to wrap up the meal; they were fresh and soft with packets of honey on the side. Service was good, and they handled our large group well. They did need us to put everything on one credit card so we were all Venmo-ing the lucky person who used his card. The atmosphere is quiet and homey. Definitely a good spot to grab a meal if you're in Old Town.

Service was the best of the best. Food came out in 5 minutes. Super cool looking restaurant. I got the shredded chicken quesadilla it was amazing. If I lived there I would definitely come back!

What a cute little place!! Have a visitor in town and to be honest, we have not been to many places here yet. Went to check out Old Town and was just starving! A very nice gentlemen overheard us and recommended we go here. Such a treat!!! The chips and salsa salsa is tangy with just a little kick, but when you get your meal...watch out!! Then the real red or green comes out! The red is spicyyyyy - in a good way!! The chile rellenos were to die for!! Just like my grandma used to make!! The Navajo taco was tasty but a little too juicy for my liking, but I would eat it again! The burritos are so big!!! The rice was not my favorite but the beans were fire!!! Definitely going again!!!

New to ABQ! LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about this tasty restaurant!!! Food and drinks are EXCELLENT!!! And the atmosphere is charming and friendly!!! Thank you!!! Great Service! They even text you when table ready! Went to Breaking Bad store and museum while we waited only minutes from restaurant walking.

Looks small on the outside but is very large inside with well decorated low ceiling indoor eating area, and a large traditionally decorated high ceiling dining area, and an inner courtyard with treed dining patio. Entrance is very tight. Mexican cuisine mainly. This place is busy. Staff were attentive and friendly. Portion sizes are large. This is the only place where we didn't like the beans and we had been eating at Mexican restaurants for 2 weeks. Saw A lot of food wastage on others plates. Suggest try different beans and in a smaller portion. Enchiladas were filling and you can request sour cream. Prices reasonable. Service a bit slow due to how busy it is but a lot of Spanish decorations on the walls to pass the time. Just a nice place to walk through. 4.5 stars.

Cute courtyard and great margaritas. Super sweet server that was very attentive. Not busy on a Wednesday night.

Beautiful building, but the food was disappointing and service was quite slow. Look elsewhere for an authentic taste of New Mexico!

My friend and I stopped by Church Street Cafe for desserts partly because during the walking tour of Old Town, the tour guide mentioned that Church Street Cafe's building is the oldest one at old town. Being interested in history, he purposely made it a point to stop by to check it out (and of course, planned for us to have something to eat there). For me, Church Street Cafe was just another place that I just happened to stop by a few years ago while on a roadtrip and trying to find some pastries to buy so I could use the bathroom (I actually had no idea about the significance of the building back then). Well, my friend and I stopped by after we had late lunch. We decided to just stop by there and perhaps ordered some desserts, because my friend really wanted to check the place out. Apparently, he somehow had this idea that this place was awesome. To me, I actually wasn't too impressed. We were seated at a table that wasn't properly clean (while the table we sat didn't have any plates or glasses on there when we sat, there were smushed chilli, traces of sauces and some broken pieces of nachos all over the table). My friend and I ended up ordering 2 desserts to share (fried ice cream and pudding). After placing an order and seeing we were really going to have to sit at this table, I asked my friend to just move our drinks to a table next to it that was cleaner. When the desserts came, we both shared them. I sort of regretted ordering them. The fried ice cream was ok. It wasn't what I expected. The skin of the fried ice cream should have been warm, hot and crunchy...but it was so stale and cold (as if it had been deep fried long before we ordered it and frozen until someone order it to the table). The pudding, taste wise, was ok..but I really found it pretty excessive in price. The portion was really small..and I think the price was $8!...kind of too much in my mind. Overall, I'm glad I had a chance to check it out. My friend was glad to have checked out the place, too. However, neither he or I liked the place and we probably wouldn't think of stopping by here again unless someone we are with wanted to check out this place. Overall, ok place...it's actually bigger inside the building (the front looks smaller..but the place is actually huge!). Food was meh...and with the lack of cleanliness of the table, we just didn't think it would be our top picks for places to eat/enjoy our time in Old Town,

The location is fabulous, decor is cute, and staff is friendly! We ordered the chicken tacos, steak fajitas, and posole. Everything was good expect for the posole, absolutely flavorless so skip it. Nothing other than the aesthetic stood out for me personally, cool to have seen this place but I don't think I'd need to come back.

Nice selection of Mexican and New Mexican food. Tortilla chips were especially tasty. The restaurant has a very homey feel, comfortable. The staff was friendly and kept checking in to see if we we're enjoying our meal. Come hungry, the portions are generous. I really enjoyed the meal. All in all a positive dining experience.

I love that Church Street has a vegetarian option for their handmade tamales. Many places just have pork so it was really nice to be able to enjoy some tamales! I also tried the quelites (spinach) as a side - just to try to be a little healthy but it was so good! Very flavorful and I will always order it as a side from now on! Besides the tamale plate, we also ordered the queso and chips. This is one of the better queso dips out there and I could pretty much just come for that and margaritas and be happy! The ambiance is always nice any time of the year but around Christmas it was festively decorated and super cozy. Do some shopping in Old Town, support local small businesses and then come here!

Great food and outstanding service. We showed up without a reservation on a night when two servers called off. We almost walked when we heard this news and I am so glad we didn't. We were seated at a beautifully lit table for two. Margaritas and water were served quickly, much appreciated on a hot summer day. Food followed suit served by a cheerful waitress despite the pressures of serving a full dining room with only one other server. We ended our evening with delicious sopapillas. Five stars for food, service and ambiance.

Excellent experience ! Great service (thank you Jesus). Food great: Marie's veggie sandwich: One negative: Bell pepper slices fell out..perhaps replace with tomatoes. Chicken fajitas came out sizzling and delicious. Best of all excellent ambiance on patio. Beautifullly decorated...a lot of attention to detail. Above and beyond any restaurant experience I've had in along time. Thanks again Church Street !

Loved the food and the experience! Really quick service and felt like the portions were pretty good! Sat on the patio and had live music going on! Can't wait to return!

Great food and margaritas and ambiance. You really can't beat the feel of that place. Service has always been good as well

Good food and great service! I recommend them highly. We had tacos and carne adobada for lunch. Very tasty

Came for the first time with 9 friends. We opted to sit outside in the back patio. I was surprised that this place is so large - its size is deceptive from the outside. Our young server was quick and witty. She took all drink orders and even made the cocktails herself. Then we ordered our food. Everyone was very pleased with the ambiance of the place and they loved the cocktails and food too. Service was outstanding. In addition to our server, we were promptly ushered inside to a different table setup once the rain began to pound us outside.

I love New Mexican-style dishes. Church St Cafe is recommended on Reddit, so I tried it when visiting Albuquerque. Service was excellent, and the Rellenos were delicious!

Great Vegetarian Meal, menu prices are a little bit higher than average, Friendly wait staff, wonderful southwestern ambience indoors and outdoors. Beautiful building with lots of history. Nice Garden Outdoor Patio. Traditional New Mexican meal with Vegan,Vegetarian Gluten Free options. Alcohol served. Located in the Historic old Town Plaza (lots of tourists). Public parking available. About .5 mile from I40 and 7 miles from Airport. Highly recommend when in town visiting or a local.

I cannot recommend this place enough. Service was great, food was TOP NOTCH, and the atmosphere inside the cafe is really worth the visit

Love this restaurant - stop here every time I'm in town and it never disappoints. Generally get the fajitas and their local tequila with some limes, but have tried their taco salad and burritos, both of which were equally delicious. Service is always good and never have to wait long for a table, even when they're busy.

Foods good but their servers seem like their in a rush I mean how the heck you gonna ask me some and you about to walk away cause it makes me feel like you in a hurry and I know it's busy but dang. So that's why I'm just giving 4 stars