Patrick F.
Yelp
I visited Terra today for Christmas dinner with my in-laws who regularly dine here and spoke highly of it. While 2-stars may seem harsh, it absolutely "could've been better" which is well below what I expect for a $100+ per person price fixed holiday menu. Here is a breakdown of the evening with highlights and lowlights emphasized.
Arriving was a good experience, with the grounds well maintained and clear signage for where to get valet. All of the outdoor staff was extremely polished & professional - holding doors for everyone and setting a great initial mood to the evening. Checking in with the host stand was easy and we were seated quickly. So far, this would have been a 4-5 star review based on the entrance experience.
Although we were roughly 20 minutes early for our reservation, we were seated quickly which is a common mistake I'm seeing hosts around Santa Fe make. The problem this caused is that our waiter was forced to start 3 tables at the exact same time. The result is that we had several gaps in service throughout the meal that could have been avoided with proper table/server management at the host stand. This cost the restaurant roughly a half-star by itself because it was felt throughout the meal.
For a price-fixed menu, one of the shocking discoveries was that the 5 entrees had no vegetarian options. Thankfully, one of the managers stepped in and spoke with the chef to offer my father-in-law two options off the regular menu which he was perfectly happy with. This did cause quite a slowdown in our meal when paired with the pervious triple-table issue, so the manager took our order and tried to get things back on track.
Among the first course options was a caviar & roe dish, which was my first time trying caviar. I've enjoyed roe many times with sushi so everyone was excited and explained to me how caviar is supposed to be served, with all of the accoutrements separate. Instead, what arrived were 2 pre-made mounds of crème fresh with a light sprinkling of roe & caviar on top. It just so happens that I -hate- anything creamy so while I tried one to be a good sport, it was awful because all I could taste in my mouth was the cream. My wife ate the other and she agreed the caviar was barely a garnish to a dish consisting primarily of crème fresh. Everyone agreed they had never been served caviar without the ability to decide how you want to mix it with the other ingredients. Big star loss here, but I'm still excited to try caviar somewhere else that serves it properly!
Next were the entrees, with my father-in-law enjoying his regular menu vegetarian option while the other 3 of us all ordered a Wagyu strip steak with brandy peppercorn sauce, mashed potatoes, and broccolini. Unfortunately, that is not what arrived for any of us! What arrived was the steak covered in a creamy white sauce (remember my earlier comment about hating cream?) with mashed potatoes and roasted root vegetables. Once again, I tried to be a good sport and tried this white creamy sauce and asked the two ladies at my table if they could taste any brandy or peppercorn in it: nope. We were able to flag down our waiter who took my plate away only to have the manager bring back a big plate of broccolini and a saucer of the same bland, white, creamy sauce which she declared as the brandy peppercorn. At this point, they were clearly doing everything possible to salvage the meal so I tried to politely ask "this white, cream sauce which has no flavor of brandy or peppercorns in it is that sauce?" to which she emphatically stated it was. Not wanting to take the ultimate step of asking her to try it herself, I relented and asked her to please have the sauce removed from my plate since it's not what I wanted (or ordered, but that battle was clearly lost). To top it off, the steak wasn't very good - one of the worst wagyu's I've had with my wife commenting on how tough hers was to chew. Enormous star loss on the main course.
Finally we watched our desserts come out - we had all ordered the same cranberry sorbet & champagne float. This was presented beautifully and tasted wonderful! Sadly, not enough to save what was at this point a bit of a disaster meal for me personally. Thankfully, everyone else had enjoyed their dishes despite the inconsistencies with the menu description.
Once again on the way out, everyone was outstanding which showed me that under normal conditions this probably would have been a good meal. Throughout the evening, I watched a series of delicious-looking dishes make their way past the dining room and out to the bar such as burgers and onion rings. As an outsider looking in, it seems like what really ruined the evening was the attempt at a price-fixed menu where we paid $100+ for 2 dollops of cream as an appetizer, tough steak without the correct sauce or side, and a good dessert. I'm still in shock about the white, bland, creamy "brandy peppercorn" which basically ruined the meal.