Artichoke Cafe

10/04/08

Over Rated

by htown01 at Citysearch

I had seen the Artichoke Cafe in two travel guides each with rave reviews and decided to try it while visiting Albuquerque. Needless to say I was a little disappointed. The waitress was pleasant to start until we decdied not to order wine or drinks (Extremely overpriced for the selection, they clearly think highly of their wines). We barely saw the waitress the rest of the evening not even to refill empty water glasses. The food was very inconsistent; half the meals were miniscule and the other half enormous. We had to share so that everyone had enough to eat. All the food was "heavy" and richly sauced. After dinner we were given 3 dessert menus for 4 people and were prepared to ordered but the waitress never returned. We had to flag another waiter to bring our bill. If you want good unpretensious food, with decent service choose another restaurant.

• Pros: Food was decent but heavy and with inconsistent portion sizes
• Cons: Wait staff, wine list, prices

08/12/08

Utterly Disappointed

by Whispet at Citysearch

Perhaps the Artichoke Cafe was expecting 6 rich men ready to spend a pretty penny on champagne, appetizers, salads, entrees, desserts, and tea/coffee when I called in a reservation for 6. They were not ashamed to show their disappointment when it was just my family and I coming in for drinks, salad, and a few appetizers.

There are no signs in the Artichoke Cafe that say only come into our restaurant if you plan on eating a full meal. We had, had a big lunch, and had heard great things about the Cafe, so I foolishly decided to bring my family there for a light dinner before they traveled back to Canada.

Don't get me wrong, the service was impeccable as we sat down and browsed over the menu. The service went downhill once we just ordered a round of iced teas and soda. I'm assuming that's when the waiter decided, because we didn't order wine, we were expendable. We continued to order five Caesar Salads, a French Onion Soup, and some Spring Rolls. It took us one hour and forty five minutes to leave the restaurant with our simple order( I am not exagerating.) As we patiently waited for our food(without a single apology from the waiter, or check to see if we needed more beverages), the table next to us, who had come about half an hour after us, had received their cheese dish appetizer, their follow up artichokes, their entrees, and dessert.

When our five salads, one French Onion Soup, and 2 Spring Rolls finally came, we were not too keen on having any dessert and asked for the check.

Money was not why we did not order a huge meal. We went into a restaurant hoping to have a nice environment, and a couple of drinks, with a few bites. I will not suggest to my friends, who have been begging me to choose a place for my baby shower, that we have food at the Artichoke Cafe. I am honestly sad about the service we had at the Artichoke Cafe.

05/03/08

Excellent service and the food was creative and presented well.

by texasherb at Citysearch

My wife and I really enjoyed the food and the service was excellent! The meal was quite creative and well presented. Highly recommended.

• Pros: service and food
• Cons: none