Albuquerque Restaurant Guide

Somewhat long waits here but the service and atmosphere are excellent. I had been here as a kid, long ago and recently re-visited. They have, by far, the hottest salsa I have ever tasted! Eating outside on the patio by the small pond was also very interesting and added a great deal to the experience. While I was here I also saw a young couple who had just been married enjoying the food here also, a very good and memorable experience overall. Especially loved the live mariachi band! A+

The food is pretty good, but it isn't worth the price - very big on the atmosphere, but not what I'd call great food at a great value. For beans, rice and tortillas to have a gourmet price, there'd better be something else.

I visited Casa De Benividez with my family on Mother's Day 2002. I have eaten there before and was very pleased with the food and the service. I was happy that I did not have to wait too long (15-20 minutes) to get a table, but that is where the happy part ended. We were seated outside and it took several minutes before the waiter informed us that there was no menu ordering, only the buffet was available. We were not ready for an all-you-can-eat breakfast, but we were seated, ready to eat and did not feel like waiting elsewhere. A hint of things to come was a long line at the dark buffet and a lack of plates (we couldn't get dessert - no plates). As we served ourselves, we noticed that the food trays were not being refilled fast enough, the line grew. The food tasted mostly good. Exceptions were: carne adovada had no meat (not refilled), the chicharrones were very, VERY greasy (I thought that the chunks of fat were potatoes) and, the ham and roast beef were cold. The eggs were OK, but scrambled was the only way that they were available (I wanted fried, over easy). For the price of $15.50 per adult, the choice of food was very limited. The price for children to eat was $13.50. My daughter is 10 years old and could not find anything that she liked - she ended up having a glass of orange juice and nibbling on a biscuit (she didn't like the biscuit either). After asking the waiter to remove the charge for my daughter (just a biscuit nibble, remember?), another member of the staff came to see what the problem was (this was good). They remove the buffet charge for her and only charged for the juice and a biscuit (even though I told them that she didn't like the biscuit). I was disappointed at being charged so much for so little. It would have been much more worth it if there were more choices, and a staff that would have skipped the $.70 charge for the unsavory biscuit (the biscuit thing bugged me). In the future, I may consider Casa De Benividez for a non holiday meal, but will definitely go to El Pinto or Gardunos for buffet meals.

Very good New Mexican style Mexican food. This stuff is not to be confused with the Tex-Mex variety. I prefer the delicious red chile on my tamales or enchiladas. You should ask which is hotter the red or the green. The carne adovada (pork in red chile) is my pick.