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"As good as everyone says it is."
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It's like The Shed--the super-crowded, super popular place near the plaza. In fact, as people have probably already mentioned, it's actually the same owner. But the advantage of La Choza is that it is definitely less crowded and less of a wait--even on weekends at dinner. And I believe it's even a little cheaper (though it's not really cheap--especially the drinks. And you have to pay for chips and salsa which is always annoying).
You are pretty safe with anything on the menu here. What you can expect is that the food is authentic and everything isn't caked with 4 layers of cheap cheese like some of the chain places you'll find in New Mexico.
I'm a big fan of the steak and enchiladas. You have a to wait a bit longer for them to grill the steak, but it's well worth the time.
Another good, New Mexican dish to try is the carne adovada. It's a pork in a chili paste served with tortillas and sour cream and so forth.
My sister picked me up at the airport yesterday and La Choza was our first stop. I have been craving NM green chile for a year now. We had a delicious silver coin margarita for starters. My chicken enchiladas with green chile were delicious! So tasty! I love stuffing the sopaipillas with my food and then a drizzle of honey. Yum!
Our server was okay not great. Not very friendly.
No wonder this is my sisters favorite restaurant in town.
I would love to open a New Mexican restaurant in Chicago. Nothing comes close!
My chicken enchiladas were very good. My sister ordered the chicken soft tacos and they looked pretty good. We ordered the guacamole with chips and salsa and at $8 the quantity of guacamole was minimal and the salsa was very spicy. All in all, was very good and loved the sopaipillas and honey.
Owned by the same people as the Shed. Biggest difference is no wait to get a table (the don't take reservations) and you know the exact price for the food as opposed to a range at the shed. That being said, the food was really good. I had a combo plate with a chile relleno and an enchilada. The chile relleno was the best I have ever had and everythign else was very good as well. The food was too spicy for my wife but I absolutely loved it.
Delicious, fresh food. Nice outdoor seating. Absence of too many tourists (other than me). I'd pick this over Tomasita's (the other big meal we had) any day, although my friend preferred the chile relleno at Tomasita's. I wish I had a bathtub full of green chile and a sink full of red chile right now. Mmmmm.
we are local...LaChoza (my opinion) best posole, red chile in Santa Fe. the blue corn enchiladas (any filling-especially carne adovada) and chile rellenos are excellent. New bar and outside seating are a plus. service is generally very good.
I find it quite interesting that the 10 out of 12 reviews of this place, so far, has been from out of towners.
Where do the Santa Fe people go? more importantly, how can you miss La Choza?
Well, it's easy to miss actually, considering a lot of the structures in NM has that same adobe color. hehe.
But if you do ever stop by at La Choza, get an enchilada. It doesn't matter what choice of meat, it is damn tasty. The problem with ordering this dish is picking between "red" or "green" chile. (Just a thought: if you get both, your plate would probably look very Christmas-y)
On another note, the fish tacos are very good. The rice that comes with it also has a little bit of kick to it!
Too bad NM is not exactly within driving distance from home. It would make my life easier, you know?
My cousin and I randomly stumbled upon this place while driving around Santa Fe looking for the Old Town, and oh what a find! We were really happy with our food. She ordered the fish tacos with a cup of posole and I had the chicken enchiladas. The meat was really good and the spices were actually spicy! Yum. We didn't get free chips and salsa, but we sure got free sopaipillas, which was really nice!
The service was pretty utilitarian and not terribly friendly, but it was decently fast. The place was also full of local people who had stopped in for lunch from work.
La Choza is HALF the price of its sister restaurant (The Shed), and has the EXACT SAME MENU!!!
The food is great, the margaritas are strong (for $6.75 they should be), and the wait isn't as long as at the Shed, though you will still have to wait a while.
Only problem was our server- he was terrible! There was no rhyme or reason to how he helped his tables, and we seemed to be forgotten a large part of the night, while the tables to either side of us were getting lots of attention.
Go when you're in a mellow mood and can wait a while for a table and slow service- it's worth it!
La Choza has some fine eats. Chile is hot and oh so good. Not very many tourists which is a nice getaway and has cheaper prices since it's not directly in the plaza.
In the summertime there is a nice patio in the back and you won't often have to wait (cough, Tomasitas, cough).
Same people who have the Shed downtown.
We are quasi-locals (have owned a home in the South Capitol for many years, but live in Berkeley most of the time.) I think this is the best N. New Mexican restaurant around. Signficantly better than Marias, which itself is pretty good. Great ambience. Great location, away from the Plaza, but near the end of the Railyards. Great food. Nice staff.
"Yay I'm a fan" (star rating set forth by Yelp) to me means I'd go back again.
Chips and salsa came to the table (don't know if we were charged for it since I didn't see the tab). I've never had salsa like this before! It was rich, not watery like everything else you see/get, smoky, spicy, dark red in color like tomato paste - wonderful. (Wonder if they'll FEDEX some to me???) Ordered their homemade guacamole. Came out in one of those round 4inch diameter bowls you get pudding in. Serving size average. I wouldn't say it was piled high, looked like they put an extra scoop in it. Some small chunks of avocado in it, with the rest of it smooth.
Ordered a side of green chile stew. Comes in a small soup bowl, served with one tortilla on the side. It was spicy, smokey, with a few chunks of pork, and two pieces of potato it. For main entree, we split the carne adovada burrito with red sauce. The teenage waitress said it was spicy hot, but it wasn't. The extra bonus was that they brought sopaipillas to the table with the burrito. So, with the honey in a squeeze jar on the table, I was on my way to heaven.
We were going to eat around the plaza, but all the places seemed too touristy, and/or with a long wait. La Choza fit the place. It was filled with locals, price was right, help friendly, good food. It was also a non-table cloth kind of place, very casual. EG: Coke is served in paper cups, water in plastic tumblers, bottled and a few beers on draft, and or course margaritas. Definitely not fine dining, but fits the bill for great food, casual atmosphere, good price value, and I can wear my jeans there!
Shatangi had the #2 combo with a soft taco and a tamale with green chile. Awesome spicy food with a great family atmosphere. Great place to take kids. The service was excellent. By no means fine dining but worth the wait on busy nights. The sopaipillas are off the hizzle too.
Shatangi told you
On our last day in Santa Fe, we went to this restaurant and hit jackpot! My husband used to live near Santa Fe and his first exclamation at the food was, Now this is what New Mexican food should be!
The food here is authentic and delicious. You can tell that it's the place where locals go to eat and not the touristy places down by the plaza.
It is also cheaper than the other places we went to. Cozy and homely atmosphere with very great service.
If I go back to Santa Fe, this is where I will be eating!
I definitely prefer the food here to Tomasita's. Plus, they don't rush you out the door. It's a beautiful little place with great food.
When driving up, we saw hoards of cars parked along the wooden Ocotillo fence, and it indicated that this place was popular among the locals (mostly NM license plates too). We showed up about 5:45 PM and there was a wait, and this place is HUGE. That tells you something about the food here (on a Wednesday night no less). My girlfriend and I had a great experience here-- I ordered the three item combo with a chicken taco, a cheese enchilada, and a pork tamale. All three were excellent, but the tamale was blow-you-away good. The sauce was spicy! My girlfriend ordered the enchilada and adovada (chicken) plate and loved every bite. The hominy was delicious and the spiciness added to the experience. The meat was perfectly marinated. Also, the joint has a lively, colorful feel, and the food comes out pretty fast. Everything is served with sopapillas, which were fluffy and good for the sweet tooth. Go here and you won't be disappointed.
Now /this/ is what I'm talking about! Apparently owned by the same people own the shed, La Choza has the important distinction of being 1) cheaper and 2) awesome 3) the provider of free sopapillas, seriously, The Shed, what is wrong with you? Also, the sauces are spicy when they should be, cool and refreshing when they shouldn't, and is it bad now that I just want to eat chicken taquitos for the rest of my life?
Owned by the same people as the aforementioned Shed. A little low key, a little less expensive, same excellent (possibly better) food.
My parents and I have been coming here for years as it is authentic New Mexican food at a reasonable price in a nice atmosphere. However, this last trip was very disappointing. Apparently, they no longer have free chips and salsa (which sucks!) Also, the waitress was inexperienced (she looked like she was 16), and they ran out of chile rellenos, but didn't tell us that until we had ordered. My chalupa also came out ice cold. So, I hope that they can clean up their act because I would really hate not coming back here!
Reasonably priced and delicious! I checked on Yelp before we went to Santa Fe but then proceeded to also ask the locals on recommendations for best NM food. The response was invariably La Choza. It's the sister restaurant to the Shed which we tried the next night but price and selection was superior to the Shed. The quality of food was high at both places though you get garlic bread (?!) at the Shed and sopapailles at La Choza. If you're into donuts like I am, you will appreciate these light pillow like pastries. They arrive warm and flaky and you drizzle them with some honey. Perfect as a dessert but since they arrived with our starters (housemade salsa and chips and a mixed salad), they disappeared long before our entrees came. For the three of us girls, we ordered one combination plate with 3 items: carne adovado, pork tamale, and a chile relleno, with a side of posole, and pinto beans and one plate of two corn enchiladas with the same sides. For drinks, we ordered a margarita and a glass of Santa Fe pale ale. We took the remaining chips and salsa home and without asking, our waiter gave us more chips and salsa. Great staff! Finally, the bill came out to be only 44 dollars including tax. The food is delicious and a fantastic value. I can't say that often enough!
thanks to the fellow yelpers (and the Food Network TV) - we headed to La Choza for our first night's dinner in santa fe. i have to agree with the fellow yelpers about their food. chips and salsa was really good (and you know how picky i am about my chips and salsa) and the food was so good (i had the combo with tamale and crunchy taco and my boyfriend had the carne adovada and blue corn burrito). oh yeah - the green chili stew was out of this world and not to mention the hot and yummy sopapillas... mmm..... why don't they have a place like this in san francisco?
Yet another pretty good New Mexican place with a better than average ambiance. They have a beautiful outdoor seating area. The menu is limited to the typical green and red enchilada, burrito NM standards, but they do a mean red. Good drinks, good service. Had I rated this place a few months ago, when I stupidly ordered fish tacos (GROSS), I would have given only two stars. The carne adovada is good and won me over.
Santa Fe, NM
Category: Mexican
Santa Fe, NM
Category: Mexican
Santa Fe, NM
Category: Hotels
Santa Fe, NM
Category: Beer, Wine & Spirits
Santa Fe, NM
Category: Restaurants
I spent a lot of time in Santa Fe and the…
