El Pinto

Best ambiance of any restaurant in the Albuquerque area. The patio is incredible and great for large parties or a more intimate dining experience. The service is usually very attentive and have had many pleasant dining experiences over the years. This is what elevates El Pinto from a 3 star to 4 star.

That being said, the food is very average. The good thing is they have a lots of options, but with NM food it begins and ends with the Chile which is just okay.

Visiting from out of state and had high expectations due to family recommendations of this place. However, almost everything fell short of expectations. We got seated quickly thanks to a reservation. However, it took at least 20 minutes for our waitress to acknowledge us. After she took our drink orders, it took another 15 minutes for her to take our food orders. We quickly ran out of chips and drinks and were only offered refills at the end of our meal. While the food was okay, we were not expecting the large check. We came in during lunchtime on a Friday but were charged for the dinner portion. Our waitress did not ask whether we wanted lunch or dinner. When we asked why we were charged the dinner portion, she said we should have specified that we wanted lunch and to remember that for next time. Unfortunately, this will be our first and last visit here.

At least the guacamole was tasty.

Saturday brunch This week has been extremely hot and we were seated on one of their patios.

Was very pleasant but very warm, we were not in the sun but was thinking our visitors might be too hot.

So top tip, make sure your guests can handle the heat or ask for indoor dining with air conditioning when you make your reservation

The bar has a decent amount of seating as well and is nice and cool

Beautiful dinner at El Pinto to celebrate my best friends birthday! We sat in a gorgeous outdoor room that was covered and looked out to the garden. This restaurant is BEAUTIFUL! It's the perfect place for a celebration or for out of town visitors (or just a special occasion).

Now the food-- I wasn't as hungry today so I wanted to try out some smaller appetizer things!! I got the fried green chile strips I HATED THEM. Lol they are just too thin, they had no structure and just crumpled right apart. I am used to different green chile strips, thicker like a fried pickle. Do not recommend. The guac was delicious and fresh. Everyone in our party loved their food!

Our sweet server was amazing! She did a great job managing a huge table of crazy ladies!!! We will 100% be back for another celebration!!

While in Albuquerque, you have to eat New Mexican food. We came for lunch and the sopapillas. This restaurant is big and so is the menu. I was having trouble deciding what to have but our server Colin helped me out. I wanted to try the green chile stew and the papitas so he said I could have those as my sides with the chicken adovada.
Everything I had was delicious. The green chile stew was tasty but kind of on the spicy side. The chicken and the potatoes were very good. The sopapillas were fresh and absolutely delicious with the honey.
Colin was so helpful and just a great server.
The restaurant was clean and the parking lot is pretty big.

May not be the BEST New Mexican Cuisine, but it's as good as smaller places well reviewed. The Hacienda-like setting and outside seating is wins best atmosphere hands down. Waiters were on point, and we never were of need of anything. Best part? I'd been there as a kid and had vivid memories of this magic Mexican restaurant outside ABQ! It's now INSIDE ABQ. The memories hit like a tsunami!

The service is fantastic. Italia took wonderful care of our family party and Donny the manager stopped by more than once. The food is tasty and served in good sized portions - not the best in town to my palate, but in the better-than-average tier, for sure. There's plenty of parking, although you'll probably have to walk a bit and should plan on dropping off any folks with mobility issues right at the drive-up entrance. Inside the cavernous maze of the building, the bathrooms are clean and all of the rooms are pretty and well appointed (although my sensitive nose discerned an off-putting faint smell of cat urine in the big indoor/outdoor room where we were seated - the prowling cat(s) that kept staring in the windows cleared up that mystery).

El Pinto is iconic and the crowds show it's loved. My wife and I used to love it in the early and mid-Nineties. The reason I took a twenty-five-year hiatus despite living in town is the same reason this review is not a four-star ("good"): it's preposterously expensive. And it has been for years - figure fifty percent more for a given dish than at any other place in town. (In all seriousness, familiarize yourself with the pricing with the online menu to avoid shock: $23.50 for a plate of enchiladas con carne now. Golly.)

If you want to take a visiting tourist to sort of a grand fantasy hacienda, this is a good choice - the service will be great, the food will be fine and the place has that "adobe Disneyland" vibe. But, like Disneyland, steel yourself for the fact that you'll be paying a whole lot of entertainment premium - at least you don't need a line pass, I suppose.

We keep coming back here because of family in town. I really need to start suggesting something else. The staff is super nice and nothing against them. Use to be the only good thing about this place was the ambience. Even that is starting to go. Ordered sangria and it was watery so asked for another and same, watery. Got the breakfast burrito for $19. It was dry and had hardly any cheese and bacon. This place is so overrated. I can't express that enough. But I'm sure I'll be back. Ugh

Food, service, and ambiance were great!
I'm gunna be honest- the food was good, I may have had better tacos before (I ordered the 2 tacos) but the chips and SALSA which were the first things I was snacking on when I got to El Pinto were SO good that it just left such a good impression that in my head I'm like everything tastes amazing. The salsa was super fresh/well balanced and those restaurant style tortilla chips were so crispy and nicely salted.
Our server was very friendly and just a super nice guy. I met up with 2 friends and we were just visiting and this was our last day and the ambiance was just perfect. Good vibes and a sunny day to have a nice lunch.

El Pinto was a pleasant location for a family dinner. There was an event going on with a DJ so it was a little loud, but the music was good. Service was extremely slow. Food was good and I would come back.