We found a very mixed bag at the original Menaul outlet of El Chamo Arabe today. Food is tasty and…read moreplentiful for the toll. Service is fine, if not welcoming. The room is pretty but overly warm and reeks of grease. And there were some additional cleanliness issues. I want to return for the food, but if the other issues aren't addressed it may be the last time. Tons of grease smoke hanging in the air (the kitchen needs more serious ventilation - I texted and warned a friend not to come, as she hates the smell of cooking grease in her hair) when we came in at the early end of lunch (the place filled up pretty well behind us - it's Tuesday). It's a nice enough room (loved the painting of Bolívar and the Venezuelan tchotchkes in the case by the door) with plenty of seating - grab and read a menu, order at the front - it prompts you for a tip (went on the heavier side even with the counter ordering because I want El Chamo Arabe to stay around) and the counterwoman (not the friendliest person, but not rude) delivers everything to your table when it's ready (which will be a minute - but you're not here for _fast_ food). The room is pleasantly decorated but overly warm and - well, there's that grease smell issue: it was bad enough that we had to change clothes after eating here. Okay, prices seem reasonable. But when the food comes, prices seem downright _good_ - these folks give you a LOT of food. We got a $5 dolmas appetizer to start (juicier than what one usually finds; quite good) which came with the grape leaf rolls sitting on a pretty tasty dressed salad. We sure didn't need it, though: our mains (a shwarma plate with gyro meat and an arepa picada with one of chicken and one of beef) were really large. Really large. And it's tasty food. Enormous salads with both $14 plates: dressed well with great, fresh romaine leaves cut just right for easy eating. I'd note with some surprise that both the shredded chicken and beef on the arepas were pretty tasty, but was surprised to find the chicken grabbed me more. There is habañero salsa (albeit in a greasy bottle) on the tables if you need piquancy (why not? we're in New Mexico), and that was great. I'm not sure that the plentiful quantity of the mustard/ketchup (or was it Russian dressing?)/mayo sauce drowning of the arepa picada salad was a good thing. It was pretty, but it got to be a bit much for my taste down toward the bottom of it all - I'd ask for it lighter next time. The lunchmeat turkey and American-type cheese slice and perfectly cooked round fried egg certainly added to the salad, and the arepas themselves were a delight. My wife liked the rice and gyro meat and salad of her shwarma plate. Here's the thing: in addition to the grease-in-the-air situation, there were some cleanliness issues. The table where we sat (it was dead when we arrived, except for some waiting DoorDash drivers) hadn't been properly wiped and there were some old rice grains on it. The bottles of habañero and other salsas on the table were grimy and needed to have been wiped. The tray on which the silverware was brought to our table was greasy - repositioning it on the table to make room for our food made me want to wash my hands. And there was a hair (not ours) in the salad under my dolmas: I didn't mention to my wife because she would have stopped eating and I also didn't bring it up with the counterperson since the small restaurant was at that time full of lunching customers who didn't need to be troubled by hearing about it. And I know mistakes happen and I was not interested in a refund or apology; things happen. But I hope El Chamo Arabe customarily pays more attention to keeping things sanitary - the food is good enough that I want to come back and see. Food - 5 Service - 3 Atmosphere - 2 (lose the grease, fix the temperature and it's a 4) Cleanliness: 2 Value - ?

If I could give a zero I would. We placed an order for a chicken shawarma bowl and a beef shawarma…read morebowl with drinks. It came to over $40! This is for take out mind you. I asked her for a reminder buzzer to pick up when ready, and the girl claimed she gave it to my daughter. She did not. I went back to ask for it. She had to place a call to someone in the kitchen, in a separate building for my order number to get the right number. We sat down in the communal dining area for all the other mini restaurants there and waited over 20 minutes. I had gone back to see where the take out was. Finally I saw her bring it through the door from another location outside the food court. The chicken shawarma bowl was in the tray, but instead of the beef shawarma was a chicken shawarma wrap and cold French Fries. I told her she brought me the wrong order and begrudgingly she took it back outside to where she had brought it and 20 minutes later I got it. The bowl was 1/2 yellow rice, 1/2 romaine lettuce with almost no dressing and 3 of the skinniest sliced tomatoes I have ever seen and some cooked beef, very sparingly scattered on only the rice side of the bowl with a drizzle of a nondescript white dressing. My daughter was mostly done with hers when I got mine. I also orders the fried plantain side. It was 4 pieces, equivalent of one small plantain on one side of the cardboard serving boat and some shredded mozzarella on the other side! Now that is a bizarre combination! With almost no meat on either of our shawarma bowls, it was such a huge disappointment. The girl kept rolling her eyes with her mistake and then giving me dirty looks from behind the counter. In the 35 minutes we were there, we were the only people who had placed an order. With the lack of service, and overpriced items, this place will go out of business soon at The Block, just like the overpriced Thai place in the same complex that only lasted around 2 months!

First time here. SO satisfied with the food everything was delicious and the food came out quick…read more Will definitely be visiting the main location. Pelotero special: 10/10 the pork was juicy and tender, the sauce is amazing and the hot sauce is made in house. Great kick and the yuca fries were also nice and crispy Maduros: 100/10 crispy on the outside and soft on the inside I could've eaten 10 Arepa del patron: 8/10 the meat was juicy and the toppings were very flavorful. The arepa itself just a little dry but still good. Papelon lemonade was the star of the show and not too sweet, very well spiced and uniquely tasting with cloves and other spices. Really refreshing and tasted great at the beginning of fall.

Still the best Cuban I have had, along with the arepas are to die for!…read more Tostones cooked perfect, the garlic sauce, tomato, and the spicy arbol so much flavor!!!! Everything was perfect, they have a very friendly staff and it's a nice spot to be in. The plants hanging everywhere were so beautiful too. Food will always come back for. Thank you so much!

The wings and burger were excellent and the people were great. The wings were just wow. I was happy…read morewe decided to try them. Great experience!

Been following these folks through various venues, From railyards, to the pretty expensive sawmill…read moremarket, now they do the railyards, and they have a food truck that does its rounds, but their walk in location is inside the Imperial Dive, at High Street and Central (EDO). in a very good small food court alongside Vegan Vato and a Pupusaria, and a small desert place. Got a really really good Green chile Cheeseburger, was cooked perfectly. hot inside but just a thin line of pink, Tasty and spicy green chile, beautiful cheese melt on it. Smash patties are all the rage these days, but a nice thick well constructed patty is better in my opinion.

I've been here twice and I love it. The chicken bowl is perfect, so very comforting! Get a side of…read morethe red chili sauce. It tastes like spicy olives and it's SO GOOD.

4 out of 10, fries were not done, lamb had no salt, they were out of chicken and empanadas, service…read morewas rude. No thanks will not return.

Friendly service. The owner/manager is really nice and super accommodating. He let me sample their…read morelemonade and talked me through the menu to figure out if there was anything I could make vegan. I ordered an arepa with black beans, sweet plantains, and avocado (no butter, no cheese). It was phenomenal! I also ordered a mango juice and I loved that I could choose with or without sugar because many times they don't give you the option and it comes out too sweet. I asked for no sugar and it was perfect. Indoor and outdoor seating was available and the bathroom was clean. I tried to come back a second time during my trip and they were sold out of their arepas. That goes to show just how good they are and how popular they're becoming, so definitely go check them out!

We had 50 minutes to burn when our Amtrak stopped in Albuquerque, and we stumbled upon this…read moreabsolute gem. The dude behind the counter (owner maybe?) was super friendly and helpful. We got an iced latte and a strawberry banana smoothie to drink, both insanely good, and the marinated pork empanada with green sauce to snack on the train and it was hands down one of the best I've ever had. I never write yelp reviews and it was that good. If I ever find myself on the Amtrak or Albuquerque again I will definitely stop by again!

We had the seasonal citrus salad, Chile Relleno, El Salvadorian combo plate with a pupusa and a…read morebanana leaf tamale and a cup of beef green chili stew. Oh also a prickly pear margarita. The chili was excellent came with a large side of rice and beans, lettuce, pico sour cream guacamole was absolutely delicious. Same as the salad I replaced the blue cheese with goat cheese and it was excellent. The dressing was so good and the fruit fresh. The margarita, perfect not too sweet not artificial tasting at all. Now, the tamale oh my goodness I've never had such a moist tamale maybe the best tamale I've ever had. The pupusa was delicious and they didn't skimp on the cabbage salad. I expected something different with the beef stew. It was much thinner and Brosier than I expected, but it had an absolutely delicious flavor and plenty of meat. I would definitely come back here and I would definitely recommend this to anybody

Service was efficient although not particularly helpful. There is a printed menu for lunch but…read moreonly a high chalkboard menu for dinner, making it difficult to read. The server also failed to tell us that we could order only off of the one menu that fit the exact time of our visit, which happened to coincide with the time that they switch from offering lunch to the time they serve dinner. The cheeseburger was very tasty. The grilled salmon tacos were good but served with flavorless beans and bland rice. Not a place we'd refuse to visit again, but definitely not one we're eager to return to either.

Delicious dinner for our last night in Santa Fe!! I got a Pacifico and my husband a Limeade! We…read moreshared chips and salsa. I got the Veggie Enchiladas Suiza and my husband got the Veggie Santa Fe Enchiladas! Both were delicious and fit our individual tastes. The restaurant has really cool decor! The service was a bit slow, but we weren't in a hurry, so it was not a factor.

I hardly ever write bad reviews: but…read more.... From the moment we walked in, the service was a mess, slow, inattentive, and borderline dismissive. We waited way too long just to get drinks ordered, and it didn't get any better from there. To make things worse, we ordered empanadas and they brought out the wrong ones, but at that point we had already been waiting so long that it didn't even feel worth sending them back. That pretty much sums up the experience: just settle for whatever you get because getting it fixed would probably take forever. The food itself wasn't even the issue of temperature, it just wasn't good. The flavors fell flat, nothing stood out, and it definitely didn't live up to expectations, especially for the price. The only redeeming part of the entire experience was the drinks, they were actually solid and probably the only reason this review isn't even worse. Overall, between the terrible service, wrong order, and underwhelming food, I wouldn't go back or recommend it to anyone.