Old Town Albuquerque Restaurants: Where to Eat

Old Town Albuquerque restaurants include hacienda cafes serving generations-old New Mexican recipes, old-fashioned lunch counters on Central Avenue and several family places near the historic plaza. Choose a lunch, order red or green chile and rate each plate as you go.

This page covers the hacienda cafes, lunch counters and family kitchens around the plaza, what to order and how to plan an easy lunch and a walk.

Which Old Town Albuquerque restaurants should you try first?

Start with a hacienda cafe. Historic adobe buildings near the plaza serve New Mexican recipes passed down through generations, with green and red chile, salsas and family recipes. Walk Church Street and the plaza and choose by the menu in the doorway.

It is a good first meal in Old Town. Some places close one day a week, so ask before you plan around one, and arrive a little before the lunch rush if you want an easy table. Allow time to look at the building before you sit down: the building is part of why people come, and a photo of the dining room tells a visitor more than a paragraph.

What is an Old Town hacienda cafe known for?

Hacienda cafes are known for New Mexican plates in a historic building, and family recipes span generations. The building is part of the story, so give yourself time to look around.

Order a plate with chile and a side of beans and rice. Rate the chile, the setting and the pace. Ask for a table in the courtyard or the old dining room if you have a choice, and say how the room felt in your note, because a historic building is a large part of what you are paying for.

What is Old Town New Mexican food like?

New Mexican food centers on chile, red or green, served on enchiladas, burritos, stews and more. In Old Town, a restaurant often serves a tourist crowd and a local one at the same time, so ask what regulars order.

Order one dish with red chile and one with green, and compare them. Sopaipillas, posole and a stuffed sopaipilla are all worth trying if the table is big enough to share. A note on the heat is useful, since it varies by batch. If you prefer a gentler plate, ask for the chile on the side and add it a spoonful at a time.

Where can you eat at an old-fashioned lunch counter near Old Town?

A short drive from the plaza, along Central Avenue, some lunch counters are housed in former pharmacies and soda fountains. They are known for spicy chile and flour tortillas rolled by hand to order, and they give Old Town a lunch with a bit of history.

Order what the table next to you is eating, and rate the dish by name. Hand-rolled tortillas arrive warm, so eat them first, and ask whether the kitchen can serve a smaller plate if you plan a second meal later.

What else is near the plaza?

Smaller New Mexican kitchens around the plaza make a good second choice for lunch. Treat them as a way to compare a second bowl of chile against the first.

Ask about the days and hours before you plan a visit. A second Old Town lunch is a good way to test whether the plaza's New Mexican food varies as much as the chile does, and a short list of two or three places helps a friend choose.

How do you plan an Old Town food visit?

Eat first, then walk. Old Town's plaza, shops and museums are close together, so a lunch followed by a stroll is the easiest plan. Weekends are busy, so go early or on a weekday. Bring a hat and water in summer, since the plaza has little shade at midday, and wear comfortable shoes for the uneven paving. Parking can fill up near the plaza, so plan a few extra minutes to find a space.

Check closing days before you go, since some places close one day a week, and leave room for a sweet. A single long lunch is plenty for a day.

How do you keep track of Old Town with Mosey?

Rate each dish by name. Mosey needs only the place and stars; then you can name the dish, such as green chile stew or an enchilada plate, add tags such as Family Friendly, Group Dining or Great Value, and add a photo. A rating that says "red chile enchiladas, mild, beans on the side" helps a visitor.

Make a list called Old Town lunch with each place and a line on what to order, and invite a friend by link so they can add their own. Follow friends to see what they rated and saved. The ratings page explains dish ratings.

What else should you read?

For more of the city, the red and green chile guide covers the state's signature dish, the Route 66 diners guide covers Central Avenue and the breakfast burrito guide covers the morning. See the Albuquerque page, the New Mexico page and the US food guides.

Next time you visit the plaza, open the Mosey app, rate each dish by name and keep the best in a list.