Mila's Mesa

Had a very delightful dinner there lastnight. There was a rather large birthday gathering. but besides that was just us and another table. and it was the last hour they were open. The birthday cake looked great, and the server served it up, and snapped a group photo..
We ordered the empanadas, and a tamale. and they were out of the fish, but they had lamb chops.
The empanadas were room temperature. which at first i kinda wanted hem warm, but after the first bite the complaints melted away into sounds of appreciation for the flavors. and the deep lovely red chile sauce with it. and my only complaint was that they were then gone! Nom Nom Nom..
The lamb had just a teeny bit of muttony flavor and a perfect sear. we split the 2 lamb lolly pops. and spent plenty of time cleaning the rib. the glaze was fantastic! the potatoes and calibicitas were also super flavorful and delightful! Came with a side of butternut puree that was so smooth. and also perfectly spiced.
My companion hates vinegary salad dressings, but the side salad that came with the Tamale, was lovely, just the right amount of oil and umami flavors, and only a hint of maybe lemon? for the acid. we both enjoyed it quite a lot which is saying something for a salad. The tamale. was cute in its pooked open wrapper. we left it inside and quite enjoyed picking out the delightful masa. my only complaint was i think we should have asked for spoons. as a fork is not the best way to pick a tamale out of the wrapper. (or we could have dumped it out. but once again it was cute as served. I would have preferred meat to the tamale. but really enjoyed it as it was too.
Lastly on the way out we got a choke cherry tart, and a butterscotch bunt cake to go.. which we ate later.. both were great! We will need to return and try more dishes. and the desert Empanada, (they were sold out) and likely i will update to a 5 star.
Fyi looks like they kinda run as two different kitchens, Snapdragon Tea, in the mornings, and Mila's Mesa at night. definitely going to have to go and try out one of the tea time reservations.

I cannot say enough great things about Mila's Mesa! Myself and my wedding guests are still going on and on about how amazing the food and desserts were at my wedding. They do such a beautiful set up and are so easy to work with. Their staff was very pleasant as well! Would highly recommend them for your weddings and/ or events!

I was in a wedding that was catered by Mila's Mesa. The food and service was excellent. The staff went above and beyond to ensure the wedding party and the guests were well taken care of. One of the staff even found my vintage diamond bracelet I inherited from my great aunt and made sure it was returned to me. I'm planning my wedding and I will definitely be using them. I had already planned on using someone else but the food, service, and atmosphere I experienced at this wedding definitely changed my mind.

Very poor communication, mediocre food/presentation.

To preface this review, we come from service industry backgrounds and are very understanding when it comes to mishaps. For the cost of these services (and our more than generous gratuity), our experience was riddled with amateur mistakes that should not have occurred which also led to additional costs on our end. We have given Mila's every opportunity to correct this situation, but the complete lack of communication and follow through has led to this review. I would highly discourage anyone from using this company for your catering needs as the owner and staff clearly don't take this business seriously.

Not so good:
-Our wedding planner found a stack of containers at the end of the night, each containing 4-5 dinner portions. She asked if they were the vendor meals, and the staff member rudely said, "No, those are ours." We were clearly told that Mila's would take care of their own staff meals (ie not part of the meals we paid for), which we didn't know meant taking all of our leftovers. The staff ended up leaving with at least $500 worth of our food.
-Initially stated they would cook on site which made the pricing somewhat more reasonable, but we found out less than a month before our wedding that it would be pre-prepped because of a change in venue (notified them months ahead of time) that ended up being closer.
-Expensive for what we received in the end (food, service, setup).
-Steak served with nothing but bamboo sporks that were absolute garbage; thankfully our wedding planner had a box of plastic knives to save us.
-Mila's "forgot" the water station that was part of our contract; again, our planner saved the day and left to buy water.
-Buffet table setup and presentation was boring despite the nice spreads that you will find on Mila's website/social media.
-Vendor meals were not set aside, so only our photographer and one other person was fed (missing 3 vendor meals which we paid for). Maid of honor saved the day this time and ordered pizza.
-After contacting the owner, we were told a partial refund would be issued. Almost 2 months and multiple calls/emails later without any reply from the business, there is still no sign of that refund.

Good:
-Food was decent; mashed potatoes were the best part according to the guests.

From the day's menu of tapas, we had one of each. Excellent! Friendly knowledgeable staff. Because it is primarily an off site catering service, call ahead to confirm they are open.

Takes non-refundable payments for entire event many months in advance. Her terms say so, but her auto-billing system warns you before 5:00 AM on a Sunday saying you will be charged "soon" and then you are charged at before 5:00 AM Monday morning!!! Not even a business day to talk things over, or check reviews!! We saw the auto-billing of a great deal of money that happened 3 hours before the business day on Monday AM. I called immediately, because we saw many multiple negative reviews and wanted to work something out. She did not return the call. So, we messaged the portal, and got the response that all was well even though she was in at least one legal action! Called back to say, "let's work something out to cancel". Too much drama for my very important once in a lifetime event to have to deal with that when there are many wonderful caterers out there. I had checked with other service providers who also warned me away!! She never called back. Wouldn't work anything out, even though I had contacted her within hours of the automatic charge, and it was FIVE MONTHS before the event date!! I think this is all very bad business practice and not caring about reputation and client goodwill/satisfaction. Sad.

I attended Mila's Mesa opening night this past October. It was superb. The place was buzzing! And the food was superb! So I had to return. I've been back a couple of times since and the food never disappoints. The butternut and sage bucatini pasta is delish. The chicken posole verde has to be the best comfort food in town! And the Peruvian chicken is to die for! Other favorites of mine are the blue cornbread and the biscochitos. A couple of times I've been pleasantly surprised by the music performances Mila's Mesa offers in its simple and homey atmosphere. For me, the attentive service from Emma and Alex - my servers on different occasions - complemented the excellent food and warm environment. Can't recommend Mila's Mesa enough! I think it's a great new asset and option in Albuquerque 's Nob Hill!

This place is closed!!! We were very excited to try it out. What happened??
Should make the adjustment!

Doesn't pay employees doesn't care about clients..The turnaround is insane and it's not because of the people she hires they were very dedicated .. We all have access to an app called Homebase instead of paying her employees on the app as that's the only method of payment she uses..she resorts to deleting them at her leisure completely off the app.. after you ask for your check multiple times..(I have screenshots mila)

You will never know who's gonna show up at your very expensive event usually new employees, she goes through people constantly and then disposes of them even though some of them helped her start her company... their no longer there. It's truly sad!! You might note that the reviews were better back then and recently they are really bad!.. each event new hires are thrown out in the field that have never served before (without her presence)... she just doesn't care, unfortunately.
Don't waste your hard earned money on this person. She has unethical business practices and she doesn't care at all about her clients either.. ..I'm more saddened about this than mad.. it breaks my heart more so for the other people that really needed this job that would stay hours after their normal shift to make her happy
I've done very few events, but at 2 we ran out of food. At one there was at least 50 people left in line. We had to resort to giving them appetizers... truly embarrassing! I feel bad for the people that paid so much money.

In response...
You owe me and her.. how would your customers feel if they knew that the tips they put in were not being given to the servers?... you acknowledged in the screenshot that I have that you DO owe me ..others were just cut off from your company as well. Why would you have an app where you pay us through and not follow through on Payment, then delete us completely after acknowledging that you owe us money.., I was patient waiting days at a time for you to get back with me considering this has been over a month now, Sketchy at best. Rather shocking too, it doesn't make you look like a credible person...

Very delightful platter requested for a quartet, almost a work of art! Delicious too! Thank you!