The Cellar

Such a hidden jem near old town. We ordered so much food with 4 people but we all ate plenty. We ordered the cheese tapas, shrimp and pineapple, the lamb for the tapas. they had a cute wine list all from Spain and local beers on draft, we had the house Tempranillo. So tasty and paired well with our food choices. The Figs and Pancetta was amazing and our favorite. We had it at the end for dessert. Great décor and service. I recommended making reservations on the weekend. It was packed. Lots of couples, families and friends at the different tables. I highly recommend for lunch or dinner.

Not one of us in our party of 4 would go back. The clam tapas… tasty but. most of the clams were empty. We maybe got one third of the clams. I got the chicken breast dinner. I have made plenty of chicken in my days. This chicken was as if I defrosted it in the microwave and baked it in the microwave then added seasoning. I had to saw this dry hard mess with my knife. The? potatoes? that were on my plate were really a question. Were they potatoes? Everyone’s meal was this way. We had to ask our waitress for the check after waiting quite awhile. Not one of us would ever recommend this restaurant to anyone we know. Maybe the people who wrote the 4 stars are related to the owners.

The Cellar was so accommodating to my party of 12 that I rated them 5 stars after only one visit.
First of all, there was a large round table arranged at the bottom of a rectangle table like an explanation point to welcome us into the tiny dining area. I set about sprinkling party hats and ostrich themed party gifts on the tables. The waitress calmly split checks between the party guests and seemed to enjoy affixing a birthday candle to a plate of fried cheese. We celebrated with «birthday cheese» instead of cake as it was more in the style of our honored guest. Holy moly! That cheese plate was delicious savory and sweet. Our waitress was flexible enough to let the party unfold and attentive enough to ask quietly who was paying for the birthday girl’s food. The service was tops, the food and wine delish and the event was a hit.
Thanks for helping us give my friend a memorable birthday celebration.

I love this place. Food, atmosphere and service are great. I’ve been twice so far and they have been consistent. Definitely worth a try!

Do you believe in falling in love??? I sure do and it happens over and over again when Im dining at The Cellar! Radiant, Ravishing & ALWAYS Remarkable!

Stupid technology. You job killer, you. Ya know, back in my day, when we wanted to watch a movie at home, we’d have to go rent one, and the locally owned video stores were the best. Invariably, each one had A) An eclectic collection of titles reflecting the quirky, often demented preferences of the owner B) Like, one new release each month, if you were lucky C) An Adults Only room, where grown ups entered and never returned and D) You’d pay a fee if you didn’t Be Kind and Rewind. And then the Internet killed the VHS star. Streaming services completely ruined the entire movie rental tradition, small business owners lost their rental stores, pimply high school kids lost their crappy jobs, it’s all such a tragedy. Whatever would we do? And what would become of these shrines of Hollywood majesty?
The Cellar, that’s what. Yeah, this was a video store, like, forever. Ask the owner, Gabriel, to tell you the story of how it became an eatery, it’s terrific. After returning from a tour in Iraq, he was cruising his APD beat one day when he saw the For Rent sign. He took one look at the place and knew it should be a Spanish tapas joint, so he set to work completely gutting the place, hand carving the tables, chairs, light fixtures, the entire shebang. The result is simply breathtaking. I think it took me about two seconds to put the ambiance and vibe around here in the running for the very best in the city. It’s incredible.
Thusfar the food has been very good, not great, but I haven’t tried much of it. Strangely, the main proteins (steak, salmon) were sort of ho-​hum, whereas the sides were absolute winners. I knew the place had their priorities straight when I noticed they offered aged balsamic vinegar with the table bread. The beer selection is limited, but absolutely on point, great Bosque Brewery selections. I can’t wait to come back, I think this may quickly become my favorite restaurant of 2015, and I thank you, Gabriel, for breathing some life back into this little icon of yesteryear.

Four out of five for Burque standards. This is a place I live just a few blocks away and had been meaning to try for a long time, so great I did for lunch today.
The ambience is unique, clean, and comforting. While there are several places to get tapas in ABQ none are true Spanish restaurants like this.
Another great thing was the service. Having a professional, patient, and knowledgeable server is always a bonus in my book.
The menu has many food options, including gourmet soups that have the home cooked, heart and soul taste that you don’t get all too often.
We were greeted with complimentary gazpacho and house made oils and vinegars– yum!
Since this was lunch, I did the tomato soup– out of this world– and salmon citrus salad.
My lunch date had the chicken sandwich with caramelized onions and yellow peppers soup– deeeelish!
We will definitely be back to try the dinner tapas menu, which looks extraordinary.
So glad downtown ABQ has a great eatery within walking distance, and doesn’t consist of pizza, or New Mexican food.

Can’t understand how this restaurant got any good reviews So disappointed in the menu choices, quality, and quantity. And way overpriced. $$$ The gambas al ajillo was served with a chipotle sauce. Patatas bravas, were undercooked French fries served with an alioli sauce, that was not garlicky and a chipotle sauce — both on the side.
Worse paella I have ever had. Not sure it was rice, or what kind of rice it was.
Service was decent.

I’m so glad I finally got to try The Cellar! It’s been on my Unilocal bookmarked «places to try» list for a long time. I went on a Friday evening with a couple of girl friends and it was the perfect setting. I could also see coming back for a date night. We shared a bottle of wine and had 4 tapas between 3 of us, which was plenty on top of the complimentary bread they give you. We had the fried avocados, papas fritas (which turned out to just be French fries… duh haha), Serrano ham snacks and an asparagus dish. All were really delicious, as was the house red we sipped on. I only snapped a pic of the avocado because we devoured the others too quickly!
The service was very helpful and attentive, plus you feel like you’ve been transported to España with their decos and live Spanish guitarista. And they had awesome smelling lavender hand scrub in the bathroom (for ladies at least)! Overall, I had a great experience and would definitely recommend!

We had a wonderful meal, we selected the citrus lamb, garlic shrimp, and the fried avocado from the tapas menu. We also tried the red and white Sangrias. Yummy flavor combos with fresh fruit. The food and drinks both really good, great flavors and the lamb was cooked to perfection. The service was very friendly and we loved the décor. Highly recommend this place, it’s a great addition to ABQ.

Excellent neighborhood wine bar and tapicería featuring the local and Spanish wines (and artisanal cocktails concocted from them – I love the Ruby Spaniard and the White Sangria) and serving imaginative and absolutely delicious tapas. Don’t leave without having the fried avocado, the figs and bacon, the Serrano ham, or the shrimp.
Located in a well crafted, suitably lit, wonderfully decorated video store cum taverna between Albuquerque’s Old Town and downtown in a neighborhood long infested with attorneys.
I have had three meals here and attended one catered event at the restaurant. They are now on my shortlist of the city’s best caterers as well.
The owner is always present, and the service polite and unobtrusive.
The Cellar is proof that downtown and Old Town remain destinations for adventurous dining, locally brewed beer and New Mexico wines and great cocktails. Do not let the griping or whining of a onetime great baker turned sniveling bankrupt restauranteur distract you from all the that the city’s traditional neighborhoods have to offer.
The Cellar is not inexpensive. Have your lawyer take you. Remember you pay his rent.

What a lovely evening of great music, wonderful food, great drinks and don’t forget the lavender scrub in the bathroom. Not a complaint in the world. Great atmosphere. Attentive service. Just fantastic!!!

Tiny little hidden gem.
Great drinks and great service from a cute awesome bartender.
Incredible food with innovative plating top it off to make this place a great dining experience.

While trying to decide where to go for dinner tonight we came across this little place on Unilocal.Due to the fact that we didn’t want anything too heavy, tapas sounded ideal. At the entrance sat a man playing the guitar and the atmosphere was wonderful, it felt very Santa Fe, but with an urban touch. Our food was amazing I got the gazpacho and he got the fried avocado, we shared a seafood full size paella that tasted amazing and ended with a creamy flan that was to die for. It felt like they thought of every detail from the bread plate they bring to start you off to the lavender sea salt scrub in the restroom, I love places that think of the small details to improve the diner’s experience. Our waitress was very attentive and friendly. This seems like a perfect date night spot, I can’t wait to go back!

Went here a few weeks ago, and I’m willing to cut them some slack since it’s a new business. The tables are too small to accommodate the food – especially for a tapas concept. We spent the whole meal arranging and re-​arranging dishes trying to make space (even had the waitperson take away the candle). I found the prices high for the quality of the food. A friend had a roasted pepper soup that was pretty tasty, but the paella was a total disappointment and the chicken entrée was something that I could have made at home during the week (grilled chicken breast with some asparagus on the side). I really want to like this place because I think downtown needs more innovative dining and other businesses. I hope they can settle in and find their groove.

You feel like you’ve just walked into someone’s (extremely large) kitchen. I love that feeling! Décor is really rustic (super great in my book) but needs a bit of acoustic remediation, aka it gets a little noisy in there. However, it does give the vibe that you are in a very busy urban area eatery. I love Albuquerque but we’re not quite there yet. So to have it feel like that. Yay!
We had tapas and drinks at the bar. The bartender was new but super helpful and pleasant. I had the white sangria and my sister-​in-​law had the red sangria that had hints of pomegrante. Our tapas were delicious — Manchego Frito and the Papitas Bravas. The words nom, nom, nom come to mind. If you are looking for a lovely little spot for a drink and tapas or a different dinner experience… I think this is definitely the place to be.

Perfect to the last bite! We put seven tapas and a salad together to make an exquisite meal. We are on a (almost) carb-​free, sugar-​free diet, so it’s rare that we have so many choices on a menu. And what an exciting menu it was.
We grazed on tuna and salmon, garlic shrimp with a smoky red chile mole, pineapple shrimp, fried avocado (it was to die for!), grilled garlic chicken, lamb salad – I think I’m still missing something – and we chose to have yet another tapa for dessert – figs, pancetta and goat cheese.
Our meal couldn’t have been better! And our server, Mike, was as friendly as could be. I can hardly recommend this place enough.

I was very impressed with this place! The food was absolutely delicious. The flavors were complex and fresh. I love tapas and there aren’t too many places in town that offer it. The atmosphere was laid back and hip and the staff was extremely friendly.

Two weeks in business and yes I have to give The Cellar 5 stars!!! It’s not easy opening a restaurant and yet Gabrielle the owner is doing everything well. Parking was easy, walking in we were pleasantly greeted and when we sat down several servers made sure we were being taken care of. Adrienne our server was friendly and very helpful. She continued to check in after each tapas and served all dishes wonderfully. The wine and beer menu had both local and other yummy choices. We are so excited for this new neighborhood location near old town and downtown. We hope to become regulars!

I work right across the street from The Cellar and have been watching the construction and process go on now for months. I was super excited for it to open because I would pop in here and there and see the progress, and the open kitchen seemed like an awesome idea, plus the staff was always really nice and informative.
So, it opened on Friday, the 19^th of June, and after work my bosses and co-​worker and I headed over. It wasn’t too crowded yet and there was a perfect table for the four of us. When you walk in there’s the open kitchen I was talking about on the left hand side, and directly in front of you is the bar against the back wall. I would say there were about ten tables… maybe a few more. Very intimate setting in comparison to a lot of places, and smiling welcoming staff everywhere!
There were two menus… one for drinks (front and back) and one for food options (also front and back.) The first thing I noticed is what a good deal they had on beer prices. For a little tapa place, I guess I was expecting them to range from 5 – 7, but they were 3 – 5 instead. A blue moon only cost me 3.50, and that’s usually more elsewhere. The other ladies at my table ordered a carafe of red sangria for $ 20. I had a little sip, and it was pretty dry, but paired with the mixed fruits, it was a great blend. I like that stronger flavor to my wine, so I would have really enjoyed it. The ladies seemed to like it a lot.
After our drinks arrived, they brought fresh bread with a creamy spread, and on the table were little bottles of balsamic vinegar and very scented flavorful olive oil. I loved the olive oil; so smooth and a hint of some kind of plant it was soaking in. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was perfecto. Guess you’ll have to try it yourself ;) They also brought little spoons of caramelized onions topped with blue cheese which I found to be strange, but then, I do not care for either of those things. The ladies had their spoonfuls and seemed to enjoy them though! Hey, regardless of my taste buds, it was a nice gesture!
The tapas menu was on the front and entrees on the back. We decided to try different tapas and share, because after all, isn’t that the way to do it? I ordered the Asparagus, and a Garlic Chicken. One woman ordered the Garlic Shrimp. The other ordered the Diablo Shrimp. And the final ordered the Calamari. I would have definitely tried the Manchego Cheese (fried) plate, but unfortunately I was overruled. Next time!
As for pricing, these ranged from 7 – 12 dollars, very reasonable, and pretty good portion sizes. Let’s start with my personal favorite: the Asparagus. It was topped with goat cheese, sitting upon little crostinis, paired with grilled yellow peppers, and the plate was drizzled with a red slightly spicy sauce. A sprinkle of parmesan also covered the plate. I adore asparagus already, so the paired adding of cheese, bread and sweet yellow peppers did me in. Next up was the garlic chicken. This was an interesting one. Our table kind of thought it was shredded beef or something because it was very dark and marinated so well that the chicken pulled apart similar to a shredded beef or pulled pork. After much investigation I’m fairly certain it was chicken though. It was fantastic. The sauce was a little spicy, had definitely soaked into the chicken and gave it a very juicy texture, and as I said the meat was super tender. There were hunks of garlic on the plate too, very soft, not overly potent, and kind of like little bites of mini potatoes. Loved it. So far A+ on the dishes I’ve ordered.
The Calamari was tender, lightly breaded, and chewy. I want to note that I am not the expert on calamari, as this was actually my first bite ever, but I liked it. They paired it with three different dipping sauces, so… flavors galore. The Diablo shrimp was in a nice fiery sauce paired with a creamy tomato paste to balance out the flavoring. The Garlic shrimp was grilled, very juicy, chewy and soaking in a, you guessed it, nice garlic sauce.
Now see, I am not a huge shrimp or calamari person, so for me to like the other dishes was great in my opinion. I would rank them: Asparagus, Garlic Chicken, Diablo Shrimp, Garlic Shrimp, and then Calamari. If I could have transferred the Diablo sauce onto chicken instead, it might have taken número uno.
I would definitely check this place out. Of course they’re new, working out the kinks, etc, but the only issue we had throughout the meal was the heat. With it being over 1000 degrees outside lately, (lol) and the kitchen being open, the heat was really quite a lot. See, their air conditioning unit had an issue, but they have since fixed it, so the temperature won’t be much of a problem in the future I bet. The owner let me know on my way out that they would be open for lunch with soup and sandwiches and whatnot (as well as everything else offered,) so I’d like to check that menu out!