Atmosphere, history, and location combine with good food and good service to bring you the best restaurant in Santa Fe. I've often read the phrase, "La Fonda is Santa Fe". Now I know what it means. On your way to La Plazuela you walk up the stairs from the street past paintings of pueblos through a lobby crowded with shoppers, hotel guests, and others just there to gawk at everyone else. You glance down the long hallway toward the shopping arcade and you enter the restaurant with live plants growing everywhere including a tree. There is a waterfall and pond. A two-story atrium boasts a balcony above so those on the second floor of the hotel can look down upon you while you eat. Eating is quite an event here with decorative touches everywhere including glass wall tiles with pictures etched into them. The tables are made of thick solid wood. They don't wobble of shake. The chairs are carved of solid wood, too, and can be quite heavy. Some have leather seats, others are made of stuffed hand-woven material. You feel as if you are sitting there in Santa Fe's storied past illuminated by wall sconces turning the pages of the detailed menu, deciding what to order. Shall it be a chicken salad or just ice cream or sorbet with mint leaves? Expensive? Of course! What would you expect at La Plazuela? Save your dollars before you come here. My favorite detail? I've included it as a photo: a wall tile of a bear surrounded by flowers.