Michael J's Italian-american - Ruidoso

Our food was fine, even great! However, we made reservations at 2:00 as requested on their website! We were seated 2 of us) at a table for 6-while a total of 8 chairs were stacked along the fireplace in front of our table like a storage place). We noted there were several other tables for two and we seem to have gotten the ?rotten/forgotten ? straw of ambiance! Our waiter ?Andy? was great-just felt extremely ?UNDER whelmed? at how we felt at being treated like we were part of the storage overflow!

We had arrived late in the evening to our cabin getaway and wanted to grab dinner and this was one of the few places opened until late and we were so happy we came! I ordered the fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp added and my boyfriend ordered their famous house lasagna! The fettuccine Alfredo was amazing (super light surprisingly). I don?t eat Italian pasta often because it tends to be really heavy but this really hit the spot and was delicious! The shrimp was slightly overly spiced but we just mixed it in to the pasta and it blended it well. My boyfriend LOVED the lasagna. He hasn?t had it in many many months and he said it was amazing! The bread that came out was warm too. I got their minestrone soup and my boyfriend got the Caesar salad which were both amazing too! Loved the romantic ambience of this place! Great place for a date night. Really happy we were able to get a table here relatively quickly an hour before closing.

Recommend you make reservations on the weekend. We didn?t but lucked out and got the last seats in the bar. I thought the food and service were excellent. Our drinks arrived quickly as did the hot bread. Refills were never asked for they just appeared. Wine was cold and tasty. Our food also arrived in a very time manner. The chicken Alfredo was some of the best I tasted.

3 stars bc of location in any larger city it would be 1. So I'm not sure if they ran out of glasses because we were served water in 2 beer glasses. Portion sizes were small for the price...12$ for 4 slices of tomato and 3 slices of mozzarella. My entree was a chicken picatta which was oh so lemon concentratey, it was somewhat edible but the chicken and the sauce were no good. Was like shot of concentrated lemon juice and the chicken looked boiled? I didn't finish it and didn't take it to go...also the chicken was miniscule for a 20$ plate. The garlic bread was AMAZING. very pricey wines. Service was good.

Michael J's is consistently the best dinner available in Ruidoso and I'd highly recommend a visit. We've been repeat customers for years, and while it can be an effort to get a table, it's worth the effort to do so.