One immense pleasure of living an urban life in Albuquerque is the accessibility of the outdoors. I always mention this when people ask why I continue to choose the 505 as my home. Here's a recipe for an amazing day away from it all, bring a date or a friend or an adventurous kid, and tell me another city that offers this kind of experience: Drive the Turquoise Trail up to the crest of the Sandia Mountains, start early, pack a lunch and bring a sweater. You can get there in about 40 minutes. Don't forget to bring a few bucks for the parking spot. Descend from the summit of La Luz trail, you're headed down. Your calves and glutes are gonna hate you, but you'll like the relative ease of the hike and you'll experience a serious shift in climate, you're dropping some 4,000 feet. When you hit bottom, hitch a ride on the tram back to the top, hop in the car, and on your way out hit Lazy Lizard Grill for dinner. Why? The place is exactly what you're looking for: absolutely great local beers, including seasonal and special pours from La Cumbre and Marble; delicious, thin and crispy pizza; artisan, big salads from a dive bar perspective; hefty buffalo wings; and bearded, tatted men manning the tables. Really friendly people. A fascination with Marilyn Monroe(?). Great music, both in-house and live. A terrific view of the country. The kind of ambiance that makes you relax, laugh and eat way, way too much food. I hear they've been around for quite some time, I'm sure they've hurdled some obstacles along the way. What I experienced on Father's Day was exactly what the doctor ordered. read more

This review is specific to the food at the Lizard. The selection of beer and wine is good, and reasonably priced. Unfortunately they don't have a full bar. The food is extremely mediocre and priced very high for the quality. I've eaten there a number of times, gotten a different thing each time, and each time been very disappointed. The options as they're listed on the menu sound like the /could/ be good. Unfortunately they never are. The pizza isn't worth your time, the nachos are some of the worst I've had, the sandwiches (the three of them I've tried) were not good. I can't tell if the problem is the ingredients or the cooks, either way the owner would do well to spend a little bit more money on both, because if the food improved this could be the go-to spot in the east mountains. But beer. That's good. read more

Great wings and home brew! read more

Lazy Lizard Grill - Best wings in NM! No doubt about it. - Pubs Near Me - Cedar Crest, New Mexico

Sorry, I haven't been back since they sold me a growler a week before they ceased carrying the brews to go. And took over an hour to serve a burger. read more

Excellent live Grateful Dead cover band. I sat at the bar and had a terrible server. Once I finally got a menu I had to flag her down to even place my order. I waited 30 minutes for a salad and watched two tables that sat down after me get pizzas before I finally asked someone who looked like the manager if they could please check on my salad. The woman said she didn't work there but would ask and came back and told me the order was never placed. So I asked the server if I could get it to go and ended up waiting over an hour for a very marginal salad. If you are looking for great music and drinks this place is ok, but I would eat somewhere else and don't expect friendly servers especially if you are a solo female traveler. The regulars at the bar got fantastic service but not this tourist. I was ignored and had to get the woman who checked on my salad to refill my water. read more

Fun patio. good pizza and beer. Chelsea our waitress was attentive and made our experience enjoyable. We recommend this restaurant. Thanks for reading. The Bike Chaplain read more

This place is near my brother's in Sandia Park, and I've been several times. A couple of weeks ago, we were passing through on a holiday road trip, and when we arrived, my brother and sister-in-law suggested coming here. What fun! There were six of us, and we had a big table. We had varying dietary needs (vegetarian, gluten-intolerant), and all of us found something. I ordered a mushroom and guacamole burrito, and it was tasty! I had a couple of very reasonably-priced glasses of wine, and everyone enjoyed their food. This is essentially a fun neighborhood pub and restaurant. And to cap off our experience there was karaoke! My husband and I performed "Jackson" on our way out. :) If you're in the neighborhood and looking for a relaxing good time with good food, come on in here! Especially if you have a signature karaoke number! read more

A decent place to grab lunch with friends. Large beer selection, good atmosphere. Food was okay. Nothing spectacular, but it isn't what I was looking for in a small grill. All in all a good experience. We'll be back. read more

Lazy Lizard Grill - Nacho supreme - Pubs Near Me - Cedar Crest, New Mexico

Absolute RIP-OFF! Chips and salsa $4.50...add Guacamole and it's $8!!! Single size pizza was almost $14. Lunch for two came to $43. I'm not usually one to complain about pricing but for these guy's I make an exception! Will never go back, nor recommend. read more

We ordered a quesadilla and potatoes skins, waited an hour food never showed up. Very disappointed.

From beginning to end, top to bottom, everything was phenomenal. As a matter of fact, so good, that his is the first yelp review I've ever left. Bruce, the owner,is a great guy that genuinely cares about the product and quality. Do yourself a favor and have a bite to eat and have one of Their local beers. 5 stars! Keep doing your thing, Bruce! read more

Ok, admittedly, food could be better. I've had really good meals here, and really bad meals. But the beer selection is not only great for the mountians, but honestly better than a lot of bars in Albuquerque! And I've always had awesome service, just super friendly and laid back. The one thing that keeps me coming back is the live music, especially Merican Slang. Just a great neighborhood bar! read more

Cool atmosphere with lots of lizard motifs, and it's a small town neighborhood bar feel that's so close to Albuquerque. A lot of people seem to be locals who know each other there. Very big, very tasty vegetarian sandwich. The pizza is good too, though sometimes it's been a little burnt. Nice staff. You can play pool here too. One downside- don't expect to get your food quickly. read more

We had lunch today at Lazy Lizard Grill. My wife had a BLT while I had the lunch special, pulled pork sandwich. We both enjoyed the quality of the meal as well as the service. We were able to sit outside in the patio area on an 80 degree day. The folks around us were enjoying several different beers so I assume they have good beer here too. We would both return for another meal. read more

Wow, what a surprise. Stumbled on this place as a last-minute dinner before heading up for the sunset on Sandia Crest. We hurried over from ABQ and figured that there would be more restaurants to choose from on this side of the ridge, so chose this among the limited selection. It seems to be great place for locals but we immediately felt very welcome. The bar staff was great and gave us a good recommendation on the King Cobra Pizza. Great combination, as the spinach, chiles, and pine nuts were a nice compliment to the sausage and pepperoni. It was a REALLY good pizza. Salads were also good - try the Green Chile ranch dressing. Be sure to check out the huge chalk board behind the bar where they keep track of people buying their friends beers in advance. If we lived in this corner of the country, my name would definitely be on that wall! read more

Great service this evening. Had not returned after our first visit more than a year ago due to the crazy attitude of our server, but tonight was totally different. Although busy, live music, a table was found after a five minute wait. Good East Mountain atmosphere, laid back, we'll be back! read more

this place rules! the people posting negative reviews are COMPLETELY wrong! Great food (best Ruben ever) Good beer and the pizza is better than anything else you'll find in the area ! read more

Driving through on the Turquoise Trail between Albequerque and Santa Fe, decent BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and beer. Not worth going out of my way for, but if I was passing by again I suppose I'd stop in. read more

Figured since I was in the area to finally give the Lazy Lizard another shot since it had been a few years since my last visit which was simply awful. Not even going to bother getting into details of our lunch except to say the management (Bruce) still doesn't seem to be fully vested in his business except to rake in the money of his fellow East Mountains neighbors at the most expensive price point food wise. Simply bland, plain and frozen-prep served at a high price to you. Excellent beer selection though; if only he would invest in a full time manager & commit to better quality food. read more

Love this place for the music. I've only tried the food a handful of times but it was good from what I remember. Been here twice in the last week 8/11 & 8/17 and the beer has been room temperature. I've notice they keep theie ice in those little red Coleman lunch coolers, so I'm not sure if that is related. I love their selection of beers but I hate that I can only get a few drinks because I just can do do warm beer. read more

Two of my three stars are for the band that was playing in the restaurant (they're called The Deal, check them out!) and the final star is for the ceramic lizard decorations adorning the walls. You'll notice that this leaves no stars for the service or for the food. The wait service was abysmal. Dirty dishes were left on our table for 2 hours after we had finished eating. I asked for a cup of coffee, unaware of the fact that it would take an hour to be brought out and would then taste of torture. I have nothing left to say. I'm astounded. read more

We waited 20 minutes after we got our menus for the waitress to come take our foo and drink order. Another 45 minutes later we received our food, which was cold and the sandwich we got had the paper from the meat packaging still hanging off of it. There was only one waitress working for a packed restaurant. She was completely overwhelmed working the bar and the entire restaraunt. This place is not worth going to until management makes some serious changes. read more

wow.... a baby shower in a bar.... really.. may be time to call cyfd now. owners cursed at me when i complained that their setting up ruiened my meal and relaxation. i was told "fuck you" by the wife and "don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out by the male-- they said they are the owners. there are other optoins ..... close the bar-meaning no money for you during your baby shower, move the shower to a part of the bar that does not impact "customers" or have a baby shower at home list most people do, not at a bar..... time to call cyfd? read more

Unfortunately the online menu is not the same. We thought we would take a nice drive to the east mountains and enjoy a nice lunch. Our family loves a good calzone. When we got our menu, we noticed that the restaurant menu didn't match the online menu. Our calzone was okay but it didn't include ricotta. The main difference between a pizza and a good calzone is the ricotta cheese. It was okay but it wasn't great. The server was friendly and the atmosphere was nice. I don't think it's worth the drive. Might be nice to stop in for a beer if you are in the area but don't go out of your way. read more

I was really excited to go here after hanging out at Sandia Crest, it wasn't busy when I walked in but still managed to take 20 minutes to even be offered drinks, and then witnessing other customers that came in way after I did receive any drinks or food before I was even asked to order. Disappointing. read more

I get to The Lazy Lizard once every couple weeks. I find there is usually a good selection of beers, the food is darn good, and the staff are congenial and the service is quick. I would like to rebut the review by Darren B. where he complained about a plate of nachos. I happened to be sitting across the bar and witnessed the entire episode. His behavior was abysmal, he gave everyone a hard time, and frankly from my perspective it was all about trying to save the cost of a plate of nachos. The cook even offered to pay for his entire tab, beer and all, and that wasn't good enough. Then he tried to pick a fight with an older gentleman at the bar. It was disturbing and disgusting behavior. So don't pay attention to THAT reviewer, for sure. read more

Stopped in for lunch on a Sunday after exploring Sandia Peak. The service was prompt and friendly and the food was so-so. We shared the cheesey bread, my Dad had the chicken caesar wrap (not much chicken per pops) and I had the southwest salad. The atmosphere was a bit loud due to the football game being on and a few kids playing on the game tables. Looks like they have a good selection of beer. read more

My wife and I just got back from the Lazy Lizard. Nice jazz group and the pizza was really good - so good we were thinking of getting our take-home pizzas there in the future. But the service was really poor and when we asked for the tab the server insisted we had had 6 beers (that's 3 each!) instead of the three total we had actually had. She refused to back down so someone else at our table made up the difference. Bummer end to what was going to be a nice evening. We'll never go back. read more

Eh. This place got hyped up to me. It fell a bit short. The sandwiches are huge, but that is not a great selling point when they are also mostly empty. Just gigantic, overly thick bread. The filling tasted good, but I had to cut away most of the bread to taste anything at all. The side is a bag of Lay's chips- actually in the bag. The coleslaw was thick and weird tasting- obviously not fresh. My stomach did not thank me later. Service was terrible. Not even regular bar terrible. Worse than that. We got our order taken by someone who had been there for years, yet seemed confused at the ordering of something that is apparently popular- one of their calzones. It took him an hour to bring waters- after asking many times. It was not busy when we got there, but it took 20 minutes for them to bring three bottled beers and a glass of wine. The Gila Burrito is a total joke. It was 99% tortilla. The other 1% was some cheese and three pieces of chicken. Oh, and oddly sweet green chile. Gross. The red chile on top? Mild and flavorless. Yes, we counted the chicken. The calzone? Yummy. The pizza? Weird. Thinnest crust I have ever seen. Nice topping choices, though. That is a plus. Just get a calzone. Don't be thirsty. Avoid the sugary green chile. I am not a picky eater, but I have had better burritos at Allsups and better chile out of can. I can make a sandwich that actually tastes like something at home. I have never had a bar take 20 minutes to poor a glass of wine. This was a huge let down. I am still sad about it. I want to try again, because I am in denial that somewhere this hyped up is this bad. The calzone is the only thing saving this from a one star review. read more

This is my first Yelp review. My first review on any platform for that matter. But our experience at this little hole in the wall in the east mountains was so atrocious I'd hate for anyone else to waste their evening driving out there from the city. Covid situation aside there is never excuse for rude vile service. We showed up around 5 pm on a Friday night. The place was fairly quiet. We were looking to celebrate an early birthday for me. A couple friends in town had recommended this place based on their food and beer selection. The food was nothing if not amazing. I had a fried fish basket that was unbelievable, still thinking about that fish. My partner had an antipasto salad called the hellbender. It was also just perfect and our other friend had a buffalo burger with green Chile that he raved about. That is all the good that we can say. From what I could tell there were two bartenders serving the tables. They weren't very busy. As soon as we walked in we were greeted by the chef who appeared to be "working the crowd" he told us to sit where we pleased. There was a tall gentleman man that came to our table with menus and took our drink order. He was pleasant enough. Then a short blonde girl brought our drinks, practically slammed them on to the table and without a word turned on her heels and walked away. We were a bit shocked,but as we observed she seemed to make an effort to be extra nice to several of her friends sitting at the bar. Eventually the tall fellow came back and asked if we would like to order. He actually recommended the fish and told us about the special and took time to ask how we were doing. We took a few minutes to decide. The girl came back and used these words. "Do you know what you want yet?" As if WE were inconveniencing HER just by being there. Rather then bother trying to communicate with her I thought it best to tell her we still needed a min and hope the gentleman came back. Then we overheard the girl tell another customer that "I don't give a f*** theyre just gonna be shitty city tippers" The gentleman came back and we ordered....the chef helped deliver the food with the tall gentleman and both were pleasant. We thoroughly enjoyed the food and we're 1/2 way to forgetting the rough start to the evening when the girl walked past our table, didn't slow down or say a word just tossed a piece of paper that turned out to be our bill. Never asked if we would like dessert (which we did because it was an impromptu birthday dinner) or another round (which we also did) or even coffee as my partner did. We decided to cut our losses paid the bill, made sure the gentleman got the tip and left. Such a shame because it seems to have a lot going for it if they can manage to get some good help. read more

We love this place the best pizza I've had make sure to ask for "crispy" The service is not great but it gets the job done that's For sure. I wouldn't get anything but pizza and good beer they could use a beer list beside just kinda written on wall behind the tv and people at a table. Give it a try you won't be unhappy with the pizza and beer. Don't expect 5 or 4 star service read more

The staff is great. But all the food is frozen and and it always comes out cold in the middle or still frozen. And the nachos had barely any cheese and The cheese that was on it wasn't even melted. Good beer but don't eat there. read more

Service is slow and bad. Music is ear-splitting. Much, much too loud. Band seems to think this is amusing. It is not. read more

Awesome little bar on the corner. I tend to go on the quieter nights to shoot some pool. The staff is friendly, the drinks are good, and the pizza is especially good. read more

This place is a joke! For $9.50 i got cold BBQ sandwich (torpedo roll with sliced cold beef brisket soaked with BBQ sauce) and small bag of potato chips!! You can get better food at Shell gas station just across the parking lot. read more

We drove up to the Sandia peak and leaving your car there, walking down and taking the team back up sounds a great idea but be careful, the tram wasn't running because of maintenance. We stopped off at tinker town close to the junction with highway 15 which was great, except we needed a restroom stop and that didn't look good. So we stopped at the lazy lizard, which to our European eyes didn't took very inviting but the food was great, and we ate on the breezy terrace in the shade. Yes we had to wait for the food but it was freshly prepared. Would highly recommend the Lazy Lizard for a snack break. read more

As far as mountain joints go, Lazy Lizard is excellent. They have a great beer selection and fantastic food. Their Calzones and Sandwiches are on point. Really, there are very few bars in the Abq area with food this good. read more

TERRIBLE SERVICE We have been pretty consistent costumers for the past five years. We love the food and beer, but you need to go there knowing service is terrible. The slow service is something we learned to deal with because we enjoy the food, and when we go we are not in any rush. Stopped by Friday for dinner and drinks. There were four couples, a total of 13 people (including Kids). We all arrived different times and service was same as usual; waiting for drinks, half the table would get served while other half would get no attention, the usual. We asked the waitress for our ticket and to separate it between the 4 couples, she replied she could not do that (separate the ticket). We then asked to speak with the manager, Young lady replies she was is manager, very rude and confrontational. She left the table to shortly return toss the ticket on the table and said "you guys figure it out". Sad to say the Lizard lost 13 pretty loyal customers! read more

I have been in this place 3 times, and ate there twice. The food is not horrible, but the nachos supreme I ordered the other night were not great. The cheese was dry and rubbery, and most of the toppings were towards the top and middle,...and sparse leaving a lot more chips than there were toppings to cover them. Also, I ordered mine sans chicken as I don't eat meat ( I usually don't eat any animal products, but no vegan options here, so I was vegetarian for the night) and I didn't get any discount at all. Normally restaurants I've been in knock a dollar or two off when you order without meat. The other meal I had...quesadilla, was pretty good. My son said his food was good. Now that's the food. Let's move on to other things. Five dollars for a bud light? Wow. I don't drink, but my son has a beer now and then. I can see the higher prices for craft beer, but just regular domestic beer? Also, the waitress seemed very sweet but very slow. They weren't that busy when we were there, and there seemed to be a total of two other bartender/waitresses not counting the owner working that evening. She just didn't seem to be on top of things. Bands I've seen there are mediocre. Not horrible but far from great. Sorta fun I suppose though. read more

The people are friendly, there is great music weekend nights, good selection of micro-brews, and quality food choices. Food service is a bit slow, but there's no reason to be in a hurry here. read more