Santa Fe Cafe

Hilton Head Island, United States

3.9

Closed now

20 reviews

Accepts Credit Cards

Contacts

QR code, vCard

Telephone:
+1 843-785-3838
Website:
www.santafehhi.com
Address:
807 William Hilton Pkwy Ste 700, Hilton Head Island, SC, 29928
Nearby public transportation stops & stations:
1 miBeach Shuttle
Categories:
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Bussiness info

Takes Reservations
Yes
Delivery
No
Take-out
Yes
Accepts Credit Cards
Yes
Good For
Dinner
Parking
Private Lot
Bike Parking
Yes
Wheelchair Accessible
Yes
Good for Kids
Yes
Good for Groups
Yes
Attire
Casual
Ambience
Casual
Noise Level
Average
Alcohol
Full Bar
Outdoor Seating
Yes
Wi-Fi
No
Has TV
Yes
Waiter Service
Yes
Caters
No

Today

Today 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Closed now
Local time (Hilton Head Island) 04:02 Wednesday, 16 July 2025

Business hours

Monday 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Tuesday 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Wednesday 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Thursday 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Friday 11:30 am – 2:00 pm
5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Saturday 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm
Sunday 5:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Description

Specialties

Santa Fe Café captures the spirit of New Mexico. Dine in the warmth of white washed adobe walls, fireplaces, vigas and Bancos. Its elegant yet casual, cozy atmosphere exudes a charming backdrop for the authentic yet innovative southwestern cuisine.

For a truly enchanted evening, dine under the stars in our open-​air, climate controlled Rooftop Cantina complete with an oak fire in our Adobe Chiminea and unwind to live music from our Ranchero Guitarista Wednesday through Saturday nights.

History

Established in 1984.

We bring the very best of Southwestern culture and cuisine home to the Lowcountry. Our menu has been an Islanders’ preferred dining spot for over 20 years and with dishes like our famous grouper, to our bone-​in cowboy cut black angus ribeye, our outrageous chimichanga to even lobster fajitas, we’re sure to have a few favorite waiting for you. From the sounds of the live Ranchero guitar player to the smells rising from our mesquite grill, Santa Fe Café is a much welcomed reprieve for the senses. Even when you’re outside underneath the stars on our Rooftop Cantina, we’ve got you covered.

Meet the Manager

Marshall S.

Manager

With unique cuisine and tenured servicers, Santa Fe Café will always prepare you a memorable meal and experience. We love seeing the local community gather for great food and great music.

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20 reviews of Santa Fe Cafe

No registration required
Place rating: 5
Bloomfield Hills, MI
My husband and I celebrated our anniversary at Santa Fe Café and enjoyed our meal and the service by Alissa immensly.
We shared the Sopa Azetca (tortilla soup) as an app which was delicious.
The filet mignon fajitas were perfectly prepared and delicious and the grouper entrée was flavorful and original.
The recommended wine and margaritas were great with our meals.
We dined rooftop and had a wonderful time.
Thanks to the chef and our amazing server for a stellar evening and meal.
We will be back!
Place rating: 5
Adams, TN
My family and I ate here a few days ago and the food is exceptional. I loved the Scallops Santiago. The scallops were just like butter! You should definitely try this hidden gem in Hilton Head! We will be back!
Place rating: 4
Johnson City, TN
Our family’s second visit to this place. We love the guacamole and salsa and chips. Tortilla Crusted Salmon that comes with a spring salad is to die for. My husband prefers the ribeye burrito to the shredded beef burrito. This place is the most expensive of anywhere we’ve visited on HHI. Call ahead for rooftop seating (we didn’t).
Place rating: 1
Baltimore, MD
Chicken fajitas were terrible. Unseasoned. Chicken was bone-​in (that’s a thing??) Salsa from a can.
Place rating: 4
Mooresville, NC
Had dinner in the rooftop bar and the bartender was friendly, easy going and made me feel relaxed. The ceviche was tasty and served in a nice chilled glass and the baked grouper was good with an unusual chipotle parmesan crust. The grouper dish portion was a bit small for $ 30.
Live music was played by a solo Spanish singing guy on a guitar.
Not your usual Mexican fare that’s for sure and I would go back in a minute.
Place rating: 4
Pittsburgh, PA
Great atmosphere. Friendly staff. I got the prime rib burrito and it was big, beautiful and very tasty. I totally recommend this place.
Little tip: If you want to sit on the roof top you have to make a reservation.
Place rating: 4
West Des Moines, IA
Food was great. The guacamole was a huge portion. The patio was enjoyable with live music that started at 7. Stay away from the tamale as it was dry. Only complaint was that the price was high for New Mexican cuisine
Place rating: 5
Joplin, MO
We really enjoyed the service, food and atmosphere here. The food was really good and the we loved the outdoor patio!
Place rating: 4
Montville, NJ
One of out favorites. We come back to Santee Fe whenever in Hilton Head. Fantastic SW food, love the rack of lamb black and blue.
Place rating: 2
Manhattan, NY
I understand supply and demand –especially at a touristy place like Hilton Head– but there’s a line and Santa Fe Café has undoubtedly crossed it. $ 24 for mediocre fajitas? $ 19 for three average shrimp tacos? Come on! The atmosphere is and ambiance are sub par and our food took way to long to arrive. All in all, I felt completely ripped off. If the quality had been there I would’ve easily chalked it up as a justifiably higher priced tourist area restaurant, but unfortunately that simply is not the case.
Place rating: 4
SoMa, San Francisco, CA
Returned last night with friends. Started at upstairs bar which is a nice spot and the Cadillac margaritas were a good choice. Then went downstairs for dinner. We had the painted dessert soup which was fantastic in both taste and presentation. The cowboy cut 32 oz ribeye steak was cooked to perfection and tasted the same. The quail was stuffed and sweet with a perfect glaze. Server was nice, attentive and got everything right. Would recommend this place if your a local or visitor.
Place rating: 5
Sebastopol, CA
Their painted desert soup is a favorite of mine! I wish I could order it everywhere! I also love their scallop dish! And their guacamole is also delicious!
Place rating: 4
Ann Arbor, MI
First time back to this Southwestern gem in several years, we arrived for an early dinner and asked to be seated outside on the roof. The thing I always notice about the Santa Fe is the sweet smell of Mesquite as soon as you walk in the door.
With no hesitation, we ordered Lux Margaritas and a crock of the Santa Fe’s fresh guac and chips… a great start.
Tara, our server, was super accommodating as we enjoyed our cocktails and took our time perusing the menu.
At Tara’s suggestion, my wife ordered the restaurant’s most popular dish — the Grouper Chipotle Parmesan Au Gratin with Spanish rice and Southwestern Veggies. It was expensive at 30 bills but was unbelievably good! As Tara said, that dish takes this popular salt water fish to a whole new level… and it certainly did for us.
I stuck with the Mexican fare ordering the Santa Fe Plato Combination. It had outstanding original Southwestern favors intermingled among the Chili Relleno, the Sweet Corn Tamale and the Wild Mushroom Cheese Enchilada… a really great dish!
We will definitely be back again as our travels bring us back to the low country of South Carolina.
Place rating: 3
Raleigh, NC
The food is a bit pricey, but very good.
Per other’s reviews, we tried the GUACAMOLE, PAINTED DESERT SOUP (a creamy corn and red pepper soup with mole), and the OUTRAGEOUS CHIMICHANGA (wrap with beef, chicken, black beans, cheese, sour cream, onions and tomatoes fried and served with red and green chili sauce). We also tried the BBQ CHICKEN TACOS (marinated chicken in a flour tortilla with tobacco onion rings and southwestern coleslaw). These dishes were all awesome, I highly recommend them all.
We also got a side of the RED CHILI ONION RINGS (lightly spices onion straws). These were good, but would have been better with some kind of sauce.
The restaurant is quite noisy when full, so it was hard to hear each other even at our four top that was in the corner.
The service was sparse; not sure if they were short handed that night, but our waitress was covering the bar and five tables on a busy Friday night… A bit too ambitious to provided quality service.
If I was only rating the food here, this would be an easy four star.
Place rating: 4
Knoxville, TN
I’ll make this short and sweet, the BEST grouper dish on the island. My father got it and I was jealous.
I had the shrimp Diablo special which was also good but super spicy, so be forewarned.
The painted desert soup was surprisingly delicious and beautiful to boot!
Definitely recommend!
Place rating: 3
Louisville, KY
On our 30th annual vacation to Hilton Head, we found this place, which we had never seen or considered (how? It’s right off 278 and visible from the street…)
Anyhow, most of our party of 7 loves all things Mexican or tex mex or any variety thereof, so we gave it a spin.
We were seated pretty close to our reservation time, after they shimmied a round table and a square table together. Simply stated, the waitress was way too busy to take on a party of 7. She greeted us after several minutes. She ran several tables’ food before taking our drink orders, etc. but she was pleasant, so there’s that.
Apps came out before drinks, but I suppose that’s understandable, salsa and queso is easier than 6 margaritas and a glass of wine. We ordered our food as the margaritas came out and honestly it felt like it took ages for the food to come out. Another staff member brought it out, which is fine, but my grandmother’s fajitas probably took 4 – 5 minutes longer than the rest of the family’s entrees. Not perfect.
Fajita portion was small, but reported to be tasty. The pork chops were great, according to my dad, and I had a shrimp Diablo special that was so spicy (great for me! But take their «spicy» label to mean just that) and I loved it! It wasn’t all that big, but more than enough for me. Boyfriend’s chimichanga was huge! And good quality. The salmon was beautiful and very good.
All in all, it was not a restaurant I’ll be dreaming about in the future but it was fun to try.
Place rating: 5
Chester, VA
Second time in a year. Food was amazing. Prices are fair. You have to get the Chimichangas!!!
Place rating: 4
Chicago, IL
The food: 4⁄5. We started with guac, queso and salsa. Generally, I have low expectations for complementary salsa, but it was surprisingly flavorful. Guac portion was smaller than I expected, but it was also good. I ordered their house special grouper, and while the fish was very moist, the crust was a little too thick and greasy for my taste. The side of rice and veggies was
very good. For dessert I got Kahlua mousse which was great but also rich, so one order is probably better to be shared. Margaritas were nice and strong.
The service: 5⁄5. The service was attentive and always there when needed. The place itself is very cute with an outdoor patio and live music. It would make a great location for a celebration or a romantic date night.
Overall: 4.5÷5. A solid dinner option for Mexican food and/​or seafood.
Place rating: 4
Hilton Head Island, SC
Ate there three nights ago. I got the jambalaya and my wife got the steak fajitas. She thoroughly enjoyed the fajitas, and stated that she’s never had such tender meat in a fajita. The jambalaya was fantastic. Definitely had some heat to it. I liked that. The churros were a bit lack luster, unfortunately, however the presentation was fantastic. Lastly, I had the painted desert soup. It tasted good, but the presentation was a work of art. I was quite impressed. Definitely on the pricey side, but I think it was worth it.
Lastly, the service was fantastic!
Place rating: 3
Cincinnati, OH
Hide yo children! Hide yo wives! Hide yo wallets!
Decent Mexican fare and nice atmosphere but too pricey for what you get. For the quality/​quantity of food you get the price point needs to take a step or two down. We started off with the app sampler and were disappointed on the flavor. There was none. The crab cakes were by far the best part of it and they were tiny. Next we split the shrimp fajitas which were pretty good. It comes with 6 large shrimp which is plenty for the 4 tortillas they give you.
The previous paragraph is just as blah as the food we got. No flavor, no style, no substance.
On a positive note, the service was great, the atmosphere was nice and there’s live music outside.