We are new to the area and live nearby. We decided to try Ambar after reading some of the glowing reviews and because they had outdoor seating. Unfortunately, our experience was not a good one.
To start with, the high cost of the SMALL plates...(by design) makes it a no-brainer to order the "Ambar Experience," and all-you-can eat of dishes on the menu with the exception of drinks and dessert. We started with our server's recommendations - "everything is delicious," but "get the asparagus, the fried chicken, the drunken mussels, the cheese pie..." We did, along with the slow roasted lamb, and several others. The food was average, at best. The service was OK... servers cleaned up quickly, but apparently (according to our server) part of our order was lost or miscommunicated so that we sat there for about 20+ minutes with no food arriving after we had already begun our meal.
The biggest issue is as we were having the last of our dishes, a couple with a VERY large dog (part mastiff, part labrador, part something else the owner told the host) was seated next to us. We heard the owner say "we rescued him about 6 months ago," and that "he loves waiters. But when you deliver the food, be sure to hold it up high.") In fact, after our chicken skewers were delivered to our table and my husband went to try one, the dog jumped up, put his paw on my husband's leg, and went for the chicken. Luckily, my husband was not hurt. The owner offered to pay for our meal, but the damage was done, and we paid our own bill and left.
Our bill came to $100+, and we will NOT be back.More