AMBER — Restaurant in Montreal

We showed up right at 5PM for their weekday happy hour deal: order any main and get 50% off appetizers and drinks. For real, that kind of deal in Montreal feels like a unicorn. Bonus? It’s BYOB! Bring your favorite bottle or try their mocktails—surprisingly bold and worth it.

Mocktail highlights: 🍍 Ginger Pineapple Fusion – Bright, zesty, and just the right kick. 🥭 Mango Virgin Mojito – Sweet, tropical, and super refreshing. Perfect sidekick to all the spicy bites.

What we ate (and loved): 🥟 Chana Samosa – My MVP appetizer. Think crispy samosas loaded with spiced chickpeas, yogurt, and tangy chutneys. Like Indian nachos, but better. 🫓 Keema Naan – Fluffy naan stuffed with spiced ground meat. Tasty, but I’d ask if they could make it spicy next time! 🫓 Cheese Naan – Fluffy naan with cheese inside 🫓 Garlic Naan – Delicious with the butter chicken 🤤 🍗 Chicken Pakoras – Crispy, juicy, would love a little hot sauce with it. 🥗 Paneer, Tomato & Mango Salad – Gorgeous and fresh but a bit mild flavor wise. Wanted a bit of crunch or spice to round it out.

Main dishes = full flavor mode: 🍛 Butter Chicken – Creamy, rich, and total comfort food goals. 🍤 Shrimp Karahi – Light, flavorful, and packed with peppers and onions. 🍖 Lamb Biryani – Fragrant rice, tender lamb, and cozy spice. Everything you want in a biryani. 🔥 Mixed Grill Platter – All the tikka you could want—chicken, lamb, malai, and seekh kababs. Juicy and sizzling. Perfect for sharing (or not).

Sweet ending: 🍮 Cardamom Crème Brûlée – Dreamy custard with a toasty caramel top and that warm cardamom hug.

The vibe? Cozy, colorful, and full of personality. The staff handled our giant order and many questions with patience and smiles. This spot is perfect for date night, squad dinner, or spoiling yourself midweek.

💡 Foxy Tip: Bring a bottle, ask for extra spice if that’s your vibe, and don’t skip the chana samosa.

— Visited as part of a social media collaboration. This review reflects my...

First things first, nice and cozy ambiance we went there for a dinner as a group of 10, so review is based on more than handful opinions and from my POV being a chef. luckily we made a reservation (always recommended) relatively new place so can pass on professionalism from staff (why professionalism? because this is not an average priced, it is high priced, fine-dine and also felt like staff was bit under experienced) also they lacked a bit of coordination between their waiter and waitress, though being short staffed they tried till they drop to serve everyone and appreciation on that but we luckily had 2 server on our table and both did their best and i fell that created mismanagement, or it was just that they didn't expected to be that busy on that particular day also resulted in waiting around 45-50 minutes for the order adding to that they miss managed our order, instead of following a sequence of APPETIZERS and then MAIN COURSE, we had everything all together at once, due to which a lot was wasted and lot of it we had to have it for too go. food wise i'll pass on garlic naan (as dry as sand, should use some ghee or butter to make it fluffy and nice) and chilly paneer, but dal makhani and Tandoori paneer (as soft as a cloud) was finger licking bit pricy when weighted in terms of taste and service, but i am pretty sure that they will look into this and will bounce back with a bang along with proving me wrong on my next visit (only on taste and service, i will be fool if i expect them to prove me wrong on prices too😅) else had a great time and filled ourselves till the brim and just casually requesting if they can stay open till late...

UPDATE: It has been many years and many more visits to Amber since I wrote my original review (below)... And still I feel compelled to add that Amber is more than a spectacular Indian/Pakistani restaurant. It is more than its fantastic food. Amber is... well... a (and yes, I know how silly this sounds... smile) a happiness experience! The staff, the decor, the insanely perfect food... Again we left the restaurant so content and... happy! ❣️

ORIGINAL: We "tried" to walk by this restaurant on our way home last week, but the food, the spicey smells, forced me back to the open window. We made a reservation for last Saturday night and... wow... Perfection.

There are a lot of Indian restaurants in this area, but the quality and flavours and... everything here excelled. The one other bonus? The staff. They too were the best!

Thanks to you Amber for a really great evening! See you again soon!

Seven months later, and...

OMG!!!

We have been traveling, and... We finally went again!! For the umpteenth time!!

smile

This time? Still amazing!

I was a volunteer in Himachal Pradesh, and had the amazingly good fortune to (literally) live on Auntiji's incredible cooking. So, needless to say, I am incredibly spoiled... But Amber? It absolutely blew me away again... AGAIN!

This is fabulous Indian cuisine. Seriously fabulous. The ONLY thing to come close to rivaling the food is the service. The staff are so wonder-full...

I've been so fortunate as to have travelled in India a few times, and still... Amber is a "how do I stop myself from going there again?" restaurant. Seriously check it out. You will not be...