Ambiente Tapas Hull — Restaurant in Great Britain

Loved the place. It's not very well signed, so easy to miss. We called in around 6:30 without a reservation, and tried our luck. Despite it being busy, we were accommodated. The staff were as impressive as the food. Reasonably priced, and definitely a place to return to.

Follow-up review.... Having been here in the past, and staying around the corner, we called ahead to see if we could get a table. We were confirmed we had a table, which would give us about 30 mins after we arrived at our accommodation. We arrived at the restaurant, and there appeared to be some confusion. The waitress was trying to find where we was being seated. The manager was stood a few feet away, all the time, but didn't get involved. Eventually we were led to some bar seats, so I asked if this was our table, and was told it was. I said we'd booked a table, and the waitress tried to accommodate us. At which point the manager jumped in and said that's all they had, and said we'd booked late. Not once did he speak to us, no apology, not even acknowledgement - absolutely appalling behaviour. I explained to them we weren't perching for our meal, and left.

Despite the manager making out to his staff it was our fault for booking late, we had our booking confirmed on the phone, and after we left I found we'd had a voicemail whilst at the accommodation before arriving from the staff at the restaurant saying they'd made a mistake and so had to move us.

Knowing their mistake, the manager should have stepped up, apologised, and considered customer service, and what else could have been done, such as offering us a reservation for the following night. As it is, what was such a great first visit, is now irrelevant because of one person -...

Decided to go here for a special birthday lunch having read rave reviews, but left feeling a bit confused. It seems the menu reads with a Catalan influence, but it doesn't deliver on even the basics in terms of Spanish flavours and appears to be "fusion" without owning up to it; for example serving steak from the Josper oven with Chimichurri and Lamb with cashew nut paste or aubergine with spiced chicken peas, none of these are flavours you expect from tapas. The food was ok, but nothing to rave about (except the salt & cumin belly pork, which was really good). Everything was a little under seasoned and they recommended 3-4 dishes per person, but the size varied enough to mean that the right combination of 3 dishes would be more than enough for one. In total with 8 dishes and 2 soft drinks we spent £50 and left feeling lighter in our pockets, but no fuller in our bellies. Also, it would be nice to get something other than aioli as a dip, 3/8 dishes we chose came with a huge spoon of it on the side, but it was just a gloopy garlic butter, not very appetising. Other gripes; no serving spoons brought with the food, being given the "intro" twice by two different servers, meaning we had to repeat ourselves about not having any allergies, knowing what tapas is as a concept etc. Oh and no salt and pepper pots? When I asked for black pepper I was fetched a bowl with course ground pepper in it, as though it had been poured out of a container in the...

We (two couples) went for lunch and enjoyed every minute. As there was 4 of us we had quite a selection of Tapas and ordered some extras during the meal as we enjoyed them so much. The Patatas Bravas, though a staple, were superb and deserved a second plate bing ordered, as were the Gambas (battered prawns with a garlic dip). We also tried the chorizo and potatoes that arrived in a thick black fennel based sauce that was like molasses but sweet and reminiscent of Pernod -delicious. We also had the chicken and chorizo skewers with couscous, the salmon croquettes, mushrooms with manchego crust (we ordered more), Calabaza con Queso Azul (butternut squash), beef short rib (Costello con Oloroso) and meatballs in tomato and olive sauce (Albondigas con tomate )were all fantastic. The Pancetta de Cerdo con Chipotle was liked by most of us but the Mejiliones (mussels) were lightly flavoured so should have been eaten first as the other stronger meals overpowered them - we’ll know for next time. I had the Estrella beer but the ladies had a Sherry and lemonade pitcher with mint and lime (Rebujito) which was very summery and easy to drink. The staff were great - it helped that we were there alone though tables were prepared for other guests. All-in-all a great meal, very...