Amber Restaurant — Restaurant in London

Editing after a second visit: Following my original review below, management have reached out to me personally to apologise, saying that’s not the usual standard of service and inviting me back, to give them another chance. I was offered a £100 voucher. The second visit was great and we couldn’t fault anything - the food was still as amazing as the first time, and the service quality was top tier this time round. Will definitely come back again and recommend the restaurant to my friends.

Original 3 star review: To start off, the food is amazing - reasonably priced for the portion sizes, and very very tasty. The burnt butter was divine (but make sure to order more bread), and the cauliflower was also great. Unfortunately the service wasn’t as good.

First of all, my friend was served an alcoholic drink by mistake when she ordered a mocktail. Luckily she wasn’t pregnant or on medication that interfered with alcohol, but she could have been.

When we sat down, we were informed that the menu is designed as sharing plates, and that we should order 2-3 small plates per person, or 1 medium plate per person. So, as a party of 4, we decided to order 3 small plates, 1 medium plate, 1 side, 2 dips and a bread basket (which fits the recommended amounts, even on the lower end) but then the server said that would probably be too much and we had to take off a dish. If it’s too much then why recommend such an amount in the first place?

We also weren’t informed we need to be careful with some of the extremely hot dishes (the burnt butter to be exact) and unfortunately I burned the roof of my mouth quite badly when trying it.

Our side dish (potatoes) came way too late, after we enquired about it having finished all our other food. So we each had a solitary potato after we finished our main meal.

We also had to ask for tap water refills multiple times, and sometimes the water didn’t come back to us until we asked again.

Finally when we wanted to order deserts, the waiter took our dinner menus out of our hands and brought us smaller dessert menus - where the dessert selection was exactly the same as on the dinner menu. When we asked about this, we were told “they have to bring out the other menus”. It wasn’t an issue per se, but just really bizarre behaviour.

So all in all the food was great but the service was a tad chaotic and irresponsible. I think I expected better from a restaurant that I’ve wanted to go to for a really long time, one that’s rated so highly and charges £20 for...

We had heard many good things about this spot and decided to stop in for an early dinner meal on Sunday evening.

The space is modern, airy and beautifully decorated. Tables are spaced out properly to allow guests to feel comfortable and not cramped while dining.

Unfortunately the server working (Lucia Lux "Lucy") seemed to be in a very bad mood when dealing with us. Despite us being very friendly, polite and respectful through the duration of our visit, at no point was this respect reciprocated. No smile, no manners, nothing. It really seemed like it was an incredible burden to be serving two people eager to spend money and enjoy their time at the business.

Usually in these scenarios, it is appropriate to give the individual a break. Perhaps they are going through personal issues, etc.

The peculiar thing however, was that she was smiling and laughing with her co-workers behind the bar but whenever she would have to come back and make her rounds on the dining floor to interact with us, she would be scowling and at times appeared to actually be angry.

The question needs to be asked: Are the servers being directed to intentionally act rude with customers? From our observations, the answer would be yes. Whatever the direction or issue, it left a horrible taste in our mouths seeing such a juxtaposition in her behaviour when it came to interacting with co-workers vs guests.

We left the restaurant feeling confused and disappointed. Why did the server have such an angry look and demeanour every time she was interacting with us? The situation was so bizarre, the only thing we can possibly think was that Lucy may have been treating us different as we are a mixed race couple.

Note To Ownership: You have a wonderful space here with some tasty offerings. This business has all the keys to success, except proper service. I have spent many years working in the hospitality industry, and simply put, you do not treat customers like that. It's not cool, no matter what the ethos, atmosphere or quality of food is supposed to be like.

Our strong recommendation is to remove the server from her duties immediately and replace with individuals who are happy to do their job and are not prejudice towards customers.

We have always known Turkish people to be extremely friendly, creative with excellent cuisine. This was not our experience...

Review from Sunday, September 25th:

Decided to revisit this place late Sunday after I had apparently came here 3 years ago (I had forgotten!)

Sadly, the miso aubergine, which I why I trekked here from Southeast London, was out, so I had a huge plate of 2 salads and a main: parsnips and carrots, tabouleh and the lentil and bulgur kofte. For £16 it was enormous. The parsnips, drizzled with green tahini, were quite tender but didn’t taste astonishing. Would say decent. The tabouleh on the other hand was quite flavourful and I really enjoyed that. But the star of the plate was DEFINITELY the kofte!! Dense portion sizes, and just a wonderfully moreish flavour with the sumac and pomegranate arils.

I’m negating a star only because service wasn’t great. The servers never smiled, seemed rushed, and no one came to check in how my food was, asked if I wanted anything else, etc. I also had to flag a waiter done initially, otherwise who would have known how long I’d be there waiting. Meanwhile the restaurant wasn’t that busy!

Dog-friendly so a huge bonus for that.

Three years ago:

I ate here for brunch last Saturday and what a treat. First of all the seating/setting is very cool: modern but also chic with polished wood and chrome, but also hanging vines and an open kitchen. Plus the salads and desserts are spread out on a low table for you to gawk at.

I got the avo and kale on sourdough and my god it was amazing. It went far beyond the boring avo on toast as the kale and cauli rice, almonds, goat cheese and herbs were wonderfully mashed together atop the enormous slice of toast. Wonderful flavours of spiciness, sweet and savoury. I ate it all. The chai latte I got as well was creamy and frothy with the perfect taste of cardamom and nutmeg.

I also got the veggie quiche and the miso banana aubergine, pumpkin and carrots and parsnips salads for takeaway. The slice of quiche was HUGE and filling for lunch a few days later. The mix of salads was fantastic: similar great blend of flavours.

I would love to return here again. Defo a...