AMBAR Restaurant, Clarendon — Restaurant in Arlington

Terrible customer service, terrible management, lackluster plating, terrible and very unappetizing food. Restaurant management became complacent because of their great reviews but I am here to say that it was one of the worst restaurants I have ever been in and I've encountered alot especially with food poisoning.

Its mothers day weekend, and my mother in laws birthday. We were really excited to try Ambar as I've been wanting to go here for a long time. I've looked at Google, Yelp, Opentable for reviews and all were over 4 Stars...Yes, over 4 Stars so you can see where my disappointment is coming from because everyone is raving about this place and the foods posted by Ambar alone was enticing.

I make a reservation for 4:30 and get there promptly. There were plenty of seats, as there were probably 5 parties in there but we weren't seated for another 20 minutes. There was some sort of mix up with my reservation and I had to show the hostess my reservation email 6 times and had to repeat my name several times. Next time, just tell them your phone number to avoid prolonged confusion on their part. We were lead to be seated in the darkest part of the room so I asked for a booth to be more comfortable. The hostess obliged and lead us by the windows.

We were seated and were handed the menu. We were looking at reviews and pictures posted by other customers and based off of those, we made the decision to order the drunken mussels,rainbow trout, and boar burger. Now, we were thinking of looking at how our food will come which will determine whether or not we'd upgrade our meal to the $35 which means we'd be able to basically try the menu similar to a buffet, however, if one person in your party does that, everyone will be charged $35, which I am well aware of, because restaurants like KBBQs do that.

Then the food started coming- all unappetizing... first was my husband's boar burger that had two very dried up meat that looked like brown leather belt with green pesto sauce on the side...that's it. The rainbow trout came and it had two trout side by side atop this sorry mush of potatoes. It looked like it was microwaved and was let bubbled in vinegar. The mango salsa on top of trout tasted artificial as if the acidity came from an old lemon that came in a plasticy bottle. There was no color to the fish but they also managed to make it taste like the potatoes, mush. Then my drunken mussels came...that was the straw that broke the camel's back. There were five pieces of mussels in a bowl swimming in what looked like and tasted like milk. I was so unimpressed with everything and I was done.

Our server comes and I told her that I am disappointed with the food and she takes away the food. The manager then comes and says he heard about what happened and I told him about the wait and the food and he said, well you cant compare to the reviews online because they put filters. I said "You guys put those photos up not the customers". So instead of trying to make it right this manager made excuses and said I cant compare the food that they'll serve to the photos they've uploaded themselves nor one's that previous customers had.?! His demeanor and lack of customer service is concerning. I just wanted a great birthday and mother's day for my mother in law but away we received was unappetizing food and the worst customer service I have eve had and I worked in customer service and retail for over 10 years. Needless to say I will not be...

In summary: I've visited this location and the Capital Hill location once each. While I can recommend it for a weekend brunch experience, I would hesitate to recommend it for a la carte dining due to the lesser service quality.

Here's the detailed account:

We attempted to secure a reservation for a party of 7 the day prior. I booked a reservation for Saturday at 12:15 PM for 4 people and had a friend make a reservation at 12 PM for 3. We reached out to the restaurant via OpenTable to inquire about merging the two high-top tables, and they agreed.

We arrived at 11:50 AM, and the hostess, whose name I didn't catch (no name tag and short hair), displayed impoliteness. She scolded us for not reserving a table for 7, although we explained that we couldn't make such a reservation online. We had two reservations and communicated through the app, but she kept interrupting, insisting we should have called to book. While I understand her frustration, I was unhappy with the constant interruptions and a lack of attention to our situation.

Our server waited until our entire party was present (we were six in total, as one person canceled last minute, which was fine) to take our order. He presented the Brunch Experience menu, and when I requested the Lunch Experience menu, he simply said it wasn't available without providing an explanation. I assumed that on weekends, it was either the Brunch Experience or a la carte, which I might have missed on the website. However, he never mentioned the a la carte option, whereas at previous visits, we were always asked about our preference for the Experience or a la carte.

We decided to order a la carte, and it took some time for him to return to take our orders, which was understandable given our larger group. However, during the order-taking process, he made a remark: "you have to order SOMETHING," just as the first person was about to place her order. Regardless of whether he meant it as a joke, it wasn't appreciated. He also continuously pushed the Experience, claiming it was essentially the same. However, the Brunch Experience costs $42.99 per person, making it $257.94 for a party of 6. While it can be worth it if everyone is very hungry and wants the 99-cent drinks, some of us weren't that hungry, and one person had a workout after the meal and didn't want to overeat. With the Experience, you can't take any leftovers home, as it offers unlimited small plates, whereas a la carte allows for takeout.

Our bill amounted to $110.50, with an automatic 20% gratuity for large parties, resulting in a total of $145.86. We saved $112.08 by choosing a la carte, and every member of our party left satisfied.

In conclusion, if you opt for a la carte dining instead of the Brunch Experience, be prepared for a less satisfying dining experience.

As for our food ratings:

Cheese Pie: 3/5 Meat Pie: 4/5 Beef Prosciutto Benedict: 4/5 Smoked Salmon Benedict: 5/5 Mini Burger Sliders: 2/5 (burnt, long wait) Cevapi 'Balkan Kebab': 3/5 Cinnamon Sweet Truffle Sourdough: 4/5 (served with 6 pieces, similar to cinnamon sugar donut holes with Nutella) Mac & Cheese: 4/5 Kale Caesar Salad*: Ordered but never served, fortunately not charged. Urnebes*: Inquired, but not found on the server's device; he promised to check but never did. We didn't press the matter as we had sufficient food. **Two drinks were ordered, but I couldn't locate them on any online menu, including the a...

I would have to say that while Eastern European cuisine in general is not my favorite, Ambar won me over with their interesting assortment of dishes served tapas style so you sample many different flavors and textures with very low commitment. The cocktails were another story, and the results on dessert were mixed but overall a very solid experience.

If you order "the Ambar experience" for $45 (just do it), you can order small plates of anything on the main menu (except drinks and dessert of course..) and once you get going, they're literally slinging the plates on your table and you sometimes feel like you're falling behind like Lucy on the chocolate conveyor belt (if you're under 40, please look up the reference on YouTube).

The standouts were the:

Ajvar (roasted pepper & eggplant relish) spread Lamb Lasagna (Marcho Farms lamb / eggplant / tomato béchamel & dill) Cevapi ‘Balkan Kebab’ (house-made Wells Family Farm beef sausages served with raosted pepper & feta cheese emulsion) Smoked Sausage (house-smoked pork sausage Ambar mustard / cabbage slaw) Stuffed Pepper (local harvest bell peppers stuffed with house-ground Wells Family Farm beef and raisin rice, served with creamy dill sauce) Cheese Pie (crispy phyllo dough / aged cheese roasted pepper cream / yogurt) Meat Pie Pork Neck (miso-mustard tarragon sauce / peanut & bacon crumble / potato gratin) Meatballs (house ground Wells Family Farm beef / bacon / gouda cheese / chili flakes / tomato sauce) Pepper Croquette (herb-panko coated marinated piquillo pepper, stuffed with kajmak and aged sheep cheese / cranberry chutney)

Honorable mentions for the: Garlic Beans (smoked roasted peppers & pickled jalapeno) spread Fried Chicken (24-hour marinated chicken breast / panko-almond crusted / apple-wasabi slaw) Balkan Salad (tomatoes / onions / cucumbers / peppers / sherry vinaigrette / balkan cheese) Chicken Skewers (24-hour brined and marinated overnight in spicy ajvar / pickled vegetables / kajmak sauce)

And these I'd say you should pass on, they were not memorable and fairly flat:

Sarma ‘Pork Belly Stuffed Cabbage’ oven-baked for eight hours with root vegetables with rice and smoked peppers Brussel Sprouts (crispy bacon / lemon-garlic yogurt)

As for dessert, the award-winning Forest Gnocchi (chocolate mousse / bitter orange cake / ground chocolate / orange gelee / taragon / gnocchi / passion fruit espuma / black tea sauce) was phenomenal, but on the other end, the Nougat Cake was pretty disappointing.

Cocktails are mediocre, not their strong suit. They try a little too hard to blend in Balkan elements to traditional cocktails and more often than not, the experiment doesn't really pan out.

Service wasn't the warmest, but professional and competent and the recommendations were generally on target.

Oh, and they have leaky condensation from the room due to the A/C, so expect a few drops on the table during your meal, or bring...