Ammoora — Restaurant in Baltimore

I don't know where to begin as everything was so exceptional. My husband and I dined here last night(12/8/24) for my birthday. It truly was an "experience". First and foremost, the atmosphere is absolutely gorgeous. Starting from the front door, everything is beautifully decorated and lush without feeling pretentious. You feel like you are in your wealthy Mediterranean family member's home lol; I mean that in the best way possible. The color scheme, textures, architectural design, and accent pieces create such a beautiful vibe. We were seated right next to a beautiful fountain not far from the wine cellar. Everyone that interacted with us was so pleasant and attentive.

Our waitress GiGi was the most adorable, attentive, competent, accommodating waitress I have ever encountered with the most magnetic personality and infectious smile and laugh. My husband and I dine a LOT so that says plenty. This was our first time dining here so we had questions and we had a hard time making decisions. GiGi told us that her family is from Greece so she answered our questions and helped us to confirm our cocktail, mezze, entree and dessert choices. I truly enjoyed my tiki cocktail. My husband did not enjoy his old fashioned because he did not know it was so "date" forward. Even though it was called Old fashioned "date" I don't think he realized just how much. No problem at all, GiGi quickly took that away and quickly brought the beer, which he loved.

Hot Mezze we selected was the Mousakhan chicken rolls, Beyti Sujuk rolls, and Knafeh Shrimp. Oh my goodness, all of them were delicious but I must say that we truly enjoyed the Beyti Sujuk rolls; they were phenomenal. For our main course, I had the braised lamb shank and my hubby ordered the Bronzino. Both dishes were perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious. The lamb shank was super tender and full of flavor. I loved the added texture that the pomegranate added to the dish. The bronzino came with the head off but we would have been okay with the entire fish being on the plate. GiGi mentioned that some patrons don't like it so they just don't serve the head. The fish was so flaky, and flavorful but the skin remained crispy even though there was a sauce on the fish; Amazing! Since it was my birthday, GiGi asked if I wanted a dessert surprise or a cocktail surprise. My husband secretly told her the latter lol but my choice was the cocktail anyway. She brought out a glass of a complimentary apple cider wine that I truly enjoyed. I asked her to give me the information so I could buy a bottle and she wrote it down for me. Lastly, we ordered dessert. GiGi recommended the Levantine layers and I ordered the Dubai Chocolate crunch bar because chocolate is my absolute favorite. Both were really good but the Levantine dessert was better. It was flaky and light which is the perfect end to such a decadent meal. During our dining, several people checked on us other than GiGi which was nice. They didn't come too much but just the right amount of times. We were leaving and decided to have one last cocktail at the bar. The bartender was delightful as well. Once he heard it was my birthday, he gave us a complimentary house shot which was fantastic. We will definitely be back for another dining experience at Ammoora. Thank you for making my birthday dinner...

I don't know where to begin as everything was so exceptional. My husband and I dined here last night(12/8/24) for my birthday. It truly was an "experience". First and foremost, the atmosphere is absolutely gorgeous. Starting from the front door, everything is beautifully decorated and lush without feeling pretentious. You feel like you are in your wealthy Mediterranean family member's home lol; I mean that in the best way possible. The color scheme, textures, architectural design, and accent pieces create such a beautiful vibe. We were seated right next to a beautiful fountain not far from the wine cellar. Everyone that interacted with us was so pleasant and attentive.

Our waitress GiGi was the most adorable, attentive, competent, accommodating waitress I have ever encountered with the most magnetic personality and infectious smile and laugh. My husband and I dine a LOT so that says plenty. This was our first time dining here so we had questions and we had a hard time making decisions. GiGi told us that her family is from Greece so she answered our questions and helped us to confirm our cocktail, mezze, entree and dessert choices. I truly enjoyed my tiki cocktail. My husband did not enjoy his old fashioned because he did not know it was so "date" forward. Even though it was called Old fashioned "date" I don't think he realized just how much. No problem at all, GiGi quickly took that away and quickly brought the beer, which he loved.

Hot Mezze we selected was the Mousakhan chicken rolls, Beyti Sujuk rolls, and Knafeh Shrimp. Oh my goodness, all of them were delicious but I must say that we truly enjoyed the Beyti Sujuk rolls; they were phenomenal. For our main course, I had the braised lamb shank and my hubby ordered the Bronzino. Both dishes were perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious. The lamb shank was super tender and full of flavor. I loved the added texture that the pomegranate added to the dish. The bronzino came with the head off but we would have been okay with the entire fish being on the plate. GiGi mentioned that some patrons don't like it so they just don't serve the head. The fish was ao flaky, and flavorful but the skin remained crispy even though there was a sauce on the fish; Amazing! Since it was my birthday, GiGi asked if I wanted a dessert surprise or a cocktail surprise. My husband secretly told her the latter lol but my choice was the cocktail anyway. She brought out a glass of a complimentary apple cider wine that I truly enjoyed. I asked her to give me the information so I could buy a bottle and she wrote it down for me. Lastly, we ordered dessert. GiGi recommended the Levantine layers and I ordered the Dubai Chocolate crunch bar because chocolate is my absolute favorite. Both were really good but the Levantine dessert was better. It was flaky and light which is the perfect end to such a decadent meal. During our dining, several people checked on us other than GiGi which was nice. They didn't come too much but just the right amount of times. We were leaving and decided to have one last cocktail at the bar. The bartender was delightful as well. Once he heard it was my birthday, he gave us a complimentary house shot which was fantastic. We will definitely be back for another dining experience at Ammoora. Thank you for making my birthday dinner...

Ammoora was on my list for a while due to online chatter + the high ranking on Google. Suffice to say, this is 100% a style over substance type of place.

We visited for restaurant week since that allows you to sample smaller portions of more stuff. Every plate had something off kilter that kept me from just enjoying it.

The brussel sprouts were really tasty, but the hummus had WAY too much sesame flavour. Felt like I was eating out of a tahini jar Also, made no sense to me to serve hummus without any sort of bread. 👎 Every other table around us got bread, so I guess the restaurant week menu isn't offered the same treatment?

The arugula/mint were good, but there was way too much halloumi for the greens provided. The "blistered" tomatoes were completely raw, so It was weird that their menu said something different. 🤷‍♀️ The dressed greens ended up being the best bite of the night at least.

My husband got the mixed kabob plate + I got the fish. I judge middle eastern places heavily on their ground meat skewers + the lamb kofta here was offensively dry. If you can't ensure a common staple is juicy/flavourful + require customers to douse it in yogurt, you shouldn't have it on the menu. The chicken was tasty at least, so whoever is handling that portion of their food is doing a good job.

The grouper special with the mushroom "risotto" was equally bad. 🤦‍♀️ The plate was extremely dry + unseasoned. It needed salt or acid or ANY moisture. My husband took out and shared his cacik (yogurt dip) with me. Even then, it wasn't worth it to force myself to eat, so I left half the plate for them to take away.

Their take on that popular knafeh chocolate bar had zero crunch since the filling had yet more chocolate inside. Also, there was unneeded chocolate sauce with it, making it extremely heavy/rich. I liked the yogurt parfait, but my husband wasn't a fan since it was extremely floral, so your mileage will vary with it.

In terms of the vibe, it seemed like everyone was having a good time, but the large tables definitely got all of mgmt's attention. No one ever checked on us to ask how our food was, so I didn't find it worthwhile to mention anything to the sweet young man who was running food to us. I also found it weird that there was a coat check, but no one was checking coats, so we (and everyone else we saw after us) brought coats to our table.

Also, for $50 pp, it was... fascinating watching a table get bussed with wet wipes that were smearing food streaks into the marble tables. After like 10 wet wipes, the dude probably got everything, but Jesus. Just use tablecloths so it's not a drawn out spectacle. 💀

Note: This is a personal gripe for me, but they should serve spoons with every plate. I ended up asking for a spoon twice so I could eat without having to balance things on a fork. 🤦‍♀️

Only reason I'm giving this spot a 2 instead of a 1 is that nothing was outright gross.

TL;DR: unless you want to spend $$$ to check out the decor + say you've eaten in the Ritz building, I can't recommend dining at Ammoora. You're better off grabbing food from a cheaper spot nearby OR driving down to one of the long-standing establishments in...