TL;DR - This place is dope, delicious, and affordable

I went to Ama last Monday and had one of the best experiences at a NY upscale Mexican restaurant to date. I have a life and two jobs, so this is the first I've had time to review OKAY?!?!

Alright, jokes aside, here's the review. Before we get into it, it's important to talk about the rubric; the three categories on which I'm basing this review are: Service, Food, and Pricing.

SERVICE As a Texan, my standards are pretty high. The service was excellent. My friend and I were greeted by the sweetest hostest with the mostest at the door. We walked up to the bar and Mark (I think that was his name...?) made eye contact, asked us how we were, and gave us waters. Everyone there was super aware of the experience that the guests wanted to have, which is important to experience in a restaurant, especially when you're in your 20s. This is not the kind of place to discriminate because you may be young and look like you're not going to 'tip well'. We were treated with so much respect!

Alright let's get to the goods.

FOOD (and DRAAANK) I had the Apricot Cranberry Mule and lemme tell y'all: IT WAS OFF THE CHAIN! The drink chemistry, balance and sweetness were perfect. Def recommend that drink.

As far as food goes, my friend and I had some dope oyster shooters to start that had a marg mix that gave me chills (in a good way, of course). My palate was dissecting the flavor for a bit after we had them, but NOTHING I ate was so invasive on the taste buds that I couldn't enjoy the other foods.

That brings me to the chips and salsa. As a Texan, it's a SIN to make peeps pay for the chips and salsa; HOWEVER, when I was presented with basically homemade corn tortilla plates and the most refreshing homemade salsa I've had in NY to date, I was like, "SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!" The hardest part about making people pay for chips and salsa is the ratio: LEMME TELL YOU THAT AMA HAS THIS DOWN. ON. LOCK.

The chips didn't break in the salsa, even when I ate the leftovers (YES THE PORTIONS WERE THAT APPROPRIATE).

I had two tacos from the very aesthetically pleasing and eclectic taco menu: Carnitas and BLT

I don't know if it was legal or if they got it on camera but there was a PARTY HAPPENING, YALL:

A PARTY IN MY MOUTH.

The flavors were all working together as a team, and the food came out at just the right temperature to eat.

PRICING As I finished stuffing my face like a lady, trying not to seem like a weirdo for loving the food so much, it was time to pay.

Mind you, I was so excited to eat this food I forgot that I'm broke. Like we all are! It's 2018 and NYS taxes make each paycheck the definition of 'mixed feelings'.

I was baffled at my check. Because of how AFFORDABLE it was. I've never been to an upstate restaurant at a downtown location in which the food and drinks were incredibly fairly priced....and you can trust me when I say that because I live in Ithaca: where the bill at a restaurant on the commons is almost as surprising as that NYSEG bill during the winter (womp womp).

Long story boring? I will DEFINITELY be back :)