Ambli Kitchen & Bar — Restaurant in Colorado Springs

DELIVERY DOESN'T MATCH AMBITION OR PRICE

It's rare that a pricey restaurant fails to deliver an enjoyable dining experience. Alas, Ambli Global Cuisine is one of those restaurants.

After a quick check of reviews, we make the unfortunate decision to try the restaurant out. The menu looks fun, and the restaurant gives a new-American cuisine vibe.

We arrive 45-50 minutes before closing and are greeted with "the kitchen closes at 9." Little did we know that this would be oft repeated throughout our dining "experience."

When seated, we again get reminded that the "kitchen closes at 9" and that part of the menu isn't available. OK, weird but we can deal, there's lots of time. Or so we thought.

A nice waiter (Ian) comes to take our orders, wine is discussed, and off we go. Two Filet Mignon Tartare and the Shared Global Samplers Mediterranean. Costly but it'll be good, right?

A good 10 minutes wait for the mineral water and the high-end wine. It seems that we'll make do with some tap water for a while.

Eventually, drinks arrive and a bit later, the tartare is served. A mush of “Cornichon, roasted garlic dijonnaise [sic], fried serrano and capers, truffle oil, chives” served on a square bed of “crispy rice.” OK, this might be interesting. But it's terrible. The roasted garlic Dijonae totally dominates the dish to a point where you cannot tell that you’re eating meat and let alone Filet Mignon. Come on kitchen, let the main ingredient shine instead of killing it!

More waiting with several reminders of what we've ordered for the main course. Thanks, we know and do not need to be reminded.

After a long wait, the Mediterranean samplers arrive and what a disappointment it is. "Filet Mignon and Chicken Kabobs, Lamb lollipops, eggplant dip, toum, whipped feta, veggies, hummus, naan." Two small pieces of beef, three small pieces of chicken, two over-spiced lambs, and piles of dips. The "naan" was really pita. Not very enjoyable, you might as well buy dips at your grocery store for a better taste experience.

Dessert time. Do remember that the kitchen is trying to close, and we don't want to inconvenience the kitchen. After all, the restaurant is open 4.5 hours per day so they must go home, right?

The dessert menu arrives. Soon, another reminder that the kitchen is trying to close; it's close to 9 PM after all and we REALLY don't want to inconvenience the kitchen, right? My wife's favorite dessert is Crème Brulé so let's go with that. Hopefully, this will save the evening even after all the stress about the kitchen needing to close on time.

In comes the Crème Brulé and it's nothing like you ever seen before. And, it has curdled and is literately burned in the bottom. It seems that the closing kitchen hasn't understood that you cook and heat Crème Brulé in a water bath.

We pay off, tip Ian well since he's done a good job, but really, don't bother with Ambli Global Cuisine if you are looking for even a decent dining experience. The place is not worth the expense.

Two stars because of Ian,...

My husband and I dined here yesterday, and while the food was good for Colorado Springs, the service left a LOT to be desired. Our server treated me with clear disregard throughout the evening. He avoided eye contact with me almost entirely, was short and dismissive when I asked questions, and gave my husband noticeably better attention — including filling his water glass first (never experienced this one before at a nicer establishment, in America or in Europe) and explaining only his dishes in way more detail. I don’t know if ladies first is antiquated and maybe I am old fashioned, but this was rather odd to me.

I ordered a mocktail and clearly stated twice that I wanted no alcohol. I did not prematurely point out to the waiter that I am pregnant and that is why I ordered a mocktail, I thought it would be implied with my confirmation to him that I didn’t want to be served an alcoholic beverage that that would suffice. Despite that, he placed my husband’s alcoholic drink in front of me and my mocktail in front of my husband, meaning I was served a drink that turned out to be alcoholic. Neither my husband nor I have been here before, so we had no clue that our drinks were mixed up. I only felt unsure about it because they looked strange. When I brought this up and asked the server to verify with the bartender — a reasonable concern, especially since I’m pregnant — he didn’t take it seriously and returned with a weak apology. He looked at the table like I was from another planet when I brought up my concern. After he brought my drink back confirming with the bartender that my raspberry limeade was indeed made as a mocktail, I was still pretty scared to drink it. This is not what I wanted to experience at a restaurant as nice as this.

This wasn’t just a disappointing service experience — it was careless and disrespectful. Failing to serve the correct drink after confirming it twice is dangerous, and treating one guest like an afterthought while catering to another is completely unprofessional.

I hope the restaurant takes this seriously, because no guest should have to feel dismissed or unsafe while dining here. We really enjoyed the food but I don’t know if I want to come back because of how unpleasant the waiter was with me. He was much kinder to my husband. Sure I could have said something while I was there, but I don’t want to be...

Reposting my review from a few years ago:

The first time my husband and I dined at Ambli, it was absolutely fantastic - the food was delicious, perfectly cooked, and the overall experience left us excited to return. On our second visit, we were especially looking forward to having the ribeye again. Unfortunately, this time was a letdown.

While the flavors were just as wonderful as we remembered, both the steak and the potatoes arrived lukewarm, and within minutes, everything was cold. At first, we didn’t say anything, choosing instead to enjoy the meal without overanalyzing it. However, by the time we got toward the center of the steaks, it became clear that both were undercooked. We had ordered one medium rare and one rare. The medium rare was definitely rare, and the rare was actually blue - completely cold in the center.

We finally said something and showed our server, Charlie - who, to be clear, was wonderful. She was attentive the whole night and handled it all with professionalism and kindness. She took the plates back and let the kitchen know right away. A manager came out, apologized, and told us we weren’t the first ones to mention the food being cold that night. He offered us 10% off the undercooked steak - saying that’s all he could do because the restaurant doesn’t get a discount on the meat.

I’m going to be honest... that felt like a brush off. We spent over $350 on our first visit and were more than ready to do that again. We wanted this to be one of our go to spots for a great night out. But that response from management felt like they didn’t really care whether we came back or not. A $60 steak that comes out cold and blue shouldn’t just get a 10% discount. Mistakes happen - we understand that... but how you handle them makes all the difference.

We spent $350 during our last visit and were more than happy to do so, given the quality and experience. But after this second visit... and particularly the disappointing response from management - we will...