Amara Brunch & Gelato — Restaurant in Midland

This was our first and sadly last visit. Loud and rambunctious children running all over jumping on the tables coughing whist there mum's are going on shouting at each other to compensate for their children being as loud as they are. None of which is the fault of the shop at all by any means I'm not saying that. No let's go to the customer service part, gentleman rolled his eyes when I told him it would be a while because it was my daughter's first stop in, when she did decide what she wanted we paid and had to use the restroom. At the moment there was no place to put our gelato down because of the children running around all over the place and the only free table was dirty. We put our gelato on the dirty table which had dirty dessert plates as the personnel of the shop stood around and paid no mind to the situation. We exit the restroom to find the table still was not clean I turned to ask one of the personnel to see if they could wipe the table down for us. No sooner did I turn around to grab my ice cream The personnel that I asked had sprayed the cleaner of the table all over our gelato cups with disregard. As I picked up our gelato and repeated to my child that we would go elsewhere and this now had to be dumped because it was sprayed with cleaner and the personnel looked puzzled at me as we walked to the trash can to discard our cups of gelato after she sprayed them with cleaner for the table and then we left out of the shop. No apology was given from personel for the situation. One star and sadly I can't speak to what their gelato taste like because of...

I am so happy to have discovered this place in Midland. How have I never tasted gelato before?

I got the Salted Caramel, Cookies and Cream, and my favorite, the Pumpkin Pie Spice. I believe the pumpkin gelato is seasonal, so I HAD to try it before Fall is over or the flavor runs out.

I really loved the Cookies and Cream and the Pumpkin Pie. The salted caramel was still a good flavor but I would try the Cappuccino next time.

I did sample the Blueberry Cheesecake and it wasn't for me - it was SICKLY SWEET and went down my throat in an overly-sugar-sweet way. I also sampled the Chocolate - I think this was the fancy Belgian type for me, so it was a tad too bitter. I didn't like it.

I also got mine in the Homemade Waffle Cone which - to my absolute surprise - was completely fresh! It wasn't sealed or hardened like all the other cones I've had in my life. Oh, this was the real deal.

Overall, I loved my first visit to this place. And I hope to return from time to time. It was wonderful.

Why the one star off? No one was wearing a mask and we are still, knee-deep, in the midst of a COVID pandemic. It's not over and vaccinations don't prevent illness or contagion. Even the employees were not wearing masks. I know it's not required but it would make some customers feel more welcome. Still good...

Update as of Sep '23-- Under new ownership and it's gotten even better! Everything good about Amara is still present but with more attention to keeping the tables clean, subtle but notable improvements to certain gelatos, like richer cappuccino and dark chocolate and more balanced honey lavender. They use a rich, high quality Italian espresso bean that is more intense, complex, and less acidic than Illy, doubling down on being the best in the Permian IMO. A little secret-- espresso has less caffeine than drip coffee, so c'mon, enjoy yourself.

Great Gelato & Espresso

Amara's a great addition to Midland. Friendly and attentive staff. Dense, smooth gelato with delicious flavors. The tastes and textures suggest to me a pretty "natural" product with simple, quality ingredients. I love that they do crepes, too.

A major draw for me is that they do the best and most consistent espresso pulls I've found in Midland by a good stretch. They use Illy beans. It's worth going just for espresso, but good luck sticking to that.

Definitely a place that needs to...