Amber — Restaurant in New York

So I decided to try this place based on the reviews, specifically one that claimed “one of the best Pad Thai I’ve ever had, even in Thailand.” I work nearby, so I figured, why not?

Now, I LOVE Pad Thai, it’s pretty much how I gauge any restaurant that serves Thai food, so I was super excited to try this based upon the aforementioned review.

What I got was so, so disappointing and not worthy of even being called Pad Thai. Instead of the traditional flat rice noodles, it appeared to use a round, lo mein style egg noodle, or even spaghetti. It had a generous amount of protein and bean sprouts, a wedge of lime, a skimpy amount of tofu, literally 3 pieces of scallion and not a single peanut to be found. It was quite oily, though Pad Thai sauce is usually quite ‘sloppy’ so that wasn’t a huge deal.

The sauce was incredibly bland, almost flavorless. An extremely mild heat was the only discernible spice in the entire thing. I couldn’t taste a single hint of fish sauce, sweetness, or tamarind, all of which are critical in a Pad Thai.

While it wasn’t so bad that I couldn’t eat it, it was bad enough that I will not be trying this restaurant again. If I’m being honest, I’ve had better frozen Pad Thai from the...

Amber is a cool Asian fusion spot where you can try lots of light bites. I had the tuna martini (it wasn't listed in the picture suggestions, but you can have salmon or tuna), duck spring rolls, a few pieces of eel sushi and a few other sushi pieces a la carte. Everything was generally good--nothing wowed me but the duck spring rolls (which are popular in their reviews) were definitely worth a try. The "martini" was good as well, just tough to eat with chopsticks. I will say, the eel was a little spiny in certain parts. The atmosphere is pretty nice, it's not necessarily a quiet spot but it's well decorated. They had a little birthday dessert for someone near our table too! Service was a bit hit or miss, they either were super attentive or there were long stretches without, particularly towards the end when it was time for the check. All in all, my friend and I got a lot of things and it was only ~$40 per person, which is very reasonable for the...

I read great reviews and decided to try. I was one of only 2 customers in the restaurant on Sunday and was waiting for service endlessly. Stuff seemed to be very busy with personal problems and discussions somewhere behind the scenes. Food did not impress me ether. I had much more impressive Chirashi at other places. When I asked waiter if tuna can be substituted for something else, his reply was nothing on the menu can be substituted because of the price calculations. Ok. Then when my plate finally arrived I saw few skinny slices of fish scattered through the length of the board it was served on and backed up by mountains of daikon. One can probably say that it is a very creative approach to serving Chirashi, but I would really prefer it done the classical way with fish and rice prevailing. Rice not impressive ether in taste. My feelings after visiting this place - sadly not generous neither in...