Amatista Cookhouse — Restaurant in Orlando

We just spent a weekend at the SapphireFalls, I don’t do reviews often but the reviews here I feel are so incredibly far from the experience I had- I simply must share and because We were very excited to eat at this restaurant because of the reviews.... We were seated fairly quickly and they even accommodated my seating request. Then it began, our server took forever to take our drink order, he kept disappearing, I wanted to ask questions regarding the menu but when he was at our table he was in such a hurry to run off the other tables I felt as if I was interrupting him! I had to ask for bread (20 mins after we were seated) we had no appetizer plates on our table so we just ate the bread on our napkins. You would think when our server dropped off the bread he’d notice we had no plates but literally ran off so quickly I would’ve had to yell out at him to get his attention- which I was not going to do. I had to ask for plates (by the person who brought out our appetizers) not our server as he was nowhere to be found and our appetizers were getting cold. the empanadas were ok- they weren’t that great the night before we as got room service and we felt as if they were cooked earlier and reheated (they were soggy) taste was ok which is why I gave it another shot. Our food arrived, I got the Seafood Paella- it was edible at best. I was so annoyed by the terrible service we were experiencing it didn’t help. My boyfriend got the Chargrilled steak-it was chewy and clearly the cook has no experience in cooking meat, he wanted it medium he got cardboard, which was disappointing mash potatoes were cold- his food was HORRIBLE! My boyfriends son got pizza and fries- he’s 10- he was happy. My boyfriend got the all spiced apple crisp to go- he had the ice cream and commented that it was good- can’t mess up Icecream I suppose. Overall, I was sorely disappointed in this entire experience!!! That cost over $100 I might add- absolutely NOT worth it. The atmosphere is nice, the service was horrible but most importantly the food was really overpriced and not good! If you’re looking for a good meal- I’m sad to say this is not the place. Because of how bland and disappointing the food was I refused to have breakfast there the following morning, if I was going to have just edible food then that was what I was going to pay for- went to Denny’s and it was better than my experience here (including the service) Our server seemed like a nice guy but couldn’t understand why he was absent, food was really not good, disappointing...

It was good eats, but just short of great. Overall my family enjoyed Amatista Cookhouse food and my only real nits to pick here is that the service could have been more attentive the evening we went, and one appetizer could have been made better. I would like to give it 3.5 stars but that's not possible with Google Reviews. My family ate here during Orlando Magical Dining Month so we had the paired down menu as part of Magical Dining.

For our an appetizer I had the chicken empanadas, which had good flavor but the presentation was very simple (see photos). Also the empanadas surely needed more filling inside. They still had good taste though. My daughters both had QUESO FUNDIDO for their starter and it was bursting with flavor. Without a doubt it was the best appetizer we had by far. You definitely need to try this.

For our entrees, I had the rib-eye steak which was cooked to perfection and exactly as I requested. It was juicy and had really good flavor. On a side note, I didn't not like their steak knives. It needed to have better serrated edge for cutting. My sides were mashed potatoes and broccolini and both tasted really good. My daughters had the SIXTY SOUTH SALMON and she said it tasted good but she didn't like the quinoa (neither do I), and my other daughter had a roasted chicken with three sides and she got the tropical fruit and the black beans and rice. It was a full meal for sure. She enjoyed all of that as well.

For desserts I had the CARIBBEAN RUM CAKE and it was delicious. I wasn't disappointed. You could definitely taste the rum and the ice cream put it over the top. Both of my daughters had the DIABLOS CHOCOLATE FUDGE CAKE and it definitely was chocolaty and very decadent and also tasted good.

Overall this restaurant was good. It's worth a visit but my one big nit to pick is that service was a lil lacking in not being as attentive as other spots we've visited but the food good. We had to wait on refills and it took forever to get our dessert course. The table next to us got in and out quickly and had the same server. Outside of the lack of attentive service the night we went, this is a good...

Honest review based off our experience.

Update: upon eating here for dinner last night and just having a bad experience, my wife checked her bank to notice a $160 charge to our room. In a panic we called to see if someone had stolen our info somehow, only to find out the restaurant "accidentally" charged $160 instead of $106. They said it's because it gets manually entered if you charge to your room. Luckily we are getting the difference taken off, but at this point it should have been the full amount. Don't eat here.

This place is sub par. The prices are $30+ (some $40+) for JUST the entree. My wife and I couldn't get a seat anywhere at city walk, so we just figured we'd eat here at the hotel. The atmosphere is clean, but very simple. It "felt" like a fancy restaurant, with prices to match. The bread they brought was great, which we enjoyed while we sipped our wine. My salad came and was a pretty basic Caeser salad, in this weak, tiny bowl. Our entrees came and had a very "fancy" look. Small portions, great layout and sauce in an intricate design. I had gotten the salmon, which was good. It was "salmon" with a decent crisp to to. My issue came when I tried the rice and broccoli. Plain white rice, plain broccoli with some white sauce that had LITERALLY NO FLAVOR. It was like mayonnaise that had no taste.. my wife got the rotisserie chicken, which basically was a tiny chicken wing and thigh. Her sides were also very basic. This is where the waiter frustration came in. We asked for our desert to go and to bring our bill. We got our bill, for 2 entrees and 2 glasses of cheap wine was $106. Kind of disappointed in the cost to quality ratio. We signed our bill and asked the second time for our desert that he never brought. Walked by to help 2 other tables, though. 15 minutes go by with no desert, so we were just done. We began to leave and he came walking over to us as we're leaving with our desert. We just said "thank you" and that "we forgot". We were actually going to the front to complain.

TLDR: Overpriced food, not very good, waiter forgot about us twice, atmosphere is boring. Don't waste...