Amaro's Table Hazel Dell — Restaurant in Washington

When trying to decide where to go to celebrate my wife's job promotion/Master's degree/Mother's Day we were finally going to try Amaro's. I am a 20 year industry person, she well over a decade herself. And we always hear how great amaro's is and that we had to try it. So we did, with high hopes.

My wife was talked into a drink special, something on the board up front, fruit cocktail of sorts. It came garnished with a flower. While waiting for dinner something hit my wife's lips. Not once but twice. Me being a bartender assured her it is probably just a piece of the flower in the drink. Happens to me sometimes, right? A piece of fruit breaks off etc. Well. No. Third attempt at a drink she pulls a live slug out of her glass. Yup. A live slug. Moving around in her hand.

My 6 year old daughter is now crying and doesn't want to eat here anymore because she will have "worms in her food". We work to calm our nerves, and hers. Finally a hostess sees my face, and asks if all ok. I explain, VERY nicely that no it is not. We want the drink taken away please, and they ask if she wants it re-made. Understandably, no she did not. The server said "we have really good old fashioneds". I said that will be fine. But my wifes appetite was gone. A live slug is a live slug, afterall. Food arrives before her drink. I'm assuming it all tasted good in theory but we all felt a bit disgusted. I finished my salmon. But it never felt great. The whole meal felt off, thanks to the slug. No one checked on us much after that, oddly. We were told "something special was coming" after we explained we did NOT want dessert. Not because we can't afford it mind you, but because we are healthy eaters and it is near our kids bedtime. So no sugar was the plan. Maybe because it was our first time, or because she mentioned mother's day/graduation/promotion, however we were told to wait (and had to because no one brought the check) and waited almost 20 minutes for some donuts we didn't really want. We said to hell with bedtime and let the kids eat them anyway since. Nothing was comped, not even the drink they brought my wife. I was amazed that nothing more was done to make sure we were okay or to compensate for this very disgusting mishap. Everyone expected us to behave as if all were great, and because we have money, and both have done industry work for years we just didn't want to argue. So I paid the full bill, left 20% tip and walked out, our night totally ruined. Mother's Day dinner ruined, my wife's big celebration dinner just grossed her out. I have no doubt that meal could have gone a lot differently, but if there were someone on duty in charge they failed miserably to make this right. I bartend, and talk restaurants all the time. Everyone always says how amazing your place is. Sadly, we did not get...

I don't know why so many restaurants have televisions nowadays. It's not like anyone was watching it, in fact it didn't even seem to be in a position where it could be easily watched... Just running in the background. Amaros has pretensions of being a little more upscale, but somehow I wasn't feeling it so much. Maybe it started with the television. Then I requested a table and they led me to a high table which made me feel a little precarious. I like to pt my feet solidly on the ground, maybe that comes from being old and a bit unsteady. None of this, of course would make any difference if the food were special.

I got Corn fritters and the House Cheese Burger with fries. A burger will tell you everything about a place in one quick shot, My mother always told me that people would tell you everything you needed to know about them in the first half hour, a homily that has rescued me many times over the years and which I ignored to my peril. Burgers are like that. And the fries are simply confirmation of that initial revelation.

So my first impression was kind of a let down. Nothing terrible, but certainly nothing make me drag my friends here in excitement. Just a burger, not particularly well seasoned, not memorable, chewy dense bun, preformed patty. There are so many places that do this better. I mean places where the burgers absolutely sing out like the choir in a holy roller church. And the fries... I'm afraid the same. Not wonderfully crunchy, and a little too salty. As I said, the place seems to want to be on the map, but it just misses the mark by hair. The Iced tea was nice, but no one came to refill it. When it came time for the check, they cleared the table and then left me sitting for what seemed like a long time, during which I contemplated the television and the fancy bar. Maybe I would love the place more if I drank.

The fritters were something of a mystery to me. They looked nice, but once I bit into one, I wasn't sure of the point. They just didn't seem that interesting. Amaros Hazel Dell goes right into the bucket with places that were't horrible, but I can't see the point of going back. I could do a list of great burgers, amazing fries, daring sandwiches, welcoming interiors and I'm afraid Amaros wouldn't be on it. I wouldn't tell people to stay away. Hell if they were looking for a bar, I might even recommend it, but...

I really wanted to like this place, but it failed miserably by serving me a RAW pork chop, then charging me for it! Pros: Table was ready at reserved time, immediately given water, drink orders taken in reasonable amount of time. Ricotta donuts were yummy. Cons: Took 25 minutes to get a lemon drop drink (other tables sat after us we’re getting their drinks). Took over 45 minutes to get our food (2crispy chicken burgers, an Herb chicken burger and the Mango Chutney pork chop). Refilled my water once, never asked if we wanted more drinks. I cut the fat off the edge of my pork chop (expected) and took about 4 small bites from the edge. Then I cut the meat away from the bone, and it was RAW! (I ordered it medium-well). I sat there waiting about 5 minutes before our server came by and could show her. She did offer/ask if I wanted something else, but I declined since my husband and our friends were mostly done eating, and I didn’t want to wait another 45 minutes for replacement food. She took my plate, manager came over said sorry and offered us dessert. My friend asked if we could get two orders of Ricotta donuts, he said he could do that. Donuts were yummy. Bill comes…. I was charged the $26 for a meal I couldn’t eat more than a couple bites of because the meat was RAW! And I was charged $6 for one order of donuts! (When my friend asked for two orders, he said he could do that…. Manager never said he would only be comping one order). I pointed this out to our server and pointed out I didn’t eat my raw pork chop. The manager only took off the second order of donuts. Our server said she asked him about my meal, but he wouldn’t take it off. I’ve worked in restaurants, and have a lot of patience and understanding. But charging me for RAW food is never acceptable. For $26 I got 4 small bites of pork, one bite of squash, one bite of brussel sprouts and about two bites of mash potatoes. Won’t be back. Our friends won’t be back. We WILL be sharing how uncaring, slow and indifferent the management is. Too many great restaurants in Clark County these days, save your money for...