I'm writing to inform of my displeasure with my experience last night (Friday, April 30th) at this restaurant. Yesterday was my birthday and my family and I had plans to go to another restaurant, but upon seeing numerous bad reviews, decided to go elsewhere. I did some research and read a number of positive reviews about mAmbu, including how excellent the service was, which made me decide we would eat there. I was dressed up while my parents were dressed more casually. We arrived, and were quite impressed with the atmosphere. The guy working the valet station was incredibly friendly, and the hostess was very pleasant and sweet. After a couple moments, we were sat. I looked up to see a server who was an older gentleman talking to the hostess while looking in our direction. It was the same server who had budged my dad out of the way as he was going out the door while we were waiting to be sat. It was our first time being at mAmbu, but I've served at multiple establishments and found that the restaurant was hardly busy. Upwards of ten minutes later, we finally had a server come to the table. My parents mentioned that it was my birthday, and he said, ""Oh, alright. Well happy birthday."" He said he had to go get water, and then about another five to ten minutes later returned and poured our water. He said he would be back with us in a moment, and proceeded to go spend the next ten minutes on the patio talking to tables. Finally, he returned and asked if any of us wanted a cocktail. We said no and he said he would give us some time to look over the menu and promptly began to walk away. My dad said that he thought we were all ready to order and the server again mentioned giving us some time. My dad began to ask if I was ready as I was the only one still undecided, at which point the server interrupts him and demands we give him ""a minute"". The entire time we were in there, we were either ignored by our server or talked to incredibly rudely and he talked to us as if we were stupid. Finally, I decided that I was incredibly displeased that the server was providing me such a terrible experience AFTER acknowledging that we were there for my birthday dinner. Five minutes after the server had demanded a minute, we stand up and begin to walk towards the door as the server is coming back in. My mom mentioned to the hostess that we were leaving and the hostess wished us a good night and mentioned that we were leaving to the server. He looked rather unconcerned that we were leaving and said nothing as we were walking out. The guy manning the valet station was once again incredibly friendly and apologized for our terrible experience and said he regretted that we had not enjoyed it, and then wished us a great night.
It's quite a shame that you have such a terrible server on your staff to ruin what could AND should have been an incredible experience. Perhaps you should put the valet on your serving staff and have the guy who's obviously incapable of treating people respectfully in what is fully a service position doing something that requires minimal contact with guests.
Pros: Food seems to be good, some staff is friendly
Cons: No direct parking, terrible server, pricey
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