Ambar - Arlington

Great date night spot that encourages discussions and shared plates.

The food and service are always amazing. We were particularly impressed, though, with how well they handled a problem. We had made a reservation for a birthday dinner, but the prior diners were slow to leave and they couldn’t seat us. This could’ve been a big problem, but they took our party to the sister restaurant Baba downstairs and provided a complimentary cocktail to tide us over until our table was ready. Really great job by Ámbar staff.

Overall best quality meal this year...and when you factor in the $35 price fixed menu along with a diverse array of dishes...it’s amazing!!

Great restaurant. Menu has lots of variety and the price is amazing.

Fabulous, as always. The Balkan experience is something that you just have to try.

Enjoyed the the whole experience. Fun food, nice open feel and the music kept things upbeat. The lunch is also a good value.

Came here for thanksgiving day brunch for two. Wonderful food, great service - we had a wonderful time. This place is a gem - highly recommend.

The food and service during dinner were good. Attentive server during dinner, water constantly filled, empty plates regularly removed. However, after we ordered dessert we never saw our server again. It seemed as if she had switched sections and our table was forgotten. I flagged down the MOD when we were ready for our check as our server never came by after the desserts were dropped. He told me he would get our check but he never came back. I saw him drop a dessert for a table beside us but never came by with our check. The server who was taking care of the table next to us gave us our check and was really apologetic about how much it took for us to get our check. He saved our experience but there definitely was an opportunity for communication and awareness from our previous server and the MOD. For a restaurant of this caliber, that type of service really puts a damper on the experience.

While I'm a frequent guest at the Capitol Hill Ambar, this was my first visit for dinner to the Arlington location. Business was bustling, even on a Sunday night! Ambar always has outstanding service. The food comes out quickly, and on a rolling basis. Staff is extremely professional. But its the amazing delecacies that keep me coming back!

Busy restaurant with a staff who seemed energized, worked hard and provided very good service. Unfortunately the food let the restaurant down, overcooked lamb, food not spiced or flavored properly, and a very poor rendention of steak tartare.

For the money paid the value and more importantly the quality was not there.

Food had been sitting out a while and often arrived lukewarm. We never even received a handful of dishes. It was packed, and service was slow. Their women’s restroom had only one working stall, downstairs. We also ordered a carafe of drinks, which arrived in a small french press (?) half-full of ice, making for very watered-down drinks that I wouldn’t recommend.

Phenomenal food, a great atmosphere, and attentive service made this a fabulous experience. I highly recommend this restaurant!

Great food. The flat rate deal was a great value and allowed a complete submergence into the Balkan fare. Bravo!

Food was good but not top as I was hoping for from prior high ratings. Also, service was a little slow for lunch. Staff were friendly and professional.

We come here quite often and the food is always so good. Tonight we came to celebrate my boyfriend's birthday and the food was delicious as usual. In addition, the server, Valentin, made it really special. He made sure we had drinks at all times, food and even brought small compliments. At the end, he brought three different kinds of desert as a birthday compliment and decorated everything very beautifully.

First time here for lunch and really enjoyed it...great food and great lunch deal. Different ambiance from their Capitol Hill location — more laid back — but the food and service is just as good. Would highly recommend; there was not a single item we did not like.

The Express Lunch for $19 was a great deal. We've ordered over 20 dishes between 3 people, every dish was tasty. The service was great. We had such a good experience that we will definitely be back.

This restaurant was pleasant. My reservation was for brunch and we decided to go for their famous bottomless brunch, which was ok. Great price if you are looking to try a little bit of everything from the menu. Service was a bit slow but our waitress and the welcome staff at the entrance were very nice.

Everytime i come food had been excellent! Its definitely worth it to get the unlimited tapas.

I love ambar, but I will say our waitress was very very unfriendly and not very attentive. It was a busy night so not being as attentive is understandable, but she seemed so displeased and annoyed when we did ask for anything else the few times she did come to check in our table which was rare.

First time visit -awesome food and great choice, great service TWO THUMBS UP

Ambar's dining area is attractive, if a bit crowded. The music was energetic and that, combined with the acoustics, created too much background noise. It is difficult to hear the staff and one's tablemates. Those are the only negatives I can think of and they did not spoil our evening. My husband and I brought our daughter to Ambar to celebrate her birthday and we enjoyed a wonderful meal. Our waitress was helpful, friendly, and courteous. The other staff members were terrific as well--refilling our water, bringing food, clearing dishes quickly and efficiently. My fellow diners enjoyed watching how busy the staff was and how well they worked together. Of course the star of our experience was the food--DELICIOUS! We chose the unlimited small plate experience and ordered dish after dish to share. Some favorites were the grilled shrimp with corn puree, mushrooms with rice, beet spread, lamb flatbread and meat kebab. I believe we ordered 13 dishes and ate every bite.

Went there with my wife and a work colleague. Waitress was excellent: as this was our first time there, and our first experience with Balkan food, she took time to explain the process. We definitely recommend the $35 per person unlimited plates. The plates are not big, and you will generally order at least four, which automatically puts you over $35. Waitress recommended a Bulgarian wine (nice, not outstanding, but interesting). Sprouts, mussels, chicken, lamb patty all very good. It is noisy, which is a bit of a challenge for me. But we will be back!

Fantastic food. Very unique. Love the bottomless small plate deal. We ordered about 9 small plates betwee the the two of us and it was plenty.

Good strong drinks accompanied a steady train of small plates. Fabulous lamb lasagna (aka moussaka), cheese pie and salads. Good calamari. Sausages a bit underdone and pungent. Desserts were good but opt for the raspberry and not the hazelnut cake which was a bit dense at the end of the meal. Great service. Lunchtime buffet a real bargain.

Food is always delicious here.

I like to put the responsibility for choosing my all you can eat menu in hands of capable servers at Ambar, and they once again didn’t disappoint! Great selection of salads, dips, and meats for my out of town business guests.

I love this place. Whenever I'm in the area, I try to eat at Ambar!

My wife and I wanted something different - so we searched OpenTable and picked Ambar - we are glad we did!

The meal was great, the service was fantastic and we are sure to be back!

Really good desert but the food was alright for the price

Their brunch used to be a lot better! The choices were very limited this time, the place was crowded and very noisy!

Always love bringing new people here. Only downside is that it is always loud and crowded, and the tables never fit all the food lol. But still one of my favorite restraunts in the area, perfect for brunch and dinner.

We've been to Ambar multiple times and had a consistently great experience each time. Food is delicious and a good value. Definitely going back and recommending.

so good. there was not one dish i did not like nor could i choose my favorite.

Food is perfect. Just wish it wasn't so noisy! Plus, only one stall was working in the ladies' restroom. Between the two restaurants that share the restroom, it got busy in there!

My wife and I enjoyed a lovely dinner I didn’t know much about Balkan food, so the tasting menu and tapas-sized portions were a perfect way to get acquainted. Service was friendly. Decor was clever, setting a nice atmosphere.

Food is amazing, and great value. This place is always crowded, even at 8:15pm on a week night. So much so that we had to wait about 20 min after our reservation time to be seated at a table that wasn’t even in the main dining room. We were fine with waiting and the service was outstanding, they comped our drink orders to compensate for the delay, and we weren’t even complaining about it. Will definitely be back, and highly recommended for the food and the service!

Great experience, awese food, good service!

Delicious small plates!

Food was delicious, the staff very friendly. It is busy and crowded, so make a reservation. Wonderful addition to Clarendon.