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AMA - CLOSED
Category: Restaurants Italian Italian [Edit]
48 Macdougal StreetNew York City, NY 10079
Neighborhood: South Village
(212) 358-1707
- Nearest Transit:
-
Spring St (A, C, E)
Houston St (1, 2)
Prince St (N, R)
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
10 reviews for AMA
10 reviews in English
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Review from Sue M.
Boston, MA
2/25/2009
A good mix of trendy and romantic atmosphere. Love the design very sleek and modern.
Service was great very helpful on the wine. Food was delicious but definitely expected a little more. The Sunday Ragu is where it's at. Seriously the only dish that should be ordered on the menu. Also try the eggplant and calamari apps. Excellent. -
Review from Noel R.
Brooklyn, NY
12/5/2007
Ama has a lot of charms. It felt well run and the service was very good but without being stuffy. The space is clean and modern but without any exceptional design qualities.
We were a large party and they handled us very well. We all shared antipasti to start. Nothing really stuck in my mind although I didn't think the octopus salad was as good as it sounded on the menu. So none of the antipasti was good enough to remember but everything was ok.
For main, my friends had the house pasta which came in a very heavy cream based sauce. It was good but very heavy. I had the stuffed quail which is something I rarely order because it usually disappoints but in this instance it didn't. The meat was very tasty. I remember the stuffing was good but I obviously didn't have my yelp notepad with me otherwise I'd remember what was in it. The whole dish was placed on a bed of leeks which gave it the tang it needed.
Unfortunately for Ama I recently ate at the Pasta Bar in whole foods on Houston and I think they cook more interesting pasta than Ama and at a fraction of the cost. So maybe whole foods has raised the bar for me and Ama is the first victim of this.'
Still I had an enjoyable meal, and the food was good if not exceptional at this price point. -
Review from Buo Z.
Updated - 8/5/2008
This place is really romantic and is family-owned by authentic Italian people. I always get the mushroom risotto here even if it isn't on the menu. The tagliolini wasn't that great. Don't get the caputini--too mushy. The crab and avocado salad is delicious as always. The ama dessert wasn't that great--just a piece of brioche bread (essentially) and some creme brulee, which I haven't had in years b/c there have always been other things to try.
I come here quite often as a back-up for going to really bad places first. I just looked back at my other review and realized I totally order the same thing every time I come here and I still give it 3 stars. hahaha1 Previous Review: Show all »
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11/10/2007
I like to order the pasta dish (off the menu) with mushrooms and the crab appetizer is very good.… Read more »
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Review from Princess M.
New York, NY
1/29/2008
Terrible service. We were a large party and had made a reservation far in advance. They seated us only an hour later even though our party was complete on time.
They do not consider Open Table a legitimate reservation and have cancelled reservations without prior warning via Open Table. TERRIBLE.
Food is not too bad but I wouldn't go back nor recommend it because of the atrocious, obnoxious service. -
Review from Tony M.
Brooklyn, NY
9/15/2007
Went there for dinner last night.
I think everybody said that the food was alright. I'd go again. Give it another try. I had some thin, wide pasta with oven-dried tomatoes. The sauce was nice and light. The staff was fine--no issues.
Six of us had apps, one main course each, and shared 3 bottles of wine. No dessert. About $380 including tip for the total bill. -
Review from Kelly A.
Miami Beach, FL
11/13/2007
I met a few friends for after work/pre-dinner drinks at the small but very cozy bar. We were there very early, so we got a lot of attention from the chef owner, a very charming Italian who takes great pride in both the food and service at his restaurant.
We ordered appetizers which were wonderfully supplemented with some extras including Parmesan cheese, bread and olives. All delicious! And they have a great wine and cocktails list.
The atmosphere was cozy and elegant at the same time and the food and service were terrific. I will be back very soon for dinner! -
Review from Kathy T.
New York, NY
1/31/2007
This delicious Italian restaurant features great food and a great staff, too. The owners are very nice and make an effort to make sure everything is fine. I really like the octopus salad, the polenta with ragu, and the braised lamb. They also have an extensive wine list.
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Review from Ali W.
Hoboken, NJ
1/21/2009
The food at Ama was good, but not overly inventive or exceptional. Just good. I started with the beet salad, which was pretty much standard for a beet salad with goat cheese. If you like beets, this should pass the test, but it won't bowl you over. For my main, I chose another appetizer, the polenta, which was creamy and delicious. The pastas all looked very fresh, and were served in generous portions. My companions quite enjoyed the caprese/mozzarella & tomato salads.
Service was solicitous and unrushed, so much so that it took quite a while to get our bill. We were literally the first group in and the last out!
The wine list was reasonable. One complaint: the prosecco on the menu was the least bubbly I've had. Perhaps that was just the specific style, but as an aperitif, it was a bit of a let-down.
The ambiance was very Delano-esque-- all white, which is fine and peaceful, but did not especially jive with a cold January night in Manhattan. Blech, get me out of Manhattan. Mi Piace Amo but amo Miami. -
Review from Stefanie D.
Manhattan, NY
3/31/2009
The food here may be wonderful. It may be terrible. I guess I'll never know, because when my friend and I went to dine here, it was closed! I made a reservation through http://opentable.com and it was confirmed, and the hours were posted on http://nymag.com, yet when we got there at 1pm, the only person there was a worker that gave us a funny look and told us they were closed. Hmmmmm.
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Review from Chris L.
New York, NY
2/25/2006
A cleanly designed Italian restaurant featuring Pugliese food, Ama is a great alternative to Lupa just around the corner. The room is long and narrow, decorated in white with candles and the food is unique. Although the crowd waiting for their tables can make the standing space overcrowded at times, the overall experience more than makes up for it. Every member of the staff does everything - from the hostess to the bartender to the owner/chef to the waitor - they all took turns helping us with our orders, checking up on us, refilling the drinks, and chatting with us. The familial feel of the place makes Ama a lovely place to enjoy dinner with friends if you want friendly waitstaff in a trendy atmosphere - and that's even before we start on the food! The appetizers and pastas we tried were great. A highlight includes the octopus salad served with slices octopus, red onions, capers, and celery. It was cooked exquisitely, not too chewy, not to soft, and the flavors intermingled in a light but interesting dish. The waitstaff was attentive. Two of my friends shared an appetizer and without asking they had split the dish into two so that the hassle of transferring food to plates or reaching was removed. The pasta was also delicious. I had the espresso tagliolini with lightly cooked shrimp and grilled porcini mushrooms in a light tomato based sauce. The espresso pasta gave the dish an extra punch and kept things interesting - I kept eating it even when I was past the point of being full to try and figure out the complexity of the espresso pasta-mushroom-shrimp combination. One of my friends ordered the spinach and ricotta gnocchetti which was a bit on the heavy side but very well made. Gnocchi can sometimes be very bland - relying heavily on the sauces to complete the dish. In this case, it was the opposite. The sauce was a simple tomato based sauce while the melt-in-your mouth gnocchi tasted strongly of a blend of spinach and ricotta - a delight! One downfall was the dessert - we chose the molten chocolate with ice cream which was tasty but small and overly chocolately and rich. Ama is a great little restaurant that has not gotten too much hype yet - but it's following is growing so visit soon!
