The Ambassador

Really good food and a decent wine list. Friendly service. Highlights were a very earthy roast pheasant wit celariac and a delicious chocolate pudding. A good quiet spot for dinner.
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Eamon Scrabley
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Friday, November 09, 2007

Outrageously good ! So much thought seems to have gone into the flavour combinations of each beautifully presented dish - the salsify soup, pork belly and chocolate pudding being particular highlights. Extensive, well thought out and well priced wine list with a large selection of wines by the glass. Excellent service and great decor create a wonderful ambience - The Ambassador deserves your business !
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SFBS
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

I went here on the basis of a special offer - 50% off food - and am glad I did. The food was delicious and we would not have felt short-changed if we'd paid full price. My fish dish was exquisite, with the meat so chunky and skin so crispy - it was perfect. Puddings were rich and tasty. The wine was a little disappointing though - perfectly drinkable, but not exactly 'mmm' (no, it wasn't the house).

Unfortunately their use of the special offer hadn't really drawn in many other punters and the place was very quiet. This meant that the service was good though.

If I had to return here then that would be fine, but I'm not going to hurry up and do so, when there are so many other equally-decent similarly-priced places to visit.
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Nick - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Went to the Ambassador on Sunday 29 April for lunch and had an excellent meal. My duck starter is one of the best things I've eaten in ages it was superb. I followed it up with a butternut rissotto which was also very good, so good in fact that I couldn't fit in a dessert. The staff were nice and friendly even though everyone kept changing their minds while ordering. I will be going back very soon to see if I can make it through to dessert. I had to mark the value for money in the middle as, fortunately for me, I didn't pay and I didn't notice how much each course was.
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Debra
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 5
Thursday, May 03, 2007

Good Food and good conversation, the ideal place to spend with friends you havent met up with for a while. What a great start to the weekend. The menu is sparce, but less is more as they say. As I always change my mind a million times this menu was perfect for me.

The menu allows you to be experimental without disappointment, tried warm oysters for the first time and highly recommend them. I then had the Lamb which was very tender then there was dessert..... Being told by the waitress it would take 10 mins as the chocolate puddings are made to order made my mouth water instantly, I could not wait and it really met its expectations, it came with home made marmalade ice cream YUM YUM.

The whole experience was a real treat, food, service, atmosphere, location - Spot on. Hopefully we will all meet up there again very soon
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Shuana Crocker
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

We visited The Ambassador on a rainy Friday night in March and found it to be the perfect antidote to the cold wet night. The atmosphere was warm and friendly and although the restaurant was quiet earlier in the evening, by 9:30 it was busy and full of chatter.

Although the menu is short it is full of interesting choices and left none of us disappointed. The portion sizes were not huge – which was good as it allowed us to have three courses and enjoy them without feeling we had overdone it. My main course of mackerel and langoustine was delicious and the rhubarb cheesecake was light and refreshing.

The service was excellent throughout the evening. When we couldn’t decide what to drink the waitresses recommendations were spot on – I tried a light larger brewed from Champagne yeast, which was a very pleasant surprise.
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Kate
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, April 11, 2007

We were very surprised to dining alone on a Saturday evening especially after all the rave reviews this restaurant has received recently. By the time we left - aroud 9.30 - there were a few more people in but there was never really any kind of atmosphere in he place.

The menu is short - not normally a problem for us - but I struggled to find a starter which really took my fancy. In the end I chose a rather average salad of parsnip, blue cheese and pear - not very exciting as I was not convinced that the flaours worked well togteher. My husband enjoyed a very small protion of pasta with oxtail and in fact the portion size - extemely small - ran through our main courses as well. We both chose fish - again not a hige amount of choice - and althoug it was nicely cooked and pleasantly moist - there wwas not really that much of it and itthe sauce was nothing too speacial. For dessert we shared fifs with basil ice- cream - again not bad but nothing too special. The bill was very reasonable and the service was good - not surprisingly as there were so few diners in the place - but we left wondering what all the fuss was about. As we passed Moro's - just across the road - we noticed it was bursting to the seams with people eating and we wished we had gone there again instead of the Ambassador.
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Deborah
Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Sunday, January 14, 2007

Found this gem of a restaurant when I walked around for dinner ideas. The menu was compact; it also demands courage and skill from the chief. Looked no further, I could not walk away from the foie gras and hammock terrine with hazelnut dressing.

The terrine was perfect, the flavors of the two main ingredients were blended together expertly while retaining distinctly different textures. The hazelnuts and its paste, accompanied by sweet honey dresses the dish to perfection! Then came an onglet steak, cooked to perfect french-medium-rare. Exactly how I liked my steaks! My girlfriend's veal salad was perfect as she is not a big eater.

The Ambassador has a carefully crafted menu that screams 'balance' in every dish and I really appreciate the effort from the chief. The dishes were cooked to a very very high standard and well worth the money it asks for. The terrine and the perfectly cooked steak would not be out of place in other top-end restaurants, which I paid much more for. I know I'm going to go back there, often!
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humphrey
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Had to try the hot new local place, so came for brunch on Sunday.

It's a nice place, service is friendly and food is good.

The pancakes with bacon and banana compote were fine, although a bit dry with no sauce. London sausage sandwich (are the sausages from London?) was tasty, but in retrospect would have benefitted from some ketchup.

Chocolate pudding was also good. Slight disapointment was the banana and nut smoothie. This was specially recommended by the waitress, and I envisaged a huge, thick, smoothie. What came was small and rather insubstantial - and thinner than I expected. Especially for the price (2.75 I think)!

One other gripe, they don't serve green tea. On a more positive drink related note, the bloody mary was bloody fantastic.

So to summarize, the problems are all liquid related: not enough sauce, too thin smoothies, no green tea...

I'll be back no doubt, but to be honest I think the food at Medcalf is miles better. Although they don't do Sunday brunch which is a shame.
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Douglas Hauser
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Hadn't heard of this place and it's right out of my way-but what a revelation ! The food was absolutely delicious, the ambience terrific and the service excellent.My only slight criticism would be that the menu was a bit small but I will certainly return to this place soon.
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jimmy
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Thursday, July 13, 2006