The Ambassador

Have to concur with the majority of reviews submitted. Last Friday night's experience was very, very good. Fresh seasonal ingredients sympathetically cooked - we had scallops, pigs cheek + peas, chicken + broad beans + morels & a dish of coley. All were stars except the fish main course which was merely good.

Already Looking forward to the next visit.

The staff were very pleasant too and on a balmy night watching the goings on in Exmouth Market couldnt have asked for more.
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Chairman Mao
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, July 03, 2006

I like this place so much I've eaten there three times already! The food's been exemplary on each occasion - tasty, well-balanced, scrumptious! The menu shows the chef's nicely in touch with what's in season without showing off about it. But the real gem is the wine list - it's superb and it'll keep me coming back.
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Jo B
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Can't work out why this place has got such rave reviews, only AA Gill got it right.

Food was average and better food can be had in the area for a better price. Service poor and absent minded.

Like the idea of this place but the execution leaves much to be desired.
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Shorty - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 3
Friday, June 09, 2006

I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the Ambassador by a friend just after it opened and have now eaten there three times. Each meal has been as top notch as the one before it.

Its refreshing to find a restaurant with such top notch customer service, for example if you're not sure what wine to go for they'll offer to pour you a bit to try. Such a simple idea that its a wonder that more places don't do it.

As for the food you'll be looking at around £25 a head plus drinks (and you will want to explore the wine list) and you'll get food that bats well above that kind of price tag. It’s a short menu – 5 or 6 items listed for each of starter, main and dessert but that’s no bad thing. I usually find that too much on the menu usually leads to a drop off in quality.

Last nights meal started off with 3 large juicy scallops, seared and served with a Cauliflower & Apple puree which sounded interesting on the menu and worked so well as a combination. My wife had chicken terrine that would have been delicious on its own but with the generous slab of foie gras on top it was just perfect. It's always a good sign when you both keep asking for a little bit more of what's on your partners plate!

For main, a flavoursome piece of chicken breast on the bone served with broad beans and wild mushrooms. A simple dish but the quality of the ingredients shone through. Pan-fried halibut served with a light broth of spring vegetables also worked well, the delicate broth once again allowing the flavours to shine

On ordering deserts I was told that the chocolate pudding I’d ordered would take around 10 minutes as they make them from scratch – another nice touch. Good things come to those that wait and boy was it good - moist pudding with rich gooey chocolate oozing out of the middle served with home made ice cream. Heaven. Pannacotta with rhubarb finished my wife’s meal and yet again we were both stealing things off each other’s plate.

Exmouth Market is regarded as a bit out of the way by some people – but it’s only a 10 minute walk from Angel tube so make the effort, the Ambassador is worth it.
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Gethin
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Sunday, June 04, 2006

We had booked a table for 8 but only 6 of us arrived but this was no problem for the very amenable staff. Service throughout was excellent.

The menu is short but this was no problem.

3 of us tried one of the bar dishes of ham hock with onion marmalade while we waited for the others to arrive. It was very small but delicious.

All the other dishes we tried were excellent - starters of foie gras with chicken terrine and scallops with cauliflour and apple.

The main course of onglet steak with beetroot was cooked exactly as requested and the veal belly dish was very enjoyable. Side dishes of good mashed potato and cabbage were probably more than we needed but were very good.

We only tried one dessert - panacotta with rhubarb - which was well flavoured with vanilla but a little more rhubarb would have made it even better.

The wine list is good and very reasonably priced. We had a South African Chenin Blanc and a Spanish red - both good.

I would certainly recommend this restuarant for good food reasonably priced with excellent service.
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Celia Clack - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Thursday, June 01, 2006

This restaurant's weekend Brunch Menu is very average. I find it slightly strange that restaurant critics seem currently to rate it so very highly, raving as they do, about the fresh seasonal ingredients. While not disputing that some of the ingredients fall into that category, perhaps certain critics are too used to British food culture to have any great understanding or expectations about what good, reasonably priced food should be. Perhaps the evening menu is far superior, but this is surely not, in terms of overall quality, how things should be. There was nothing particularly special about either the lunch ingredients, at least those i sampled, or the manner in which they were put together. The braised salmon on the menu, for instance, uses farmed fish, the fish stew was quite average and the nettle soup was overly heavy for my taste. The service was ok, but perhaps people dont need to be reminded that the service charge is not included: they can see this from the bill. I applaud what this restaurant seems to be trying, or at least says it is trying, to achieve in terms of food philosophy and im impressed that they do not automatically add a service charge, but, in terms of menu quality, they need to raise their game quite a bit, at least on Saturday afternoons.
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Mikhail Bakunin
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Food was good but the decor was cheap to say the least. Bentwood chairs and five pound wall lights! Give me a break. With Moro across the road, why bother? You'll have to try harder than that. Maybe it's inverted snobery. Either way it didn't work for me. Nice staff though.
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Benjamin
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 1
Saturday, May 13, 2006

Read a sparkling review by Metro's restaurant critic - quite a rare thing - so decided to give The Ambassador a go and very glad we did. Food was wonderful and extremely good value for money. Service very pleasant too. Highly recommend it as a cheaper alternative to the ever wonderful Moro across the road. Definitely going back
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Mark SW9
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Friday, April 28, 2006