16 Replies to "First Ama-Ama review"

• JameGumm October 17, 2007 (10:00 pm)

  Um, I’m not sure I trust a review from someone who spells tonight that way. And an endorsement of the mixed green salad doesn’t exactly inspire me to polish up my silver fork and run right over there.

• Jan October 17, 2007 (11:33 pm)

  hey…tonite is the correct online spelling :) just like hte , adn, aobut are all acceptible online spellings – lol…

• Kayleigh October 18, 2007 (5:17 am)

  I like seafood, but little on their menu appeals to me. Oysters make me hurl.

• Bill October 18, 2007 (7:54 am)

  Looking forward to trying the place. The menu sounds wonderful so far. I suspect it will have to expand some to satisfy enough people to make the place viable.

• Huindekmi October 18, 2007 (8:30 am)

  “He was a bold man that first eat an oyster.” – Jonathan Swift

  “Oysters are very unsatisfactory food for the labouring men, but will do for the sedentary, and for a supper to sleep on.” – Albert J. Bellows

• marty October 18, 2007 (10:26 am)

  “I ate 12 oysters last night and only 11 worked.” – marty

• Jiggers October 18, 2007 (12:31 pm)

  Ok what’s the prices like?

• jon October 20, 2007 (10:12 am)

  went to Ama Ama last night (10/19/2007). it had a very retro/swanky Trader Vic’s kinda feel. steak slider was gross (very raw…yuck, and that was even after they put it back on once). also had some of their fries… excuse me, frites. could taste oysters in their french fries (same oil used maybe?). don’t like oysters and other selection wasn’t all that appealing. also had an organic green salad. it was bitter, had no dressing, and had pomegranate seeds in it (cruchy!). decided against ordering dinner after appetizers were so lousy. probably won’t go back, which is sad because i was really rooting for this place. even at it’s worst, Ovio was better.

• Kristina October 20, 2007 (6:32 pm)

  My husband, daughter and I also attended Ama Ama’s Thursday dinner, and we had a good experience. Though we’d expected to find a lot of glitches on such a pre-opening event, our servers were on top of things, every staff member was smiley, and the food was quite good.

  We started with the cod cakes – just the right amount of crispiness on the outside, and moist insides, with a good (though pretty subtle) flavor. Next, my husband and I shared the salad, which was unremarkable but fresh and tasty.

  My husband had the flat iron steak, and I tried a couple of bites (I had to go back for a second it was so yummy). This was no low-fat fare, as it was oozing buttery goodness, but it was delicious. My daughter (an adventerous eater at age 4.5) had the oysters and mac’n’cheese. I didn’t try the oysters, as they’re not my favorite seafood, but she raved over them, and my husband enjoyed his taste, as well. They were panko fried, pretty crispy, and relatively small in size (I think there were four with the dish). They were paired with a delicious, extravagently cheesy macaroni and cheese filled with a variety of mushrooms; this was no Kraft macaroni, and I wouldn’t hesitate to order it for myself.

  I went for the ginger seared scallops. Oh. My. God. They were incredible, by far the best offering that I tasted, with just the right searing, just the right amount of seasoning, perfectly cooked to be tender and juicy without being undercooked. They were served with a side of sauteed spinach that was unremarkable but nice, and a lovely winter-squash-root-vegetable strata that was quite nice.

  Bread at Ama Ama is from Bakery Nouveau, and so are the desserts. (This alone would give it a thumbs’ up from us.)

  The prices were reasonable; the oysters & mac was a mere $8; the seared scallops were $17. I like the fact that there were several small bites and appetizers to choose from, and might make a meal out of those on some other occassion.

  We’ll go back. It won’t be an all the time kind of place for our family, but it’s a welcome addition to West Seattle as far as I’m concerned.

• Jim & Sandy Guenther October 21, 2007 (7:43 pm)

  Attended the “soft” opening Wednesday night. Servers were friendly, albeit not totally informed about the menu. Found that much of the menu is on the spicy side–were warned that the mahi mahi was fire engine hot. We asked for it toned down–and they did a good job of that. Seems like yet another place to emphasize the bar and deemphasize the dinner fare.

• Julie and Christopher October 24, 2007 (11:47 am)

  Two thumbs up. My husband and I had a fantastic server who made great suggestions she suggested the calamari which is sauteed not fried she informed us that the calamari is fresh not a frozen fried dish. It was a nice change from frozen fried calamri. It was tender and full of flavor.We also tried the clams which you can get in 3 portion sizes .5, 1, and 1.5 pounds the broth was amazing with pernod and pancetta. Our server made dinner suggestions which both of us took her up on and we are glad we did we shared the black cod which I have had other places before and this preperation was wonderful. The black cod was cooked to perfection and the spicy sauce drizzled over the cod was not overly spicy just a very complimentary touch. I was pleased to have chinese broccoli with this dish it was different and good. We also had the ginger scallops which were so tender and moist cooked perfectly. I love a beautifully prepared dish and ama ama does not disappoint. I couln’t belive that they had only been officially opened on the evening we were there. Our server brandy was knowledgeable, warm, and funny. Our experience was an all around success we will definitley go back and we will be telling everyone to check out ama ama, a welcome addition to west seattle.

• Gatewood too October 25, 2007 (8:35 pm)

  Julie and Chris, I wish we would have had your server! Went there for the first time tonight. Thankfully the food made up for the service.

  Interior decor is fun… sort of like a 1960s tiki room with lots of faux rock. A little less noisy than Ovio (but could still use improvement there). Feels a lot more open than Ovio did.

  Foodwise… I’m a huge oyster fan… theirs are FANTASTIC. Fresh, sweet, still with a taste of ocean… no more treks to Brooklyn Cafe for my oyster fix!

  The mac and cheese with mushrooms was lovely. The seafood chowder was, quite literally, the best I’ve ever had… very unique… some waft of flavor that I couldn’t place made it unusually delicious.

  Service, unfortunately, left a lot to be desired. Our waitress was completely under-enthused, and nearly invisible. She made no attempt to engage, recommend, or involve. I don’t know where she spent her time, as we seldom saw her on our half of the restaurant — maybe 3 times in 2 hours? We weren’t the only table looking around in frustration. The people with the water pitchers were frequent visitors tho, so we placed our food order with one of them.

  It then took 45 minutes to get our oysters (but only 10 minutes to get the rest of our food… so maybe the shucker just didn’t have his groove on tonight).

  The restaurant was maybe 10% full when we arrived, and not quite half full when we left.

  They get a big thumbs up for food, and a “hmm… hope they improve soon” for service.

  With oysters like that tho, I can forgive a lot… :-)

• Bob October 28, 2007 (11:11 am)

  Well all I can say is, “Call Chef Ramsay!” The shrimp on the shrimp salad were tepid and tasted like they had been cooked days before, the seared ahi was just ok, the crab roll (crab salad on a small hogie roll) was pretty good and the onion rings that came with it were excellent. The beer on tap selection was uninspiring and no IPA available except in bottles.

  The bartender was very pleasant and the decor was interesting but we agree with Jon on October 20th who said Ovio at it’s worse was still better.

• john October 28, 2007 (12:03 pm)

  people keep talking about ovio. get over it you are all the same people who didn’t support the place thus causing it to close so quit acting like it was the best place in town. I have eaten at ama ama and I was very happy I love oysters and the ahi was perfect. Get over ovio it doesn’t exist. ama ama is not related nor are they the reason ovio failed. they failed because of the same people that are now saying they miss it. Why don’t you support your local west seattle businesses instead of waiting for them to close before you say something. Its a new day and ama ama is a great addition to a part of seattle that needed both seafood and oysters. I love it and will tell everyone about it. Oh and I was in there friday and it was packed I waited for a table it was so worth it. so i guess someone disagrees with both jon and bob.

• Roger October 29, 2007 (9:53 am)

  We had dinner at Ama Ama last night. Prices were reasonable, the food was tasty. However, everything was at best lukewarm. There’s no excuse for this!

  Service was good with a pleasant waitress.

  We plan one more try in a week or two. With hot food this would be a great place with an interesting menu and nice ambiance.

  With basically cold food it was very disappointing.

• barb and tom November 3, 2007 (10:09 pm)

  We had dinner at ama ama tonight and the food was fantastic we just moved to the area and were very happy to have seafood and oysters in the neighborhood. We had the same server as julie and chris (brandy), and she was great very funny, attentive and was able to answer our questions. we had a great time. I think this place is here to stay.

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