AMA Raw Bar is a Japanese-inspired speakeasy cocktail bar located on Fraser and E King Ed. They boast a variety of creative cocktails and fine-dining Japanese dishes in a mysterious and dark lounge-type ambiance. My friend had been eyeing this place so we made a reservation for a girl's night. I liked the vibes of the restaurant but unfortunately, many elements of the night fell short of my high expectations.
To start, the drinks are fantastic - no complaints there. The menu has a chart that indicates the different profiles of all the cocktails such as boozy, sweet, citrus, sour etc. Everyone was able to select a cocktail that matched to their tastes. I love sweet and citrus-y cocktails so I selected the Tangerine Dream and it was delicious! Based on their Instagram posts, I can see that the drinks are carefully curated with multiple elements to create the perfect cocktail and I appreciate that.
Now here is where things start to fall short. It was hard to get the server's attention throughout the night. We had already eaten dinner but decided to order a few things to try. The smoked fish dip felt like tuna lunchables with taro chips on the side and the chutoro roll seemed to be amiss with the rice temperature slightly off on the warm side. I admit I may be biased as I just came back from Japan... but the roll really didn't taste like the $26-7 dollars it costed and more like from my local sushi joint.
1.5 hours into our dining time, the server comes and tells us they have a 2 hour dining limit. I told her we had arrived at 9pm and it was only 10:30pm so we should be entitled to 30 more minutes. She responded that maybe someone had arrived early and that was what the table system had registered. I told her that was not the case and she said she was only going off of what she saw and walked off. Girl, just apologize and make an effort to let us enjoy the rest of our dining time....I understand 1) the restaurant wants to boot us out because we're not ordering $$$ and/or 2) the restaurant made an error on the reservation system (which I find unlikely but I will give the benefit of the doubt) but you have to make ammends where possible and show your sincerity to customers. This is basic business etiquette.
Initially, I was thinking I would return solely for the great drinks and ambiance but if the service is as belittling and cold as this, then I'd rather go elsewhere. read more