by Joannie Ammar on I came here for a Halloween par-tay, so I can only speak from the experience of the way things were conducted that night. I hear that typical Saturday's usually have a majority Asian crowd. On the particular night I went, however, there was Superman...and peacocks...and clowns...and witches...and, well, you get the picture.... This place gets packed quickly! My friends and I arrived to stand in line at 9:10 (the place opened at 9:00pm) and the line was already starting to grow. What ever happened to showing up fashionably late? We showed our tickets, our ID's, and proceeded inside and upstairs to a spacious, pretty area with some couches and two large bars on either side of the room. Proceed to the next level and you can greet the DJ, people watch from above and see everyone get their groove on, and most importantly, go to the restroom. I doubt this was the typical crowd, but Halloween partygoers here tend to be on the older end rather than the barely looks twenty-one fake ID carting crowd, which suited me just find since I'm part of the former crowd. Barely an hour had passed by and the place was packed, but that still didn't stop me from backing my big booty up and down and sideways all over the dance floor! The DJ played top 40's and other popular songs, which I loved, but my only complaint was that he had to be all "creative" and stop a really good song to transition into another song when I had just gotten revved up and dancing crazily while listening to the previous song! I really wanted to hear the some more of that Michael Jackson song, dang it! The drinks are okay. They're overpriced and don't contain much alcohol, which I guess is the point from the establishment's point of view. They want you to keep coming back for more of course. However, just because an establishment can charge an arm, a leg, and a torso for alcohol doesn't mean they should. So that's why I took away a half of a star. I took away another half of a star because there were no "in and out" privileges. I was hoping to do some bar hopping in costume, but that idea was quickly squashed. It was nearly midnight and the line was still crazy long. There was no way I was going anywhere, but I seriously doubt there was anything else as good as that club going on in downtown, bar say, a roof party or something. Like I said, this is in reference to the Halloween par-tay only. I have no idea what a typical weekend is like and will update if and when I go back during a non-event weekend.
by Dorthey Hoxworth on I had read quite a few bad reviews of Ambiente so I was a little nervous. I went on Jan 3, 2009. If you call ahead (and get there before 10:30), you can get on the guest list and only pay $5. I called but didn't need to do this because we ended up having dinner there first. I had the chicken mole enchiladas and my friend had the sea bass. Both meals were very good. I had asked for no onions but got them anyway. I complimented the server on the fresh cactus and he went back to the kitchen to bring me more. The music started about 9:00 but people didn't dance until 10:30. The DJ was ok but couldn't finish a song - too bad because the music was good. The smoking "patio" (really an enclosed room) would be good for dancing except for the smoke and the fire in the middle (it was too hot in there). The drinks were good (mojitos and margaritas). The waiters / servers were very friendly and helpful. I saw the bouncers walking around but didn't see them being rude or anything. This is a perfectly fine place to go out with a friend. Not a great place to pick up on someone new.
by Theresa M. on Had a good time here for a private event. Bartenders were extremely quick and poured generous, good tasting cocktails (the open bar policy was a deff perk to the party). The additional games located throughout the bar added character to this place. Think fooze ball, billiards (obvi), and a wii. Very casual, horrible bathrooms and a bit dingy in a few corners. Fun party/event space for relaxed affairs, but so not my new stomping ground.
