Probably the best "dine-in" Indian restaurant around University of Cincinnati. Good ambience and tasty food!
Update: rude and arrogant staff!
After hearing so much good about Ambar India for so long, I finally made it there yesterday, and I was mostly unimpressed.
Before I get into all that, a public service announcement: in case you didn't already know about the feud, let's talk feud. Ambar has a neighboring Indian restaurant called Amol India. Apparently, there are family connections between the two restaurants, and not friendly ones. There was even a shooting allegedly involving the families. But I digress - how does this affect you? Ok. Amol has a much bigger, much better parking lot, and it is right inbetween the two eateries. If you park there and walk into Ambar, word is that they will have a tow truck there quickly to haul your car away. So if you are parking your car for dining at Ambar, make sure you use public parking or the tiny parking lot directly behind Ambar, accessible only by a very thin alleyway on right side of Ambar. PSO - completed
The folks inside are very friendly, but the interior is very shabby and worn down - very much in need of a full cleaning and remodeling. Its a weird look because they are also trying to dress the place up like it is fancy, with nice stemware and white tablecloths.
Prices are somewhat higher than the average Northern Indian restaurant in this area
The food? Without getting too in depth, the food was ok, but nowhere near as good as Deep India. I will however say FWIW that the rice was notably better - it included not only the usual aromatics but also some peas and some ginger, and was tasty on its own
Overall -- the only real advantage Ambar has over Deep is the larger dining space and small (but private/dedicated) parking lot.
After that evening at Ambar, Indian food became my most favorite of comfort meals. I never get tired of it. And, please know, that when I write about my love affair with Indian, I’m not trying to be an expert in Indian cuisine or regional Indian cuisine. This is a love story between me and Ambar! To start, we always get the Mattu Special. It’s a big pastry, with flakey crust, deep fried and filled with spiced tandoori chicken and diced onion and peppers. Tastes good. Smells good. Feels good. I have friends who are loyal to the samosas, and while I like them, I would always pick the Mattu ! Entrees are much tougher to talk about because there are SO many great options. My first choice would be Chicken Tikka . This plate comes out of the kitchen sizzling! The chicken, all white meat, is marinated for hours in yogurt and spices and cooked in a tandoori (clay) oven. The chicken is so
350 Ludlow Ave - Cincinnati
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