Sant Ambroeus - Madison Avenue

The must-have for Italian food in NYC! Great food and fabulous pasta. They are open for both indoor/outdoor, delivery or pick up! If you cannot get a reservation for lunch, I recommend coming in before noon and seeing whether they have walk-in seating available. My friend and I did walk in before noon and got the seating in the front area. At the end of the meal, they gave us two cookies: We will be back again!

An on going love affair….. I brought my friend and it was her first time. She is gluten free. The server had gluten free bread toasted and brought to the table. It was so thoughtful and we did not even ask. Food and pastries are always on point!!!

I bought 2 cakes-the Sant Ambroeus chocolate) and the Principesa Lemon Cream, Whipped Cream Vanilla almond cake) for a husband and wife whose birthdays were separated by Mother’s Day. The husband loves lemon and whipped cream so I gave him the Pricipesa cake. When I inquired about the taste of the cake the wife said, while delicious, there wasn’t any lemon in the cake. When I called Sant Ambroeus to discuss this the general manager, some lady, was more defensive than helpful. As a professional chef who for ten years worked as a pastry chef in my 35 years in restaurants and UHNW homes in NYC, California, Miami and the Hamptons I can understand the chef isn’t always right and neither is the guest/client. I can stand by my product but if there’s an issue the client disagrees with, I find what I feel can be a proper solution so it doesn’t happen again because I could just be wrong. I didn’t call Sant Ambroeus to ask for a refund. The guest-in this case my sister and her husband didn’t receive what was told to me to be, by a member of Sant Ambroeus staff, that I would get-a cake that had lemon with whipped cream. The pic shows a yellow filling that you would think is lemon but there wasn’t any lemon flavor. Poor customer service, snooty attitudes from the staff when I walked in-every time fourth time) I have gone there and to not receive what I paid for $80 for one 8-inch cake) and a defensive general manager, I will not be back-ever.

The worst Sant Ambroeus location. One of the worst restaurants overall in this price category. The food for some reason does not taste as good as in Southampton and the West Village locations. It’s intact very bland. Service wise, on two separate occasions, I had unpleasant experiences. Stopped going here after the last experience, when there was a time limit on seating and I had 15 minutes left when the hostess ran up to my table and said to “FINISH QUICKLY THE OTHER GUESTS ARE HERE AND DON’T WANNA WAIT”. Not my fault that they came early. The waiter had just brought the desert and I had to ask him to take it back.

This restaurant is a wonderful choice for a special event. I have visited twice in the past week to make up for missed birthday celebrations. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience.