Genevieve G.

From start to finish, Ama fully impressed and has made it to my top favorite restaurant list in the city. The ambiance is beautiful. Modern sleek meets warm adobe vibes. The staff? Incredible. Super knowledgeable on every single dish. Enthusiastic and service? 11 out of 10. Honestly some of the best table service I've ever had in my life. Now onto the menu... which is listed from smallest portions to largest portions and it's recommended (for 2) you grab an entree plus 2-3 small dishes. We decided on three small plates and the chicken for our entree: 1. Aguadechile del dia: This was a scallop dish that came with a habanero vanilla bean aguadechile that was poured overtop tableside, alongside shavings of rainbow carrots, sliced Persian cucumbers, and toasted peanuts for crunch. It came with corn tortilla crackers and was all in all solid but missing a little acid and sweetness. The scallops were melt in your mouth and succulent though. 2. Shrimp Ceviche Tostada: Literally crack. The best ceviche, let alone shrimp, I've had in my life. The shrimp tasted like it was literally just tossed in the acid right before being served on a perfectly fried tostada, schmeared with a crema and avocado sauces and topped with what looked like cherries. 20 out of 10. ORDER THIS. 3. Charred Cabbage: This was a wedge of perfectly cooked cabbage served atop of pippin verde and sprinkle with sprouts and almonds. All in all this was good but a likely pass the next time we go. It was missing some heat and again acid, and perhaps even some sweetness. Like candied pepitas to go along with the verde sauce instead of almonds. 4. Pollo a La Lena: SOLIDDDDD. The mole sauce was drinkable. The chicken? Perfectly cooked, tender and juicy and perfect by itself or rolled into the corn tortillas it came with. The side of roasted potatoes and aji verde sauce (CRACK) they came with? FANTASTIC. Better than the cabbage. Could've drank the sauce by itself and we were drizzling over the cabbage! 5. Tres Leches: Standard with a mango cream center. Pretty solid and beautifully presented but not a "wow" (although it's the chef's wife's favorite). The margaritas were fresh and the vibe and food made for a fantastic meal. Will absolutely be returning (and you should too!)

James D.

The food is like art. It's beautiful and delicious. Everything was new to me. Service was excellent. I really enjoyed every bite and each course was unique. Be prepared to open your wallet though. Food as an art form doesn't come cheap. You order all courses at once, and the servers will stage them. Smaller portions come first and larger at the end. We had chips and salsas which included six different salsas which went from mild to spicy but also they had really interesting flavors. They do not come with enough chips to finish, and we were encouraged to use the salsas on upcoming plates. We had the Aguachile Del Dia (scallops I think), Milpa Salad, Charred Green Cabbage, Camarones, Carne Asada, and Pollo. (There were six of us). All were excellent. The chicken is a lot of food and we took about half home. The steak was tender and delicious (also very expensive). We also finished up with a tres leches cake, and churros with cheese gelato. Everything was incredibly delicious. I was in heaven.

Shawn H.

This was incredible -- probably will be one of my favorite meals of 2026. The chips and salsas were amazing, and both the shrimp and especially the tuna tostada were absolute perfection. The aguachile, tlayuda, and swordfish tacos were all excellent as well, although I'd love to try other mains. The chocolate tamal was great but I'd probably skip next time.

Frances U.

This might be the most attentive service I've ever gotten. Our server was fantastic, the ambience was busy but warm and very intimate. I'd say it's good for dates and also good for a smaller groups. The drinks are amazing and unique and the food is very tasty. The only negative was that the oysters were very small, but it might have something to do with the kind of oysters that are served. I'll definitely be back and definitely recommend it.

Andrew K.

This place has some growing pains to figure out. Wasn't sure what to expect as it's a new place and their menu is a skosh scary. I'll start with the menu. It remains a skosh scary. I feel as if some things seem unapproachable and I wish that weren't the case, as I would be much more likely to experiment otherwise. This is particularly true of the drinks. I understood virtually 20% of the drink menu and I think that ultimately does a disservice to the place, as it made me now want to order any of them. Which is a shame because what we did order ultimately was great. The food also seems a bit overwhelming. The pulpo seems the most attractive but at the price point it was prohibitive. We started with the salsa that everyone seems to get. They were all super tasty but I can't imagine not ordering a second set of chips, which I think the restaurant realizes. The Caesar was fine, I didn't totally agree with the need to cut it with a steak knife but the overall flavoring was great. Seasonal tlayuda: This was always going to be my favorite dish and it was. Would have ordered at least two of these for the table. Entree wise: lamb neck birria and carne asada. We were actually advised that the birria would be super super heavy and advised away from this dish, but I'm glad we went with it. The meat was so tender, the seasoning divine. But the carne asada was definitely better. More interesting in flavor profile, tender meat, plentiful. All that said, the menu was just too expensive and the experience was a mess. At no point did I feel like a dish we ordered was worth the amount paid for. This could have been changed by the service, but this was also somewhat of a mess. Multiple times we were offered dishes we had already eaten, extra tortillas (not free) that we did not order, drinks we had already received, etc. This place truly needs to figure itself out before it becomes a contender in the area.

Emily A.

AMA is incredible when it comes to both food and service. The lamb was absolutely fantastic--tender, flavorful, and beautifully prepared. I also highly recommend the Caesar salad and tuna tostada! The service was top-tier I'm giving it 4 out of 5 stars only because of the vibe and drink menu. The restaurant layout felt a bit off to me--maybe not the best for a date night or intimate dinner--but it would be perfect for big groups or celebrations. The drinks didn't wow me, but they got the job done. Maybe a little too fussy

Sara G.

Whoa. There was a lotta noise around this opening but I didn't expect it to be THIS impressive. Ama may be chef's first place of his own, but it's not a small or even modest start. It's a *punch* smack at the top of the Philly restaurant scene, no doubt landing right there with Kalaya (the new version), Honeysuckle (v2), and Fri Sat Sunday (updated). We've eaten a lot of top notch Mexican food, high brow and low, across Philly, the U.S., and Mexico. Just over a year ago we did Pujol and Quintonil both within 48 hrs. Barely a month ago we hit Merida for the 2nd time, and Oaxaca was a massive highlight. But AMA- wow. Every single dish, I mean every single one, hit exactly on the nose. It's Contramar + Levadura de Olla vibes, right smack in Fishtown. Beef cheeks are unctuous, deeply sauced, the chicken breast was shockingly moist and that spicy sauce! The special tyaluda was a stunning array of flavors and so light! Milpia salad- yes yes yes! Yeah, it's pricey but look at all the technique and gorgeous ingredients- plus the incredible space, the unusual wood oven, and the top notch service. Carefully crafted cocktails and precisely delicious and beautiful dessert. All in all, a superb value. Plus, genuinely smart and nice folks are running the place. I walked out of the restroom and gazed on the kitchen only to be invited in by the owner, given a tour, met the chef, and took home a gift. Seriously. I literally can't wait to come back. Please, Ama, never change!

Had an excellent time here a few weeks back. Nearly everything we tried was excellent with the exception of the steak. The stake was solid but didn't live up to expectation like the rest of the menu did Our server was outstanding and the restaurant is really clean and well decorated. Would highly recommend the salsa flight

Janet Z.

Cute restaurant, amazing food and excellent drinks. Service was spectacular. Everything we had from appetizers to main dish to dessert was superb. Drinks were delicious and poured with a heavy hand. Only negative to this place is the loud noise from train going by that makes conversation difficult. In between the train passing, the ambience is laid back, but fun. As a random side note, I love the clean, cute private bathrooms. Also, no nearby parking lots so be prepared to circle around looking for street parking.

Leah G.

If you are looking for an elevated Mexican dining experience then look no further! AMA's food is packed with amazing flavors and served in such a beautiful way on the plate. I highly recommend the lamb birra, tuna toastado, and tres leches.

Matthew G.

Really impressed. Lamb, carne Asada, Tuna, elevated cocktails, top notch service. We really enjoyed everything about this meal. Restaurant vibes were on point. Great place for a celebration. They definitely didn't take themselves too seriously. Right up there with the best restaurants in the neighborhood.

Deedee G.

AMA is located in the Fishtown part of the city. This Mexican restaurant serves its courses as family styled shareable dishes. The restaurant itself is beautiful and the food was very flavorful for the items We've picked. Now I will also share what not to get from the menu. I've done you guys the favor. The service here is also great. The host , to the bartender to our servers. Now there may have been one in the beginning initially who didn't acknowledge my presence. However i simply switched my seating and the next person made up for it. I didn't share the details I assumed maybe there are territory rules. But to the reason why we are here the food! We did the shrimp that were more like grilled prawns and those were delicious. And we did the lamb tacos. The lamb was falling off the bone. We chose the charred cabbage and I will say you can definitely skip that. The drinks are pretty however it definitely felt more like mocktails in my opinion. My favorite drink on their menu was this mezcal old fashion with this cookie on top. The cookie isn't needed but it's pretty so 10/10 for me. I went on a Friday night and was able to be quickly seated too as they were also pretty busy and that was an additional plus! Definitely check the place out for a nice dinner out away from the hustle and bustle of the city.

Leah C.

This review is from May: Tried out AMA last night for the first time with a group of 6. We were all super excited to try it since the pictures on their instagram looked great. Our server was really nice and knowledgeable and helped explain a lot of items on the menu. To start off the drinks were the highlight of this place. They were unique, flavorful and refreshing. Going into the food we started with the chips and salsa. We really enjoyed the salsas but were a bit thrown off by the chips as they very thin and only came with about 4 big ones that we had to break up. It also came with the world's smallest and blandest guacamole which was legit only about a half of an avocado. We then proceeded to ask for more chips because we still had a ton of salsa to finish. We ordered a few different appetizers and one main entree because we were all sharing. We ordered the tuna tostada but they were out. Instead we ordered the scallop dish which was very strange and acidic. Our group did not like it. We ordered the Caesar to try which was underwhelming which I figured it would be given it's a Mexican place (not my idea to order). We ordered the shrimp which was excellent but very messy as you had to de-shell them. Next we ordered the chile braised beef cheeks. We found these to be bland and lacking seasoning. Our final and biggest item was the lamb neck birria. Our waitress informed us this was shareable so it would be a great item for a big group like ours. She was correct in that it was a huge portion. They gave us 4 soft shell tacos and 5 slices of avocado. Let me remind you we are a table of 6. The point of the dish from my understanding was you made yourself a taco with the lamb meat and fixings they gave you. However, how is a table of 6 people supposed to make 6 tacos out of 4 taco shells?! I can't recall the price of this dish but I know it was very expensive and they are a silly restaurant that doesn't put the prices on their website menu. I proceed to ask our waitress or a runner for more taco shells and more avocado. They proceed to tell me that will be extra...I'm confused as to how this can be extra when we are paying $54 for this single dish and over $400 for our entire meal. They proceed to give us the extra taco shells and avocado which we then asked for more taco shells given this is an entire lambs' neck. Do you realize how large that is?! It's huge. After ordering dessert which was so lame and the worst churro I've experienced in my life we got the check. The bill, as I said, is over $400 which is expected at a restaurant like this but we see that we are charged extra for the taco shells and extra avocado. I proceed to pull a Karen because this is ridiculous. We are a 6 top table. I would understand paying extra if we were 8 or more people but it costs you nothing to throw in 2 extra tacos. You're also a brand new restaurant to the neighborhood so I would assume you're trying to impress people and get them to want to come back. We inform the waitress of the issue and she has the manager come over. He argues with us saying that that's just how it is. Keep in mind we are asking to get extra taco shells and the extra avocado slices off the bill which comes to less than like $6. It's not the cost to us but the principal. This manager is arguing with us over less than $10... we aren't asking to get an actual dish taken off. Overall, disappointed and underwhelmed by this restaurant. I've been to Mexico many times and this restaurant doesn't even come to close to reflect the incredible cuisine of Mexico. It's overpriced and trying to be something that it's not.