The Ambassador

01/15/2008 Posted by nigellia

Had heard about The Ambassador for over a year and finally met friends here for Happy Hour drinks and appetizers. Our experience exceeded the buzz. This is one of my new favorite bars. Beautiful concept and use of space. The cluster of chandeliers is magic. Drinks were excellent, appetizers were fun, and service was superb. Bartenders were skilled and super friendly. There is a long bar along one wall and a bevy of big cushy booths along the opposite wall. Upstairs has a cozy balcony with a second bar that overlooks the room. Love, too, the old movies playing on the big screen. We've been back several times since and have always have a good time. Good music. Friendly crowd. A touch of class.

Pros: atmosphere, good drinks, friendly service

12/12/2007 Posted by kckraft

If your looking to have a good night dancing, drinking, or just socializing the Ambassador is the place to go. With no cover charge the line can get long on weekends but I always find it worth the wait. The music selection is always fun and old movies play on the wall which makes for great entertainment. The place is little, but if you don't mind that you will love the atmosphere. I would recommend the Ambassador to anyone laid-back who can handle dancing and appreciates sophisticated decor. Just look up and enjoy the chandeliers while your dancing!

Pros: Atmosphere, Location, & Dancing

Cons: Little Breathing Room

11/20/2007 Posted by socalchick76

On Saturday November 17th, a bunch of friends headed over to the Ambassador to celebrate our friend's birthday. The night started out really fun and we even decided to go the bottle service route so we could have a table to rally around. We were happy with our location and the music was really good-except for the fact that the DJ wasn't very nice and as he made it very clear, did NOT take any requests. Unfortunately, our bottle service hostess wasn't much of a host. She was great at bringing over the buckets of ice, but as far as "hosting" (i.e. pouring drinks, refilling mixers, etc.), she was definitely lacking. I could have potentially lived with this since I started pouring the drinks for the group, but when the $700 bill showed up with the 20% gratuity added, I was furious! What was even more infuriating was the reaction of the Manager. Clearly, he knew our party was unhappy with the service, but he merely shrugged it off and said we had to pay the full amount or else. The manager's customer service was disappointing and highly inadequate. After a relatively fun evening out, that experience made this patron leave with a sour feeling about the Ambassador. I would not recommend this bar to anyone who appreciates good service.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

11/19/2007 Posted by julietk

Our visit started out great- good music, we had gotten a table with bottle service because we heard the place was very crowded. The decor is great, the energy was good. They even let me dance on the booth bench (I had to take my shoes off though). Later on in the evening, our server was MIA. She would occasionally come by and refill our ice but other than that was not around. The club became EXTREMELY hot, seemed as though there was no air conditioning. It was like a sauna. At one point I couldn't take it anymore and had to go outside. I have never been in a club without AC- not sure if this was just a weekend it was broken or not- either way, unacceptable. At the end of the night our server showed up to give us our $700 bill, with her tip already included. We would have NEVER tipped her the full amount for the job she did. We brought it up to the manager and he was very rude. He actually told me to go call the police if I had a problem with it. He just stood there with a smirk on his face. I would never go back to this club.

Pros: Decor

Cons: No AC and rude staff

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

07/12/2007 Posted by stellat

I've been to the ambassador several times now and I don't agree with previous reviewers who find the service snobby and the music terrible. I reserved a table in the upstairs area for my girlfriends 30th birthday and found the cocktail servers to be bubbly and attentive. Boo hoo to the previous reviewer who doesn't understand the concept of a reservation, considering it's a widely accepted practice at bars, clubs and restaurants in SF. I've also been able to see great DJ's like Vice and AM who mainly play outside of SF and are extremely fun! The bartenders are efficient and quick and I love the fact that the bathroom line is never long. The ambassador never disappoints!

Pros: The bar food.

Cons: Long door line late on the weekends.

03/20/2007 Posted by citysister

This bar serves great drinks and has a nice ambiance but is trying to be way too posh for it's own good. We were there celebrating a friend's birthday on a Friday night and were rudely warned repetedly that we would soon be booted from our comfy seats due to the bottle service that would be set up. Seriously...we are not in New York City here, we are in the Tenderloin. If this bar wants to stay open it should probably tone the snobby attitude down a notch.

Pros: Good cocktails

Cons: Snobby attitude

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

03/01/2007 Posted by zwiggy

Awesome decor, great service, but terrible music. Do we need the same djs that play at every other downtown venue. And mash ups, so corny and very, very over. There's no dancefloor so do we need the top 40 schlock and stoopid mash up stuff. Some of us are adults. Book some real djs, and play some good music 'cos once the novelty is over you're just another lounge with bad djs in a city full of lounges with bad djs. And please drop the mash ups, do some research, that fad is over!

Pros: Staff

Cons: The djs and the music

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful

02/17/2007 Posted by jweff

fantasic place that brings a different feel every night. The decor, people and overall feel of the place is excellent. Earlier in the week for a more relaxed environment. Later in the week for a raging good time.

Pros: everything

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful

02/16/2007 Posted by barhopper07

I saw the photo here on CitySearch and I thought it might be a great spot to try out with a friend in from out of town. I thought the decor was kind of fun, but it was dude-city. The ratio of girl to guy was abysmal. I want to say it was just San Francisco on a Thursday, and maybe the girls weren't out on a Thursday after Valentine's day, but it was just almost all dudes in suits and not really fun. However, service in the top back bar was terrific and friendly. It seems like they did a good job of making a nice looking place and they did have fun booths for bottle service. But it also smelled like bleach as soon as you walked in the door, like they cleaned musty old carpets or something. Combined with the sword fight and I'm not considering returning soon. I wish them well as it looked like they had good intentions. It just needs to be tweaked to make it more fun.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful