Ambiente Tapas in York

Fabulous meal at a lovely restaurant. The patatas bravas in particular were superb. Our waitress, Bri, was so helpful and attentive. I can't eat citrus, Bri helped me choose dishes that were suitable for me. Where there was lemon in sauces, she arranged for these to be served separately so that I could share all the dishes. Thank you so much to Bri and the team

We were given a warm welcome by Will at about 3pm on Thursday 24th October. We did not pre-book as it was only myself and my Mum eating. Will explained how ordering worked and sherry was our drink of choice and he chose well. The menus choice is extensive with a good variation of meat, veg and for those with intolerances. The food really was fantastic, arrived fairly quickly and it was piping hot. I have booked in again for Friday 15th November for my birthday and I can't wait!

I love the look and feel of the restaurant but some of the food leaves a little to be desired. Some dishes were hot and looked freshly made, others were lukewarm and very overcooked - in particular Pork Belly was burnt and dry, Calamari was barely edible it was so over cooked, Patas Bravas wasn't hot. A real shame of a meal.

We’d visited the Hull branch for our first date years ago so thought we’d try this branch whilst we were on a staycation and it didn’t disappoint. Our American server was amazing and very attentive. The food was lovely…especially the calamari, prawns and meatballs! Good price too!

Had an amazing lunch at Ambiente York! The food was fantastic, we could have ordered the whole menu. The staff were absolutely lovely, making our experience even more enjoyable with their relaxed, friendly and attentive service. A must-visit for anyone in the area looking for a delicious meal and warm hospitality!"

Visited with a friend for an early dinner on a Tuesday night. Food was delicious, customer service was great! Live locally, but hadn't been since Christmas 2023. Def need to give back more frequently! Visited at 6pm and was a little quiet, but within an hour it was rammed. Book ahead!

Wonderful food, great atmosphere, really good value for the quality. We had a really lovely family meal. Also friendly staff, especially Ray - thanks for the olives, Ray! Best ever. Would definitely eat here again - perfect for a special occasion, or just a cosy meal.

Amazing place. Fantastic food. Tash was the best, standout. She makes the best espresso martini I’ve ever had. Also shout out to Louise and Izzie. Try the sherry flight.

Fabulous Food! Fabulous Service! Fabulous Atmosphere! Such a lovely evening - we’ve had a really great meal, very relaxing and excellent meal 😀

Some different and interesting tapas, not just the usual dishes, all really delicious and service good too. Highly recommend

I got food poisoning from here unfortunately. Think it was the mushrooms, maybe they weren’t washed properly. Woke up in the middle of the night and threw up. Be careful

Absolutely delicious food, so tasty and very reasonably priced. Sangria was very nice too. Staff so pleasant and attentive. Would definitely recommend!

Absolute gem in the city. The staff are welcoming, the environment is lovely but the food... The food is delightful! I can't recommend this place highly enough ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Nice staffsome food was ok ? Spanish ,not so sure and don't Have the large grilled prawns ...don't appear to be freshly cooked so dry and hard shells were stuck to them ,awful ...on the inheritance hand short beef rib was very nice even though it was 12 pounds for a tapas ?? Don't think I'd recommend or return am sure there are better places in York.. .

Found this gem of a place on our weekend trip away to York. Booking in advance would've saved them some hassle, I'm sure but they had a table for 2 (lucky us) available just as we walked in, we did notice some walk-ins after us had to be turned away as it was a busy Saturday for them. It's totally understandable why this establishment would be so popular! Our main waiting staff was very friendly and helpful as were the various other staff members who we randomly asked for this and that during our stay. It just goes to show how well they had been briefed by their management re:professionalism. They were all extremely attentive, not only towards their designated table. Food was excellent. We ordered 3 tapas dishes and a paella dish to share plus drinks. The standard of that paella was very high. The overall standard of the meals was very very impressive. We spent £70 ish altogether on dishes of the highest of standards which made us question our spending habits at our local restaurants in Cambridge. All of that was topped with a very friendly service from the entire staff. Two senior managers (a Latin (?) lady and a local Yorkshire gentleman) present on the day were very helpful and friendly. We'll be eating there on our next trip to York in a heartbeat. And we'll be sure to book ahead.

Absolutely beautiful food and great atmosphere

Superb tapas and service. We're recently back from a three week holiday in Spain, and the tapas here was equal to or better than any we had in Spain.

Fabulous food. Every dish was delicious. The staff were attentive and knowledgeable about all the food on the menu. The best tapas I have tasted.

The last time i visited here it was amazing but yesterday its definitely not the same food. It came out sparadickly and mine was cold. Today i have suffered with symptoms of food poisoning. Im not saying that its your food but that's all i ate yesterday. Waitress was friendly but poor food.

Both of the locations are absolutely fantastic and the staff were really helpful with our dietary restrictions. Would visit again.

Tasty tapas and sherry. Great selection of dishes including delicious cheesecake for pudding.

Really sorry but if you are looking for vegan options you should avoid this place..few dishes are ok but be careful..

Great food Good service and a pleasant atmosphere, we were upstairs. really enjoyable meal with friends.

Beautiful place. Great service and the food was so tasty.

Great food with great service - especially Emily W - thanks!

Really impressive tapas restaurant in the heart of York city centre. Best patatas bravas we've ever had!! They had lots of vegan options - I had the vegan prawns ("Sham-Bas” Gambas Veganas), meatballs (Albóndigas Veganas) and Empanadas Vegana. All of which were delicious! Staff were really attentive too

Pleasant atmosphere, rustic furnishings and good food. The four of us each ordered three to four different small dishes and then shared them. The food came in portions and was excellent. Worth a visit again at any time.

We recently had a fantastic work night out at Ambiente Tapas Fossgate, and the entire team was thoroughly impressed! Having previously enjoyed the delicious food at their sister location in Leeds, we knew we were in for a treat. However, it was our waitress, Emily, who truly made the evening exceptional. Her enthusiasm and insightful recommendations for both dishes and sherry elevated our experience. We can’t wait to return!

All very tasty. Slightly pricey but...

Lydia was an absolutely fantastic host, she was so lovely and the food was absolutely amazing! She was so helpful with anything which was asked and has a lovely personality!

This is such a great place. Food is probably the best outside of Barcelona. Loved the paella. So good. Will go again if we are in York again.

Great quality tapas good size portions good service nice setting

My wife and I had dinner here the other night. The food was good and we quickly got to grips with the portion size. The waiting staff, when available, were helpful and knowledgeable. They seemed understaffed which resulted in long wait times for service. However, the manager was very apologetic for this. I would recommend a visit, however, allow yourself plenty of time.

Excellent food as always with very good service, although as all the waiters seemed to be foreign (not a problem of course) we sometimes had to say things twice - quite entertaining actually!

Had the privilege of dinning at this establishment with my family of 6. The food was quite scrumptious but that was not our highlight of the evening. We were blessed enough to experience the greatest service of our lifetime; our waiter Ulises D. was extremely kind, helpful and quite respectful. He immediately elevated our experience by 10 fold with his smile alone.

The best restaurant! 👍🏻 I like all the dishes we ordered from here—each one was surprisingly delicious! Good environment and good service！！ Absolutely loved the experience here! We rocked up just before the kitchen was about to close, The staff were super nice and never made us feel rushed. Highly recommend!

Great food and atmosphere. Amazing service by Lydia, exactly what you look for in a restaurant!

We'd like to give a big thumbs-up to Lydia for her fantastic service. She has a warm and friendly manner, and engages well with equal banter 5 stars

absolutely amazing food and service! blown away!

Fantastic tapas restaurant serving some incredible food at a reasonable price. We had two allergies at our table which were well-catered for, especially by the manager on duty. Will definitely be returning.

This is the second visit to Ambient Tapas, and it did not disappoint. My family and I should have been in Spain. However, issues at the airport meant the holiday was cancelled. As a stop gap, we booked a house in York and visited this venue, which was like a little bit of Spain. Great tapas, friendly and attentive staff, with a good atmosphere. After all that had happened with the holiday, it was a close second choice.👌

Cost a lot for not a lot but good food.

Do Not Miss Out on this top notch venue ! The food is absolutely outstanding. The staff are friendly professional and very happy (sign of a good place to work) .. seriously enjoyed our relaxed meal and drinks .. we will be back !!

Spot on. Good food. Good service. Good fun.

Absolutely faultless restaurant, the food is incredible, some of the best me and my partner have ever tried; we were looked after by Suwannee on both of our visits and she was amazing both times, so helpful and lovely to talk to. Will be visiting frequently 😊

Absolutely gorgeous tapas, I genuinely haven’t stopped thinking about it since I had it a week ago

Great restaurant, food was delicious (dates wrapped in palma ham and the patatas and chorizo amazing). Service was good. Just a great little place and will definitely be going back.

If you looking for a Spanish tapas place to eat in York, this is one of the best place. Recommend to book table especially on weekend as it’s busy. Food is amazing all the dishes we had so delicious. Staffs are so friendly and happy to service you. Good vibes. The portion of each dish not to big so you can try few menu. Price is valuable and affordable. We fished all the dishes and definitely will come back.

Fantastic food. Our waiter Miquel took v good care of us. Good selection of food and drinks. Deffinatly a place we are going back to visit. Craig (foh) what a good guy.

The best Tapas I have had. The mussels in white wine garlic and cream were fantastic. Really thick creamy sauce. Could have had 2 or 3 bowls of that alone with some bread.

Great food and service. Only issue with lamb ribs which were taken away and not charged for...Second time of dining there. Will be back..

The waiter was lovely however the food was not! We had beef short rib which was the best on the menu. However, Belly pork was clearly cooked earlier and microwaved which gave it an awful after taste. Tempura prawns were greasy. Lamb rib was tasteless and had hardly any meat on the bone. Chicken and chorizo skewers were also tasteless. All in all a disappointing meal which left a greasy taste in the mouth at the cost of £95! Don’t bother!

Excellent food , great service and lovely atmosphere. We are only visiting York , if we lived here we would definitely be eating at Ambiente more .

FOOD POSIONING!!!! Came here Tuesday night to meet a friend. We traveled for hours and paid £500 for our stay in York which has unfortunately been ruined by our £120 dine out. We only shared this meal with our friend and he is ill too. Spent a day and night of our trip vomiting and the other end. The food at the time seemed good, other than some over cooked lamb chops which I didn't make a fuss over.

Absolutely fabulous discovery. We are visiting the area and got given this as a recommendation. Rustic and friendly atmosphere. Very friendly welcome. Very friendly staff. Fantastic menu. Fantastic portion sizes. Fabulous service. Highly recommended. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience from start to finish! We might go again whilst we’re here! Do not miss out!!!!

We had dinner for our anniversary here last night, the atmosphere was great and staff were so welcoming! All the tapas plates we had were so delicious! Personal favourites were the mussels and the crispy belly pork DELICIOUS!!

Fantastic tapas! My wife and I ate here on our first of two nights in York and would have happily had another visit if we’d been staying in York longer. We had about six tapas dishes between us, all of which were superb, likewise the sangria and sherry! It’s a beautifully presented restaurant set over two floors. The staff were excellent.

Fantastic tapas! My wife and I ate here on our first of two nights in York and would have happily had another visit if we’d been staying longer. We had about six tapas dishes between us, all of which were superb, likewise the sangria and sherry! It’s a beautifully presented restaurant set over two floors. The staff were excellent.

Very tasty food and very good service.

Went here with my daughter and really enjoyed the food, atmosphere and the staff were super friendly and efficient. Would highly recommend for delicious tapas and sangria.

A lovely restaurant, great staff and wonderful food. Very good for both meat eats and veggies. A high spot of York

Pre-ordered weeks ago as we were a large party of 10. When arrived we were told we were picking from a wrong menu but that's the one they sent us. Food substitutes ordered we waited about 20 mins for the drinks to arrive. Food then started coming through for some of the party but not for all. The food was lukewarm and the lamb ribs were fatty and disgusting. Cannot fault the girl serving us as she didn't cook the food. I would avoid at all costs. We rightly got 50% of the meal.

We have visited Fossgate and Leeds Ambiente restaurants and have always had fantastic food. A nice atmosphere and a great dining experience. ¡Qué delicioso!

A wonderful tapas restaurant, with lots of vegan options. The waiter was very knowledgable about my requirements and what was on the menu. The food was lovely! So much so I never got many pictures!

Really lovely staff fit a table of 14 in last minute. Had extremely tasty food and a huge option for our vegan member of our party.

Great meal with great food here! but was made so much better by our server eloise (dark hair) who was brilliant and made the meal far better!

Great service and excellent food. Loved the decor too. 😍

Would highly recommend this place for so many reasons. Firstly we had failed to book anywhere on a Friday night and although they were extremely busy they managed to accommodate us. They put us in a private booth which really was lovely. The service was second to none and the food was amazing. Will certainly be revisiting on our next trip to York.

Absolutely amazing loved it will be back highly recommend

Friendly and good food. Thanks.

Excellent food and wine and brilliant service by Natalia! Great vegetarian selection and really friendly staff.

“Thumbs up, second best restaurant in England” Gabriel, age 12

I thought it was the best tapas I have had in a long time really enjoyed it and the staff was excellent

Food came a bit slowly but the staff were friendly, food when it came was excellent and the wine was more than good enough to keep us company while we waited.

Amazing food, highly knowledgeable waiting staff, the sherry flights were a real winner!

If you’re going to visit York then I recommend this place . Very good food and service. It was just like being back in Spain .

Hounded by an over friendly waiter from the moment we arrived. I ordered a £28 bottle of Rioja to have him put a straw into it as a “joke”. The food was dry, over cooked and a £9.95 fish dish was dripping with pan oil on its delivery, I turned it over and it was black on one side. The same waiter indicated I could send it back if I was fussy. They put a service charge on the bill and didn’t give the option not to pay. Stay away, it’s a tourist trap. Bad food bad everything.

nice food lovely staff great overall atmosphere

Excellent tapas place with an extensive menu. Lots of choice including fish, meat, vegetarian and vegan options. Delicious flavours and excellently presented. We had the intro selection of Sherrys, three 50ml glasses of different Sherrys to sample. Upstairs and downstairs seating areas in a relaxed but trendy restaurant. Well worth a visit :)

I highly recommend Ambiente. Visited on a recommendation and we were not disappointed. The service, food and atmosphere were all fantastic. Book in advance if you can. We went on a Tuesday night and by chance got one of the last free tables.

Fantastic food. Lovely service. We will be back. Try the desert wine flights. Delicious.

Excellent range of vegetarian and vegan options . Great service. A nice variety of Spanish music. Delicious Pan Tumaca and perfectly cooked tortilla for my tastes. Also a good range of sherry. Highly recommended although some dishes were a little sweet for my tastes.

We went in on the off chance they were able to seat us and they were very accommodating, we had cocktails and food- the food was amazing, some of the best tapas I’ve tasted. The staff were very friendly and welcoming. I’ll definitely be back if in York again.

First time here and we were really impressed. The atmosphere is great, accompanied by good music and the service provided by the staff was second to none. The food was delicious and reasonably priced and there were plenty of choices of both food and drink. Be back soon!

Had a fantastic meal here yesterday. Really lovely place with modern yet authentic feel. Clear that the owners have passion and expertise in the cuisine. So pleasing to see a generous veggie and plant-based section! Only giving 4 stars because 2 of my dishes were stone cold when they got to me but they still tasted excellent.

Amazing food Staff very friendly our waiter was the best The food was so good we had sixteen dishes there was not one bad dish We had a great night Would definitely recommend

Absolutely superb. Incredibly tasty and interesting combinations. Great service and lovely environment. The portions are generous and well presented. Thanks for a lovely evening.

Me and my partner went here last night after wanting to try something different. We was told by a young man at the bar to sit there and he pointed at a table. We then sat there for a further 20 minutes without anyone communicating with us or offering to get us a drink. While we appreciate you are busy during this time two young servers in black stood behind the bar chatting with another lady who I feel was management because she was dressed differently (pink floral top, pink hair, skirt and doc martens) . The three young women actually spent 5 minutes looking at a Corkscrew, I remember this as this was the point where my partner said 5 minutes and we are walking out. Just before we was actually spoken to the server covering our area stood at the top of the walk way looking (as if to check her area) honestly I don't even think this poor lady was told we had been seated, it was as we turned to ask if we order at the bar that she realised we was new customers, and while I don't want her in trouble for taking so long to serve us I honestly believe it was poor management as the lady in the pink shirt spent more time on the computer checking tables and not directioning the staff towards the partons. Food was fast out even with one wrong order (which tbh we didn't care at this point we wanted to eat and leave) and one order didn't turn up until we had finished eating, again at this point we was asked how the food was by the server but the food wasn't that great so we initially didn't care that the food hadn't shown, we didn't eat the late food but still paid regardless as at this point we didn't feel it was even worth the complaint as the lady who appeared to be management seemed more bothered about having a good chat with the bar staff. We ended up paying an fairly high amount for food that was plesent but not fabulous and we ended up paying at the bar because after asking for the bill it didn't come. Honestly to sum this up its expensive and extremely slow service, there was still odd tables free too so it wasn't full. Me and my partner are in our 30s and we actually said to ourselves on leaving why isn't there an adult present because no-one seemed to be in charge. I'd have rated a 1* but I honestly think our server wasn't being told anything and it's not very fair on her.

We have been many times to this restaurant and rated it highly every time. On this occasion we did not enjoy ourselves. We ordered seven Tapas plates and a bottle of Sangria. On the whole the Tapas plates were good apart from a chicken meal that was made of an awful sub standard form of chicken. The first try of sangria was awful and we asked for it to be changed. The bar person stated something had gone wrong and they replaced it. This was a bit more acceptable but there was no taste or smell of alcohol. We did receive a reduction but our evening was completely spoilt. So much so that we will never revisit the place even though it has been our must go to restaurant for many years.

Exquisite food and attentive service

Beautiful food! Lovely staff! Perfect gaff! 😎

Lovely food, great date night with Hubby!! 😋

What was once the best tapas in York... How the mighty have fallen. Overpriced, food comes out in dribs and drabs... Rather it all came out at once... My meat dishes came out first but my vegetarian wife's dishes were another 15 minutes.. Last dish came out 50 mins after the first. Then they automatically put a service charge on the receipt (table of 3) putting the service charge on automatically makes me feel like the waiting staff don't have to provide good service to get a tip. It's just assumed. Any restaurant that does this is an instant avoid for me

We had a reservation which we managed to bring forward on the day without problem. Quite busy for a Tuesday, always a good sign with so many other eateries in York. We could soon tell why, friendly, attentive and efficient staff. The food was so nice we pigged out and got a couple of extra plates. I won't list the 8 we had but trust me, they're all excellent, and came nice and staggered as you would expect. Not the cheapest place you'll eat, but we still felt it was good value for the variety and the quality. We'll be again at some point.

Came with my friend for some late lunch, bread was lovely! However the other dishes like potato’s and the pork were small. The picture of pork I’ve uploaded cost me £9.50 for 2 mouthfuls. Don’t think I would return.

I like the friendliness of the waiters.

Just do yourself a favour and go. Honestly just go, you'll love it.

Great restaurant! Enjoyed the food, atmosphere and the service was top notch. We had a slight mix up with ordering but this was dealt with fantastically by the wonderful manger Kal. Will come again!

Took 10 family and friends for a Fiesta meal. Absolutely fantastic. Lots of superb, tasty food with great service and good wines. Busy but not overcrowded there was a nice feeling to the place. Very good value for extremely tasty paella and lots of tapas.

We really enjoyed the selection, quality of the food, and the service.