Ambiente Tapas in York

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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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!! 😋

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.

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

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.

Food & ambience was fantastic. Served by Mivi who made our experience even better. Thanks so much! Would recommend the Bistec de Ambiente dish!

3/5 but on the border of 4. The atmosphere was good. We had all of the vegan options and actually they tasted pretty good but were similar and quite oily which is the reason I have marked down the food score. We were served the wrong sherry flight but then charged the cost of the more expensive one we ordered. Wasn't really worth complaining over £2 but again have marked down the service for this.

Food is absolutely delicious and they staff are wonderful. They made us feel welcome and we're super helpful. They organised a table close to the doors with plenty of room for a wheelchair user. Would highly recommend ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

It is very affordable, there's a wide selection of tapas to choose from and it has a good atmosphere. The food is served quickly even when the restaurant is very busy.

Excellent food and service, great value, highly recommended

Great food and service as always. Had 2 desserts - creme brûlée and a vegan sponge which were delicious with the dessert wine.

I don't understand why the menu sheet doesn't make any mention that the prices are exclusive of vat. To have £15.77 added and then service charge of £9.47 took the edge off what should have been an enjoyable experience.

Don't understand why there is no mention on the printed menu sheet that the prices quoted don't include vat. To have £15.77 added to the bill plus a service charge of £9.47 took the edge off what should have been an enjoyable evening.

Absolutely amazing food, we loved every dish! This was the best tapas we have had and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The staff were all very attentive and friendly and the food came out hot and in good time. We had 7 dishes between 2 of us with a bread starter. I would say 5-6 would have been best as we were very full by the end! Would love to visit again

exceptional food , service and atmosphere 👌 😋...can't wait to return to York to visit again ..!

We had a wonderful evening trying some delicious tapas dishes. The staff were super friendly and made sure to make our visit as relaxing and enjoyable as possible. I would highly recommend !!

Just excellent. Fantastic Gluten-free options, very impressed. Cheers!

Second time here, like it as always

Industrial look with lots of color, good explanation of the menu structure and recommendation not to order more than four tapas dishes. Dishes tasted great, good and smooth service

Yet again a great satisfying, well looked after chilling afternoon, only fault, should have opted for window table,, felt closed in down left hand side, staff were brilliant, not too over the top, specials didn't appeal so chose from main menu, although couldn't fault any dish, the patas bravas and the mussels stood out. Dessert, wow, the Spanish almond cake, delicious. Look forward to our next visit.

Absolutely loved it! Food and service amazing. Plus it didn't break the bank!

Food was delicious and staff were lovely and friendly prices are reasonable enjoyed are night to celebrate are 6 years married.

Always lovely food. Good service. Restaurant was cold on arrival and took about an hour to heat up (Saturday afternoon). Only negative - the mushrooms were not advised there was I think smoked pimento in the dish, was over powering in taste and not enjoyable - I did mention when the bill was presented.

Lovely frendly staff, good tasting food.

Both food and service were excellent. The menu has a very good selection of dishes and everything we ordered did not disappoint. All food was cooked well and arrived promptly. The service we received was great and the atmosphere is nice. The sherry infused ice cream at the end of the meal was a fantastic way to end my meal. Highly recommend and i will return!

Best food I’ve had in the UK!! So delicious!

Friendly welcome, staff excellent and accommodating but not over the top. Good choice on menu, and some nice vegetarian options. Food was delicious, as was my sherry. Would definitely recommend

We were guided here by another Ambiente as there was “no room at the Inn”. The food was excellent, the service energetic, the ambience “buzzy”. Strongly recommended - but do book to avoid disappointment!

Love this place and my friend and I have been several times. The food was great, good flavour and texture. Good choice of wine.

Hi highly recommend this place! I was just passing by and I decided to eat there. Absolutely wonderful, the tapas are really tasty, the staff is absolutely lovely and if you like red wine, I recommend you to have the navarrais one (a bit spicy and fruity). It’s a bit expensive but it’s worth it.

The food is authentic Spanish and the sherries are superb. Service was friendly and efficient. The acorn liqueur was a unique experience

We have been here many times before and food was great. However last night 4/6 dishes were sadly burnt /over done and -4/6 were drenched in oil.

Chose this restaurant on the basis of other reviews (and a love of tapas). We were not disappointed. The food was exceptional and very reasonably priced. Everything about the experience was great. Would highly recommend and will definitely return.

The bread starter was rock hard.The meatballs were only just warm,the Spanish potatoes warm then to add insult to injury the lager was flat &the white wine was poor. NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Amazing food, fantastic service, wonderful atmosphere. Love this place, every time we go we are so impressed. Menu choice is amazing and every dish is perfection. Thankyou

Excellent service from engaging staff and the tapas was superb. Definitely reccomend a sherry flight if you're a fan. Great place.

Another fantastic meal at Ambiente . We had 14 different tapas between us and every single one was amazing. The food is delicious and the whole experience was great. The staff were very attentive and friendly . A must visit when in York

We came for an early dinner, as we’ve wanted to come for a long time. As locals, we’ve walked down Fossgate more times than I can count and it looks lovely through the window and has great reviews. I think if you like tapas, and have had authentic tapas in the past - you’ll be disappointed. We had; the bread with oil and alioli, patatas bravas, tortilla, fried chicken strips, flat iron steak, chorizo and potatoes, ham and cheese croquetas. We were told 4 per person was a good amount to order. The bread and croquetas were the best things we had. I’m not sure if they make the bread, but it was lovely, it had salt and rosemary I believe on top and was so pillowy, just what you’re looking for when dipping in olive oil/vinegar. The bravas were like home cooked potato chunks, quite under seasoned. The tortilla was burnt on the bottom and bubbly on top - seemed to be microwaved. The potatoes in the chorizo also seemed too hot like they were microwaved - otherwise the sauce and chorizo were nice. We had to have the steak re-cooked as it looked grey, and was really hard/cold like it had been in the fridge - after they re-made it, it was so tough I couldn’t chew it, so just seemed to be a really cheap cut - disappointing to say it was the most expensive meat dish on the menu. This was taken off the bill fortunately. When we walked out, you walk past the bar and the staff seemed to be a little frosty - talking amongst themselves. With an added service charge you’d expect to be greeted on arrival, and given a farewell. Super highlight was our server, who was really sweet. We also had a white sangria (wish they had just a bar to go back for this), and the Alhambra was crisp and cold.

Exactly what we wanted, flexibility in booking time and courses. Lovely food and great value. The service was quick and efficient.

We were greeted by Adina R, what a wonderful friendly member of staff! She made us so welcome and is obviously very passionate about her job. The food. My husband and I eat out a lot and have sampled a lot of tapas. This restaurant was off the scale, the dishes all had such great flavour, just delicious, we haven’t enjoyed a meal out as much for a long time! We had the chorizo bravas, pork belly, pork fillet, green beans-this was my favourite, mussels, meatballs, flat iron steak and a free dish of mushrooms, as the chef had doubled up. I had the virgin sangria to drink, that was delicious too! Adina was chatting to us through out our meal, really looked after us well. A fabulous night in a fabulous place!

We were in York and having found this restaurant once before a fees years back we were delighted to come along for lunch. It was a Monday so very quiet. Food was great. My only negative was the dishes were served one at a time. Much prefer to have them altogether. Still we will come again

We had a great time at Ambiente for an evening meal. They managed to squeeze us in last minute (thank you guy on the front desk!) and the food was fantastic. They were busy but we were not waiting long for food. We had patatas bravas, lamb patties, mussels, meatballs, feta, dates wrapped in bacon and tortilla. They were all lovely but the patatas bravas were incredible. We also had a tasty sangria and mango vermut. Thanks for having us!

We were a big group. Food amazing and staff very friendly and helpful.

Turned up - we’d come to the wrong branch! But it wasn’t a problem at all and we got a table promptly. Fab menu. Every dish we had was superb! Service was very good too. Best tapas I have had. Can’t wait to go back and try more. Well worth a visit. And not expensive either.

We stumbled across this restaurant whilst looking for somewhere to eat on a stay away. The girl who greeted us was very welcoming as was the girl who seated us. All of the staff were friendly and professional and the food was amazing, we didn’t have any complaints about a single dish. Our only complaint about our visit was that they had run out of almond cake haha.

The beef cheek was delicious and the wine was good, however the rest of the 9 dishes we tried were average or poor - not really restaurant level. The service was mixed - a few of the waiters were good, others not. I like that the service charge was optional (we did leave it regardless of average dining experience). Was very disappointed after returning eager to recreate the exquisite pre-covid dining experience. Oh and cashless, which is ridiculous.

We took our entire team (22 or so) here for our company Christmas meal. I concur with other reviews here, the staff were indeed very frosty and uncommunicative. There was little ambiance and the food was distinctly average. We came, we ate and we left, having paid our circa £1,000... oh well!

Really disappointing birthday meal out, menu looked really good however our sangria came and the lemonade was gone and tbf the waitress did change this for us and apologised. Then our starter of bread came with 1 missing, we flagged this and they came with another however the staff then asked us to repeat our order out to check everything so it seemed the staff didn't really know what we ordered. The starters of meatballs and feta was nice and ok. However again they forgot one and had to flag again. The paella then came we ordered 1 chicken and 1 seafood. This was quite possibly the worst food I have ever eaten, the mussels where all burnt and nothing left in any of them. The squid was over done and rubbery, the prawns where dirty and over done and both felt quick sick after eating. The chicken was dry and just lacked any flavour. We was then quite shocked the service change was included in the bill and we all left very unhappy and still feeling quite off. The place had really good reviews which is why we chose it but ended up being very disappointed for what we paid.

My colleagues and I came for a work do and we had paid up front for our meal, over £26.95 just for food. The portions were tiny and inadequate, the staff were nervy and unfriendly and constantly stared at us. It felt like they could not deal with adult groups who were trying to enjoy themselves without being intoxicated. There are better and more friendly places in York which don’t seem to be totally student employers and no I don’t have anything against students.

AB FAB, visited York for xmas shopping with wife, came across this restaurant for lunch , it was that good came back for dinner the next night also. food was to die for, great service, staff very friendly. I suggested they open one in Edinburgh save me the train trip. certainly be going back. Try for yourself, ull love it.

Food was amazing and service was spot on, not sure what the young waiter was called working upstairs on Friday night around 8pm but he deserves a shout as he couldn’t have done enough for us. Thanks

First time here, definitely will be back, great food nice atmosphere, good service, Very friendly.

I was visiting York for business and was a solo diner for the evening. I was drawn to Ambiente by their extensive vegetarian options which, even by the standards of other tapas bars I’ve visited and enjoyed, were far greater in number and variety. I noted lots of vegan options also. The staff greeted me and made me welcome, were super-informed about the menu and the food was really lovely. I’ll be really pleased to revisit next time I come down; there are a lot of vegetarian plus vegan options to be trying!

Fantastic tapas. Lovely staff and a warm atmosphere. Prawns, calamari, aubergine, patatas bravas a must.

***First tapas experience*** Good quality food, service quality also amazing. Thank you

A really good choice of dishes, vegans and vegetarians are well catered for. Excellent service by Kalon and reasonably priced. The biodynamic red wine was delicious.

Great tapas, friendly staff. Very enjoyable visit

Best tapas restaurant I’ve ever been to Both times have been fab food and fab experience. Highly recommend Sea Bream❤️Patatas bravas❤️pork belly❤️green beans pine nuts and more❤️

Weekend in York. Went to Ambiente Tapas. Food was excellent, great choice. Meatballs where lovely. Service was very attentive. Lovely restaurant, great atmosphere. Will go back when in York again

Undecided about where to go finally landed here to be fair meal was good waitress was spot on no issues really. Forgot to take photographs of food but there’s loads on site anyway.

Had been booked in for two weeks. Waiter sat us down and asked if we had any dietary requirements and my girlfriend tells him she's vegan. About five minutes later, after we'd spent time deciding what we wanted, he comes back and says there are some vegan options not available. He then proceeds to put a cross next to 80% of the vegan options. Not a good start. Then my patatas bravas arrive and they're tepid. Not hot at all. Quality wasn't great either compared to others I've had in the past. Some time later one of my girlfriend's vegan dishes arrives but she notices it's missing the 'chorizo style pieces' described on the menu. We ask a waitress about this and she informs us they're all out of the chorizo-style pieces. Okay then, perhaps let us know of that when we're ordering it? Instead of just leaving it off, still charging us full-price and hoping we don't notice. Waitress comes back and apologises and offers to take off 20% off the item... Very generous. And then lastly, they kept us waiting a long time for our final plate to arrive. Perfecto, muchas gracias. All in all, not a great experience. Absolutely won't be coming back. Wouldn't normally give only 1 star but I feel it's justified by fact they were dishonest and thought they could get away with just leaving off half a dish. Unfortunately the only tapas chain in York so my life will be tapas-less for the foreseeable future.

Oh wow! It was like stepping into Spain for a night. The food as absolutely amazing and the service was some of the best we’ve had. Highly recommend going here.

... ghost walk through the streets of York, we were looking for somewhere for a drink and a light supper. This was the perfect place, a sherry bar with a range of tapas. We initially decided on trying a couple of their sherry flights...a way to taste three sherries of similar styles. We chose amontillados and polo cortados, with a wooden platter of preserved meats. All really impressive, so much so that we ordered calamari (beautifully cooked in batter) and aubergine fritters that were luscious and slighty creamy. A great place that we will return to when we're next in York.

Delicious food and great with allergens too. Will definitely come back

Slightly disappointed with our experience yesterday. Main issue was with the service. We were seated promptly, and a drinks order taken, but we were then left for what seemed ages and had to ask for our food order to be taken. Perfectly ok with the food coming in random order, but were not offered more drinks until the food eventually came. Then one dish arrived after we had eaten everything else. I noticed another table was served begore us despite arriving much later, and they had ordered the same dish as our missng one. Food was ok. But thought the service was a little lacking.

Everything a little bit the same and over salted. It wasn’t bad but lacked sizzle and freshness Lovely service

One of the best tapas I've ever had. Amazing.

Weren’t planning on eating here but am glad we did. Ordered Tapas and sangria. The prawns were amazing and the olives were perfect. The only miss for me was the chicken skewers

Decided to call in for a drink and a snack, while passing by. Great decision. We chose 3 tapas, I had a delicious house red and my husband had a lemon beer. We had Halloumi, feta salad and croquettes. All were beautifully presented and the flavours were wonderful. We will definitely be back while in York. Wish they had one of these restaurants in our home town.

Excellent food and service. Recommend the crispy kale as a must have. Recommend the flight of sherry too and the Rosé sangria.

Visited October 2023: this is one of the rare wheelchair accessible places in York so met with a friend for lunch. The staff were pleasant and our waitress helped us choose some dishes and gave her opinions on which to choose and the food was bought out fairly quickly. 3 diners and we each had 3 dishes and the bill came to almost £100 so you’re looking at £11 a dish which for me seems quite high but I’ve never had tapas before so maybe this is expected? They put a service charge on the bill which I dislike because staff are paid proper wages, this isn’t America. If people want to leave some cash afterwards that’s fine but adding service charges I feel is very tacky. Increase your already high prices if you’re not getting enough. I feel it leaves a bad taste after dining out but that’s my opinion. Wheelchair accessible and toilets are located downstairs with a good accessible bathroom.

Visited recently, service was slow. Food was very good and the drinks were great (especially the sherry) but everything happened slowly. The kicker was a 10/15% service charge added at the end… a restaurant with a service charge gets a 1* from me any day. Also was made to feel bad when removing the service charge…

Excellent food, service was 5 star and the atmosphere was relaxing. Staff were attentive and explained any questions on the menu items well. Great service & food guys! Well worth a visit if you are in York for business or recreation/short break.

Lovely food tho plate sizes varied so ended up ordering too much. They gave us take away tubs to take leftover food home. Can't fault the service. Will be returning.

Excellent food in a great atmosphere with friendly staff.

Flavourful dishes that are alot more filling than they look. The fish dishes are lovely and what stood out to me,

I'm a bit mixed about this restaurant. The food was good, but I've had a lot of tapas and some of the choices here were a little odd. For instance, portion sizes were really up and down and there was no option for common things like a basket of bread. I had the vegan meatballs, the vegan chicken skewer and the vegan chicken and hummus. They were all very good, but the two vegan chicken options were greek rather than Spanish. We ordered quite a lot of dishes and were still a bit hungry at the end. I think if we return we'll get a paella as they looked great.

Great selection of tapas and an absolute delicious sangria! We each got 4 different tapas and they were great, would definitely go back!