Amali
“Linguine vongole – with clams was great as was the chicken cooked under brick and sea bass.”
“As the sommelier interviewed us on our wine preference, and our first course plans, I knew we were in for something special.”
“I particularly love their linguini carbonara and veggie sides (they offer the best oven roasted broccoli I've ever had).”
Amali
Takes Reservations: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$$ Price range $31-60
8 reviews
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I had wanted to come to Amali for quite a while. It looks very appealing from the outside and there were several items on the menu that looked great. We finally made it here a couple weeks ago and started with the warm marinated olives. These were nothing out of the ordinary, but were solid and had a nice bite.
For my entree, I had the chicken under a brick. The inside was tender and juicy and was perfectly crispy on the outside. The garlic mashed potatoes were awesome and the marinade had great flavor. We also did a side of the brussels sprouts – these were cooked well and had a nice lemony flavor.
The chocolate chip cookies for dessert were disappointing. They were luke warm and somewhat stale. It was not a good end to the meal, but the rest of the dishes were great.
Our company works with Amali Mou, and so I wanted to take my fiance and two friends who just got married to the flagship Amali restaurant. We made an easy reservation for Friday at 745 for 4. And were seated in the front. I'd been upstairs before for a meeting and must say sitting upstairs is definitely most impressive. The restaurant is pretty big.
We started off with a bottle of rose – I forget the name of it per se but it was definitely of the Greek variety (they're having a rose month so lots of selection- overall there are a ton of wines to choose), it started with an L and was medium bodied.. Lokonikto? Honestly, something like that.
Our service was great, very prompt, polite, attentive, gave good recommendations and was good with water refill and communicative.
For dinner we shared the grilled octopus (very tasty, well cooked), and farro salad (simple, tasty ingredients). Two of us (myself included) had the famed chicken under a brick- tasty seared chicken breast and leg under pita crackers and Greeks salad (cucumber, olives, etc). My friend had the deep fried rabbit which was not my thing; it was fried well but had a sweet ihs/spicy taste which I didn't love. My fiance had the whole brook trout which was a $42 special and probably the most delicious thing I tried all night – perfectly cooked, tender, juicy with lemon, very healthy and fresh. He ordered a side of delicious roasted broccoli… the dishes are sort of steakhouse style where you get your main meal and have to order sides if you want.
For dessert we shared the special cherry pie which I am not sure was made in house but still good (it was a perfect looking tart) -came with some good ice cream, forget the flavor but it was kind of periwinkle in color.
They do also have good after dinner coffee- inclusive of a $12 French Press batch for the table.
While the food is expensive, it's finer dining NYC prices (high 20s, low 30s) I do think portion sizes are fair. Esp the entree- they give you a lot of food.
I had a great meal at Amali last weekend. My girlfriend and I got several dishes and dessert:
1. Buffalo mozzarella: Great high-quality cheese, olive oil, salt, and ciabatta bread. Nothing complicated, but how could this not be good?
2. Farro salad: This was my favorite dish of the entire night. Farro is the hot food item right now, and I think this dish does a great job of showcasing the wheat-y flavor of the grain. The cheese, scallions, and squash were nice for texture and added flavor, but the balsamic vinegar was the real front runner and was a nice balance to the nuttiness of the farro. Phenomenal dish.
3. Spaghetti alla chitarra: My date's entree. This was excellent, simple spaghetti, with a great chunky tomato sauce. The breadcrumbs were a nice addition.
4. Chicken under a brick: People who tell you not to order chicken at a restaurant haven't had this chicken. Chicken done right can be an excellent dish, and this is chicken done right. Bone-in, with crispy skin, a generous amount of jus, and excellent garlic mashed potatoes. If all chicken tasted this savory and chicken-y, people would tell you not to order anything BUT chicken at restaurants.
5. Dessert was a hot chocolate cake. I don't get too excited about dessert, so I'll just say that this was a nice ending to the meal.
The one drawback was that we were seated in the back room, which was loud. Like, very loud. There was a table of four behind us and a table of six to our side. Judging from the bottles at their tables, it was clear that both parties were long past being able to control their volume levels.
All in all, this was an excellent meal. I just wish I had been seated in the main dining room with the other civilized diners.
I already know I'm going to run out of characters. Don't say I didn't warn you.
We did extensive research on prix fixe menus before finally landing on Amali for Valentine's Day. We want options. Prix fixe means fewer options. That doesn't sit well with me. But on Valentine's Day, it's quite difficult to find a nice restaurant – at least in New York – that is offering something other than prix fixe. So when we noticed that Amali, a sustainable Mediterranean restaurant that had been on my list for some time, was giving us substantially more options than most Mediterranean spots in the city, it was settled. In short, this is not a review of the full menu – but we still covered a lot of ground.
The vibe at Amali isn't at all cohesive. It's slightly rustic, slightly industrial, quite intimate, sophisticated in certain ways and banal in others. It's more upscale that your average restaurant, but not in any sort of pretentious/snotty way. Thankfully, that lack of cohesion is not at all reflected in the menu. All options – prix fixe and beyond – make sense. Clean, Mediterranean flavors with an emphasis on seafood, punctuated with some standout cheeses. While most dishes were big hits, there were a couple that missed the mark in subtle ways. So while I'd love to give Amali 4.5 stars – if Yelp allowed such a thing – I'm rounding down to four.
A short tangent first. While waiting for our food, we noticed – and don't tell me you haven't done the same thing – that the couple next to us was enjoying a burrata dish that looked nothing short of a masterpiece. Much to my parents' chagrin, I never really learned how to use my "inside voice". So of course when my equally eager company and I realized what was so close yet so far, we had to take note. Apparently, we were not in the least bit subtle about this. The couple, perhaps floating on their appropriately-colored pink cloud due to a romantic dinner on Valentine's Day, gracious offered us this plate. They insisted that they were done. We'd be fools not to accept! So we did. And man, this was debatably the best thing we consumed all night. Fluffy perfection – I truly believe that's what the clouds in heaven, if such a place exists, are made of (some dairy-free for my lactose intolerant friends, of course),
Now for our order:
Feta dip: A.
Ain't much to say here. Hard to screw up feta dip – this was no exception. My only wish: more pita chips! We got maybe six small chips for that whole bowl of wonder and running out of them quickly detracted from the overall enjoyment. But still a very yummy starter.
Octopus a la Plancha: B+
The disappointment of the night. There was nothing ostensibly wrong with the octopus, but it fell short for me. The preparation was just okay, the flavors were more muted than I typically like, and the preparation, for lack of a better word, was boring. I'm kind of an octopus slut – I can't help myself – so I've been around. This is far from the best I've had. I wasn't BAD, but considering the venue, I expected more.
Scallops w/ black-eyed peas: A-
I adore shellfish. Scallops have never been my favorite – that award has definitively been given to mussels. But I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked this preparation. The scallops were cooked perfectly, and the black-eyed peas were a nice, muted counterpart. It didn't wow me in any particular way, but it was really good nonetheless.
Lobster pasta: A-/A
Creamy, dreamy pasta starring the fanciest of crustaceans. My indecision around the rating is due to the lack of actual lobster in the dish. It's not a large serving of pasta to begin with, but if we're paying for lobster, I expect there to be a more gracious ratio. That said, what we did get was delicious. Don't think it's offered on Amali's normal menu, but it's still worth keeping in mind in the case of specials.
Mussels: A-
As you may have guessed, I'm a snob when it comes to my mussels. So to receive an A from me is saying a lot. These were prepared in a white wine sauce and seasoned very nicely. I can't give them an A, but I'd definitely recommend to seafood-lovers looking to share an appetizer. They come with a generous helping of bread, which can conveniently be dipped into the oft-gratifying mussel bath.
Potatoes: A
Crispy and buttery. I never opt for potatoes on a menu. Never. But on Valentine's Day with wonderful company, why not? Our waiter (who was lovely, by the way) recommend them and we embraced the YOLO moment. Neither of us are dessert people, so these seemed like a natural sub.
Finally, I'll mention that the wine list here is frighteningly expansive. Had we been in the mood for wine, I'm sure the decision process would have been onerous. For a wine spot, the cocktails here were actually quite good. I had a rye-based drink and a rum-based drink, both of which were yummy. So overall execution here was great, but just not "as good as it gets". It's called the Hall of Fame; not the "Hall of the Very Good".
We had reservations, showed up a bit early. So, we got drinks at the bar. I enjoyed a nice red beer. My gf got a house soda. Both were nice. But, they delayed seating us past the reservation time.
I enjoyed the decor of the place. It wasn't overly squished, to pack every last person in there.
FOOD:
I enjoyed their bread crackers. I like my pre-food bread sticks to be crunchy more times than not, and that was the case here. I liked it.
We got the shrimp and grits: very tasty. I enjoyed.
The spaghetti all chitarra (?) was pretty good. it was a bit salty, but good.
Affogato: it was good. My gf enjoyed it more than I did.
Although the food was good. I did have one issue with the place. I got a diet coke. I asked for a refill and when I got the bill, I was charged for 2 diet cokes! No one told me there was a charge. I usually go to a restaurant and if there is a charge for a refill (soda), they tell you, no refills.
Otherwise, the food was really good. I just was miffed by the double charge in diet coke. Good food though.
I can't believe I hadn't passed this place or heard more about it. Came here last night with a friend and loved it! We had a delicious bottle of pouilly-fuisse at the bar before going to our table for dinner. The atmosphere is great for a date – nice lighting, warm wood tables, feels just the right balance of rustic and elegant. We started with the octopus appetizer, which was phenomenal. Then we shared the salt baked snapper, which was the fish of the day. It was unbelievable – moist, briny, fresh, just incredible. To accompany the fish we had the corn and asparagus sides. The asparagus was topped with a feta and almond "sauce," which was pleasantly spicy and tangy. We were too full for dessert, but I would love to try something next time. The service is wonderful, the atmosphere lovely, and the food impeccable!
I'm fighting the urge to give this place one-star because the food was that bad.
Stopped in here for a couple of drinks with the mrs. We figured we would order some food. The bartender, who was very nice (and he gets the +1 here) notified us of the 'special' – burrata cheese. Hands down the worst I've ever had. Hard little bits showing the age coupled with an odd flavor actually had me thinking I might get sick from it. Luckily not the case, just crappy food.
It was so bad that we passed on ordering food there and headed somewhere else. Maybe it was just the small sample size, but that was awful, awful cheese.
Any menu that starts off with cocktails and drinks and is immediately followed by charcuterie and cheese is a winner in my book. Also any establishment that has a separate menu – nay booklet – for a wine list has quickly joined the shortlist of my favourite places in New York City.
My visit to Amali was the quintessential lazy Sunday brunch. There was no rushing to order, to eat, or to pay the bill. And the decor was so effortless and tasteful – I loved it.
First of all, their rosé flights – inspired. There is nothing better on a hot summer afternoon than, not one but three glasses of rosé. The sommelier at Amali seriously deserves a standing ovation for not only selecting such an extensive wine list and tasting, but also for selecting one of the most unique selection of liquors at the bar. I literally stood there for a good five minutes gaping at the artistry.
Okay food-wise. The Shakshuka was phenomenal. Not going to lie, I literally went straight home and ordered a cast iron skillet because I loved this dish so much I wanted the illusion that I could recreate it at home. There was a balance in this dish between the hearty tomato sauce and the spicy green harissa, with the light pita bread and crisp green onions – that just left me feeling satisfied without feeling that heaviness that comes with eating eggs.