Amara Madison

Everything about Amara was wonderful! Fantastic service by our server, Jillian, and others who were attentive by ensuring our table was clear of dishes we were done with. The food and wine were phenomenal! We had all vegetarian fare and left feeling full. The restaurant acoustics are such that it feels lively but we could still hold a conversation easily at the table without having to talk loudly as restaurants frequently are. Amara provided a wonderful evening for our anniversary! I'm excited to have such a lovely restaurant on this side of town.

Just finished dinner at Amara on a Monday night and we were thoroughly impressed! The decor and bar area was beautiful and clean. We ended up arriving early for our reservation and got drinks at the bar; my only complaint the entire night was how long drinks took. The bar wasn’t completely full and there were 6 staff behind the counter but drinks took >20 minutes to receive. I had to go to my table as my fiancé finally received the drinks and brought them over. That’s the amount of time I’d expect for an entree, not necessarily a cocktail. No point in waiting at the bar then! Cocktails were also pricey, but tasted amazing! Think $40 for two cocktails plus tip.

We started with the fried mozzarella balls - pretty straight forward and done well! There was a slight amount of spice at the end that made them different than other similar appetizers like that I’ve had before. We then split the avocado bruschetta, i can’t recommend this enough! The grilled bread alone was probably one of my favorite parts of the nights (this isn’t even something I’m usually drawn to)- perfect amount of char, salt, and crispness. The bruschetta does come deconstructed, something I wouldn’t normally prefer, but it totally worked and made sense with the dish. We then split the cacio e pepe and chicken agrodolce and WOW you need to try both. The pasta was perfectly al denté and honestly better than Food Fight’s Cento in downtown Madison. The chicken had perfectly crispy skin and was super moist. There were perfect levels of salt and acidity in both dishes. Unlike cocktails, the meal came out extremely quick.

Our bartenders, wait staff, and hostess were extremely friendly and helpful. I would recommend a reservation even on a weekday night. Most every plate is meant to share if wanted. I will definitely be coming back soon!

First time trying this place and honestly we were impressed, especially considering they just opened a week ago. We went for their date night, which is a starter, an order of bruschetta and a shareable pasta and bottle of wine. The endive and arugula salad was first and a very large portion, which we were thrilled about, and the dressing and composition of the salad was impeccable -- did not expect fennel or such a well balanced lemon vinaigrette but it was superb. Next was the eggplant bruschetta, which if you're expecting to be pre assembled, is not the case. We didn't mind it because we enjoyed scooping the toppings onto the toast ourselves, but be forewarned it's not your typical bruschetta in that respect. The toast though was really nice, big thick sliced with lots of oil and a nice crust. The beef cheek ragu pasta was PERFECTLY cooked, the perfect amount of al dente, and the sauce was perfection, not watery and very flavorful but not overpowering. The beef was phenomenal. The sharable portion was pretty small though, we actually wondered if we were served the individual portion instead of the sharable size. Because we were still hungry and out of curiosity, we ordered the bucatini Nero in the smaller size, which was also very well done though the squid in the dish was minimal and the portion size was similar to what we got before. We also got the burnt ricotta cake for dessert, which for someone who doesn't even like chocolate cake, was very impressive and delicious. Overall we were very impressed with the food, and the wine was also well paired with what we ordered.
The only minor criticisms I had were on the service, I expected the wine to be opened and poured for us. I also expected fresh ground pepper to be offered when the pasta was served. Also, dinner took 2.5 hours between all our courses, although it admittedly didn't seem that long while we were eating! The portioning of the pasta for date night also left something to be desired, and if that was indeed the sharable size we got, I'd encourage you to just get the smaller size for your money's worth. But overall, we were still extremely happy with the experience and incredibly impressed with how smooth things went for the first week. We would love to come back and see how things improve as time goes on.

We had a great dining experience at Amara. The vibe is right. We like the music and the decor. The food tastes great and the service is fantastic. We will certainly come back.

Excellent first experience at Amara! The drink selection is extensive, the food was on par with local Madison restaurants, as was the price, and the service at lunchtime was much better than average. The decor was fresh/new and pleasant. We ordered dessert "off menu" and they delivered better than some of their one menu items- get the affogato.