Amaro Bistro

Lovely food, our server was very personable. We came to celebrate a birthday and they made it special. If you haven't been, go. Bothell is lucky to have such a good restaurant.

The food was tasty. The waitress was polite and friendly. Even on a busy Mother’s Day she checked in on us frequently and service was quick. I think it’s a little expensive for what it is, but the restaurant has a nice (but louder than a candlelit dinner) ambience. The outdoor seating on the sidewalk looked romantic!

Great service and fun atmosphere! The only bummer was the entree. The fillet was absolutely drenched in the sauce that they use which had Gorgonzola in it which is already a super overpowering flavor. The entire fillet and potato were drenched so heavy in it that all you could taste was blue cheese. It made everything so soggy. I couldn’t even tell the other food item on the plate was a potato at first because of how drenched it was in brown sauce. It was definitely not worth $60. It would’ve been good with a conservative amount of sauce on the fillet and little to none on the potato.

I dined at this Italian restaurant, and I must say, their carbonara dish was a standout! The rich and creamy flavor was a true delight. The service was prompt and attentive, which enhanced the overall experience. However, the atmosphere left a bit to be desired; the tables were too close for comfort, and it was easy to overhear neighboring conversations. It felt somewhat congested. my overall experience was decent. It wasn't bad by any means, and the prices were quite reasonable for the quality of food. But it didn’t leave a wow experience!! Check photos for the items we ordered

This is a rare "not a great experience" review from me. We've been doing a new Italian restaurant about once a week and decided to try Amaro Bistro. On the good side - their grilled bread is really good, all dishes were well presented and looked appealing. On the less good side - Flavor across all dishes was underwhelming. Definitely felt overpriced for how good it was. The thing that stood out the most was that all dishes were a bit too much on the sweet side. Service was also not great. Not a single refill offered throughout our stay, one app forgotten (we reminded and still got it after our entrées) and in general no one really thought to check in with us past serving us our food, which did come out in a timely manner, to their credit. The space also feels a bit crammed with how many people are there. All in all, there are places in the general area that are much better for the price point, and some that are cheaper but at equal quality. Maybe tonight was just busy and service is usually better, but I don't SE myself coming back for this food at this price.

Celebrated a birthday @ Amaro! Amazing menu and we went with the Prix Fixe option. Potato Leek soup started my meal. Loveky silky texture, but so overly seasoned that it was hard to taste anything other than the salt. Dinner was braised Pork Shanks which were deliciously succulent, although again... too much salt. The gnocchi were tough and over-cooked. Loved the dessert, a luscious Panna Cotta. Such a mixed experience, and I was so pumped to enjoy it.

I really wanted to like Amaro after reading other reviews, but after eating there for a Valentines Dinner with my husband we will not be back. We were seated at the kitchen bar by the bathrooms, after making a dinner reservation for a table over one month in advance. The service was mediocre at best with most of the staff ignoring us for the first 15 - 20 min after being seated. The food and wine pairing was good, but the overall experience was not great.

We had reservations for 6:30pm on a Thursday. It was mostly full, but we were seated right away. We then waited 15 minutes for our waiter (Andre) to ask us about drinks. 42 minutes later, we finally had 2 glasses of wine and a Pepsi on the table. Twenty minutes after that, we finally had our appetizer and a Caesar salad on the table. After an hour and a half, we finally had entrees on the table. Let's talk about those. Appetizer: Ricotta al Tartufo The ricotta itself, was really good. Unfortunately, there was not enough bread. This, I don't understand. Bread is cheap; quit being greedy. Three slices of toast for a cup to a cup and a half of whipped ricotta? We each (3 of us) had it spread an inch thick on the toast and there was still a serving left on the plate. So I have to leave an entire serving that I paid $14 for on the plate, because I don't want to pay $5 for another slice of toast, or have our waiter take another 20 minutes to get that to us? Caesar salad: It was fair. It's pretty hard to mess up a Caesar salad. It should have had freshly sliced Parmigiano Reggianno on it in my opinion. We also asked for lemons with it, but had to wait for that because it wasn't served with the salad. Entrees: Rigatoni Bolognese - Again...it was okay. It wasn't anything special. I could get better Rigatoni at the Olive Garden, much cheaper, with much faster service. Manzo Brasato - The short ribs had good flavor. The risotto was...meh. My wife makes a much better risotto. It was just an average risotto, made with those spindly, tough little stalks of asparagus about half a big around as a pencil. It should have been made with nice big stalks of asparagus, at least. Ravioli di Manzo - This one hit it out of the park. This is the ONLY dish I'd go back for. The mushrooms and the sauce on this were extremely flavorful. The pasta was perfect. If you like mushrooms, this dish was a 9.0 out of 10. As a minimal token effort, they comped our bowl of lettuce, in order to compensate for the horrible service. Okay, that's a start. But why not comp one of the entrees, that actually cost you something to make, not a $2 bowl of lettuce? That would have gone a lot farther as an apology. Overall, it's a nice restaurant, in a great location. But it was horrible service and with the exception of one dish, did not justify a $175 bill.

I would not recommend going here. We had a 6:30pm reservation and were sat promptly. We waited nearly another half hour before our orders had been taken and 40 minutes before had either our wines or our soft drinks. It was another 20 minutes before we got our salads, and we were an hour and 15 minutes after our reservation before getting our meals. $175 for that meal was asinine, and that was after comping the Caesar. Our server, Andre, did apologize for the wait, but then was nowhere to be seen for the next 20-30 minutes. All told, for a 6:30 reservation, we didn't leave until 8:15. The food was okay, but I would recommend the Olive Garden for better rigatoni.

Told the hostess i was ordering for my child and i asked if the antipasti was enough food for one. She responded the antipasti is enough to share for 2. I ordered a whipped cheese order from the antipasti side thinking it was a pasta meal for a child. When i got home i was disappointed that no pasta was included and definitely no meal. I am regretful for spending money because i gave the benefit of the doubt to the hostess when i said ordering a meal for my child that she would have suggested the pasta side of the menu and not let me leave with a useless piece of bread and cheese. A good recommendation from a restauranteur goes a long way.