Ambrosia Pizza, Pasta, Wine

This place has a great «local» atmosphere. Staff are cheerful and efficient and the food is excellent. I particularly like their massive selection of wine by the glass.

Tucked away just off the street, this unassuming restaurant and bar has a surprisingly diverse menu, bar selection, and staff. We were able to eat right at the bar, and everything was fresh and delicious, with an emphasis on the familiar given just enough of a twist to make it interesting. Cocktails were expertly prepared, and excellently done, making up for a fairly sparse beer menu. Most of all, the service was fantastic — we were doted over, and the place was packed with loyal regulars, which is a great sign that they’re doing something right. Give it a try.

Our go-​to neighborhood spot. Reviews about the owner’s poor attitude toward guests are unfounded. This guy runs it right, he’s available, interested and fun. Always great, super attentive staff takes care of our every need. Daily baked bread is the best. Fantastic, diverse menu and all (big list) wines available by the glass. A fun way to taste different wines. Cheers, Ambrosia!

This was a delicious meal! We started with the seafood cocktail, which is a martini glass filled with avocado, mango, shrimp, crab, and lobster. It is fantastic. Light, tasty, and just right.
For my second course, I enjoyed a perfect veal parmigiana. The tender, large, thin-​pounded veal was battered perfectly, and smothered in a wonderful tomato sauce, then covered in cheese. It was really great. One of the best parmigiana dishes I’ve ever had. Cannot wait to go back and do it again. The side dish that came with it was a penne/​vegetable /​garlic mix that was also excellent.
My friend had the linguine with scallops. He said it tasted delicious, and it looked great.
Love the ambiance and service. Highly recommended!

This is where we come when we want a good, tasty meal at a good price. It’s a family joint — not too fancy, but not downmarket either. I get the eggplant parmesan — very good. Kids get the ragu — which they love. The bread is delicious. The service is upbeat and hardworking. We like these people.

Hubby and I had a really nice dinner here while we waited for the younger one to finish his Spanish I class at COM. I had one of the specials — a fettuccine dish with chantarelle mushrooms. Wow, it was fantastic! The pasta was so tender, the mushrooms were tasty, and the sauce was so delicious that we had to sop it up with the really good bread.
Since the semester doesn’t end till early December, we’ll be back again!

Classic Italian food with a California twist. Ambrosia is a Marin County institution.

I have been going to Ambrosia to both dine in and take out (recently much more taking out) for longer than a decade. Its hands-​down my favorite restaurant in the Ross Valley area, in my top 5 all-​time favorite pizza places (that means a lot, as I’m a pizza snob and addict).
My favorite here is a half-​order of Spaghetti and meatballs (small size meatballs) and a small pepperoni pizza. Very few restaurants can handle making their small pizzas as good as their large pizzas, as any true pizza addict/​connoisseur knows, but Ambrosia is one of the few places that can handle it. While I’m all about their basics, the rest of my family recommends their Roasted Chicken Pasta.
Oh, did I mention they have the best chocolate cake I’ve had in my life? We just recently ordered a whole one for my aunts birthday party, and the dozen guests that attended all RAVED about how great the cake was. Make sure you grab a slice for dessert!
The wait staff and owner, Mark, are all amazing, very nice and attentive, and treat every guest like they’re special. Also, my friend Kyle works there now, and he will definitely take care of you.
Sure, this is a family restaurant, and I have noticed some loud obnoxious parties sitting at the booths, but you can’t hate on Ambrosia and its owner, Mark, for the food being so delicious it attracts some not-​so-​well-​behaved Marin kids and some not-​so-​great-​at-​controlling-​and-​parenting-​their-​kids moms. I’ve read some reviews here on Unilocal that really disappointed me for marking down the review down to 2-​stars solely because of some loud guests. Shame on those reviewers!

GREAT neighborhood place — outstanding staff, amazing wine selection and wonderful food! I go here regularly and have never been disappointed!

For a pizza and pasta restaurant, Ambrosia is excellent. Its food, wine and service far exceed almost any other pizza restaurant we’ve visited. There must be at least 25 different pastas on the menu, some of them changing with the season, and a good assortment of salads.
The most unique feature is that every wine on the menu is available by the glass. So it’s possible to try wines that you may not otherwise have access to if you wouldn’t try a whole bottle of something you are unfamiliar with.
Well worth a visit. Be sure to make a reservation for prime times, including Sunday evenings.

Lots of misbehaved and discourteous families
Our pizza was really good and the waiter was very attentive. But, Marin parents do not see to teach their children restaurant and table manners. The children (old enough to know better) were running in and out of the restaurant and yelling. Parents think it’s cute. Just because it’s supposed to be ‘kid friendly’ doesn’t mean they can run around like they are in their bedroom or at a park or amusement center. It ruined our dinner completely.

In it’s new location, it is much larger with many more booths although the ceiling are higher and so a bit louder. They still have all your favorites and it seems like MORE! I love the Beef Bourguignon! but finally broke down to have the Prime Rib nite! It was so good! Salads are great! Bread on the table, all the traditional marks of a great family dinner spot! My kids LOVE the pasta and they do have a great Linguine & Clams as well! Everything they do is good here but the hardest part is choosing what you will have… OH an the WINES! the bonus is they will find you the right wine; taste after taste if they don’t nail it the first few times-​the über bonus is if there is a wine you DO love, usually you can buy full or half cases of it too! When you can’t make it to wine country. to stock your home… just come here! Buon Appetito!

Absolutely everything you want in a restaurant; great food, extraordinary selection of wines, friendly attentive service, beautiful design and an owner who cares. I’ve been enjoying Ambrosia for years and the owner Mark Lesley the driving force of nature behind this bistro deserves kudos for his tireless efforts. Also, highly recommend the Winemaker events he hosts too which showcases his culinary excellence with special menus for each evening.
Cheers

Ambrosia seems to be everything you’d want in a really nice neighborhood restaurant, and nothing you don’t. It’s warm and inviting, and the food is fantastic. The service was excellent, too. Prices are quite reasonable, and most entrees are offered as full or half servings – and even the smaller portions seem very generous.
The evening I went there, I brought 10 people along to help celebrate my birthday – so I had a chance to check out lots of different dishes. Mark Lesley (owner) couldn’t have been more cooperative – he offered us a space of our own and tolerated all our decorations and silliness with much good grace.
The menu is beautifully varied, with omnivorous and vegetarian dishes to suit every taste. Though I had imagined we’d be filling the table with salads and pizzas, everyone opted to order off the menu, because the dishes were just too tempting.
This was my first visit, and I was SO impressed. I can’t wait to get back there.

After reading not so good reviews we waited to try Ambrosia.
Pros: nice space, friendly staff, $ 5 draft beer
Cons: the food, the price
We started with a roasted beet salad from the daily specials menu and it was delicious. Then ordered basic Italian dishes of gnocchi and risotto which were sub par. The menu is large so maybe we haven’t sampled enough to judge but there are so many restaurants in our area that we can’t imagine going back.

Arrogant waitstaff, substandard cuisine for Marin county, and the worst owner/​manager on the planet! Our friends now refuse to patronize the newer establishment due to the aforementioned factors. If you believe for one moment the pizza is good then there is no hope! The owner fawns over his Kentfield Country Club fan base and if you’re not included then you will suffer the consequences. Go elsewhere!
How this establishment has existed in fickle Marin is a mystery.

My family and I love Ambrosia! Mark is fantastic and I’m pretty sure my parents feel apart of the Ambrosia family as they go there for date night multiple times a month. I’ve grown up coming to this place. I love the salad that comes with avocado, artichoke hearts and homemade dressing and I love the pesto chicken pasta!

I went here for an early dinner, after helping some friends move. We had a great time, and our waitress was superb, friendly, funny, and attentive. Everyone was very friendly, and the place had a great feeling. It is a better space than the old restaurant, with better light, especially in the late afternoon. The place was empty when we arrived, but it had filled up by the time we left.
I had a Caesar salad, which was pretty good, with filleted anchovies on top. For a main course I had the scarpariello pasta, which was superb. I wasn’t feeling especially hungry, but I ate the whole thing quickly. We shared a nice bottle of wine between three of us. My friend asked the waitress if they had any port to go with dessert. She said sorry, they didn’t, but looking at his disappointed face, she told us to wait a minute. She came back with a bottle of a delicious tawny port. She left the bottle with us, and didn’t charge us for it. We had a most enjoyable evening. I will be back!

We’ve always liked Ambrosia, but it is light years ahead in this new location. The bar is much larger than their old one and allows for plenty of space to drink or dine. The interior is roomy and really pleasant. And the food is just as good as it has always been — well priced, excellent selections, and we love that there are so many wines available by the glass. Great neighborhood place with plenty of happy people enjoying a night out — it’s one of our regulars!

Having recently moved to Kentfield, we were excited to see a new and great looking restaurant in the area. We unfortunately were reminded of the old adage «don’t judge a book by its cover.
The pizza and service was decent, but the prices and noise were not.
Sadly, we will not be returning. I hope more restaurants come to the area and elevate Ambrosia’s game.