The Ambassador Restaurant

We came here for NYE and the KJ was very rude to us. He was supposedly upset that my friend sang the cuss words in a song that she had chose. Then told the bar tender that she fell and kicked her out. She didn’t fall, I did. We don’t look similar at all so it wasn’t a mix up. It was stupid and she was a regular. I’m sure she is never coming back and after what little I saw I’ll never be coming back.

Good pot stickers. Ordered General tso chicken and it was decent. The flavor was really good but the meat was lacking in size. The orange chicken had a good flavor but wasn’t breaded (if you like it this way).
Service was good by both servers we had.
The bathroom needed a little cleaning and updated. There was writing on the bathroom stalls and the handle to the toilet was taped in place.

How have I never been here before? That seems impossible. Not even a late drunken karaōke? Really… no. Three stars is a little bit of a stretch, really — but despite good reasons not to, I like this place. I can’t wait to try karaōke here!
The place itself is cool, far more modern than I would assume. The look of the karaōke area is SUPER cool! The waittress/​bartender (the only one I saw working on Christmas) was simply lovely and efficient! We ordered ourselves silly cocktails — Barbie Girl and Devils Reject ($ 8) and they were great!
So everything so far is really 4 stars. But the food, alas, leaves a NY jewish girl longing for home. I went crazy (it’s xmas, after all) and ordered the crispy shrimpand scallops ($ 17). There were lots of shrimp and scallops. They weren’t crispy but more mushy. The sauce was not good and that’s all that came in the dish. Not one vegetable, grain of rice or even garnish. The fried rice was fine. The appetizer plate with 5 or so apps was also quite disappointing. My favorites (crab and spring roll) were just fairly tasteless.
So all in all, the food was a 1 for me. But I really like the place despite that. If you’ve a taste for more modern, healthy or even tasty food, don’t go here — but do go for fun and karaōke and you might see me sometime!

Not to shabby for a late time drink. But this is the only place in town that has KARAOKE !!!
The drinks were good but not when you use the cheep pineapple vodka extract. you better off just using more pineapple., Just saying I am the customer an I know what I like. The Food i outstanding at Lease the Side orders were. We didn’t come here for the food. We came fo the beer an the bitches. The good beer was tapped out. in my head well filler up, NO dice. The staff is awesome. The bartender was the best.
So were are only option is get bottles. HAHA Ill Stick to my Mix Dranks! Karaōke is the best here the Nice Folks Every one claps an cheers for everyone. an they don’t even know each other, That was pretty RAD! This place Big Great for Big GROUPS. We didn’t have to pay to get in. I would Total go back with a group of friends that are ready for some Karaōke!!!

Ordered Mongolian beef and Shrimp fried rice. Never again. Mongolian beef was salty and sweet. Not spicy at all. The shrimp fried rice had barely any shrimp and was extremely bland. Yet to find decent Chinese food in NE. Miss 82^nd and Division Chinese spot.

This is by far the worst bar in Portland. Thought we rented the back room for a birthday party, but really it was just the rights to the karaōke. They actually wanted to seat people in there with us for dinner. They also failed to tell anyone that those showing up after 8:30 would have to pay a $ 5 cover. What the eff did we pay all that damn money for??? The drinks are more expensive then at the Crystal Ballroom. $ 4 for a PBR??? Get out of here. This is Portland, not NYC. The woman at the door is rude and I’m not really sure why they need a bouncer to check bags and her? Is that why everything is so expensive? THIS COULD BE ONE JOB!
Their list of music is laughable. They don’t have very common songs. Nor are any of them from the last 5 years.
I’ve also eaten here on a separate occasion and the food is blah.
Save yourself some money and go to Chopsticks on 34^th and Sandy. The staff is better and you won’t have to go bankrupt buying a PBR. You’ll feel rich coming to Chopsticks if you’re used to the Ambassador. Plus their food is better.

A NEW HIGH IN LOWS. this was quite possibly the worst chinese food I’ve ever eaten. lets start with the BBQ spare ribs. i think of a chinese spare rib as about 4′ long and a smoky (dare i say it?) bbq taste. the ribs were little nubs of meat that had been cooked then breaded then fried and then doused in some non descript sauce.
pork fried rice was just huge amounts of salty rice. not spicy. even overly spicy i can handle. no, this rice was just pure salt. i actually winced the way one does when they bite into a lemon wedge.
The Ambassador pan fried noodles were about as bland as can be. that dish (a specialty of the house i was told) reminded me of when i was a kid and my mom would buy those cans of LaChoy chinese foods. i was 13 so i didn’t know better. but again this dish was nothing anyone should order ever.
i also ordered the fried won ton appetizer. they could have been ok but they had a slight taste of dish soap to them. as if someone had some soap on their hands or in the dish, and it had touched the won tons.
won ton soup. nothing tantalizing about this soup and the wonton noodles fell apart as if they had been lingering in that soup for a few days. these are not fresh wontons used in the soup.
spring rolls– they’ve seen better springs. these might want to be called autumn rolls. or even winter rolls. a bit greasy.
overall just really bad food. but i hear the karaōke is really good.

I love ambassador. I don’t understand the haters. The staff is awesome. The bartenders are super terrific. The drinks are strong and the Karaōke is off the hook, if I can say that with a straight face. All of the KJs are fair and awesome.
Seriously, if you were cut off, it was for a good reason. Behave yourself and you wouldn’t have gotten in trouble. They are fair and want EVERYONE to have a good time, not just the obnoxious drunks.

The bartender cut off my boyfriend who was having fun for dancing and singing along with the karaōke a few years ago. Tonight the bartender decided that he had too many beer and he should drink some water after he ordered one beer. I asked her what makes her think he had been drinking before coming here and she said the way he moves. (Very vague) He did have a couple of beer at home before we left, but not to a degree I’d say he was drunk. I am trying to understand why they keep doing this to him! Anybody? It seems so patronizing to me that she would decide for him that he should drink some water.

Came here for lunch with my son and food was surprisingly good. Had veggie and shrimp omelett (egg foo young) and fried shrimp. He had a lunch special Generals Tao’s Chicken. I would say we would go back if in the area again. The wait staff were very nice as well.

I was to think that this place was a lively Karaōke spot, especially at 11p on a Saturday night. Where are all the people?! Is there some festival happening we don’t know of? My only qualm with the The Ambassador was the crowd, or lack there of. Otherwise, the KJ was wonderful and positive, the servers are charismatic and prompt, the ambiance is pretty rad in its Scarface-​esque way, and the stage/​song selection is great.

We enjoy going to the Ambassador for several reasons. The drinks are strong, the food is decent, the KJs, especially Kevin, are good at their job, and the wait staff and bartender are excellent. Order the BBQ pork fried rice, it’s the best thing on the menu. make a reservation for a fri/​sat night if you are a party of six or more as it gets busy. Family karaōke on Sunday’s ftom 5 – 8 is fun too. Overall my favorite part is the diversity of the crowd and singers: from old-​timers to gospel singers to rookies, the entertainment and people watching can’t be beat. There’s a reason Portlandia chose to film here!

This was the worst meal I’ve ever had in my entire life! My shitty, underfunded public school served better meals than this, and I couldn’t even identify what I was eating half the time. I ordered a special fried rice with shrimp, chicken, and beef. It tasted ok, nothing horrific, until I put a piece of chicken in my mouth. It tasted like it had been marinaded in perfume, nasty little old lady perfume, and then tossed in the rice. All of the fried appetizers tasted like they had been cooked in oil older than me. I am not some foodie snob who wants authentic Chinese food and if they don’t serve chicken feet, it isn’t «real Chinese», I was looking for a solid Americanized Chinese meal, this was so far from that. I wouldn’t feed this to a starving stray dog. Add to that a very unhappy tummy, this place should be shut the hell down or stick to drinks and karaōke!

I really don’t like writing reviews without having pictures to support it, but I switched from android to iPhone and I don’t have the pictures anymore.
Anyways, it saddens me to write this review because The Ambassador use to be my favorite spot years ago, and when I say favorite I mean I frequented this restaurant 2 – 4 times a week.
Just recently I came here with my boyfriend swearing he’d love it because it’ll always be my favorite but we were both disappointed! There was a pungent aroma in the air that I can’t explain. I let it slide because we were so hungry and this was familiar territory to me.
I always order multiple things so that my reviews are accurate and packed with information. We had spring rolls, crab ragoon, soup, shrimp and broccoli, their wings and a order of vegetables with chicken. Most of our food stayed on the table.
The waitress kept saying, «Are you sure you don’t want a box, you guys have so much food left.» That should’ve let her know right there that we didn’t enjoy it. Instead she ends with, «hope you enjoyed it!» I hit her with a stale face because common sense would have told her that we didn’t!
Their quality has gone down hill and their restaurant side is basically falling apart. The chairs and tables are old and you can tell, sadly we won’t be returning. Maybe not even for karaōke which I’ve done here a million and one times.
Happy Unilocaling :-(

Don’t understand the reviews here. Easily the worst Chinese food I’ve ever had. Had it delivered, and as Lisa said below, the fried rice is soaked in soy sauce, doesn’t taste anything like fried rice. I paid $ 50 for 2 simple dishes + noodles delivered, and would have been upset had I paid $ 10. Also, absolutely everything had a fish taste and smell. We didn’t order seafood.

The worst Chinese food I’ve ever had! Don’t eat here and don’t get it delivered! The rice is soaked in soy sauce to the degree that it is black and the sweet and sour has chunks of uncooked carrot in it. Not on par with edible in the slightest!

We have a private party here for karaōke tonight, and the KJ keeps singing songs himself despite our party having dozens of people waiting to sing… wtf ambassador. What are we paying for, to watch this dude sing his crappy songs?! Come on.

You will have nights to remember here! Awesome staff, stiff drinks and amazing Karaōke KJs.
The staff here makes this place. Really. It’s so important to have a great staff. They are attentive and fun. Not uptight but they won’t take $hit off of the drunk dudes either. Some of them can really sing too.
The KJs are fair and give everyone a turn in rotation. They don’t have favorites and skip over newbies. They don’t show favorites to the big tippers. I always tip at the end of the night.
I knock a star because the food is really really bad. Ambassadors food is salty and filled with corn starch. It’s your regular Americanized Chinese food. There are so many amazing Chinese restaurants with good fresh food. You will feel horribly swollen and bloated in the morning from all of the salt… I really wish the owner would change their menu and at least add something fresh.
Eat before you come. But everything else is awesome!

If you are into disco’s lost décor, menus with faded photos, and stiff drinks, this place is for you. Luckily I’m into all those things.
This place is mostly known for it’s Karaōke bar but don’t sell it short. The food is really delicious and the servings are huge. I got one of the combination plates and took home enough for lunch AND dinner the next day.
They have a great Happy Hour menu and by golly, the drinks are worth every penny.

Right on Sandy Blvd. Serving all your karaōke needs. The outside looks a bit off but the inside is all Rock –N– Roll. People go crazy for this place and the waitress Fiona is awesome. Great deals on food and drinks. Then you can sing yourself into stardom.