Last night I went to Ama’s, the new Japanese-ish place in Luongo Square across from the Avery.  They’ve only been open for three days at this point, but the food was majorly delicious. I’m not a Japanese food purist or anything — actually, I don’t think I’ve been inside a Japanese restaurant since New Japan closed — so I can’t vouch for its authenticity.  But authenticity is overrated, anyway.

The place is very seafood-oriented, and they carry two different kinds of local oysters, but they’ve also got lots of vegetarian options, including a veggie bento box.  I went for the zucchini, which was extra-garlicky and only $3.50, as well as the tofu squares, which were super-sweet on the outside but stuffed with rice and salty olives.  The portions are small (you get three of everything) but everything’s designed to share, and I was full with my two dishes.  (The scallops were also very good, according to my meat-loving boyfriend.)

There’s only twenty seats at Ama’s, which means that probably there’ll be lines out the door once word gets around.  It’s very dark on the inside–it’s owned by Mike from Lili Marlene’s and designed by Kyla Coburn, who did the Avery and Loie Fuller’s–and there’s a lot of rope involved, which is nice. My only aesthetic complaint would be that the restroom has one of those horrible rectangular faucets that are very trendy for some reason I don’t understand.  But that’s a small complaint, and the sink itself is cute.  Plus, it’s hard to complain about a place where you can get two plates of delicious food and a fancy Japanese beer for under twenty bucks.

[photo ganked from West Side Stories]

Tags: ama's, restaurants, West Side

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