Ama Lur

Very unique atmosphere within the Gaylord Texan. It feels like you are sitting outside even though you are in the middle of the hotel.
The food is very good and worth rave reviews. The pricing I thought was a little high but I would still recommend it.

Pros: Great Food

Cons: Definitely expensive

Posted 07/26/09

This is an amazing location with restaurants, a Hotel and Spa. If you have never been to Texas this is a must stop. The dining experience here is enormous, Many many flavors, wine bars, and food choices. This restaurant Ama Lur has a Margarita Bar, the party starts the moment you walk in. They have hand crafted cocktails, margaritas, sipping tequilas and ice cold cerveza. Hot Latin rhythm surrounds you as day turns to night and the Salsa Band begins to serenade you. Enjoy Southwestern snacks from the Ama Lur menu or ask for a dinner table with a view. The spa has body wraps, facials, massage everything you can think of. The spa and this restaurant is on the top of my list for dinning gifts and the day spa experience. Come to Gaylord where EVERYTHING really is bigger and better in Texas.

Pros: A latin food experience like no other

Cons: Parking LOOKS like you have pay, but they validate, so valet and bring in your ticket

Posted 01/12/08

A smart combination of family-friendly and adult-savvy. The food was fantastic and the service was the best I have ever had. It is hard to believe this is a hotel. We came on Vacation / business with our kids and after a hard choice ( mostly by the kids) we decided to get Mexican. Why not, we are in Texas after all and this is about as close to the border of Mexico we have ever been. The tamales were out of this world and the kids had tacos. Not too exciting on choices, but very impressed with the presentation and our waiter. Great service , great food and a smart mix for families on vacation or even good for a date. PS, the margarita was perfect! :)

Pros: Great for kids and adults!

Cons: not one!

Posted 10/21/07

The flavors in the dishes are amazing. It?s woody ( you have to taste to understand) and seasoned to perfection like the atmosphere. You walk in and it?s like being in another world right in the middle of Texas. Once you get into the Texan Gaylord you have many choices, so don?t stray? if southwestern is what you were looking for then B-line to Ama Lur.. Fantastic! They have an amazing Margarita bar and salsa bar accompanied by a mariachi band once you get there as well, so go now and sample some of the best southwestern food I have had the pleasure of finding in the Metroplex. Chef Steven Pyles has done it again!

Pros: Something for everybody, but I favor the Margarita bar! Arribia!

Cons: Misconcept. People think this is just hotel food, this is a destination and is amazing!

Posted 10/21/07

I do not understand why this place has received all of the praise I have read. It is no better than any overpriced hotel restaurant in which I have eaten in any city in the country. Starting with the hostess who told us she couldn't possibly seat us for an hour when we could clearly see open tables all over the restaurant...apparently a staffing issue...on a Saturday night. We headed to the bar in hopes of grabbing something quick and a few drinks. Well we were told by our waitress there that eating in the bar was just going to be sooooo crowded, did we really want to do that. Read, she didn't want to serve us food in the bar. So, appetizers in the bar, and the service was so slow that by the time we got those and one drink our table was ready for dinner. The appetizers were good, I recommend the flat bread and the empenadas.

Head to our table in a very uncharming spot in the restaurant (I actually didn't see any charming spots) and found that a couple of our chairs were so dirty that we requested rags to wipe them off. The salads were wonderful, but I suggest anyone stay away from the sea bass. So fishy that I almost returned it to the kitchen, but by then it didn't seem worth it. It was not edible enough to finish, though. We were not offered fresh pepper on salads etc. and we noted that there was no salt and pepper on the table (apparently they think their food is perfectly seasoned - they are wrong). Our waiter told us that the salt and pepper shakers kept getting stolen so they no longer put them out. Funny, we should have guessed, because the instant that we opened up our napkins and placed the napkin rings on the table those were picked up by wait staff. Apparently this place has many thieves as customers.

Generally eat here if you are stuck in the hotel with no transportation to good restaurants. But then again, maybe try the sports bar...it might be a bit cheaper.

Pros: Salsa band was wonderful, appetizers pretty tasty

Cons: Entrees, ambience, very cheap feel for an expensive price

Posted 09/16/07

I think Chef Love may have faxed over some menu ideas so Ama Lur could use his name, but that appears to be the extent of his "consulting" duties with this place! The extensive online menu did not exist in reality, and we were told unapologetically "the website has not been updated". This restaurant presents (and prices) itself as a five star with the quality of a two to three star. From snotty reservation people who told us earlier that wouldnt be able to accommodated until 9:00 (though there were only several tables dining when we arrived early at 8:30 ). The waiter was friendly if clueless, sauces were not well balanced, fish and steak dishes were nothing special. I sent my dish (tuna, halibut and salmon carpaccio) back to the kitchen as the fish was poor and the sauce was inedible, had to wait ten minutes for a menu to order something different. He arrived with the menu but when I turned away momentarily to ask my friend a question about her dish, by the time I turned back both the waiter and menu were gone! I did not end up reordering anything. The drinks were good, though at $10 a drink they ought to be. Some glasses were dirty. We had to get up to ask our waiter for our check after sitting waiting for it for way too long while he (in our view) schmoozed with the bartender. This place is not professional nor is it of particularly good quality. The ambiance was fair but not really all that exciting. The band was talented but quit playing ten minutes after we sat down. Bill was $160 bucks for four people with one drink each, one person had a chicken tortilla soup (which was not very good) three entrees (as I sent mine back), and one person had desert (creme brulee, also not very good). So not worth it. Skip dinner walk around the hotel briefly to check out the flowers, and go to Glass Cactus!

Pros: Ambiance was nice, but not as nice as all expected considering all the hype!

Cons: poor service, limited menu (though online menu was misleadingly extensive), expensive, food was average overall and quite poor for the price!

Posted 07/08/07