Ambassador Restaurant

They were able to seat our group of 7 quickly on a Saturday night. Server was quick to serve us our drinks and put in our order. Mixed drink came out quick. Appetizers were delicious, we got the garlic bread and loaded potatoes. We got three large pizzas and had leftovers for the next day. They cut the pizzas into squares which is a bit funny but it makes sharing easy.

We came here during the dinner rush, so a wait was to be expected. They freed up a table very fast, but it took 10 minutes for a server to bring us the drink menu, took another 20 minutes to get our drinks, and took over an hour to get our food. When we asked for more silverware, it took until we were halfway done with our meal for us to get them. The food is great, but just be prepared to wait.

I got the lg ravioli portion and it was the perfect size! Delicious red sauce and tasty ravioli. We had very attentive service!

Super good piza and pasta. The drink was a little weak and alot of cost but was very good flavors profile with fresh raspberry. The service was slow and it was not busy the server was getting backed up i waited 10 mins for a check and 10 more mins for her to pick it up before i just paid at the bar. Beautiful restaurant.

Wonderful service and food. Build your own pizza was great. Love craft beer selection.

The room inside has a certain style, being from the 70s/80s, you like it or not, it gives the space character. The service was efficient and professional. The drinks, local beers and ciders, were good. The food was good too but they had the bizarre idea to make thin-crust pizzas and serve it covered with a salad... As the pizza is hot, the salad cooks, becomes soggy and makes the pizza wet. I would rather have my salad separately. But again, it wasn't bad.

Best pizza in the area. The food is consistent and delicious. Our favorites are the veggie pizza and lobster pizza. The interior is unique and beautiful, but small which means it’s often on a wait. Their to go service is very simple and quick which makes a great alternative to dining in. Always a must stop on our summer trips to the UP.

At first the hostess (with the nose rings) was not very friendly but our sweet waitress made up for it. Her name was Catherine . She was very friendly and took good care of us. We ordered everything in the photos. I had a salad which was yummy. We did not have to wait long for our table or food. Nice place to visit with good prices too. Anyway, thank you Catherine for the good service and thank you Ambassador for the good food-we will be back.

They stay very busy! But service was good and food came relatively quickly. The restaurant is beautiful. It's all old wood and stained glass windows. We all had pizzas which were all very good! We make it a point to stop here whenever we are staying in the Houghton area.

I loved this place! Our cousin used to come here all of the time while in college, so we tried it out. Everything was delicious! The food server was really nice. I loved the murals on the walls. The food was really inexpensive. I would definitely come back again.

I've been looking forward to coming back to Houghton for two years, and one of the things I was most excited about was having my favorite pizza in the world again. Unfortunately, it was a huge disappointment. We ordered a large sausage, onion, and mushroom with double cheese--our go-to for years when we lived here. But this time, it was barely recognizable. There was hardly any sausage (and it didn't even taste like the same kind), the onions were so overcooked they disappeared, and the mushrooms were few and far between. Worst of all, the pizza was extremely greasy, with puddles of oil on top of the cheese. I had hoped it was just an off night, but after talking with several local friends, I heard the same thing again and again: the quality has gone downhill. Some even mentioned that the tostada pizza--once a local favorite--has also been ruined. It's really sad to see such a longtime Houghton institution, one I've been coming to since I was a teenager, decline like this. I turn 70 this month and had planned to celebrate with dinner here like I did on my last visit. But after this experience, I'll be celebrating somewhere else. Lastly it was so noisy that my Apple Watch reported 105 db

I had a great dinner here during travels for a work chip. The lobster pizza was phenomenal. I am not sure why I liked it so much but I did and I would recommend this to anyone going. The drinks were great. I had an eagle rare old fashioned and a pina colada. Both were good. The pasta dish was good as well. Super reasonable pricing. If I go back to this town I will go back here gladly! Order the lobster pizza!!

The sausage pizza is amazing here, the way that they cut their pizza is very unique. The workers are very kind and very friendly. It has a great atmosphere that represents Houghton.

One of my favorite restaurants in the area. Awesome views, good service, good menu selections, and some very fair prices. Have eaten here a couple times and will definitely make it a mandatory stop for future trips in/through Houghton.

Ok, we got the caesar salad (pretty good except for the strange addition of tomatoes and onions). The garlic bread was GREAT! And the pizza was... very mid for some reason. It tasted like something microwaved, just not great. The building was pretty cool tho, and service was good.

I stopped in for dinner on a Saturday night while in the area skiing. I didn't know what to expect, but was pleasantly surprised by the cool art-deco vibe and the delicious pizza. I had the Greek pizza which was piled high with great toppings! I would definitely go back.

We came here for dinner and this place is pretty good. I got the lasagna and although I really liked and thought it was yummy, it's probably the weirdest lasagna I've eaten. I'm used to eating lasagna that has only mozzarella but they add cheddar and Colby jack, which adds a distinct flavor profile. Still, I liked it! Not to mention the cheese on the top was lightly browned which I definitely love! My husband and his dad got the cudighi sandwich...if you're not from Upper Michigan or just the Midwest in general, I recommend getting this because it's not only good but also it's also not something you can find outside of Upper Michigan. Service was decent and the place is clean. A good place to eat!

Had the spaghetti it was ok nothing fancy that couldn't have made at home. Should have tried a different pasta. Also tried the lobster pizza, would have like to have more sauce as it seemed a little dry. No shortage of lobster. Ate at bar, bartender was very on the ball with things.

Service on this iconic restaurant was amazing! Ambiance in this old building is there. Food.. hmmmm. We left happy, but only because the iconic surroundings. Our chips & cheese stuff was fine. If we lived here we'd only go back for a drink. Nothing special about chips & queso or the pizza.

ordered a couple of pizzas after riding delicious . thin crust. lots of toppings. just off the trail

Ambiance is great, service great! Drinks awesome. I had a GF pizza. Heard the pizzas are great here. With regular crust I think it would have been great. GF crust was "ok", not bad not good. Hubby had small spaghetti and meatballs and loved it. We would go back. I'd order something different than GF pizza

Ambassador Restaurant in Houghton, Michigan hidden Gem that offers a delightful experience. We've try out their potatoes skin, Tostada Pizza, Beef Nacho, fish bowls drinks. Started with the potatoes skin, they were absolutely delicious. Crispy on the outside and perfectly cheese on the inside. The tostadas pizza was a unique classic dish, to me was more like a fusion of Mexican and Italian cuisines. The fish bowl drinks was a standout at the ambassador restaurant. Served in a large glass bowl, packed with refreshing flavors. Lastly, the beef nachos were a crowd favorite, seasoned ground beef, melted cheese, and medley of toppings. Overall, Ambassador Restaurant in Houghton, MI offer a diverse Menu of delicious dishes. This restaurant is a Must- visit for anyone looking for a memorable dining experience.

Ordered the BBQ chicken pizza. It was the best ever. Took an hour to arrive, but was worth the Waite. BELLS LAGER was awesome too

First time in Houghton, walking downtown and happened upon The Ambassador. Very much old bar/tavern feel, kookie murals that I'm sure are original. It's a seat yourself kinda place. Service was ok, nothing special. Our server wasn't too informative on what the speciality of the house was, dare I say maybe even slightly hesitant on recommending. It was around lunch so I decided on the most popular sandwich which happened to be the Yorkshire beef. Hmmm it was good. The bread seemed fresh, the beef had a nice flavor. After reading other reviews looks like maybe we missed out on the pizza. In the sandwich category it's an ok to good. My friends also ordered sandwiches and they said they were ok. Wished we would have known about that pizza

Probably the best pizza in the city hands down. Great food and great service. Would highly recommend for lunch/dinner with plenty of room to accommodate for your party.

Always a great hit! Everything they make is amazing but we especially love the tostada pizza with garlic toast and homemade ranch. Other stand out pizza is the chicken and broccoli. You need to get a fish bowl to wash it down at least once. Great atmosphere, good service and full of nostalgia and history. You can also pre-order unbaked deep frozen pizza to make at home. We order 6 pizzas before driving back to the Detroit area and they frozen the whole ride home. When we bake them later at home we have a piece of Houghton with us. It's wonderful!

Pizza great- crispy cracker crust. Sausage is maple taste, different and good! Service was great. Packed place, busy for a Friday night- lots of take out orders. Overall great!

Meh. Happened to be in Houghton and got hungry so I popped in to try this place. Sign at the door says wait to be seated so I waited... and waited... and waited. Bartender finally called the hostess over. Ordered a Coke a pepperoni pizza with mushrooms. The pizza is a thin crust which I prefer. But it was hard to taste anything other than the char on the pizza. It wasn't even a lot of char, but it's all I could taste over the sauce & pepperoni. The crust was really crunchy. I was almost done with my meal and had started looking for the waitress before she finally showed up with my coke. Then she never checked again. I waited a LONG time to even ask for the bill. A coke refill was out of the question. Next time I'm in houghton, I'll try something else.

Went with my parents while I was in town. The inside of the restaurant/bar is like stepping back in time. You're instantly brought back to the early 30's. Great views of the bridge and water. Our waitress was awesome, but it did seem like it took a little too long to get our food. Everyone loved their dishes, from Caesars Salad With Alaskan salmon, the small pizza, the lasagna, to the cudighi, were all delicious. I wish they'd give something other than chips. All reasonably priced.

Food was okay, not the same as years ago. Service wasn't great. Hostess seated us (9:00pm 8/22) and didn't have the correct server assigned to our table and we saw a few other tables get waited on before us. It wasn't busy. Disappointed.

Our server was amazing! She recommended the Greek Pizza with sausage and it was wonderful! I tried the Bee's Knees and it was perfectly made.

Shockingly good! Got the chicken broccoli pizza and was pleasantly surprised. Chicken was delicious, pizza was super garlicky and flavorful. Loved every bite of it. Their pastas were tasty too. This is the spot to go to when you're in Houghton!

I wish I took a photo, but I couldn't stand to document the desecration of a much beloved Italian favorite. Throwing a slice of cheese in between two sheets of pasta is not lasagna. Italian nonnas everywhere are weeping for anyone who encounters this "lasagna." I also would have asked to speak with the chef, but the microwave was busy nuking the next dish unevenly. So, if you want a pathetic plate of sick, in a cheap plastic bowl made to look like an oven cast iron dish, this is your place!

We went to the ambassador after moving my son into MTU. It was highly recommended and didn't disappoint. Great food and service. Try a fish bowl.

I would absolutely love to give this place 5 stars, but here's what happened. We came in, noticed a sign that said seat yourself, we found a table, but decided to wait for a booth. A guy got up, I stole his booth before the table was bussed. My fiancé and I then proceeded to wait well over 20 minutes before anyone even acknowledged us; don't believe me? I literally started my stop watch. It was 20 minutes after that, that we were acknowledged. Meanwhile, a party of 14 had come in, somewhere around the 10 minute mark on my watch, and ordered drinks and food. At that point, I had accepted we would be in it for the long hall. So we started with the games. At first, we piled everything up from the last gentleman on the edge of the table, then, slowly started transferring it to the table across from us wondering, who would be waited on first, the empty table, or us. Honestly, I think most the waitresses seemed preoccupied with chatting. Finally someone came over and asked if we had been helped, we said no. She said they had been wondering.. but why not come over and ask sooner? After we were acknowledged, the waitress was super nice, and everything else was fairly quick given how many people were there. Just a bummer that we were literally invisible for 20-30 minutes while they bussed, served, and waited on the tables on literally either side of us. The waitress did apologize, but, I mean...when we arrived there was maybe 20 people there, and only the booths and bar had people in it, so I'm not sure how that happens, but, I guess it does. Hopefully you have a better experience because the food, beverages, and building are absolutely fantastic. I hope to come back and have a better experience.

Traveled from California and discovered this great pizza restaurant. The pizza definitely gets 5 stars. And the ambiance really adds to this atmosphere. The beautiful murals are well preserved. The bar tender, Zachary gave us the full history, which is nothing short of amazing. Absolutely a great experience!!!

Visited Houghton for the first time, and this is the first restaurant my friend took us to. The atmosphere is cool and they have an extensive menu so you'd probably be able to find something everyone likes. They have a fishbowl drink menu that I thought was fun and different. It was fun to read through all the different combos. I went for the blue motorcycle as I knew it was something I like and it was delicious. For my meal, I got a 10" build your own pizza with bacon, ham, and pineapple as the toppings. It was tasty and cooked well. I honestly liked the size of the slices as they were small and it was easy to eat!

This place is a fantastic place to visit, look around, and take pictures. But as we were warned by my bro-in-law, who had been there pre-COVID, go for the decor, not the food. Which is a shame, because this place would be a regional attraction with fine food and drink. 5 stars for decor - the Bavarian murals on the walls were painted in 1902 by a Bavarian artist, and are amazing to see. The restaurant has gorgeous layout that gives it a an awesome European fine tavern feel. And the wait staff is friendly and attentive. Then there is the food, which has the potential to be really good, but only the salad brings it up to a 3 star. My wife's glass of wine was ok, just average, as in good bottle from grocery store. My "glass of your finest root beer" tasted like it had just been poured out of a can of average, maybe A&W quality root beer. Certainly not a fine regional root beer, of which there are plenty in the region. The salad and dressing were very good, fresh and crisp. The garlic bread was good, standing up to being freshly baked daily, but brought down by rather too much garlic oil and butter, to the point of each slice was oily My wife had the raviolis, of which she ordered the larger portion, to take back to the hotel. She only ate one, because it was devoid of seasoning, and only warm, not hot. Only the sauce was hot. She did not bring any back to the hotel. I ordered the Lasagna, which I was also warned was hot. It wasn't. The sauce was barely hot, and the lasagna only the hot side of warm. And, was the blandest lasagna I have ever had. Certainly we may be spoiled, living near Wisconsin Dells and having actual European cooks at our favorite hole-in-the wall Italian restaurant, Mama Mia's or the other two Italian restaurants we go to. But my impression is that the food and sauces here, other than the bread and pizza crust, is wholesale heat-up. And not the highest grade at that. If the cold get much better seasoned food and sauce, and cook it till it is hot all the way through, it would be really good. And don't dump a barrel of garlic oil over the bread. Lastly, spend and charge a little more for finer wines and root beer; not everyone wants beer or liquor; being able to offer classy drinks otherwise helps separate you from Pizza Hut. So when you are there, raise a glass to the hope that this fine place will get food to match it!

It was very good . Had lobster pizza . It was very good . I think waitress was new , but she was adequate.

Great food and amazing service! Our waiter went above and beyond! Ambiance was nice and clean.

Great food at a great price. Good local brews on tap. Would recommend any of the roast beef sandwiches. Really good sauce on the spaghetti.

Amazing food and drinks! The pizza is so delicious and very unique. When I was there it was a slower wait time but a bunch of staff members let us know in advance! They also have super yummy fishbowl cocktails! Would recommend 5/5 stars

We received more than one recommendation to go here while on our recent trip to the UP, so we definitely wanted to check it out. The architecture of the place itself is really cool, and the menu gives you its history, which I liked. The view outside is nice too. Per the menu, fish bowl drinks seemed to be a popular option, but that's definitely not my thing. They did have a bunch of other drink options as well, but we decided to just go with pizza, which us what was recommended. We ended up ordering a small Tostada pizza and a small vegetarian pizza. The pizzas are definitely big enough for 2 people, or one very hungry person. The tostada pizza was kind of a let down. There were so many good reviews for it and it sounded awesome. It was just okay. It was not on a tostada; it was on regular pizza crust, which was probably the most disappointing part. The meat did have a good flavor though. The way they cut it is "cool" and all, but it's not really functional. The toppings just fall off and you end up having to eat it with a fork and knife. The veggie pizza was pretty good. It had toppings you don't normally see on pizza, like carrots and broccoli, which I liked. This one was cut like a normal pizza, so it was easier to eat. The main reason for the average review (and I even debated a 2 instead of a 3) is for the cleanliness. The staff were all college age people and it showed. The staff all wore masks and they were friendly, but the whole place just seemed kind of dingy and things were sticky, to include the menus (which I'm pretty positive they're not cleaning between customers). We ate a little bit and got the rest to go. I would definitely go somewhere else next time I was in town.

Can't go wrong with the tostada pizza the pricing is a little on the higher side but all the food is good so it's worth it

The food was good but not the service. We sat with menus for over 10 minutes while every server walked by and ignored us. We had to walk up to bar and order our drinks since no one came by. Finally our waitress appeared. She was great once we ordered. I realize places are short staffed but at least acknowledge we are waiting or tell us they will get to us as soon as they can.

If I could give this place zero stars I would. absolutely THE worst customer service experience ever. I can't say how the food was as I left before we could eat. Not family friendly at all.

I had the Tostada Pizza and it was great. This was the exact kind of place we had hoped to find. I was told that their sandwiches were not good by one of the employees, so stick to the pizza! The pizza was good, if anything ask for an extra side of the taco sauce.

Great service. Pizza was served hot and fresh. Great thin crispy pizza. Perfect stop while in downtown houghton!

The Ambassador has been around since before the prohibition! I love the dark and cozy aesthetic. Peep the intricate details like the stain glass light covers and gnome murals. The gluten free crust on the pizza was SO good. Halfway through eating it I had to stop and ask if it really was GF. It seemed those with pizza were happy with their choices and those with sandwiches said, "it's fine".

Came in on a quiet weekday afternoon. The service was quick and the food was excellent. No picture of the phenomenal garlic bread because we ate it too quickly to take a photo!

Great spot for a dinner. Food and service were perfect and the prices were amazing. The fish bowl drinks were quite the value!

We are from Marquette and always stop here when we are in town for their pizza! It's second to none. The view is also beautiful. We've always had wonderful service here, even when they are busy. These servers work hard so BE kind to them! We will continue to make this a tradition stop!

Spiked kombucha in UP whaaa... We stopped by for dinner during our road trip. I remember our server was sweet and gave us enough time to think about our order. We ordered a couple of cocktails, I got the spiked kombucha obviously! and for food, we tried their pizza with white garlic sauce, chicken/onions. The food was pretty tasty, my spiked pineapple kombucha was great! and the place was tasteful to sit in as well. I think the only complaint I have is that our server gave us the bill even though we were still talking over our drinks, and just to be sure I checked and they had plenty of tables available in case we were taking up space post our dinner. It wasn't even their closing time for another hour. I also remember them continuously looking over as if they were about to close and we needed to hurry out. My friend felt the same vibe and I was a bit weirded out. Apart from this, I really enjoyed the stop and the drinks as well!

Took forever to get drinks and when we got our food waitress dropped entire tray of food on the floor. She was embarrassed we told her no big deal accidents happen. Took awhile to get food and no more drinks. Not 1 cent off order. Could have given at least 1 drink. Table of 7 spent over $200 on food and drinks

Their thin crust Greek pizza is phenomenal and the 12" often makes two meals for me. Their alcoholic beverages are plentiful and well mixed, too. It tends to be a busy place no matter when I go, but the food and drinks are always great.

Have eaten here multiple times over the years. The pizza is really good, but my fave is the Traditional Submarine Sandwich. That sandwich is delicious and elegantly simple. I highly recommend trying it. The atmosphere has a nice historic flare, staff are friendly, prices are reasonable, and service is good.

We used to love Ambo pizza and atmosphere but things have changed. Waitstaff was very inattentive, wings were soggy and tasted old, pizza was overpriced. I got GF crust which is a $5 up charge on $15 pizza. Got the veggie pizza which I asked for light cheese and extra sauce (which they also charged extra for) there was literally no cheese and a gross amount of sauce and all the veggies were raw. (Onions, carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, and broccoli) two thumbs down for that one. The wings were just gross. Don't go for a mixed drink because that will be light alcohol as well...not sure we will be back after 40 years of supporting the Ambo!