The Ambassador Restaurant & Lounge

Fantastic, authentic Chinese food which is so hard to find nowadays! Great place to karaoke with friends - we had so much fun! Awesome gem in Portland!! Heard it’s family owned and has been around for 30+ years! Love supporting locally & love coming here!

First time here & will now be my to go spot. Nicki was great! Welcoming, Positive attitude & everything. Unlike other spots in Portland where they serve alcohol. Their parking space is limited tho but wasn’t a problem.

I only had the egg flower soup, it was pretty good. Large portions, the atmosphere was lax on a Wednesday afternoon. Bartender was extremely friendly and gave great service. Will definitely go back!

I've been eating here for 10 years. I called the restaurant because they didn't put any pork on the poo poo platter. And the noodles for overcooked on the noodle dish I ordered which was $24. She wanted to give you two slices of pork !!! And she just don't want to take 10% off of my noodle dish I paid $40 for this food and I'm very disappointed for the first time in years. I strongly suggest you go someplace else in the future. They are not what they used to be at all. I will also contact Uber about this

Love this place! I come here often for food and drinks. The food is consistently great and huge portions. Bring a friend if you're coming for dinner so you can share! Also, as someone who enjoys spicy food they have a fantastic chili oil, made in house, that I love.

Best Chinese food in Portland!!! Not only did me and my friends have the best karaoke experience but the bar was fantastic. You really are missing out if this isn’t one of your go to spots in the Portland area!

Grease for $27 Appetizers Combo. Includes 2 wonton that are two hard to bite into, 4 shrimp that pop out of breading when you take a bite, 2 of something in tin foil, 2 eggs rolls ... could not even eat it due to so much grease. Which is a sign the fryer oil is dirty And the 6 crab ragoons tasted like everything else. Lost its flavor in the dirty oil. So I paid $27 for food with all the same dirty oil taste. Even my dog won't eat it. 🤮 So if you want to eat greasy food with everything having the same taste and not tasting the individual item then go here. I will go to panda express and pay $4 for the same amount of ragoons that are not just grease

Went 9 months ago. Went again last night. Food was still delicious. Still great vibes. And the cutest gosh dang puffer fish. Bartender is cool as hell. So nice. Awesome Atmosphere. KAREOKE. Food is great. Shrimp Fried Rice is killer. Huge huge area to hang out back. Great vibes.

Best Chinese food in Portland!!! Not only did me and my friends have the best karaoke experience but the bar was fantastic. You really are missing out if this isn't one of your go to spots in the Portland area!

Stopped in for the first time in a long time. I decided to stop in on a whim for lunch. I have to say my food was delicious. I could have been fine with a few more slices of bbq'd pork. A little slim on the portion but was very moist and had good flavor. The bar tender/ server was a bit curt with little personality. It was like she was put out by waiting on me. Like I was an annoyance interrupting her nap time. The food was good so I'll stop back for sure.

My girl used to love coming here. But the last few times, the KJ was being condescending, and rude. Also look out for him trying to hit on your girl. Dude is totally unprofessional. The last time we were there, instead of playing a song and just waiting till he got back to continue to KJ, he allowed feedback on the microphone to occur for the WHOLE duration of the song, which is super embarrassing. Looking back on it, he didn't make the singer look bad. He made himself look amateur. We won't be returning. It's sad they won't replace this tool with a better and more professional KJ. Lastly, we only ordered a soda, and a plate of potstickers...they charged us $17.59 it was a total ripoff.

I'm boosting the review two stars because the karaoke is reliable and it's often not too busy Sunday-Thursday, so you won't have to wait long to sing. Also, in hindsight I think the PBR may have been 20 or 22oz, but $5.75 is still crazy pricey. I have never ordered food as my visits have always been late at night.

Love this place! The food is so flavorful and the service is amazing! Kellen kicked butt, kept our drinks filled without asking, got our takeout boxes and filled them with leftovers. And took our group photo. Thanks for another great time!!

The electronic ticker board out front declared that this place has the best Chinese food in Portland. Challenge accepted! I made an off-hand comment to my wife about wanting to check out the Ambassador when we drove by it in the afternoon, while running errands. Apparently she took it to heart, because we ended up there later that night. With two of the kids in tow, we walked into the door, quickly realizing that this place is more bar than restaurant; in fact, you have to walk through the bar to get to the dining/karaoke area. Yeah, this place is laid out a little weird. The dining area feels distinctly cafeteria-esque: nothing but booths/benches on the exterior walls, bookended by the kitchen and a karaoke stage, and nothing but empty space in between. Makeshift dance floor, perhaps? Maybe, but drunken dancers flailing about where people are eating seems like a recipe for disaster. The menu was a little grimy, and the pictures of the entrees looked like they were taken with a 20-year old point-and-shoot digital camera, and printed by a mid-90's HP Deskjet, but they did the job (just barely). With regards to the service, I can't really say that I have positive *or* negative feelings about it. I guess the best way to describe it would be "present". Obviously, since the kids were with us, we avoided the bar, other that having to pass through it. From my brief observations, I noticed cool blue ambient lighting; a long, well-stocked bar; the usual electronic One-Armed Bandits in a designated gambling area, etc. Dive bar stuff. You get the idea. But what about the food, you ask? Well, as far as Americanized Chinese food goes, it was pretty great. Maybe not the *best* I've ever had, but a solid contender. I can see the sort of drunken diners that would be making use of the karaoke and dance floor(?) on a weekend night raving about it, so there likely is some validation to their claims on the ticker board outside. I'd eat here again, but probably not specifically seek it out. Now, if I find myself here late on a Saturday night, inebriated and hungry, that's a whole different story. Just keep your flailing elbows out of my Mongolian Beef, please.

My review is contained in the lounge only. I just left the lounge after a fun night of Karaoke. The DJ was having a medical emergency and there were too many people without training trying to help him! I'm a paramedic and was trying to help him but there were too many people without the training trying to insert themselves into the situation. The security guy should have taken control and kicked the loudmouth posers out and called 911, but he stayed at the door. Anyone coming in at that moment without their ID or the like was the least of the problems, the DJ could have died by the illiterate help that was being rendered!! The DJ would have a solid case of no intervention by the club. Fortunately, he was conscious when the fire dept. Arrived!! Just some friendly advice from someone who knows what he's talking about!!

Service was subpar, home boy bartender looked super put out and visibly annoyed about every and anything is asked him. Ended up tossing out the nasty takeout after 1 bite, better places around

We visited your place last night. Our only option since all other places close at midnight. We were excited to see a food menu & karaoke. However, the karaoke was so loud we were unable to even talk a little. Your DJ wasn't doing a great job at controlling the volume. Some singers were so loud it was hurting our ears. Our first round of drinks were 2 glasses of wine, served in a plastic cup & definitely not a full pour. $8 for a short poor of wine in a plastic cup is a little steep. It was the end of the bottle and I guess he just didn't want to open a new bottle to top them off. We also ordered food. The General chix had good flavor but there was hardly any meat. It was mostly breading. We were there less then 2 hours & our bill was $134.00. I was shocked. You guys are way over priced for what you offer. Don't think we will be back.

Not a good experience at The Ambassador restaurant on NE 46th and Sandy blvd. We live only 6 blocks away and would like to have had a great dinning experience but it wasn't meant to be. The bartender/server told us right up front he was the only one serving and bartending. But we were the only people in the entire restaurant eating dinner. A few people playing the gaming machines. And 1 girl waiting for karaoke or DJ to start. Overall the bartending could care less on how our food or drink was, as he never checked in with us once. We finally had to wave our arms to flag him down. He was really a poor representative if you want more business. No wonder the place was empty. Do a little behind the scenes investigation. Shame on all of you.

The bar tender was super rude and had a terrible attitude. Food was pretty good and the atmosphere was pretty cool besides the rude bar tender

Food was poorly prepared and I could not eat the ginger beef. Egg foo young was a big "pancake" with huge I looked vegetables. The gravy was lumpy And they provided very little of it.

Come here if you want food that's bland and taste like it's been sitting all day. There was an ambulance parked out front but to be fair they have a bar so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Just go to Panda Express

Mediocre food and very watered down drinks. That about sums it up. Really the only reason to come here is for karaoke or for the variety of video slot machines. I've been here 6 times, tried several different drinks and 100% of the time they were watered down (atba cost of $10 perndrink!) I'm lightweight. Typically 1 drink gives me a light buzz and 2 drinks is my limit. Last time I was here, I had 3 cocktails and felt nothing! The time before that, I had 4 cocktails and barely felt anything. The Ambassadore is split into two sides: The main side is the bigger side with the restaurant, full bar, slot machines, small dance floor and karaoke. The smaller side is a small karaoke-only room that is used for private parties/events. Usually, there are 2-3 groups sharing the room for various celebrations (mostly birthdays). They allow you to bring your own cake (and they will refrigerate it for you) which is great.

Salt and Pepper Chicken is where it's at! This place has a small patio set up if you'd like to get out and have a cocktail along side Yummy food. I ordered my food to go! I could smell it in my car. I couldn't wait to dig in. So I just grab a piece of the chicken to sample while at a red light of course! It was finger licking good. Something so simple yet fabulous that's the way to do. Now since I'm totally obsessed I might try something else but the portion is good size! And that Chicken is just so good! I could eat this once a week and not feel guilty at all! Keep up the good job! I am applauding you and your team! Well done!

Ordered Shrimp egg foo young too big, gravy was served on the side and no choice of rice. Pork egg foo young the same. PoPo platter the Teriyaki beef was good, bbq pork was dry, fried won ton hard and the meat inside was gross, spring rolls were greasy and tasted like old grease but the fried shrimp was ok. I ordered two long islands which were soooo weak, I ordered an alcoholic beverage not juice. My bill came to over $89.00 then they charge a gratuity of $16.30. I wouldve left the waitress a tip but it sure wouldn't have been $16.30, she was nice though! Total $105 and some change wasted on horrible food and horrible drinks. I will NEVER go back to the Ambassador.

I got the pupu platter and it was just plain out not good. I rarely complain about food but between the price and quality I just had to.

DoorDashed this place and it is absolutely disgusting! Didn't even get half of what I ordered. The food is greasy and has no flavor. Yuck. Don't waste your money.

Went to support a friend at their karaoke contest. Staff was nice, but the food is massively overpriced, and is ok at best. The sound system is one of the worst in the the area. To be known as a karaoke bar, and have it so horrid is dumb. They shouldn't even do contests until it's fixed. The design of the bar is also not very good for crowds at all either.

I've been going here for 10+ years. No more. The restaurant side is closed off because they don't have staff to work it. The bar side has done away with booths and replaced them with folding chairs a la Costco. If you order hot tea now, you get a glass mug with a Lipton's tea bag. I kid you not!! No drink menu even tho you're sitting in a bar and to top it off....while waiting to order, a mouse ran across the floor with diners chasing it. We walked out and will never go back. A real shame.

I ordered some take out combination Asian plate and it was horrible in my opinion, the shrimp were hard as rocks, the beef also and the com po chicken tasted old. I requested a refund of my money of $23.00 dollars and they refused. I would not recommend this resturant to anyone based on my exerience.

Man. This really could be a neat place, but the staff here are mean as hell. I get the area that it's in but come on. They treat customers like crap for no reason, if you hate your job so much then quit. The patio is wack they have a fire place but never use it, if you go out to the patio you can't go back in the door you can out from you literally have to go all the way around to the front. If I could give this place no stars I would. I can just go on and on about this place from the watered down expensive drinks to the mediocre food. The only the great is the karaoke

If you are Black or a person of color do not come here. They will treat you like trash . I spent $50 getting in for me and four friends. The hostess had a horrible attitude and the female bartender as well. The male bartender had class and food customer at, but it couldn't make up for the horrible treatment of how they did us. I spent over $300 to have a fabulous night and they treated us like garbage. F*ck this establishment, they food, they servers, their trash ass bathrooms. I wrote my orders down on a napkin, and they still got everything wrong! You can probably find better customer service somewhere else. Don't go here if you are Black or a person of color.

They have done a lot of work to fix it up and it looks much better!! Especially the restroom! The bartender and.KJ were very nice! There were not many people in there but the people there were fun and encouraging! The reason I gave it a 3 is it cost me $10.25 for a vodka diet in a Berry small glass! Unacceptable! That definitely will affect the number of people that come to hang out and have fun!

I am beyond pissed with the service the food the cook the establishment in general how foul man, cold food charged me $32 for a plate full of cold veggies and exactly 15 pieces of old meat I'm beyond pissed never again will I come here again the server is a complete b***h no tip from me not a family friendly place at all and I'm just not happy with this place at all do not buy off groupon u get exactly what u pay for garbage.. To top it off 2 out of 5 people with me vomited as soon as they walked out so mad right now never again waist of $46

Worst. Ordered a Hendrix martini, dry. Ordered an old fashioned. They made the martini dirty and the old fashioned was so syrupy sweet, that it was almost undrinkable. When we explained, no body cared. We ended with two shots of Jameson and he bill was $42.00. Draw your own conclusions.

I was so disappointed at this place. I had high hopes for it. It looks really cool but that's about it. Most of the people say a lot of bad words and I don't like that. What I ordered I couldn't really finish it, I didn't like it, and my husband either. It's expensive for food that you don't like. We still came here more for the experience since they have karaoke and I wanted to check it out, (even though I didn't try it) Sorry but this is not my favorite at all and I won't be coming back.

Rude security and host. Our group of friends walked in and they made a really negative comment towards me so we walked right out. Nope

The waitstaff is not very friendly. The drinks are VERY spendy and they automatically add a gratuity onto your check...food or no food. Thus 4 drinks of not fancy was $35. Honestly I tend to tip my bar tender well, but I like to have my options open if my bartender is really unpleasant. As for the food is ok...fine for expensive late night Chinese but nothing to write home about. DO NOT GO HERE if anywhere else is open.

Honestly I want to give a 5 star review to this place entirely based on their consistency and portion size. Consistency is an extremely hard thing to do with any restaurant, and they give large portion sizes. While I've never found the food here to be amazing, I've never been disappointed after many, many orders. Never had a bad experience. I cannot say their food is at all a great culinary experience, but this kind of place deserves to be known as a solid and very consistent source of late night Chinese food. Any good cook will tell you how much of a challenge it is maintain consistency, which this place has managed. Good job.

Bartender "Nicki" is rude does not know how to work the bar. We sat for 15 Min. Before she even said hi, BTW never happened. I had to go to the end of the bar and order drinks. Its like she didn't kniw how to the work the left side of the bar top, There were no more then 10 people in the bar. WE WILL NOT BE BACK, to bad because its a fun place.

Tried this place via uber eats. Food is over priced for the amount they give you. I'm not the type of consumer that is looking for large quantities of food for a minimal price, however- 19.00 for a small portion of tofu and veggies and added rice to the box in order to make it look full. Meal was worth less than 10.00. Fried wontons were awful.

UPDATE: I spoke with the owner and she's exploring/experimenting with volume levels this weekend. She's open to hearing from neighbors and assessing the situation after a few weeks. I appreciate the effort, but definitely want to keep the noise down (especially on Sundays) in this predominantly residential/family neighborhood. Loud live music on weekends in their parking lot in a residential neighborhood is bad news for the many families in this area. It's really unfortunate, especially on a Sunday night. Bad news, bad choice.

Friendly KJ. Decent service, though it was dead on a beautiful Friday night in June. But BE AWARE: $12.50 for a Tito's & soda at The Ambassador. And they seemed like pretty skimpy pours.

Nothing good to say about this place. Atrocious prices for the offering. Rude staff as well.

horrible food and extremely rude staff. does yelp has zero stars... I would give them negative if I could

Okay the fish tank is pretty neat. However... 4 of us went to dinner around 630ish... the blonde haired bartender ... from the start was so unfriendly, it was so weird how she acted. Our friends Hot and sour soup (which tasted like chicken grease) came after our entree's. Then we get our bill with a 22% gratuity added. 2 drinks $15 each House fried rice Ambassador Pan fried noodles Wontons Bill $122 Is this the new haps in portland since COVID pandemic... because I'm not buying in. Shi**ty service should not be rewarded Don't waste your time or money by going to the Ambassador.

Why do they advertise "FAMILY KARAOKE" on their electronic billboard? Why is it called ambassador restaurant and lounge? I called to see if they took reservations and the person on the phone was extremely rude and condescending as soon as she found out we had a Groupon. Then we get there and there's 9 in our party and she checks ID. Then she catches attitude again saying that this is a "karaoke bar" super condescending saying that my 20 year old son and his girlfriend couldn't be there. Not even to eat? this restaurant is evidently a bar and no one under 21 can ever come in. Maybe that should be clearly Indicated somewhere?

Wonderful spot on Sandy. Great food Good People!!! Spectacular Happy Hour Prices. A true piece of old Portland.

It's totally reasonable oily American Chinese food also with some legit authentic dishes. Better than most, really. Not bland, doesn't taste like it's made of spurious ingredients. Sauces are decent. Some spice. Fresh chopped green onion and sesame seeds. You would not see that in a 3 star greasy bland Chinese joint. And the decor and karaoke are great if you want the loungy Chinese karaoke experience! Even nice little outdoor smoking and drinking porch. The steamed dumplings and pepper sauce calamari were totally as good as middle grade real Chinese dishes. Both $4.75 at happy hour! Now... I can just SENSE the hipster hairs on the back of your neck tattoos prickling up with righteous indignation at my clearly amateur food critiquing skills.... how DARE I talk about authenticity with ethnic food?! 7 years and 30,000km on a motorcycle through every corner of china. Ethnic food is often oily. Especially Chinese. The steamed dumplings were in a soupy soy based sauce and it even had legit chopped pickled veggies with the sesame seeds and fresh green onion. Just like china. Mediocre china, but def Chinesey. (The chicken and veggies I had last time were very American. So it's a mix.) Check it out at least once. I'll be back plenty and most places bug me.

Tried to get takeout on Xmas. At 6:15, I scheduled a pickup for my order at 7:30. Got there at 7:45 and the place was packed with others (mostly delivery drivers) waiting on orders. Half an hour later (45 minutes after it was supposed to be ready) I still couldn't get an eta on my order, and one of the people bagging orders had removed her face covering. I cancelled and left. Ridiculous and concerning given the pandemic - it just kept getting more crowded in there as more ppl showed up to pick up orders but none were coming out.

***Don't Trust This Place With Your Card!*** They charged me for something I ordered while dining-in like months ago! Makes you wonder what else they're doing with your card info that whole time. Skip it!

The food was made gluten free for me-Thank you! It was nice. I went before any crowds. It is broken up into 2 sections. One for the bar and singing the other obviously without. Waitstaff nice. Parking is a nightmare. Mostly on street. Wear walking shoes. Would go again.

Scammer. I've gone to the Ambassador for years. Tonight I went ordered a meal and was charged almost an 18% gratuity. There were only two of us. No signs, no one told us ahead of time. When we asked the waitress said yeah we're doing that because of the pandemic.

Lots of pretty women here, great food, great drinks! They appreciate my singing here. And have karaoke everyday. Very clean bathrooms and did I say the foood was amazing?

Had great food... BBB Pork noodle soup from regular menu and Shredded Pork in garlic sauce from lunch menu. Service by Suzanne was great, answered questions happily and made suggestions that fit for my dietary restrictions. Place was clean and I am so happy to be able to Dine In. Thay have video lottery machines too. We will be back. Will try White wine chicken noodle soup and beef with broccoli. Thanks Suzanne.

They havelarge portionsof Food Dishes and Groupon deals that save you tonsof Cash. If you likeChineseFood, this is a good place to load up on a large meal. They have Careoky at night...lively bunch of folks having fun and really energetic! I love this location over most Chinese Restaurant places in town... Read other reviews...some hate this place, others like it. I think some folks might be in a bad mood. The food was great...no problem with me. There was one table that seemed to be really messed up, but we moved and that was that...so, if you are open minded, you'll love it...check out the Groupon deals too!

I love it here!!! The food is amazing I came 9 times within the month of March the Pepper salted prawns, the chow fun go check them out perfect for after club vibes service is amazing

Big portions! That's the highlight here. Everything else was mediocre imo. The food was good compared to most places, though I've definitely had better. Maybe I'm crazy but I was a little disappointed the soup was so hot I could barely sip it. I didn't need a huge cup of water in addition to my drink too. The tables were tiny and the atmosphere was lacking, not a fan of most of the music played, its lunch time I think it could stand to be less dark. Again the food was good and big and if all you care about is eating then you're solid here

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.