Great place for pisco cocktails.. The cocktails are yummy! The gambas al aljillo was good but a bit too tangy for my taste. The boyfriend liked it. They have a huge screen and projector for sporting events and on weekend evenings the place turns into more of a dancing area! Yay! Spanish music of course which is my thing :D stop by for great drinks!. Â The bartenders are hit or miss. Some are more attentive than others. The ones on Friday evenings are really nice! :)
Review Source:Went here two times already. First was for Cinco de Mayo with a good friend. My friend is Chiliean and is familiar with pisco so I found this spot to have this popular Peruvian and Chilean drink. First and foremost, parking in the Jackson Heights area is difficult. Found a spot a few blocks away. Make sure to read all the signs as to not get a ticket. Upon arriving there we were carded of course. I went in with no problem, but noticed there was a delay with my friend getting in. The bouncer was giving her a hard time telling her "no weapons allowed." Apparently he thought her tampon was a knife. Off to a good start. The venue is small with a bar and tables in front  and a giant projection screen behind the bar that plays music videos. We sat at the bar and ordered 2 pisco sours, of course. Drinks were delicious. $10 a piece. A little pricey, but being from Long Island I know that drinks in any area that qualifies itself as the city will be in the $10 to $14 range. Defintiely wanted to give the food a try here. Everything looked delicious by it's names and descriptions. First off my friend ordered the empanadas ajà de gallina, (chicken empanadas) and myself the wantanes. The empanadas were delicious and were served with an olive sauce. The wantanes were fried dumplings stuffed with chicken and shrimp served with a sweet and sour passion fruit dipping sauce. Very tasty food. The bartender was very friendly and gave us two maracuya sours on the house. My friend ordered the ceviche tasting which samples 3 different ceviches. I got the salchipapas which was a generous serving of sausage and french fries served with ketchup, mustard, and mayo. We also ordered the pisco punch and amaru and other drinks. At the end our bill was $80 with 8 drinks and 4 food orders. Our bartender was an angel, bc clearly that math doesn't add up when drinks are $10 a piece. Overall it was a great experience. It's funny because there is a sign that says no dancing (most likely due to the small space), but that does not stop anybody from doing it. The first time I was there I ate, socialized, and listened to the music that was playing. My second experience at Amaru was different. Went for a friends birthday after having dinner. Had a pisco sour danced for a little and left. The first time I was there was a Sunday and this time on a Saturday it was too packed for my liking. The other night I wanted to go back for some good drinks, but a friend was not up to par with the dress code. Sneakers not allowed. Oh well, til we meet again Amaru...
Review Source:Great drinks, expertly made...prices really aren't that bad for the venue. Our bartender, Kevin, was extremely nice, very knowledgeable. Food was really tasty, ordered the ceviche, fantastic price. Huge sampler, fish was very fresh. Best ceviche in Queens... Â Cheese plate was decent as well.
Would definitely recommend... I think they have a happy hour..
Ok. Great food, good drinks, But TERRIBLE SERVICE!!! Bartenders at this place think that they are HOT! and they NOT! They don't know how to make you feel comfortable.. The 4 bartenders were having a conversation about a DOG, none of them even bother to take the order. Good Luck!!!Amaru Â
Very expensive
So i finally came here after seeing and hearing great reviews on this place. Now i can see why. I fell in love with it. It has a sports bar feel to it. They have different types of music from cumbia, to house music. Im glad i came here. There ceviche was extremely fresh, and flavorful. Im glad i made the trip here.
Review Source:MY FAVORITE EXPERIENCE AT A BAR/LOUNGE IN QUEENS!
And that's saying a LOT, given that Queens is home to many bars and many lounges. However Amaru is on another level entirely!
This stretch of Northern Boulevard is unique in the amount of bars, lounges, etc located with considerable distance to the closest train (the 7 on Roosevelt Ave) but if you have a car and don't mind looking for parking, by all means come on down. I went on a Saturday night for the birthday of a friend of a friend, and my goodness was I impressed. The space is lovely and clean and we were seated at a roped off area right off of the entrance and next to the bar (of course!). The pisco and the coca sours were both quite delicious. The DJ, whoever he was, was completely on point. He played a steady mix of my usual fair - bachata, merengue, mabo, salsa - and incorporated a lot of house, reggeton and pop into the fray as well. We danced the entire night and I didn't leave til well passed 4AM. Wonderful spot. The bathrooms were very clean and the bouncers were also nice! Great, great place.
What a gem in the neighborhood! Â Part sports--sports lovers will totally dig the gigantic screen and cocktail bar, this spot is a nice addition to the neighborhood. Â
Those of you who love their cocktails sweet will be happy here. I thought the Amaru pisco drink was super sweet but another drink (I don't recall the name but it's the first drink listed on the right side of the menu ) was better thanks to its tartness. Like beer? They have two Peruvian beers on draft that are totally worth trying. Â
The biggest surprise was the amazing huge ceviche trio sample. For only $14, you get three different types of ceviche (two fish and one shrimp) with chockful of flavor and zest. This is a mega steal; in Manhattan, you would probably need to pay double the price for the quality and portion. Â
My only misgiving (aside from the super sweet pisco) is the size of the bar tables. The small size suits a party of 2 comfortably. Â For a party of four, it leaves you with enough space only to drink. Â We had to cram our drinks and be creative while enjoying our ceviche. Still, I'd come back again but ironically, the draw would be the food. By the way, they serve complimentary popcorn kernels (almost like cornnuts minus the added flavors and preservatives).
Awesome place,the best ever. First are the pisco sour. Variety is great. On a hot day try the maracuya pisco sour you will not regret it. For 10 bucks the is a good price. The bartenders are very friendly the music on Friday and Saturday nights awesome from cumbia to trance is a great place. Sundays are not that bad to just come and hang with some ceviche which was prepared to perfection. Just a great place.
P.s. start at pio pio across the street for some great chicken and finish the night at amaru right across the street.
Best Bar/Lounge in Jackson Heights!
The space is beautiful! even the bathrooms are nice. You feel like your in one of those hip trendy spots in williamsburg or lower east side/village. the drinks are awesome, all the cocktails are interesting. my faves are the pisco sour with maracuya (passion fruit) and the chicha morada (its Purple and its good!) the tapas are super tasty. they did a twist on the "Salchipapas" most places use regular hot dogs & cheap fries but they use Spanish Chorizo & Fresh cut fries. Another fave is the gambas al ajillo (shrimp in garlic sauce) u can taste the wine & pisco with the garlic!
Next, the ambiance. I loved the music as im a big Latin Rock fan and on wednesdays its 80's/90's night and the dj mixes everything from new wave to latin rock.
My only complaint is the parking can be tough, other than that i highly recommend it. its one of those spots u can go every day of the week to chill late.
I went here last Saturday and i had a blast! I brought some friends that wanted to try pisco sours. Maracuya sour was my favorite. Pisco is strong liquor so with 2 i was pretty happy. The Dj played good music, it was extremely crowded because the place is not as wide. We still danced salsa, merengue and bachata. But it was a little annoying to have people coming in and out of the place since it was soo tight inside  it feels like everyone just touches you on the way out. They should definitely allow a little less people in the place. The tv had a soccer game on. I thought it was very out of place. It doesn't have the sports bar feel. The music is blasting, so no one can pay attention to it. The TV screen is big enough to show videos or cool pictures to fulfill the ambiance. I did like the fact that there is no cover charge. A cool new spot to check it out if you are around the area.
Review Source:I like this place! The decor is really nice, the space is elegant and cozy, the staff is attentive and knowledgeable about their craft, and the drinks are very yummy! However, if your are going on a Friday or Saturday night you have to be in the mood to dance, drink and not talk too much because the music is too darn high, definitely not a lounging spot on the weekends.  This past Saturday I went around 11pm, the place was so so crowded and the music was ridiculously loud, good if that is what you're looking for.  Since we were not in the mood for that ambiance we had a pisco sour (super yummy) and move across the street to Pio Pio's bar.  They have a very similar bar menu but, to my surprise, the pisco drinks at Pio Pio were $8-9, instead of the $10 charged at Amaru.  I guess those 2 extra bucks buy you ambiance and slightly different drink menu.  One of the things that I did not enjoy this past Saturday  was that they stopped projecting a tied basketball game with 30 seconds left on the clock and instead plastered a grainy picture of the DJ's face for all to see, not cute!.  It actually took away from the niceness of the locale and made it look a bit cheap.  (suggestion: find some stock photos/ videos, actually find anything but a grainy photo of the DJ, to project onto the wall).
Anyhow, I give this place 4 stars, mainly because I visited it during a weekday and I enjoyed it a lot more. Â A group of friends and I went on a Tuesday night when they have live afro-Peruvian music. Â The tapas style food was delicious, the drinks were spot on perfect (I had the pisco sour, cholita and the chicha morada drink), and the sound level was much more bearable, and no, there was no floor to ceiling size picture of some random dude's face projected into the wall. Â Had a wonderful time.
Let me start off by saying that  Amaru is more of a true 3 1/2 stars to me but since I like the bouncers I bumped it to 4 stars.  My friend and I went here this past Friday for drinks after our weekly dinner.  I love queens and I love that it is affordable and rough around the edges.  To be honest I personally think it's hard to bring the Manhattan essence to Jackson Heights without seeming like your trying to hard (ie: Gabbana in Corona).  That said, we walk in and my friend and I both nod to each other that it's pretty nice for the area.  I primarily picked this place because I am a Perucha and I love my pisco sours.  We sit at the bar and I order a pisco sour and my friend orders a gin martini (before you think it,  its her fave drink).  The bartender did not apparently here her and starts making a Vodka martini; my friend has to interrupt and tell him Gin, he makes it and does not fill the glass to the top top.  Its already a semi-rough start; but than the bartenders switch and I'm assuming the manager was behind the bar making drinks because he was nicely dressed and seemed to be friendly with the male patrons surrounding us. What I would say rubbed us the wrong way was that the male patrons around us were baysitting beers while we were ordering drinks and we felt that we were paid less attention to.  We had to ask for cancha "corn kernels Peruvian style" after our second drink; and, the bartender/supposed manager offered us a free shot after he got his very generous tip and we were putting our coats on.  We frequent Queens a lot and I love the low key down to earth vibe of everything.  My suggestion would be to socialize more with all your patrons. Â
Bottom Line:
1) Pisco Sour- Perfect!
2) Maracuya Sour- Ehh!
3) Viejo Verde-Delish!
4) Yes, I will come here again!
I think pisco is my new favorite liquor especially in cocktails as nicely done as the ones here. Eric and I tried 4 cocktails and loved each of them. Very inventive with the ingredients and flavorful. The cocktails are $10 a piece which is a little pricy for a bar on Northern Blvd but we ended up thinking it was basically worth it. If they were slightly more reasonable or there was a happy hour on all cocktails, I think we'd go back more frequently.
They also had the most addictive bar snacks...it was not fully popped popcorn sprinkled with large grain salt. I couldn't stop eating them.
They say the offer a full bar, but the server taking your order doesn't know what a raspberry vodka tea is. The server asked me if that was like a long island ice tea. Maybe a crash course on how mixed drinks are ordered to these airheaded servers could help. Oder than that the place is great but I really wanted a drink.
Review Source:LOVE this little spot! It's a very chic & trendy bar with a HUGE projector screen, yummy cocktails, delicious food and good music. Â
Ok the music is a bit loud but after a few cocktails, you'll be dancing in your stool!  I had the ceviche and the lomo empanadas both were DELICIOUS!!!  I tried two cocktails: the "Cholita" and el "Viejo Verde" both  very yummy and packed a punch, which I realized once I stood up! In case you are wondering, pisco is a colorless grape brandy found in Peru and Chile. All of their cocktails are made with it.  Â
Being Peruvian myself, I really liked how they incorporated Peru in every aspect of this place, from the drinks, to the food and even the music. It's pretty awesome. Â
Most of the staff here are men, as well as the patrons. If only we can get more pretty latin women in here we'd be good as gold! I hope this place turns into a bar/dance spot soon. Would love to party here!
Visit AMARU you won't be disappointed. I sure wasn't.
Pisco is finally getting it's due. New York has many fantastic niche cocktail/spirit bars. Tequila (Mayahuel), Rum (El Cobre, Cienfuegos), Genever Gin (Vandaag), Tiki (Painkiller, Lani Kai), Whiskey (Post Office, Char No.4) etc. Up till now however, Pisco has been relegated to something used to make the obligatory Pisco Sour (the Peruvian national drink) or the historically relevant Pisco Punch that has been resurrected by some top notch bars over the last few years.
As someone who drinks at a good amount of the cities better cocktail bars, I can tell you, even I was surprised by Amaru's opening. Not only is it in Jackson Heights, but a good ways from the train. It's the equivalent of trying to visit Fort Defiance in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Meaning, you either live nearby, or you're willing to make the trek for cocktail/spirits nerdery (and the amazing peruvian food in the neighborhood).
But if you're willing to make the trek, I can tell you that there are things you will most likely have nowhere else. The cocktail menu was created by Esteban Ordonez of Apotheke, and looking at it you realize right away that something is different. "Chicha Morada Fizz"? Yes, I'll have that. House made Chica Morada (a drink based from purple corn), Pisco, Egg White and Inca Cola in place of where club soda would typically be added to a fizz. Much of the menu finds a way to incorporate traditional Peruvian flavor combinations while modernizing them at the same time.The "Chasqui Road" comes with Agwa Coca liqueur and cinnamon for a traditional combination, but gets an herbal boost from Yellow Chartreuse. Similarly, the Alturas is a nice twist on a traditional sour, using overproofed Pisco 100 as a backbone, lemon for tart, and then a combination of Prickly Pear puree and Aloe Vera to sweeten.
If you'd just like an education on Pisco straight, you can also do tastings of what is surely one of the better Pisco collections in an NYC bar.
Where this place goes wrong, unfortunately, is as much a product of it's location and what the space used to be. Housed in a former Pio Pio space (same owners), which had traditionally become a bit... pseudo clubby... on the later side, you'll find that tradition has been carried on. Earlier on in the evening should be no problem, but be forewarned that at some point they may start blaring music with very few people around. Also, the tapas could be better. They were just okay. Solid. I expected more however.
As you might infer, most of the bartenders, while exceedingly friendly, are a bit green to the fresh ingredient cocktail world and you'd be smart to stick to the choices on menu for now. Also, many of the cocktails on the pre-opening menu are actually non-existent at the bar so far, as they "have not been perfected" quite yet.
Overall though, I think this bar is an amazing addition to the area of Jackson Heights, and I wouldn't hesitate to grab a drink here if I was in the area or combining it with eating somewhere nearby. Just know what to expect and that they have a few kinks to work out after opening. That said, this is a one of a kind bar here, and it's goin' on the list...
<a href="http://www.yelp.com/list/best-cocktail-bars-in-new-york-new-york-4">http://www.yelp.com/list…</a>
I genuinely like this place! Clean, simple, classy and tasteful. Sounds like a plan.
theres only one negative side: The music is too damn loud! Mister DJ, turn that music DOWN! I would like to actually have a conversation! This place is clearly trying to get some dancing, bumpin' and grindin' going.... but I wish the DJ would be more in tune with the crowd. That night we wanted conversation, not ass movin'!
I went on a friday night with my sibling, her bf and my bff. We sat at the bar and enjoyed cocktails. I love how everything has a Peruvian touch from the music, to the food, to the bar snacks to the cocktails. All of the cocktails are made with Pisco alcohol and boy are they yummeh. They are $10 each.
I will definitively return!
I'm definitely pleased with the emergence, finally, of a decent & classy bar on Northern Blvd. Although I'm skeptical of how long it will stay that way, my first foray into Amaru left me pretty excited. The space is beautiful, and even the bathrooms were high caliber in terms of design & cleanliness (I was there on a Thursday evening though, so I can't speak for nights when the place gets crowded). There is a very deliberate attempt at offering cocktails that are on the fancier side of what you would expect for a bar on Northern, and they are mostly based on recipes using pisco (a type of Peruvian liquor)--I tried two (which included ingredients such as egg whites, watermelon, rosemary, and bitters) and both were quite tasty. There is also a small tapas-like bar menu for those interested in a bite to eat. The bar was very well stocked, and the bar staff (all male that night) were well-dressed and fairly polite. There is a huge screen & projector set up, which played music videos while I was there, and the music, by the way, was mostly played at a very reasonable volume so that you could actually hold a conversation with someone without yelling. Again, this was on a Thursday night, and I imagine it might be different on Friday or Saturday when the place is more packed.
Overall, the place was nice, and has great potential--as long as it manages to maintain its classy vibe.
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