What: Pork belly bao buns
Where: Amala, at the Palm Springs Surf Club, 1500 S. Gene Autry Trail, Palm Springs
How much: $19
Contact: 760-205-3620; palmspringssurfclub.com/restaurants
Why: The tastiness and the potential.
Amala, the main restaurant at the Palm Springs Surf Club, has the potential to become a truly special place.
The décor is sleek and modern. The patio is amazing, with views of the waterpark—and the mountains behind it all. The food we had on our dinner visit was impressive, for the most part; we especially loved the appetizers we ordered: the pork belly bao buns, and the chicharron esquite ($16).
Both of these plates showed there’s some definite talent in the kitchen. The buns—while pricey at more than $6 each—were delicious, with the gochujang-glazed meat topped with kimchi, greens and a perfect yuzu aioli. The buns edged out the chicharron esquite as our favorite, although that dish was also endorsement-worthy, with pieces of fried pork skin covered in sweet corn, cotija cheese and “cilantro gel.” Yum.
But even with the views and the tasty food, we left Amala with mixed feelings, at best. Despite the efforts of our charming, apologetic and overworked server, front-of-the-house problems tarnished our dinner. It took an agonizingly long time for us to get our cocktails; one member of our party didn’t get his until just before the entrées arrived. Water glasses were left empty, and the whole experience took way longer than it should have.
These problems weren’t a result of Amala being busy; in fact, the restaurant was quite dead. One possible reason: After our visit, when we discussed Amala with some of our friends, they expressed surprise that the restaurant was open. The much-publicized closures of the wave pool have left some with the impression that the whole Surf Club is closed—and it’s definitely not.
If the folks at Amala can fix their front-of-house issues and advertise their existence, it could become truly great. But it’s definitely not there yet.
