AQUA Bistro | Bar — Restaurant in Northwest Industrial

My husband and I were at Aqua for the first time tonight with a Travelzoo coupon for a 3 course meal. I arrived first and not seeing him I sat down on a bench to wait and the woman from guest services came over to ask if she could help me (nice :). I told her I was waiting for my hubby as we were having dinner. The waiter (I didn't have my glasses on to read his name tag but I believe I read Rajpal) came over and offered me one of the booths (very comfy and would be great for hanging out with a few friends for food and drinks).

When hubby arrived he order a glass of dry white wine (delicious). My appetizer was the beet, goat cheese, mandarin salad over mixed greens which I really enjoyed. H had the dry pork ribs served with a bbq sauce which he enjoyed but they were pretty standard fare. For entrees he had the lamb chops with mashed potatoes and ratatouille. Those chops with perfectly cooked with the most delicious sauce on them and some of the best lamb we have ever enjoyed. The ratatouille was very tasty and a nice change from the usual steamed or stir fried veg served at a lot of places.

I ordered the grilled veg risotto, but I found it quite bland. Our server was quite attentive and when he asked how H liked his meal H raved. Then he turned to ask me and I was honest. I said it was just ok, nothing special and I found it to be rather bland. He apologized and said he would speak with the chef. He came back with the restaurant menu and said the chef wold make me anything I wanted (that was unexpected). I had already been nibbling on H's meal and had eaten a few bites of mine plus the delicious beet salad and dessert was still coming so I said I'd like to try their tomato basil soup as that is a favorite of mine. He said Are you sure because you can order whatever you like. So H suggested a smaller two chop portion of the lamb which sounded like a very smart idea so that's what I asked for and when it arrived the chef had sent out the tomato basil soup for me to try as well (nice touch) and it was very good (right to the last drop). I was full by this point so we took dessert to go. H proclaimed his tiramisu to be excellent. I had a bite and would rate it as very good as was the mixed berry cheese cake that I am snacking on as I write this review.

So overall I would rate Aqua as 4.5 stars (but since google doesn't allow that I'm going with 5 stars). With the exception of the risotto and the dry ribs, the food was all very good and the service and desire to make sure we were happy was excellent from our server, the chef and the guest services staff (who thanked us for our visit when we left) so this restaurant is definitely a cut above the usual hotel fare and we appreciated...

I've eaten here several times over the years. And I can honestly say the quality of the food has deteriorated. Staff are nice and knowledgeable, but the food coming out of the kitchen does not live up to the prices. My latest experience included wilted lettuce from a bag or precut and left in fridge. You know the reddish color around the edges. Almost all the peices had this.Dry cubed chicken in pasta, sauce and pasta was ok. As always, I don't complain or send back food. There's several good restaurants near by, so that may be a better choice. I'm giving the restaurant a 3 out of 4. I've had better food from this place in the past, I hope they attempt to...

Sometimes I can complain but can’t this time! Everything was excellent. Our server kept the drinks coming, food was great, and even got dessert. My fiancée wasn’t too thrilled that her chicken had bone but it was fine. She figured maybe it was a breast but it wasn’t. I got the chicken parmigiana which was the special for the night and it was absolutely amazing. Probably some of the best I’ve ever had to be honest. Was a pretty good size portion too. It was about the same price as the place next door we went to the night before so seemed on par. Can’t say that I’ve ever had pork nuggets so that was different. I think they were called boneless...