Aroma Restaurant Bar & Banquet — Restaurant in Centreville

Amazing! I've ordered takeout twice from Aroma, and both times the food was amazing! I've had the lamb vindaloo, chicken biryani, shrimp biryani, goat curry, tandoori chicken, all of which was fantastic -- my favorite so far is the goat curry and shrimp biryani (I highly recommend these)!

For naan, I've tried the olive and basil naan, the garlic and herbs naan, and the kashmiri naan -- my favorite is easily the kashmiri naan, which has a sweetness to it that is so addicting!!! I wish I'd gotten more than one piece of that one, but it was my first time trying this kind of naan so I wasn't sure. I'll have to get like 6 orders of it next time, lmao. It goes really well with the goat curry!

For dessert, I usually try to get rice kheer, but they were out today, so I got ras malai and gulab jamun, both of which were delicious! The ras malai had a beautiful floral scent to it that paired beautifully with the sweet cheese and milk flavors; I drank the creamy, sweet milk after eating the cheese and actually wished I had a whole bowl of it to drink (Google says this "sweet, creamy milk" bit is called "rabdi"! I need to make a big pot of this at home, it's SO GOOD). The much sweeter gulab jamun was also amazing! These balls of dough soaked in sweet syrup are usually too sweet for me, but the ones from Aroma are the perfect amount of sweet! Usually I can't even eat a whole ball, but these from Aroma I ate both myself... I just wish each order came with more pieces, because I have a sweet tooth and I inhaled the two pieces of eat dessert even when I tried to savor them, lol... 😅 I don't remember if I tried their kheer the first time I ordered here, but I'm sure it's probably amazing as well. Hopefully they have it next time I order from them!

Their service is fantastic too, despite the fact that we ordered takeout both times! Each time, we were promptly offered water while we waited; the second time, we were offered to sit at the bar area while waiting (which was under renovation the first time we were there). The food took a while, but it was well worth it when we got it! So if you're in a hurry or on a schedule, DEFINITELY call ahead, especially if you plan to order anything tandoori, as that takes longer! While we waited this time, we were offered conversation with their fun bartender (his name starts with an "A", I think -- I'm terrible with names, sorry!) who made us a couple REALLY good cocktails (thank you!!). The lady who greeted us at the door, took our order, and handed us our food was also really nice and helpful.

All said, this is a fantastic restaurant. If you want Indian food, this is the place! Apparently they do events here too, and they even have a hookah lounge in the back! I haven't been here for an event or tried the hookah, but the bartender said they have "basically every flavor you can think of", so it's gotta be pretty good. The bar also has this wild, magical TV that somehow has international TV stations -- they didn't have Japan, but they have a ton of overseas cable which I didn't even know was possible. Random, but certainly noteworthy, lol.

Anyway, delicious food and great service. Thank...

(Writing a rare review since this restaurant location just recently began service.)

I was excited to have an Indian restaurant open so close to me, so much so that I visited as soon as I could. They were doing a soft open (there was only a small section of tables set up and the bar was still being set up), but I was happy to be seated.

The interior design is almost entirely an elegant white that gives you faith that they're keeping things spotless. The space is large, and there appear to be large rooms that can be used for parties or catering.

The food made a great first impression when I dug into the rice and was hit with a lovely fragrance of spices and cloves. The Saag Paneer seemed difficult to make visually appealing but the taste was great: the spinach was cooked very finely and the spices were complex without being overbearing. The Garlic Naan had a nice earthy tandoor quality. And don't forget about dessert, even though it's not listed on the menu! In fact, their Ras Malai was what really sold me on their food: the presentation had vibrant flowery colors and the dessert was rich without being too heavy.

The only things I could knock about the food were that the dishes bordered on being a bit too salty for me, and that their Mango Lassi was a little underwhelming. But definitely more positives than negatives from my experience.

As for price, a full meal will almost certainly go above $25 or so; but my experience with other Indian restaurants in the immediate area is that this price range is comparable.

It seems they just recently moved from a location in Arlington, so it wasn't entirely a surprise to me that their food is already tasting great. Service standards from the front of house staff are still being sorted out and learned, but they haven't even done a hard launch yet, so I think those standards can only go up from here. The tenants of this location seem to have historically had business trouble: the building is very deep into the shopping center, and I was confused because unrelated ongoing construction was visible before the restaurant even appeared in view. So wishing extra good...

Ordered takeout twice and had two different experiences of the food, but overall will definitely try again given how incredible the underlying flavors are and it is evident they are really making these dishes with understanding and love for their craft. I have a strong love of Indian (and Pakistani) food and have tried many local options as well as make a few dishes semi-regularly on rotation at home.

The first order was 5 out of 5, no issues and they know how to cook their eggplant dishes, finally! Although I was a little surprised to find shaved ginger on top of my baingan bharta as I'm used to that in karahi dishes. The second time around (ordered Friday evening, 2/16) the flavors were all there, but it tasted like someone came and poured salt into every dish to the point that it was inedible for me and my son. I can only guess this was a complete accident, but did see someone else recently review noting the same issue.

My note to Aroma is 1) Thank you so much for the effort and love you put into this food as I can absolutely tell you are doing great things and take pride in your offerings. 2) I would kindly ask to please check with the lead in the kitchen for that date and check on the saltiness as it was really extreme to the point of ruining the really great food. It MUST have been an accident such as tripling of salt without realizing and definitely without a final taste test prior to sending or it would not have been given to a customer in that state. But only since another reviewer mentioned a very similar experience with dishes inedible due to saltiness, I hope this review will help to prevent this experience for other customers and for you! I believe in what you are doing and thank you for your efforts!

I am giving 4 out of 5 stars with benefit of the doubt and will be ordering again very soon and hope to recommend to local friends and family or, will update review accordingly.

Respectfully, -A food...