Aria Tuscan Grill — Restaurant in Charlotte

Six of us (three couples) went to dinner at Aria on Friday, January 20th. It was the first day of Queens Feast restaurant week, and we figured that is was a good way for us to try out a restaurant that we had not been to.

Our visited started off great, with valet parking, and Angel up front a pleasure to deal with. We were pleasantly surprised to be seated at the Chef’s table, a cozy little private room adjacent to the kitchen. A little quieter than the main dining area, but still quite noisy from the kitchen hubbub. The restaurant had great ambience and we looked forward to a fun experience especially since we were celebrating two birthdays.

Evan, our server, came promptly to take our drink orders and we were served bread with beans with our drinks. Neither the bread or the white beans were anything special. The beans in particular would have been better left out and substituted with balsamic and olive oil.

We ordered tomato braised meatballs, caramelized gnocchi, and the fontina cheese dip for our appetizers. The meatballs and the gnocchi were excellent! The fontina dip was not a dip - it had to be cut to put on the bread.

For our entrees, we had the chicken parmesan, braised lamb shank, and the wild mushroom mafaldine. Every entree was lukewarm, with cheese on top of the chicken parm one solid goop. Below the chicken was a tiny helping of pasta with a minuscule amount of sauce. The lamb shank was very tasty, but would have been a lot better served hot, as would have been the mushroom entree.

For dessert we had tiramisu, mascarpone cheesecake, and dark chocolate truffle cake, and they were all superb. The desserts and appetizers clearly saved the meal.

The entire experience was mediocre. The food needed just a little more care before being served - no way should cold entrees have been served, and someone needed to make sure there was enough sauce. The experience was not helped by our server, Evan. There was a little edge to him that is hard to describe other than that it was irritating. He told people seated close to the kitchen to pass every dish down rather than coming around, and it wasn’t a request. Every one of the ladies (in their 70s) was “my love”. He wasn’t around much and we had to ask someone else to replenish soft drinks; his lack of attentiveness might explain the lukewarm entrees.

Overall, Aria probably has potential, but we won’t go back. The lack of attentiveness to service and quality of the dishes being served left us...

Disappointing Customer Experience

First I 💗💗💗💗 to experience and celebrate people cultures service…I thought about this disappointing experience and I am thus sharing a few hopefully thought provoking comments.

Overriding issue: Manager never came to our table when requested. This is very telling as I only wanted to share some continuous improvement suggestions to improve Aria’s customer experience…

Been to many Italian restaurants globally especially Italy. Some observations:

We were not told about and had to request specials for the night.

I am sorry to say it felt Like a fast food restaurant in this beautiful BOFA bldg. Revolving door in and out!!! Perceived focus $$$$$ tips - Real Herb service!!

Waiter did not know about Aperol an Italian apéritif - Waiter offered some alternative and a small sample on DRAFT?? What? I understand the waiter not know this but don’t insult the customer. Finally I told the waiter the ingredients and said trust me the bartender knows.

The Aperol Italian spritz was delivered to the table. I must say one of the best Aperol Spritz in Charlotte. ✅

Request simply white garlic sauce or similar alternative (also I Expected Pay Extra) in lieu of tomato based sauce on the scallops…. Trust me any authentic Italian knows this.

2a. Alternate/dietary restriction requests - no substitution response from waiter. I don't ask for substitution for free - I pay for what I order. You

2b. No followup from the Chef or Manager as I requested.

Mostly importantly no response with chef and manager - leadership/culinary culture at Aria? A real surprise.

Listen to your customers and avoid use of “I am sorry syndrome”.

Management/Leaders Followup Followup - even if you are busy at the time and can’t speak with customer immediately. No Show No Care?

Manage customer expectations for an extraordinary experience.

Train staff or have a POC that know idiosyncrasies and cultural cuisine norms.

Don’t assume the customer is not astute or trying to be cheap, etc.

Other entrees were okay beets salad, pizza and chicken.

I am saddened and not recommending Aria at this time.

Hopefully, there are a few Italian golden nuggets to assist with business strategy: planning, execution and sustainment.

Remember in Charlotte competition is fierce! However, there is always room for excellence!

PS Apologies for any typos on mobile phone .. most important to provide timely customer...

Alright here we go. I'm not usually a review leaving gal, but this experience was supposed to be part of a special Christmas present to my mom and our experience was, well, not that. I made a reservation for my mom and myself before we went to the Tina Turner musical (great show - would give 5/5 stars) as her Christmas present (diner + a show). So, again, this was supposed to be special. Upon arrival, service was slow as we waited for our drink orders to be taken and bread to be brought - but nothing upsetting - especially as we were just chatting and catching up! To avoid quite literally typing a novel, I'll just leave some cliff notes about what happened next that's causing me to leave this review.

I asked about the specials and our waiter, Dakota, simply said "halibut - over a potato something". That was it. Enticing, Dakota. Our waiter forgot my sweet mom's diet coke. It never came. 45 mins into waiting she just said forget it and she would get one at the show. We sat for over an hour after ordering our food for it to arrive. They were busy, but like, come one. We brought our concerns to our waiter, DAKOTA, who quite arrogantly told us that "the food will come when it comes, everyone is waiting" and walked off. Rude. The food finally comes out. My mom's chicken parm is lukewarm which was weird because we waited so long for it and I asked to add chicken to my carbonara and it was forgotten. Again, I told our server, Dakota, and he didn't apologize or really acknowledge us at all. He just said he would make sure the additional chicken I added would not be on the bill. Again, rude. Us and a few tables around us asked for our checks to be brought before we were through eating since the service was so slow. and we were all going to the show. It still took forever.

All in all, I was just disappointed. I get they were busy, Dakota could've had a bad day, etc. Really, not a review gal here and while the food was average, the service and our waiters attitude really put a damper on what was supposed to be a special evening. I would not recommend this restaurant...