We attended this place because we are Offliners and had received credit to visit Aura. We had two horrible experience with the hostess staff. First, we put our name on the list to be called for a seat. We waited downstairs at the Oyster Bar which was great by the way! They never called us so we stayed and enjoyed the food at the Oyster place. We try it again the following week. We checked in with the hostess and the hostess said we will grab you in 5 minutes after we clean the tables. We said ok. So we stood nearby to make sure that we were close. The hostess started seating everyone but us. Now, this is was an observation but all of the folks seated were non people of color. So, I asked her about our table and asked if you were only seating "large parties?" She said but did you check in? I said yes and you told us 5 minutes but now you are seating everyone else. She rolled sighed and said you can come with me. I said us our the other party that you said "you can follow me?" In a nasty manner she said "you!." I said ok. She never apologized. We got to the table and shared what happened and asked to speak to the manager. So the manager was busy but came after we received our food. As we were eating, our waitress never came back to check on us. She stood at the bar and talked to her friends who were visiting. So when the manager arrived, we shared our experience and the waitress was still sitting there talking to her friends which we were able to show the manager. After chatting with the manager, we asked for our bill. She never brought us water and didn't ask if we wanted anything else. After we paid the bill, she brought us water which was so strange.

So all in all, the atmosphere and food were great but the service wasn't. We didn't feel welcomed and would probably leave this off our list of our places we frequent. As I shared with the manager, the hostess is the first impression of what to expect with the rest of their experience. That was a terrible first impression.