The Studio Kitchen & Cocktails — Restaurant in Milwaukee

I needed a place to eat before seeing a musical last night, and Aria was perfect being right next to the Marcus Center. Right off the bat I enjoyed walking in, not only because the hotel is really awesome, but it had a fun study room kind of vibe to it with just enough fancy put in to make me feel like I'm a little more distinguished than I actually am. I was seated 15 minutes before my reservation was, which was really nice, and I really looked the layout of the table and everything around it. Our waiter was named Sam and he was fantastic! Super friendly, super helpful and was just very welcoming. Just an overall awesome dude. I was a little disappointed because they ran out of of ginger beer for the N/A drink I wanted, and they were also sold out of short ribs that my Mom wanted but we didn't let that ruin our night. Sam was very sorry for them being out and gave us other suggestions and was very good at describing the food. I ended up getting the Silk Road drink, which was excellent, but maybe not worth the $9 price tag. I also ordered the buttermilk fried chicken, which was a much bigger meal than I was expecting it to be. The wing and leg were normal sized, but the breast was from a super chicken or something. But enough about breast size, the taste is what matters and it was amazing! Juicy, tasty, crunchy and overall all just so so so good. The leg and wing were good, but there was something about this peice that made the whole meal worth the $24. The mashed potatoes and corn were fine, nothing special, but that chicken though. Good stuff! My Mom got the steak and fries and she really enjoyed hers, even though she didn't get the short ribs she wanted. This place doesn't have a huge menu, but it they have something for everyone. The meals range from $15 to $34 with the appetizers being around $9. The fancy drinks started around $9 and went up from there. While maybe this place is a little overpriced for what it is, my meal was excellent, my waiter was wonderful and I loved the atmosphere. While I could complain about them being out of things, I won't because it just gives me another reason to go back...

Our server was Adrienne. Service was fine and she knew the menu really well and helped us pick out what we wanted. The took care of us mostly, but our food was brought out by the kitchen staff.

Up to here, I wasn't necessarily wowed, but everything merited 5 stars. I'm sorry that I had to dock off one star for the food. There are expectations you have from almost $40 entrees. We felt like they weren't met.

My cocktail, The Kilbourn, was good and strong and put me in a good mood. Hubby's hazy IPA was also good, but in a dollar tree cup... Our water cups, on the other hand, were beautiful!

The complementary bread, biscuits and spreads were great. One spread was cheese, and the other was... I don't remember. Adrienne told us what it was, but it was a long name and I forgot lol. But it was good. Great way to get our appetites going.

The flatiron was cooked perfectly medium as we had asked, but meat had a weird aftertaste that I can't pinpoint. All the sides around it, the garlic, the asparagus, and potato was superb. Our roasted garlic was also very well cooked, soft and wrinkly like I like. I've noticed that pictures from fellow yelpers show a more firm garlic, which I'm glad I didn't get. They seem to be from Friday night and we went on Thursday night, so maybe we had different cooks.

The Sea Bass was a bit dry, and too salty. All the sides around it, the pea, sun choke, purple potato, hazelnut butter, were also superb. Maybe the different people cooked the mains and the sides. Here too, I also noticed that another yelper got 2 pieces of fish rather than 1 like mine. The 2 pieces were thinner, which is probably easier to cook. Thicker pieces like mine are easy to overcook, and I think that's what happened to mine.

Overall, it was a lovely evening and a nice dining experience, thought just a tad under wowed with the food for the price. I hope this is a constructive review, because we intend to come back on our downtown date nights for...

World Traveler

Downtown Dinner Date With virtually no restaurants, other than pubs, within walking distance of the Performing Arts Center we chose Aria. Reservations are a must as the room filled immediately after opening at 5:00 p.m. We had a moment before being seated to savor our before dinner cocktails in the adjoining bar, Giggly. Both were large and well poured, served by a friendly waitress. The hostess showed us to our table soon afterwards. Our waiter, Alex, described in detail all the new additions to the menu and introduced his assistant, Bridgett. A popover with onion butter was delivered as we took our time perusing the menu choices. We both decided on the Trademark Chicken as our entrees. Alex's description was spot-on as this was thee best we've ever tasted! With the accompaning sides we were satisfied and had just a little room left for dessert. We both opted for a chocolate mousse dome creation that I felt was unusually presented and lacking in flavor. And they were fourteen bucks each! We both are experienced in fine dining and know what to expect in a first-class establishment and were not disappointed here for sure. Our waitstaff was friendly and efficient without being overbearing. Two managers also stopped by to insure all was well as we dined. All the signs of a top shelf restaurant. The prices here are on the high end and could be compared to New York or Las Vegas dining rooms. Milwaukee restaurants are generally more moderately priced than other more sophisticated parts of the country with a few exceptions downtown. But this is an upscale hotel and probably caters to a well-heeled client. But we enjoyed our evening with Aria and will return...