Aurora Italiana — Restaurant in West Bloomfield Township

I am currently in Michigan on business with a friend- and found Aurora Italiana through social media. We were extremely excited to have a nice dinner- but were met with unfortunate circumstances from a manager.

Upon arrival, I gave my reservation information (through open table) and was brought over to my seat by the male manager. I felt as if I was being stared into very deeply- and had an odd gut feeling (If you are a woman reading this- I am sure you know the gut feeling I am referring to). My friend noticed my standoffish tone. We sat down after the male manager pulled my chair out- continuing to stare at me very deeply. As he walked away he said I was "very beautiful". I said thank you quietly and told my best friend I did not feel right about that- and she agreed his energy towards me was a little much from the moment we walked in.

From there, he came back over to our table and asked where we were from, what our names were, what we did for work, and when we were leaving. Protecting our identity and for our safety as women- we gave him incorrect information. We said we were from the most known city in our state. He then said it was "sad" we were leaving so soon (all while looking directly at me) and said he is going to "have to make a trip" to my city. (again, all while looking directly at me, which was making me feel very uncomfortable)

I want to highlight before I continue- it was not a "welcome to our state"/ friendly type of conversation- it was DIRECT flirting, staring, pushiness, and personal questions. I started to get shaky and very standoffish.

Then, we have another waiter come over to us. His name was Tony. He was absolutely AMAZING, and I will give him the positive testimony he deserves towards the end when he basically saves the day!

Tony takes our order for starters and a bottle of wine we got- and he leaves after being so polite. He was truly a breath of fresh air after what I was experiencing with the other male.

The other male manager comes over and gives us a choice for a bottle- and pours our wine. He was still staring at me- and I was not giving him the time of day at this point. About 10 minutes goes by, and he comes back with our starters, looks directly at me, and announces to me that "he is making every excuse to come over to our table"

At that point, I refused to hide my anxiety and said " I noticed that, and I am not a big fan at all" He then LAUGHED in my face and said "That's Okay". He did not care.

He walks away- and my appetite is gone. My friend says to me that she is going to say something to the main waiter Tony when he comes back. I also want to add that the male manager was standing across the room, staring at me, walking around my table, making eyes at me- and just would not stop. My friend is getting more agitated- and I just want it to stop. I start to text my boyfriend to feel better/make him aware.

Tony then comes over and asks how our starters are. We say it is amazing, and so I finally said something to Tony. I asked Tony if he was our main waiter for the night, and he says he is. We explain everything to Tony that I previously mentioned- and he was visibly shocked that this was happening to me/ us. He explained that he would handle it, and reassured us that it is completely unprofessional for the male manager to do this.

The male manager came over AGAIN, and Tony put a stop to it right away. He made the general manager aware, and the owner aware. The male manager left us alone for the rest of the night- and our night was absolutely amazing- all due to Tony!!

Tony believed us, saw it with his own eyes- and made sure we were safe for the rest of the night. Tony was the absolute best waiter I have ever experienced- and I will never forget his professionalism. He was a highlight of our trip. I truly mean that. Tony deserves all the praise here, and for the way our night started- he made sure it ended great. The food, design of restaurant, and overall action took was amazing. 1000/10 stars go to Tony! Thank you so much for the great...

Recently loved my first time dining here. My group of 6 celebrated two occasions. A few things to keep in mind for first time guests: the entire party needs to be inside in order to be sat, caked from a bakery only are allowed & they are able to store it in their fridge ($25 cake cutting fee), and a group of 6 is considered a large party so a 20% gratuity is included in the final bill. Since their opening, I have been anxiously waiting to come! The pictures online are beautiful but my group was seated at an oval table in the main dining room, so i was surrounded by such a gorgeous interior. The table size was great. I felt comfortable and not too crowded. We arrived at 5:30 on a Friday night when it was a little empty/quiet however, throughout the night, we saw the restaurant fill up!! (It was loud towards the end of our visit, but then again, we were in the middle) Not sure of the servers name or the managers name but they both came over promptly to introduce themselves. The manager made sure to speak to everyone at the table & I noticed his involvement with the other tables around us so I appreciated his effort throughout the entire night. The bathrooms are large and spacious. There is a chair to sit for those waiting. I was beyond impressed with the quality of the menus, the outside and inside. I was impressed with the timely execution of our dishes. There is so many positive comments I tell others about my experience and I made sure to tell my guest that I am requesting to dine here again for my birthday dinner. I got a dish I make at home frequently, cacio e pepe. AMAZING!!!! It is so rich and cream with fresh noodles. I liked that it was presented in a bowl MEANT for pasta. I didn’t feel as though the portion size was too much or too little, it was just right! We received dessert menus however we didn’t get anything. The dark chocolate brownie is on my list to try for my next visit. Around 7:45 the restaurant was packed and I was able to see the attire of the guests and it appears everyone was wearing business casual clothing so it was nice to see that policy be implemented. The restaurant seems to be enjoyed by guests of all age groups so that was appreciated as well. Overall, I am beyond impressed and my first time here was beyond my expectations. I have no complaints. And I will be 100% back!!!!

*2nd dining review: Our server was Austin. Austin was extremely attentive. He was extremely knowledgeable on Prime Concepts, the creative restaurant management group. He possessed such pride when speaking of the restaurants, especially the upcoming Aurora on The Lake. He had a trainee with him- unfortunately, do not remember his name however, he displayed such professionalism as well. Austin was such a joy as he was honest, funny, welcoming, and accommodating. The restaurant was nearly full on a Thursday night. Despite this, our appetizers, entrees, drinks, or any other small requests we had, were delivered to the table remarkably quick. The waters and other beverages were replenished as needed by the service staff. The woman who had served our Caesar salads was such a delight…and truly the best I’ve ever had. Next time, I’d ask if the possibility of chopping it could be done, although that’s just my personal preference. We had a surprise tiramisu brought out, because at the start of the service, Austin had asked about any special occasions being celebrated. A special, small, silent service, wow factor I noticed was the decrumbing of the table. More small things I noticed was that we weren’t left with dirty dishes for longer than necessary. The table was always attended to by Austin and the service staff. The service provided by Austin displayed the fine dining experience from start to finish. The price of the food matches the expectations of dining at a restaurant of...

Overall, had an amazing experience. Genuinely. There were just a few...quirks that led me to leave a 2 star review. And honestly, I think my review is more of a 3 star, but I keep bouncing back and forth. Let's start with the positives first though. (I put a list of negatives at the bottom for anyone who doesn't want to read a novel of text. Don't blame you)

The food was AMAZING. Some of the best food I've had in a while. I tried two of their pasta dishes (the carbone and the seafood pasta, both were exceptionally tasty). I had the tiramisu for desert. It was easily the best tiramisu I've had, and I've tried quite a few of them. The atmosphere was also amazing. Lovely decor and the music wasn't too loud. The only nitpick I had was that the lights got dimmed a bit too much for the evening hours. It was just a little too dark, but not terrible. The service, outside of the few quirks I'll get to, was very good. Our server was very nice, polite, and he made genuine recommendations, instead of doing the classic waiter thing of saying everything is amazing, and you should just buy something.

Onto the negatives. First off...we weren't allowed to be seated until out whole party had arrived. That seemed really odd to me, and I've never seen that anywhere else, or even heard of that. They didn't even have a valid reason to give when we asked why that was. We had to wait about 10 minutes for our whole group to arrive, so we were just standing there awkwardly, 5 feet from the front desk. There's only two chairs to sit, which we gave to our elderly family members who were with us. Our table was literally right around the corner as well, and it wasn't like the restaurant was crazy busy or anything. I can't think of any reason why we could be seated as we arrived, and apparently, neither could they.

The other two negatives were about our server. Like I said, he was super nice and was genuinely a good server. But I think he had to be new or something. First thing is that he didn't seem to know all of the options for drinks. We asked about a non alcoholic beer and a sparkling cocktail, to which he assured us they served neither of. But...they do. The other thing is that he completely forgot about one of our dishes. Now, to be fair, I don't know exactly what happened, or who's "fault" it was (the waiter's, the kitchen's or a mix of both). But when our food came, someone was missing their dish, and had to wait about 15 min for it to be made and served to them. Not a good look.

It pains me to have to rate this restaurant so low, because the food is some of my favorite Italian food I've had anywhere. We just had some unfortunate and unusual quirks while we were there that negatively impacted our experience. Just to recap the negatives:

1.) We were refused to be sat down until our entire party was with us, for no apparent reason. I would love a reply from a manger or someone to explain why this is a thing. It's a very confusing policy.

2.) The server was a bit unfamiliar with the drinks list, and told us the restaurant did not serve options that it did, in fact, serve.

3.) One of our party had to wait an extra 15 min for their food to be served, because it was someone completely...