Waited 15 minutes at a dirty table. Finally the waitress walked past and said she’ll be right with us. She came back 11 minutes later a placed a menu on the table. Before she walked too far I almost yelled to get her attention to ask her if the table could be wiped off. We waited another 10 minutes and finally we got WATER. 5 more minutes she came and wiped the table off and took our appetizer order. We had meatballs and chicken wings. Needless to say, THATS ALL WE ATE AND LEFT…….
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Matthew Waldoch
Excellent food, great service, and an overall wonderful experience. The place is pricey, it is for a fancy date night or a special celebration and it fills that niche well. The scallops are highly recommended as is the chicken.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Gabriella
We had a reservation for 5:30 and were sat immediately by the enthusiastic host.We ordered the salmon potato pancake which was amazing and gone within 2 minutes as well as the scallops and the sea bass entrees. They were both amazing and we were extremely pleased with the quality and portions. The service was great, attentive but not overbearing and the atmosphere was relaxing. My only note is the mock gin and tonic tasted like bitter lemonade but it was still good and I finished it. The aperol mocktail would be a good choice for anyone wanting a drink that tastes closer to the original.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pan Seared Striped Bass, Salmon Lox
World Traveler
World TravelerDowntown Dinner DateWith 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 in the future.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Dani
My friend had an ala carte salad and a salmon entree. She seemed to like both. I had a pasta dish which was lukewarm when it arrived and rather dried out. Everything is ala carte and fairly pricey. I would choose another restaurant next time.
RonA
Have eaten here several times, but have not been disappointed until now. Service was very poor took over an hour to get our main course and the food was very very mediocre. We only had one dish that met our expectations and that was the chicken.
Very busy which in general is a good thing. That said, when we sat down we told the waitress that we needed to make a show (across the street) that started in 80 minutes. We ordered our food within 5-10 minutes and the food took a long time (45 - 50 minutes) to get delivered. As a result we had to really rush through dinner. This obviously tainted our ability to enjoy it.
GWenn
Great location. Lovely hotel it's in. Interesting restaurant menu, but seemed understaffed/overbooked because they were not able to keep up and deliver high quality service nfood to match their price point.
Sus0
I'm at my computer because I am looking up recipes for everything I ate here! The steak with pavé potatoes and a giant chunk of onion butter were heavenly, followed by shrimp and grits with chunks of bacon and chili oil (and magic) for breakfast. Best of all, our bartender/waiter Saturday morning introduced me to a non-alcoholic gin and tonic with passion fruit. This dining experience is in the top 10 of my life. I'm going back.
Soup was not hot (but it was tasty), the wrong main course was brought out and it was a hot mess. When the correct dish was brought out the salmon was way undercooked. The ancient grains could have been Uncle Ben's, nothing special. Too many flavors mixed together created a disjointed and unappealing meal. My dining companion had the egg plant pasta and it was just a bowl full of too many ingredients making it an unappetizing meal. The ambience was nice, the waitress was phenomenal and gets 5 stars, but the restaurant overall gets 2. It would be 1, but the waitress's 5 and the ambiance being a 3 brought the overall to a 2.
Our server Kaitlin was outstanding. The chicken was fork tender, juicy and delicious. Also kudos for the sea bass. Neither myself or my dinner partner could finish our food so we are looking forward to enjoying the leftovers.
DowntownFoodie
Had not been to Aria since changing from Kilowatt. Had a great experience - nice ambiance, outstanding service, and great food. Sea bass (two of us had it) was amazing. Only thing we all commented on was that the charcuterie board was a bit underwhelming, but otherwise, a very pleasurable dining experience and will definitely go again.
Beautiful ambiance with interesting art, great views from large windows. Fantastic service! Connor was exceptional in guiding us through the menu and explaining and making recommendations! The menu and food options were excellent and satisfied many different taste buds! Very special and memorable experience! Highly recommend!
walters
Very disappointing dinner with friends - place was about half empty and they still made us wait over an hour between courses. Didn't get any real attention until I was forced to call over the manager after which it apologies all around but still a 15-20 minute additional wait. While they did their best to ‘make it right', It was clear some of the food sat waiting much of that time and was overcooked. Not a repeater.
I've eaten at Aria before and never had this issue, but last night the service was unbelievably slow. We had a 6:30pm reservation and didn't get our food until 8:30pm. It took forever to even get our drinks. No one even came to take another drink order in the 2.5 hours we were there. And the thing that was most baffling is that there were only a handful of other tables there and there was at least one other server working. I had brought colleagues in from out of town and was embarrassed by how bizarrely slow and unavailable the service was.
Waited 15 minutes at a dirty table. Finally the waitress walked past and said she’ll be right with us. She came back 11 minutes later a placed a menu on the table. Before she walked too far I almost yelled to get her attention to ask her if the table could be wiped off. We waited another 10 minutes and finally we got WATER. 5 more minutes she came and wiped the table off and took our appetizer order. We had meatballs and chicken wings. Needless to say, THATS ALL WE ATE AND LEFT…….
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 4
Service: 1
Excellent food, great service, and an overall wonderful experience. The place is pricey, it is for a fancy date night or a special celebration and it fills that niche well. The scallops are highly recommended as is the chicken.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
We had a reservation for 5:30 and were sat immediately by the enthusiastic host.We ordered the salmon potato pancake which was amazing and gone within 2 minutes as well as the scallops and the sea bass entrees. They were both amazing and we were extremely pleased with the quality and portions. The service was great, attentive but not overbearing and the atmosphere was relaxing. My only note is the mock gin and tonic tasted like bitter lemonade but it was still good and I finished it. The aperol mocktail would be a good choice for anyone wanting a drink that tastes closer to the original.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Pan Seared Striped Bass, Salmon Lox
World TravelerDowntown Dinner DateWith 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 in the future.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
My friend had an ala carte salad and a salmon entree. She seemed to like both. I had a pasta dish which was lukewarm when it arrived and rather dried out. Everything is ala carte and fairly pricey. I would choose another restaurant next time.
Have eaten here several times, but have not been disappointed until now. Service was very poor took over an hour to get our main course and the food was very very mediocre. We only had one dish that met our expectations and that was the chicken.
Very busy which in general is a good thing. That said, when we sat down we told the waitress that we needed to make a show (across the street) that started in 80 minutes. We ordered our food within 5-10 minutes and the food took a long time (45 - 50 minutes) to get delivered. As a result we had to really rush through dinner. This obviously tainted our ability to enjoy it.
Great location. Lovely hotel it's in. Interesting restaurant menu, but seemed understaffed/overbooked because they were not able to keep up and deliver high quality service nfood to match their price point.
I'm at my computer because I am looking up recipes for everything I ate here! The steak with pavé potatoes and a giant chunk of onion butter were heavenly, followed by shrimp and grits with chunks of bacon and chili oil (and magic) for breakfast. Best of all, our bartender/waiter Saturday morning introduced me to a non-alcoholic gin and tonic with passion fruit. This dining experience is in the top 10 of my life. I'm going back.
Soup was not hot (but it was tasty), the wrong main course was brought out and it was a hot mess. When the correct dish was brought out the salmon was way undercooked. The ancient grains could have been Uncle Ben's, nothing special. Too many flavors mixed together created a disjointed and unappealing meal. My dining companion had the egg plant pasta and it was just a bowl full of too many ingredients making it an unappetizing meal. The ambience was nice, the waitress was phenomenal and gets 5 stars, but the restaurant overall gets 2. It would be 1, but the waitress's 5 and the ambiance being a 3 brought the overall to a 2.
Restaurantji Recommends
Our server Kaitlin was outstanding. The chicken was fork tender, juicy and delicious. Also kudos for the sea bass. Neither myself or my dinner partner could finish our food so we are looking forward to enjoying the leftovers.
Had not been to Aria since changing from Kilowatt. Had a great experience - nice ambiance, outstanding service, and great food. Sea bass (two of us had it) was amazing. Only thing we all commented on was that the charcuterie board was a bit underwhelming, but otherwise, a very pleasurable dining experience and will definitely go again.
Beautiful ambiance with interesting art, great views from large windows. Fantastic service! Connor was exceptional in guiding us through the menu and explaining and making recommendations! The menu and food options were excellent and satisfied many different taste buds! Very special and memorable experience! Highly recommend!
Very disappointing dinner with friends - place was about half empty and they still made us wait over an hour between courses. Didn't get any real attention until I was forced to call over the manager after which it apologies all around but still a 15-20 minute additional wait. While they did their best to ‘make it right', It was clear some of the food sat waiting much of that time and was overcooked. Not a repeater.
I've eaten at Aria before and never had this issue, but last night the service was unbelievably slow. We had a 6:30pm reservation and didn't get our food until 8:30pm. It took forever to even get our drinks. No one even came to take another drink order in the 2.5 hours we were there. And the thing that was most baffling is that there were only a handful of other tables there and there was at least one other server working. I had brought colleagues in from out of town and was embarrassed by how bizarrely slow and unavailable the service was.