Aria

Friendly hostess, quaint spaces, a little dimly lit, with a subtle elegant, romantic vibe. Think: My Beautiful Dark Fantasy — without the Twist inside; just crisp, clean lines.
— Fried oysters: juicy and incredibly flavorful with sliced avocado & remoulade.
— Lobster: came in buttery chunks atop wonderfully creamy, black truffle mashed potatoes.
— Pan roasted duck is really well-​made & full of this roasted flavor w the pecan apple confection on there — truly perfect.
— Sea Bass, from what I tasted… you can’t wrong.
— Brioche & Lemon Pound were divine. Fresh sorbet was really good but small.
It’s very much more of an outing-​and-​company choice than a «foodie-​choice.» Not stuffy, but definitely mostly older, mature diners. The bar area that’s narrowed out with super-​friendly staff who can’t wait to accommodate you — is always great.

Place is and always been awesome. Great variety of choices without being too eclectic or trendy. You can never go wrong w the scallops or fish.
Bar is cool area w great and knowledgeable staff. If you can always ask for the cellar seating.

The service here may be the best I’ve ever had. It is absolutely outstanding. It was in no way pretentious. From the wonderful hostess, to the bartender, to the waiters… their service is perfect. They do not hover a bit, but are 100%attentive, knowledgable, very kind, and we didn’t feel at all rushed even though we were there a long time visiting after we finished our meal.
Aria has been revamped and it is gorgeous. It is dimly lit and sexy and beautiful. I would go again just to have drinks at their small, yet perfect, bar.
The food is good. The appetizers, labeled as «snacks», are a bit underwhelming. My beet salad was very good as well as my short rib entrée. The puréed potatoes under the beef were sublime!
Aria.

Centrally located in Buckhead, yet tucked away on a side street, Aria is a nice reprieve from the hustle and bustle.
Aria is probably one of the more romantic restaurants I’ve been to in Atlanta, however, the food isn’t memorable.
The scene:
A hostess greets you immediately upon entering into the quaint, dimly lit space. The vibe is classy, romantic, & elegant. You see guests canoodling at the narrow bar, enjoying a quiet conversation. It’s already evident it’s a great place for a date! After checking in with our reservation, we strolled past the bar & into the main dining room. The dining area opens up to a slightly brighter, convivial atmosphere. The crowd is mature, professional. Although it’s upscale, it doesn’t feel pretentious.
They do a great job with the staff to guest ratio — there are plenty of servers & attendants to make sure your water glass stays full, cocktails are refreshed & dishes are cleared. There’s never a lull in service. And they’re all polite & professional.
The food:
Yellowtail hamachi appetizer ($ 14) — colorful presentation — light & flavorful with grapefruit & ponzu.
She crab soup ($ 11) — (with an optional shot of sherry) — rich & creamy
Butter braised lobster ($ 14) — beautiful presentation
Breast of duck ($ 30+) — rich flavor, cooked to your liking.
Crab cake appetizer ($ 14) — not my idea of a crab cake — lots of breading & appeared to be deep fried. It looked more like a hush puppy!
Dessert: caramel-​Chocolate cake — complimentary for special occasion — delicious!
Conclusion:
I prefer the drinks & atmosphere over the food. Don’t get me wrong, the food wasn’t bad, it just didn’t wow me enough to warrant 5 stars. Maybe I should’ve ordered the red snapper or the short rib… I would return for a quiet, romantic drink — & maybe order different food items.

Don’t show up 20 min late. They will seat you at the bar or cancel your reservation. Very poor customer service.

Excellent service. Great selection of beers. Extra points for having Belgian beers. Food is carefully prepared in an Old School way. Good drinks. Try the chocolate cheesecake.

First of all, I know it’s a high end fine dinning place, people come here for dating or business dinner. But the review is for Buckhead Restaurant Week (BRW 4.16−23 2016) only.
I would give the service 3.5 stars and the BRW menu 3 stars, the steak itself 5 stars.
It’s a $ 35 per person Prix Fixe menu. We had a group of 4.
We know it’s a busy BRW weekend, and Aria is quite a small cute place, quite a full house. I assume our table look quite young and didn’t order the expensive wine, so the waiters are quite busy but moving fast… the shinning point tonight is the steak, admittedly they got some AAA level quality meat here, that’s what it famous for.
I didn’t see too much devotion and design of its BRW menu (starter: crab soup or salad, entrée: steak or salmon, dessert: strawberry short cake with lemon curd… that’s it, it looks great as those fancy dessert on Charlie Trotter’s text book but its taste didn’t make me feel touched… they just take it easy… No surprises for potential costumers like us. I think any eatery owner should take this sorta of «restaurant week» as an opportunity: either create something new for RW menu only or put some more signature items on it. One thing need to keep on mind, not big portion for BRW, more like sampling dish.

It looks like a quaint little cute house from the outside. I hate tight dining areas and the tables here are arranged so closely, you can clearly hear conversations from the tables around you, and im sure others could hear ours. That is pretty much my only complaint.
The service and food were excellent! Ordered octopus and crab cakes for appetizers, short ribs and a fish dish and shared a dessert. Everything was cooked perfectly and delicious!
They also have a nice bar with a small lounge area where you can order drinks, while waiting for a table.

Absolutely without a doubt the finest restaurant in Atlanta. The short ribs or scallops are amazing. Whatever Jerry Klaskala prepares is fantastic. The atmosphere is contemporary with a homey feel. The bar area is small but fun to go for a cocktail. This is one of our very favorites to bring out of town guests to show off a fabulous culinary experience in Atlanta.

Lobster cocktail
Four gras
Crab cakes
Sole
Venison
Duck
Above is what I ordered around a long time ago, probably 4 years ago. If they still have them on the menu, you must order them. I apparently thought highly of this place. :)

My family took me here for a birthday celebration. I started out with the romaine salad with apples and an amazing blue cheese I ordered the blue mountain trout for dinner. It was amazing. The dressing on the salad was light, citrus I honestly think I could have drank it. My trout was coked to perfection. My husband got the short ribs they literally melted in your mouth.
We sat at a large round table for six. I love restaurants with ROUND TABLES. We could all enjoy each other’s company. I will definitely be back and would suggest this restaurant to anyone. Great evening.

My older cousins took our family out to celebrate one of our other cousin’s new nuptials. This was a serious treat! Food and service was great! We had the peppered bone-​in ribeye. It was cooked to the perfect temperature. Very flavorful. This is a great place for a special someone! Get a seat near the wine cellar!

We came here for my boyfriends birthday. This place is amazing!!! The best food I have has in a long time. We started off with two appetizers: yellow tail sashimi and octopus tempura. The sashimi was so fresh! They also cooked the octopus in a different batter because of gluten allergy. For our entrees we had the scallops and beef short ribs. The scallops were cooked perfectly and the beef short rib was so tender and flavorful. I would recommend this place to everyone. We will be coming back here.

I selected this restaurant for my mom’s birthday after cross checking several review and foodie sites. Rarely does one see an overwhelmingly positive response, but Aria came close and I decided to take a chance. I’m glad we did!
Everything was great, but the beef plates — short rib was a favorite — and the starter salads were the best parts of the meal. I think the wine list was very solid — went with a Le Petit Fern Pinot Noir and wasn’t disappointed — and had a hard time picking a dessert from the list — got the cheesecake and the red pear pudding for the table but sense that I couldn’t have gone wrong with any option.
Service was also fantastic, and I liked that the server offered solid recommendations to us newbies. Overall a fantastic experience. Definitely worthy of a return trip and of a recommendation for Buckhead fine dining!

Went for dinner last night. It was very busy and it didn’t seem like they had a good handle on managing the number of people waiting in their small bar area. I felt bad for the one bartender who seemed to have to make drinks for all those waiting and for the restaurant. Once we were seated about 20 minutes after our reservation time, the evening got better. I had the crab cakes to start which were good. The steak (NY strip) was excellent. I think their main dishes are their best course. Service was good. Waiter was friendly and helpful.

I have dined at Aria regularly over the years and it never fails to impress! From the attentive and genuine service, to the delicious, innovative and hearty dishes (you won’t leave hungry), to the best warm cheesecake in town, to the beautiful, white tablecloth, classy and romantic dining room, to the craft drinks … everything is executed well! It’s a benchmark restaurant. Their wine list is potentially lacking at the top end, so if you do have that special bottle in the cellar, bring it.

Atlanta traffic is nasty. For my last night in town I thought I’d leave the car parked and walk to a nearby place. On Piedmont there are a number of options. After checking a few listings I realized that one of Atlanta’s finest was right around the corner. A short walk and I was about to enjoy a very good meal.
The Beet Salad was beautifully presented. The Short Ribs were melt-​in-​your-​mouth delicious. To finish the Tangerine dessert was perfect.
I enjoyed Aria. The interior could use an update but the recommendations from the wait staff were spot-​on and the pacing was perfect. Need to park the car and eat someplace close? Try Aria. You won’t be disappointed.

Our friends have raved about Aria. So we decided to give it a try. What a fabulous experience we had. The interior of the restaurant was very hip. All white with very modern art. Our waiter Greg was wonderful, he said we had to have the celery root soup with truffles and Parmesan. We split it. It was divine We also had the beet and goat cheese salad and the smoked salmon appetizers both of which we would recommend. He also suggested the Rib-​eye Steak au Poivre. I have to say it was one of the best steaks I’ve ever had. It must have been two inches thick. very tender and very tasty. It came with these huge crispy potatoes. My wife had the Sole which she totally enjoyed. Dessert we shared the apple tart with caramel ice cream. which was also great. We can’t wait to go back.

The atmosphere is unique in a very cool way. I enjoyed just being here. The bar is cool as they lead you to your table — next time I’ll hang out here a bit before being seated.
The cocktail list was great. I ordered a kind & queen and I very much enjoyed it.
The menu changes often and because of that the staff did not have great recommendations. The food was prepared very well and the appetizers did not blow me away but the duck entrée was just perfect.

It had been a couple years since my wife and I went here. We don’t live in Atlanta, but come every couple months for a weekend and usually always trying to go somewhere new and different. This time, I decided to return to the best meal I have ever had in Atlanta to see if it has stood the test of time and the verdict… absolutely YES!!! Aria offers a truly wonderful dining experience. From the moment you walk in and greet you, take you to the small but oh so sexy bar to get you set up with drinks, and escort you to your table, you know from the first moments their patrons matter to them. Both wife and I started with a perfect fresh, simple, perfectly executed salad with arugula and escarole, spiced pecans, plums and wonderfully simple lemon vinaigrette. For my entrée I had the most succulent, fall off the bone lamb shank over a smooth polenta and roasted vegatables. A wonderful start to fall. Wife had the most beautiful, perfectly cooked scallops that had a great crust and melted in your mouth. We finished with a shared desert of a warm apple tart with vanilla ice cream. Sweet apples cooked into a great crust. Its a beautiful restaurant with a romantic atmosphere. Service is perfect. Helpful, but not pushy and always there to help. It is a place for a special night as it is pricey, but 5 star meals like this are and Aria deserves every star it gets. Can’t wait to go back.

Visited with 1 guest
8:00 reservation on a weekday
Despite the vast majority of tables being vacant, they stuffed us into a corner.
By 9:30 we were the only customers on the lower level.
Started with a cocktail– which comes as separate components. A glass of vodka, a glass of ice, a lime, and a bottle of tonic. Customers have to become their own bartenders to mix the drink. Cumbersome and stupid.
We opted for the 6 course tasting menu– which may be Atlanta’s best bargain @ $ 73.
I was surprised to see how many inexpensive wines were on their list. I brought my own bottle of Pahlmeyer for which they charged a $ 25 corkage fee.
Shortly after receiving our cocktails they delivered bread– this was the only item we received that wasn’t on the tasting menu. No amuses, no compliments of the chef, etc. The bread, in a word, sucked. Limp and void of chew. Like an oversized parker house roll. No butter accompanied it.
The first course, a small beet salad arrived while we were still drinking our cocktails and before our wine was opened and poured. The beets were absent any seasoning. We asked for salt. 3 – 4 minutes later one of the servers came back to the table with a dish of salt and pepper; along with a teaspoon. I wasn’t sure how customers are supposed to manage the process so we went old school and pinched out enough salt to bring the beets to life.
The soup that followed was excellent. Shrimp and corn chowder. The deep fried corn pudding nuggets that came along in a separate dish– were log heavy and not worth a second bite. Although the portion was appropriate for a tasting menu, this is a heavy cream based soup.
Trout was next served. Way too much food for a tasting menu. Properly cooked and tender. However, bland and uninteresting.
The next dish was duck. It clearly sat too long in the kitchen under the heat lamps– as the exposed surface had dried out (on both of our plates). The sauce too had nearly evaporated from heat. The portion, again, was way too big for a tasting menu. We sent back the duck. They promptly addressed the issue and offered to replace the duck with quail. We agreed.
The quail was heavily battered/​breaded and deep fried. The half bird offered a single bite of meat. Perhaps the heavy handed breading was done so as to make the single bite appear bigger.
Beef short rib came next. It was delicious but again, WAY too much food for a tasting menu. I had barely enough room to finish the beef. My guest left half of the meat on the plate. All of the accompanying starch and veg remained uneaten.
Lastly, a really large and heavy chocolate hockey puck looking thing was served for dessert. We each had a bite and pushed it aside. Too much heavy food, again.
We finished our coffee and headed out.
Service was mostly OK. It seems that they hire only ESOL servers. The restaurant is as casual as any other night time spot in Atlanta. Jeans, polo shirts, whatever.
I was surprised to find a bathroom that had room for a single occupant. I imagine this is an issue if the restaurant is busy.
Do restaurants overserve — over portion on Mondays– to get rid of leftover weekend food? A tasting menu, by definition, is supposed to offer tastes of many dishes. Aria has seemingly abandoned the standard definition and adopted their own interpretation.

Very intimate and romantic setting. The food was delicious and the vibe is classy and artistic. We celebrated our anniversary here and they wrote «Happy Anniversary» on our dessert plate which was such a sweet touch to end our special night. Service was really great.

Shut down the restaurant one hour before closing time? Amateur hour more like it. I guess the football game is more important to the kitchen than making money for the restaurant.

Great food. Great plating. The premium price is a tad higher than warranted but I dont regret the visit. There’s been alot said about it so I won’t repeat too much. The food is great. The valet is funny as the guy literally parked the car 30 ft away from where I dropped it off. The wine was great and we had dinner in the secret spot. You’ll have to find that spot on your own.
I would say this a once a year spot. Great food. Tad pricey. Centrally located. Wife loved it.
Enjoy.

Excellent food and thoughtful plating. Service had one or two weak moments but overall was good.
Food: Started with the greens with Sherry vinaigrette. Along with the greens there a variety of shaved and chopped vegetables. I ordered mine with the additional goat cheese. It was served on some sort of bread crisp/​croûton. It was almost too hard to bite, not sure if it was meant to be eaten?
The pork shoulder and the lamb are both excellent. On both, the protein dominated the plate, with the starches and vegetables added at just a level or two above garnish. Plating style varied between landscaped and stacked. One thing to note, it seemed to take a long time for the entrées to come out. Almost 30 mins.
Service: Not sure how to describe the service. I was a table at one on Monday night and the restaurant was only about 40% capacity. When I was first that I waited a while for a server. Once the server arrived, service started on point. There were a couple dips though as I had to ask for refill on my tea. Someone also dropped off bread at the table with no butter or something similar.

I’ve eaten at Aria many times, and the food is absolutely amazing. I think my husband eats the whole basket of bread because it’s not always the same! Their braised short ribs are to die for!!!

Arrive a little early because they have a great intimate bar at the entry that is ideal for a conversation and cocktail. The dining room is elegant and relatively quiet compared to other trendy and noisy restaurants (we all can’t wait for that trend to fade). We split a cream of celery soup and the octopus appetizer to start — it was more than enough for us and then the scallops and duck as entrees. We tasted off each others plates all evening and went with the server’s wine pairing suggestions.
Aria is excellent. A great choice for a romantic evening and a high end dinner experience. Lovely dining room, great service, excellent meal, expansive wine selection. Put Aria on your must go list, it is a good choice for a special occasion.

Chef Justin White surprised me big time by booking the wine cellar table downstairs for our 5 – 6 month anniversary! We were originally suppose to go in December, but I got sick, so we tried again in January and it all worked out this time. This has been on my list since I started hearing about it. A lot of people say Aria is the «BEST» restaurant in fine dining in Atlanta. It was my first fine dining experience and I tried so many new foods for the first time. Everything tasted amazing.
The restaurant itself looks very small when you walk in and sit at the bar, but there is ample seating in the back. The bar itself is upscale and fun. I loved the music they played all night in the background. Some of it had an international feel, but all of it had an ambient feel. I love upbeat, but relaxing. We sat at the bar for a little while until our table was ready. I’m not sure the bartender’s name, but he did an awesome job! I got the «The Maximilian Affair» which had tequila, lemon, grenadine, among other liqueurs at first. Later I had tried «The Scofflaw» which had Whiskey, grenadine, lemon, among other liqueurs, which was also amazing, but I did like The Maximilian Affair better. THe bartender did an awesome job on both. Chef Justin White got a Western IPA which he enjoyed. We then proceeded to the downstairs room where our table was. The experience was very romantic too sitting in the wine cellar room. Servers occasionally would come by to get wine for patrons, but there is only one table downstairs and so it was very intimate. It was dark with several candles lit everywhere. Our server’s name was Chris and he did an amazing job. His timing to check on us was always perfect and he planned the meal timing wise perfectly with all the dishes that we got on the tasting menu plus the couple of extra dishes we added.
Now that I’ve written about the awesome service, awesome drinks, and awesome atmosphere, let me write about the awesome food. Sorry about the pictures. It was hard to get good pictures with my camera, but luckily Daniel took awesome pictures already of the food.
1) Celery Root Soup. Amazing! It is famous for being creamless, but it tastes so creamy. Chef Justin White was telling me how they make an emulsion to give it a creamy taste. It was one of the best soups I’ve ever had. I think the black truffle was really prominent in the soup and made it really good. Soak it in their fluffy bread to make it even better.
2) Tempura Octopus — The vinaigrette in this is very light and sweet. It came with a frisee salad with butternut squash. It was a candied ginger dressing so it complimented the dish well. It also had toasted peanuts and of course the octopus tempura which was amazing and crisp. The cheese they used was mizuna and had a little bit of Fuji apples.
3) Blue Ridge Mountain Trout — the interesting part of this dish is how it is cooked so that you can eat both the skin and the fish.
4) South Carolina Quail — This was my first time trying quail! I enjoyed theirs a lot. It was fried with a different salad with it. The only criticism I had about anything that we ate was that the bacon on the salad that came with this was a little hard and chewy so a little difficult to eat, but it gave the dish a nice contrast to the other soft vegetables with the fingerling potatoes and onions.
5) Foie Gras — This was my first time trying foie gras which I learned is made from duck liver. The dish came with vanilla pudding, apples with a red-​wine vinaigrette, and bruschetta. It was very rich and it complimented the sides really well. I think I should have tried this with some bread, but instead I tasted it alone again and again to really learn about the flavor.
6) Painted Hills Ranch Natural Beef Short Ribs — This is a signature dish of Aria. I enjoyed how soft the ribs were and the sauce it came with complimented it really well. The butternut squash on this was fresh and perfectly seasoned. This was an amazing addition to our meal
7) Venison — The vension that we had was actually from New Zealand and it was my first time trying vension. I believe it was medium rare and that was good to be able to taste the flavor. It was presented well and cut into pieces easy to eat. It also came with broccoli and carrots.
8) Goat cheesecake & Chocolate Meringue — We asked for a cheesecake for one of us instead of the meringue so we could try both desserts. The goat cheesecake was awesome! I have never had a cheesecake made of goat cheese. Regular cheesecake is great, but this wasn’t overwhelming like regular cheesecake and it came with whip cream. The chocolate meringue had a espresso-​tasting, very rich, gelato-​texture on top with wafers and a decadent chocolate inside the wafers. It was a great end to the meal and they even wrote «Happy 5 months anniversary» on the plates for us.

If I had to sum up Aria in one word I would have to choose «interesting». While the food was delicious, the ambiance felt forced and awkward.
To start off with, the only parking option is valet parking unless you want to walk across the street and take your chances parking at a hotel. With a 1999 car, valet parking is definitely not an option I am ever terribly excited about.
Once you head inside, you are greeted by a heavy beaded curtain that separates the hostess area from the bar. It is a tad awkward to navigate, especially in heels. The bar seemed nice, but definitely didn’t quite match the rest of the restaurant. The main dining room was again nice, but the decorations were strange and noticeably unrelated. There were two bejeweled dog sculptures, a painting on the wall that we dubbed the «insane asylum wall cutout», and a lamp that looked like… well, I will say the Pokemon «Cloyster» (see photos! sorry they are not the best lighting). Together, we dubbed the place «Cruella De Vil’s Mansion».
We started by splitting a mixed greens salad. It was tasty except for the beets– which I just don’t care for. They brought out bread as well and it was good. For dinner, we got a mushroom risotto and and trout in a bed of lobster bisque and veggies. Both were incredible and delicious. As it was my birthday, we also got a little cake, which was okay, but I could have gotten something similar from Publix.
I also got a beer: the Victory Belgian Tripel. It was delicious. Overall, I gave this place three stars. Again, the food was great but being crowded by neighboring tables and everything else detracted from the rating I choose.

This was one of the most absolutely incredible dining experiences that I’ve had in a very long time.
Aria is a place that is severely understated from the outside. As you’re driving down East Paces Ferry past this little house on the corner, you would not know that you’re passing by one of the finest dining establishments that the city of Atlanta has to offer.
I had their breast of duck with brussel sprouts. The duck was prepared perfectly, the sprouts were delectable, and the presentation was extraordinary!!!
This is a great place to take clients, but it also has a very romantic vibe that’s perfect for celebrating an anniversary (our purpose for being there) or engagement.
Aria is a true gem and should be around for years to come!

First time in Atlanta, I gotta confess I was very excited about the visit to this place, I usually plan ahead to make sure I get to the best places in town, especially when I am here just for a weekend.
Well let me tell you I was not disappointed at all, I made my reservation through opentable and got there a little bit late due to traffic, everything was set and ready for my gf and me, even though it was PACKED.
We started off the night with an Alvariño wine (Spanish) which is usually a great choice.
We usually tend to choose the tasting menu but I wasn’t really sure about this one since there were more appealing dishes in the regular menu. As soon as I let our waiter (Mike) know my though he immediately fixed it and told me he would let the chef know about it so we would have our own tasting menu.
We started off with an amazing Maine lobster on a bed of mashed potato which was delightful, great flavors and texture. We then proceeded to have the scallops which were just as great, with great flavors and amazing presentation.
But it all came down to the foie grass. I am a hunter of good foie gras and I can assure you this is one of the best you will ever taste. The portion is perfect and the combination of salty and sweet/​sour just blows your mind away.
To finish off the salty part we had the braised pork belly which was also as good as Mike told us it would be.
As a desert do not miss the cheesecake, it is beautiful and a great way to finish off the night.
As a special note we were celebrating my birthday and on the dessert plate they wrote anniversary and as soon as they realized they had messed up they immediately sent me an additional dessert plate to make up for the mistake (super thumbs up!!!)
Please trust me, this is as good as it gets