Trattoria Aroma

We have had brunch here 3 times and I totally love it!
I really cannot say enough good things about brunch at Aroma, but I’ll try. They have AMAZING pastries, cannoli, croissant, biscotti, WOW. The bloody mary’s are phenomenal. The coffee is amazing. I love the décor and atmosphere. We’ve had the same waiter three times and he is great.
Hands down favorite brunch in Buffalo!

Food: consistently excellent (save room for their desserts/​cappuccinos — yummm)
Ambiance: classy/​elegant
Service: friendly, prompt
Price: pricey (but not crazy, well worth it)

Came for Sunday brunch right when it opened at 11:00. Made a reservation but it definitely wasn’t necessary, as there was plenty of open seating the whole time we were there. I suspect it gets busier once the bar opens at noon.
I ordered the Omelet Del Mare and it was delicious. It had scallops, shrimp, and cipollini onions among other things. It came with home fries which were merely ordinary, but I was too busy devouring the omelet to care much about them anyway.
The girlfriend got a burger. Two words: Bacon jam! Definitely as amazing as it sounds. The burger itself was a little over-​done as she ordered it medium, but it was forgivable with the fried egg on top. Comes with a side salad. Fries would’ve been nice… I mean it is a burger!
An interesting (and awesome) feature is the complimentary coffee and pastry station. There were croissants, cinnamon knots, and biscottis there for the taking.
The service was very good and the interior was much more impressive than you would expect from looking at the outside. The only thing I would do differently is come later, as the cocktail menu looks very intriguing.

I just don’t know what to think of this place. I had an odd experience for lunch, then coincidentally returned for dinner on the same night (don’t ask. two separate groups of people planned different meals here on the same day unbeknownst to me).
Lunch: We walked in and were informed by the only floor member on staff, the waitress, that she was the only one working and it would be a while. No bus boy, no hostess, no bartender, just one waitress on staff for a Friday lunch hour. I’m not quite sure how this happened but she somehow was still keeping the place open on her own, kudos to her. We still can’t figure out why there were 8 (EIGHT!!) kitchen workers but only one floor staff. Couldn’t one of them helped her out??? Our group ordered the steak sandwich, meatball & vegetable sandwich and the aroma salad with chicken. Even with 8! people in the kitchen our food still took about 30 – 45 mins during lunch hour to come out. The steak sandwich had two slices of «steak» on them, almost as thin as a piece of paper. The chicken on the aroma salad had an odd texture (slimy) indicating it may have been old, to which point it was inedible. We informed the waitress of the chicken issue, she said thanks for letting her know but didn’t remove the entrée from our bill, offer us another dish or offer a discount, bad customer service. The meatball and vegetable sandwiches were alright. I had decided at the end of the meal I wasn’t going to return here until…
Dinner: I was informed my dinner plans included a 7 pm reservation at the same place. My stomach curdled after the slimy chicken lunch but I just told myself to order something else and it’ll be okay. hopefully. This time there were probably 10 servers, bus boys, bartenders and hostesses. Not sure why there was SUCH a difference for dinner service. We ordered some of the specials, drinks and a sausage ricotta (I believe it was called volcana) pizza. Everything was great — drinks were strong, food was good.
I just don’t know how to rate this place. One experience was 1-​star worthy, the next was ⁴⁄₅ star worthy. Ugh. Maybe I’ll return but ONLY for dinner.

I love this restaurant. My husband and I have been fans of the Main St. and Bryant locations for a long time, and have been loving having this one so close-​by since it opened. We probably go once a month on average, and it’s a great restaurant for date night or to take family who are visiting from out of town.
The décor is beautiful and the servers are always attentive. The atmosphere is nice with the open kitchen being set back so it’s not noisy or in-​your-​face, but you can still see the chefs working away, which is a cool touch.
Try the specials!!! They always have some interesting options and everything is always fresh and delicious. From the regular menu, our favorites include the pasta aroma, the chicken saltimboca, and the salmon. The pizzas are also great. Check out this Aroma, you won’t be disappointed.

Stopped in for brunch last weekend and had another great experience. Great service from host/​waiter Mark. Really nice complementary pastries and excellent coffee. My wife raved about the breakfast bowl. I enjoyed the aroma Benedict, although it was unusually light on hollandaise. Almost to the point where I wondered if they forgot it.

I don’t normally score a 5 pointer, however, this place deserved every star. We normally dine at the Main Street restaurant (they have Gluten Free items) but live closer to North French and decided to try this newer location. I am a very fussy Italian critic. My mother was from Milan in the north of Italy and I spent time there growing up. As a result, naturally, I prefer the Northern Italian style of cooking. This puts Aroma on my radar screen.
It is not as «cosy» as Main Street and designed in a more modern and open plan environment. It had a good buzz and was busy (it was a Thursday). The kitchen can be seen from the main dining area and that ads to the overall ambiance.
The menu items offered were well chosen, some locally sourced vendors (which I like) and in addition a daily menu was also available. We were celebrating my son’s 16^th birthday and also had to be sensitive to a one gluten free diet. A glass of Prosecco for my wife and a Ripasso for me were liberal pourings (thank you) ad a nice pre-​dinner drink. Most of the appetizers were GF and we all chose different items. Each one was enough to share. The daily special Polpetta (meat ball) was perfect and served in a broth that cried out to dunk your crusty bread in to it. Simply delicious and the flavors reminded me of Milan. The Griglia salad was well balanced and very tasty. My Pesce Fritto was OK. nothing sensational. I wish they did a real Pesce Fritto as they do in Italy. not the usual shrimp, calamari and scallop… perhaps fish in seasoned flour instead of batter, then fried. My birthday boy chose Braciolla, which was a daily special and consisted of sirloin thinly sliced and wrapped with Sopressata salami and cheese, then baked and topped with a tomato sauce — portion wise it could easily be an entrée. It was outstanding and we all had a bite !
Our waiter Vinnie was engaging and fun. He knew his stuff and was knowledgeable on the vino as well as the food. He helped make the evening very enjoyable.
For entrees (we barely had room!) we had a correctly seasoned and al dente Spaghetti Fruitti di Mare. It went well with the red wine we chose. I tend to go for red wine with red sauce dishes — even fish. We had the Pappardelle Lepre but subbed the Pappardelle for GF Penne. We love the rabbit sauce and it went well with the al dente GF pasta. The fourth entrée was the Tagliatelle Bolognese, which was very tasty and authentic with not a crazy amount of red sauce. Fresh Parmigiana cheese was grated over our pasta and you cannot beat fresh Parmigiana.
Barely room for desert — but our 16 year old fsomehow ound room for Crème Brulee !
The tab was over $ 200 for the 4 of us but we had wine and I had a digestivo after the meal. I felt this was great value considering 4 appetizers, 4 entrees, drinks etc.
All in all a wonderful fun evening and this is a restaurant that deserves a detour and is our new best place to go. Vinnie, see you soon ! Ciao!

We ate dinner here for the first time tonight. I ordered the Pappardelle Piemonte which was delicious with mushrooms. It was the perfect portion size. My companion ordered the Pappardelle Lepre with rabbit. He said it was excellent. He ordered the Caesar salad with white anchovy which he said was ok. They have cucumber water which is refreshing. We were given bread with olive oil too. We were too full for dessert. The atmosphere was open and airy with a second level to dine in as well. I look forward to returning to try some of their other entrees and appetizers soon.

Sunday Brunch at Aroma’s newest location @ N. French was a pleasant surprise for our family brunch this past Sunday. Bloody Marys and Mimosas were had by our party of 5. Everyone enjoyed their meal our favorite being the banana pancakes and the Aroma BLT. My husband enjoyed the Mare & Monte omelet… shrimp inside an omelet! Service was great. We will be back for sure.

Great food! Wish I could go there more often but have young children! They even enjoyed it!

Had a great dinner there recently. This new location is not far from home and has a great look and feel. We ordered a caprese salad and a appetizer off the specials — beef short rib «meatloaf». The caprese was very good but the short rib meatloaf was amazing!
Dinner was equally as delicious. Their pizza’s are excellent and the osso buco which I ordered was outstanding.
My son did have an issue with his pizza — a little over done — which prevents me from going to 5 stars, but they dealt with the issue quickly making him a new pizza and taking the charge off the bill.
Overall an excellent experience. I would high recommend a trip to Trattoria Aroma on N French

Called here for Valentine’s day Reservations after 4 or 5 calls to other places landed me no luck. We were sat up on the mezzanine which was decorated with hundreds of bottles of wine and gave a nice view of the main level. I understand why this place is rated $$$. At first glance the prices aren’t all that bad, until you receive your food. The portions are very small. I ordered the smoked duck tortellini off of the special menu for that night. The waitress brought me what looked like a bowl of broth with 5 medium sized tortellini in it. Not at all what i was expecting but flavor wise it wasn’t too bad. Should you opt for an appetizer I would highly recommend the hanger steak. Overall a pleasant experience but in my opinion the price of the food is high compared to the amount you receive.

Went here for dinner with «the girls». Was greeted by a very pleasant hostess, even though we did not have reservations. First off, the restaurant is very pretty. We had a friendly waiter, Vinny, who was well versed in all the specials and the many drink specials offered. He encouraged us to ask questions and was very willing to make suggestions. I settled on two appetizers for dinner; the grilled vegetables with goat cheese and pesto — OUTSTANDING and the hanger steak — very good. The grilled vegetable platter was very generous, definitely enough for 2. The hanger steak was definitely an appetizer portion. Vinny recommended an artichoke appetizer that was one of their specials. It was fantastic. Pan fried artichokes with a lemon sauce over risotto. Looking forward to going again. The pizzas looked fantastic.

I was rather disappointed by my experience here. My family has been regular customers at the Bryant street location in the city and it truly is our favorite place to dine out. We live down the road from this location so we gave it a try.
The first «huh?» Moment was when we ordered prosecco and it was served in a white wine glass. As a lover of prosecco I have it often and have never never had it served not in a flute! The manager said «all the flutes must be in use» a quick scan of the dining room and I saw not a single flute being used.
Our waiter was uninformed about the menu. And I ordered the verdure pizza which was described as «trumpet mushrooms Brussels sprouts winter squash and rosemary goat cheese.» There were mushrooms but not trumpet, more like a baby Bella. One tiny tiny small brussel sprout for the whole pizza. No winter squash– there was zucchini which is a summer squash and not even seasonal right now! And no rosemary goat cheese. It was absolutely not that! Plain old mozzarella. I was so disappointed. The pizza was nothing that it was depicted as! I was looking forward to a winter veggie pizza with winter squash and Brussels sprouts. It was an average mushroom pizza. For $ 14. My husband was utterly underwhelmed by the dish he ordered which was a special of the day.
We are so sorry we went. We will stick with the downtown location which is well worth the 35 minute drive.

Food was fantastic, our waitress was very knowledgeable and a pleasure. The décor is different from the other locations giving each one their own distinct feel. The wine selection was as always a step above the competition.
We will definitely be going back.

This was my first time dining at Aroma. I was very happy with the selection. Our server Mike was very knowledgable and had some great recommendations. We ordered a bottle of Aglianico which was amazing. The stuffed peppers appetizers and Vulcano flatbread hit the spot. The atmosphere was intimate and the ambiance was relaxing. I’ll be sure to return!

I have been a huge fan of the Williamsville location for many years. When I found out a location was opening right around the corner from me I was very excited.
The décor is very different from the other locations. It’s very open with big high ceilings and a much bigger bar. The bar has a great draft beer selection. And of course there is the usual spectacular wine list.
The food is classic rustic Italian with every ingredient being as fresh as possible. They have taken big steps in sourcing ingredients from local farms and it shows. I don’t want to list specific dishes because the menu is always changing. Just trust me I’ve never had a bad meal at any of the locations.
The only thing that is keeping me from giving 5 stars for this location is the sound. As I mentioned earlier the ceilings are very high and there is a lot of wood and metal in the décor. This makes for a very noisy atmosphere. If you are looking to go with a group for happy hour or a big dinner it’s great. If you want a more quiet romantic dinner head to the Main St. location. Although I have heard that the owners are looking into some sound dampening options.

Great restaurant! Food is outstanding as well as the service. Great atmosphere. Will definitely go back! A lot more spacious than the restaurant in Main Street.

Excellent service and food. Staff was very friendly. Had the salmon and was done to perfection. Nice upscale restaurant; parking lot full of pricy automobiles. Only negative about this restaurant is the acoustics, so darn loud-​go on a weekday when maybe they aren’t so busy. Why do people have to talk so loud and use vulgarities?!

I have been to the Williamsville and downtown locations, so I was excited to try this new Aroma that opened 3 weeks ago. A group of 10 of us went there for dinner, the food and the service was excellent!
I like the interior design and the restaurant is very spacious. One minor complaint is they need better signage for the front door because most of us walked to the other side of the building to find that the entrance is on the opposite side lol.
Everyone from the hostess to the waiter were very friendly. I wish I remember our waiter’s name because he was great! He did a good job recommending the dishes for people like me who is indecisive. I got the rigatoni aroma and it was soooo good. I had the leftovers for lunch today and wish I had more. I think all of us really enjoyed our food and it was a great dinning experience. I will definitely go back to this location again!
One tip: make reservations early if you have a big group because we called to make reservation a few days before and the only thing they had for us on a Saturday was at 5pm.