Aura

My wife and I had a Groupon-​type discount and stopped by there the other night for dinner. Even with the discount, it was overpriced.
Service was fine but food was completely unimpressive.

This is a little hole in the wall type place where you can go and get some cheap grub and they have happy hour all night long.
Recently bought a groupon because I have heard good things from others — and thought we would try the food.
We got the hummus, cheese, olive tapenade platter and the beef tip pasta and the grilled portabella.
Everything was very tasty and made well — the bar tender was our server and we had our water full the whole time and checked back with us often to make sure that we had what we needed.
I would recommend it — maybe it’s not a dining destination, but they have good, reasonable priced food and the all night HH is hard to beat!

Aura is on the first floor of Calhoun Square. I have walked past it many times not knowing what it is. Even when I was meeting people there, I second guessed myself, as it is a very small/​tiny spot.
It may be a small/​tiny space, but they have a happy hour from 4-​MIDNIGHT every day! (Even on the weekends!) Their happy hour deals are amazing. This is a great spot for meeting some friends, but not a great space for groups (hence the small/​tiny space). Their food is definitely decent and their drink specials are AMAZING!
I will definitely go to Aura again.

Although I’ve spent a good amount of time eating/​drinking my way around the Calhoun Square area in Uptown, I have consistently missed Aura. You would understand why if you saw it… it’s tiny! However, I am very glad I stopped in yesterday!
Aura is the perfect place to have a quiet conversation with cozy booths for a steamy date that requires seclusion, or high top tables for openly cheers-​ing to the good times. I caught up with an old friend at the bar, and we took great advantage of the 4pm-​Midnight happy hour. (Can you believe it? It’s like happy hour heaven!). $ 3 wine, $ 3.75 rail drinks and beer, and great deals on small plates.
Please, I beg of you, if you decided to stop into Aura, order the GYRO WRAP. At first I was skeptical (it wasn’t on the happy hour menu after all), but I made the best decision of my life and ordered it. With fresh tzatziki sauce and a gyro wrapped in pizza dough, you really can’t go wrong! Well worth the $ 8! Also, it’s definitely big enough to split for 2!

I have made fun of this establishment’s layout for years! When my friends have commented their patronage, I have mocked them with, «That hallway bar in Calhoun Square?»
My friend had purchased a Groupon and asked if I wanted to go. Well duh, how often do we get treated to dinner by friends? Sounded like fun. I laughed when I found out it was Aura, but was still open.
We went after work which fell over their happy hour. We weren’t in the mood for drinks so we ended up ordering $ 50 worth of appetizers and happy hour meals. We got to try everything and wow it was like Aura slapped me in the face and woke up my taste buds for all of the mocking comments I had made through the years.
We had the shrimp pesto pizza (AMAZING!), caprese salad (OMG), bruschetta (I don’t even normally like bruschetta!), calamari (this was the one so-​so/​bleh item we ordered), goat cheese and chicken quesadilla (I would have done anything that this dish asked me to if it were to talk… DELICIOUS)…shall I go on?
I did feel like they did treat us differently because we were a table in with a Groupon, which I feel is the ultimate no-​no when someone is taking the opportunity to try your restaurant out. So the service is the reason for the star loss, but the food is a solid 4 stars and service is probably a 1.5!
Aura, based on food I will no longer be a MEAN GIRL and stop laughing and spreading rumors about you. Getting to know you, I feel that we could be friends and hang out after school (work). You just need to work on your manners.

Solid three stars. I don’t have too much to add to my previous review, but I wanted to change my rating after coming here again a couple of weeks ago. It’s not that Aura is bad, but I don’t really consider myself a «fan.»
The food isn’t going to be great, but it’ll be cheap, especially if you go for happy hour. I’d stick with the pizzas and calzones and stay away from the empanadas. The boneless buffalo wings are sort of mediocre on their own, but the blue cheese dressing seemed homemade, or (at the very least) delicious.
The service is the one element of this place that can be above average sometimes. The last time I was here, it was just one person serving the entire restaurant and the bar (same in the kitchen, just one guy). He was great.
Another plus of Aura is that deserves mention again is that the vibe is more laid back than the other bars in this area. To quote my previous review, the risk for wild-​n-​out groups is a lot lower here.

Aura is a tiny bar/​restaurant that essentially has happy hour all day long. I’d been before just for late night drinks, but I bought the Crowd Cut deal for $ 30 so we could see what it’s like for dinner.
If you order strictly off their happy aura menu, it’s definitely a challenge to spend $ 30. We ordered the BBQ pork & BLT mini sandwiches, waffle fries with seasoned sour cream & warm almonds. The sandwiches were decent & really filling. The fries were alright. They were overcooked and too crunchy like a Ruffles potato chip. The almonds were our favorite, which I feel weird admitting. They were perfectly seasoned!
With a couple $ 2.75 Michelob Golden Light taps each, we were only at $ 25 bucks after all that food. So, we ordered cheesecake. It was alright.
One thing I learned is that they stop taking same-​day reservations at 4p. However, Open Table allowed me to make one at 5:30p. So, when we approached the hostess & gave her our name, she didn’t have us on the list. It appeared that they don’t use a computer system but rather her cell phone for reservations? It was strange. Regardless, she sat us within 10 minutes & was really nice about the mix up.
Also strange: their choices for TV shows. Ryan & I barely spoke to each other during our meal because a House Hunters marathon was on HGTV that consumed all of our attention.
Three stars for Aura is split like this; 2 stars for the food since it’s just okay & 4 for the bar scene. The crowd here is different than typical Uptown bars which is great for a married lady such as myself (ie: no creepy dudes donning head-​to-​toe Ed Hardy trying to buy every woman they see a Lemon Drop shot). We’ve come back for alcohol-​only. Oh and those almonds.

I had a Groupon to use and also wanted to get together with a good friend so I combined both and went to Aura.
The hh is not bad and the appetizers are good. I would stay away from the brie and apple it is deceiving. It consists of thin slices of apple with minute slivers of brie… disappointing. We also tried the 3 cheese pizza, good flavor plenty of cheese but could be cooked a tad longer.
All and all if you are in uptown and need a place to go for hh check it out.
If you go bring a flash light, it is very dimly lit, so much so that the candles on the table are not much of a help!

I love Aura. First, it’s dirt cheap. Good wine for the price. Their chardonnay tastes more like Pinot Grigio. And, you really can’t beat the food. Tonight, I had Caprese salad. $ 7. Huge chunks of mozzarella cheese, a plateful of basil and avocado. PLUS $ 4 empanadas that were enormous! My friend and I shared the plate and that was PLENTY. After too many glasses of wine, the bill, with a 20 percent tip and tax came to a whopping (just kidding) $ 24. Doesn’t get much better than that in my book.
I don’t know if I should brag too much about how great this place is because I want it to be my neighborhood hangout. We’ll let all the douchebags flock to Amore Victoria. Seriously.

Two words: Happy. Hour.
The ONLY reason to go to Aura is Happy Hour!
My mouth waters thinking of the awesome food, and the drink specials during happy hour! It’s seriously one of the better happy hour bars I have been to!
Other than that, there really isn’t much to say about the place. I prefer to sit outside as opposed to inside because to be honest, other than the TV, there is no interior lighting. And no, candles on your table do not count. I cannot make my way to the bathroom through a crowded dining room via only candle light. I’m sure it was managements attempt at making it romantic, but for me and my friends, the sidewalk style seating is PERFECT!

This place confused me. You’d think a small, candle-​lit place (seriously, ONLY candle-​lit) would be romantic, but Aura has these huge flat-​screen TVs… playing HGTV or Food Network.
With that said, they have an awesome happy hour… and it seems like it’s ALWAYS happy hour there. They call it Happy Aura (I love puns). Pretty tasty pizzas for $ 6, house wines for $ 3, beers $ 3 – 4, and rails $ 3.75. I wouldn’t go here for a full meal because of the weird atmosphere, but if I was wanting happy hour on a Saturday I’d definitely go back.

I still love it here! This time we got a calzone all I got to say is yum

We ordered off the happy hour food and drink menu (which is actually a happy 8 hours, 4 – 12), and the Chorizo was quite tasty. But I don’t really get the point of the apple slices with a bit of melted cheese on them. And we all found the polenta fries boring. The polenta really needed something more to juice it up. The server said that some people love them, but that they they were going by the way side soon anyway, no loss.
The interesting part of the tasting though were the Empanadas, of which there are 4 flavors. But the variety you get doesn’t really matter much because they are of a type which has little filling and lots of dough. Not that that’s bad, they were chewy and fun. We found them to be a gourmet version of elephant ears, you know, those huge greasy doughy things you scarf on at a fair then feel sick afterward?
This is my second time, and both times we had a bartender that was very friendly and interesting. And a big thanks to Aura for not putting any restrictions on the use of my $ 40 Groupon, even on happy hour!
Money saved — $ 20, and that’s not including the happy hour discount!
Discount received — 38% (off a reasonable $ 53 tab)

I would agree 100% with Summer L. Aura would get ZERO stars if it wasn’t for their happy hour with delightful food. BUT AVOID THE BREAKFAST AT ALL COSTS. I ordered the Shrimps Picante:
Two scrambled eggs, shrimp, pepperoni, green and red peppers, hash browns, mozzarella, cilantro-​pesto sauce. Sounds good, right? Well the shrimp was that mini-​canned stuff, the pesto was sweet tasting and NOT good and to reiterate the hash browns were just disgusting and reminiscent of those canned shoestring potatoes: greasy, petrified potatoes. Ick ick ick. Throughout the meal I was asking Lilly M, «is this food old? has it been sitting out all morning?» I was nauseous the remainder of the day.

Aura is a really quaint, candle-​lit, hole in the wall place with a fantastic happy hour. Every day from 4pm til Midnight, you can enjoy a wide variety $ 5-​$ 6 plates including mini sandwiches, apps, pizzas and calzones. Their waffle fries w/​seasoned sour cream are good & plentiful for $ 5! Their $ 3 Chardonnay isn’t bad either. It’s a great place to go hang out with a friend or two late at night – much more laid back than your typical Uptown bar. Service was good and fast. Will be back again.
Tips:
If you’re having trouble finding it, it’s directly across the street from Amazing Thailand. You can enter from outside on Hennepin or from inside Calhoun Square.
It’s not a large place, so if you’re planning to eat here with a group, I would suggest making reservations.

Tiny bar with good food and great happy hour.
Headed here before catching a movie at the Uptown Theatre. Read about the great happy hour online before showing up. I think we probably arrived right before we would have had no chance to get a table. Luckily we were able to snag a booth for 5 – 6 people after hovering near the booth at a 2 person table for about a half hour. By that time our group of 6 had all showed up and the table was perfect.
The happy hour specials were quite good. $ 6 pizzas that are big enough to fill you up, $ 4 shots, some $ 3 beers on tap. Also a few other food options but I didn’t get any. The waitress was kind of out of it I thought. She missed the fact that 2 of our guests even showed up, so we had to ask for more drinks. Every time we ordered drinks it was about a 15minute wait to get them. Even if they were just simple tap pours. It was 8pm on a Friday night during the happy hour, so I suppose you can’t ask for speedy service.
The guests were typical uptowners, but I didn’t mind any of the anyways. If you are going to go here, make sure you have at most 2 – 3 people or get here early to grab a table.
I might go back if I’m with just 1 or 2 people, and want cheap drinks or a cheap pizza.

I’ll be blunt. Aura’s brunch is god-​awful.
The coffee was good, I’ll give them that. But the hash browns are super-​thin, crispy, and saturated in grease. Wait, EVERYTHING is saturated in grease. My gyro breakfast featured a lot of gyro-​type ingredients all chopped up smaller than I dice things for my cat. And did I mention the grease? My husband’s pulled pork breakfast left him wishing for more flavor. Our third diner seemed satisfied, but she did a build-​your-​own that would be impossible to screw up. The two of them shared a chocolate soufflé that was much like a crusted pudding. I did not partake.
I’m especially disappointed because as long as I’ve lived in the Cities, I have yet to find a good Greek omelet or skillet breakfast. It’s tragic. I had hopes, wishes, and dreams, and Aura stomped all over them with their sad excuse for a gyro breakfast.
I have a feeling I’ll be updating this at some point… mostly because I still have a Groupon to use there. However, it will absolutely, positively, 100% NOT be for brunch.

I saw there was a Groupon for Aura. Since it is in Calhoun Square, where we often go to Famous Dave’s to hear music, it seemed like a perfect deal and we bought it.
The first time we went, we sat down and was not greeted at all. Mind you, this isn’t a huge restaurant; basically three booths and a few tables. After 20 minutes of not seeing a server, we had to leave, or we would miss the start of the music at Dave’s.
Not wanting to waste the money, we decided to give them another try. This time we were greeted promptly and I showed them my iPod with the Groupon showing. The server came back after a bit and informed us that we had to have a printed copy and we were welcome to walk down the street to Kinko’s to print one out!
We’ve used half a dozen Goupons and this was a first.
Again we were in danger of missing the start of the music so we just left. We didn’t redeem it Groupon and we don’t care. They lost our business and we would recommend against going there.

To be honest, I need a few beers in me to be able to tolerate many of the places in or near Calhoun Square — that’s not the case for Aura (even though I’ll have a few beers in me shortly after arriving).
This place is pretty small, with an even smaller patio, but it’s comfy enough with the low-​lit booths, chairs and bar. Drinks are strong, though beer selection is limited. That said, they have Widmer Hefe and Drifter on tap so even if my choices are limited, they’re still solid picks. Food is serviceable and priced affordably (and generally no matter what you order it’s going to clog your arteries) — as others have mentioned it’s pretty much always happy hour here so you’re going to get your money’s worth.
Service has always been laid-​back and friendly. I’ll definitely keep stopping by when I’m in the area and need to escape some of the neighboring establishments.

I love this place! They have $ 3 house wines, cheap beers and $ 3.50 rails… what’s not to love!
They also have awesome appetizers, I would highly recommend the spicy calamari, the calamari itself is perfect (not chewy like a lot of bars) and the batter is a tempura like batter and is light and crispy. My friends and I also tried the fresh mozarella pizza, it was pretty good but the crust could have been a little crunchier. The bruschetta was awesome.
We got an appetizer and had 2 glasses of wine and our total was $ 13 per person! I’m a big fan… you’ll have to check it out.
P. S. I didn’t go into the bathroom but if they really are that bad just go upstairs to the main one in Calhoun… no biggie.