A Medicore Taste in My Mouth
Posted on October 16, 2006
Filed Under Uncategorized |
Last night, instead of the usual dinner with the parents, Ashley and I had dinner at That’s Aroma! A Garlic Restaurant & Bar. I had heard many good things about That’s Aroma!, and I wanted to try it for myself. We looked at the menu online, saw reasonable prices and appealing dishes, and decided to set out[1].
We arrived to find that the “plenty of parking” mentioned on the website was a dirt lot—a dirt lot controlled by Impark. Of course, two bucks for parking isn’t a big deal, and given the restaurant’s location on the northern fringes of downtown Edmonton, I had been half-expecting to have to pay for parking anyway.
We paid the two dollars, brushed off any annoyance we might have felt, and went inside. At the door, we were asked if we had reservations. I hadn’t bothered to make any since I assumed that, like many restaurants, they don’t take reservations on the weekend. Also, the decision to dine at the restaurant had been relatively spontaneous, so it would likely have been too late to book a table anyway. To our surprise, they do take reservations on the weekend, and they were booked until 8:30pm. Seeing as it was only 6pm, and we were hungry, we decided to eat in the lounge.
The lounge at That’s Aroma! is not an ideal dining experience. The place looked more like the neighbourhood pub than a restaurant lounge, and it was only a half-step above being a dive bar. The carpet was ugly, the walls were shabby, and the seating was mediocre at best. Although the chairs were comfortable for leaning back with a pint, they were not comfortable while leaning forward to eat. Still, the thought of mouth-watering garlic flavoured foods kept us positive. And, despite being a bit of a dump, the room was mostly filled with other reservation-less diners. That is, of course, until our food arrived.
At this point, a ragtag gang of neighbourhood ruffians walked in and headed for the gaming area. They hit the VLTs hard for a few minutes, pounded back some beers, and then moved on to the pool table. While none of this is particularly out of place in a lounge, it’s a bit annoying when you’re trying to have a nice dinner with your sweetheart. But, the food smelled good. Then, we took a bite.
The food was…decent. It was nothing special, really. It was very garlicky, but that was about all that was special about it. Now, I must admit that both of us opted for the same meal: the garlic pasta. Maybe it was a bad night for the pasta, or maybe this is the worst dish on the menu and, since we both had the same thing, we didn’t really give the place a fair shot. Maybe our expectations were too great. Regardless, based on the meal we had, I don’t see what the fuss is about. I have never heard a bad comment about That’s Aroma! In fact, I have never heard anything less than a shining review, so I was quite disappointed to find that it was basically Boston Pizza with a slightly more creative menu (also, the BP’s lounges are generally a lot nicer than the bar at That’s Aroma!).
Despite a less than stellar experience, I am willing to give it another shot. Next time, though, I’ll make a reservation. While the dining room didn’t look particularly amazing, it looked a lot nicer than the lounge, and the overall dining experience would probably have been more enjoyable on that side of the wall. I would also try a different meal, and suggest that whoever I was eating with try something other than what I was having, so that we could sample a bit of both and get a fuller idea of what That’s Aroma! has to offer. Hopefully, wth lower expecations and a wider sampling of the menu, the next time will be better.
Footnotes:
[1] The prices online are inaccurate. The food is listed correctly, but the actual prices are all two or three dollars higher than what is shown online.
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3 Responses to “A Medicore Taste in My Mouth”
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I used to play in a pool league who frequented that lounge. It is pretty bad. Sorry your meal wasn’t that great. It’s basically like the other Sorrentino’s Restaurants but more garlic.
I think the food at the “regular” Sorrentino’s is of a higher quality than That’s Aroma! Of course, the prices are higher, so you’re paying for the extra quality. Still, I’d choose Sorrentino’s over That’s Aroma!
May I suggest itry.ca. It directs the user to an organized collection of restaurant reviews from ordinary Joes and Janes. Some of the reviews are dated, and it is possible that a few comments are emotionally-charged or biased, but the site appears to be moderated to watch out for that sort of thing.
I use it once a while to get the lowdown on a local eating establishment, when I just don’t trust one review from the local paper. (Fun game: see if you can spot the categorial error when searching for Hardware Grill).