Like several places in Uptown, the address listed is sure to confuse because you really cant get to the restaurant by 100 N. Tryon. Better to call ahead and get the low down on the Best way to get in. We got rerouted walking through the building several times and it was a little annoying.
The place was packed as most of the diners seemed to be going to the show at the Blumenthal (as we were). This would be a challenge I am sure as everyone arrives at similar times, but everyone wants to go at nearly exactly the same time. However, that must be a regular challenge for the restaurant so I certain they train their folks on the most efficient way to manage that. Which brings me to my point. Training.
Our server was very nice, but I think there is a little more work that can be done to develop your servers to represent the brand. We asked for a wine recommendation and she said she didn't know anything about wine. Hm. Missed opportunity to create some interest to turn a glass of wine into a bottle or stimulate some conversation in that direction. She said she would ask the bar person to pick something out. In a few minutes a man came and dropped of a glass of wine with no comment. My friend did not know what kind of wine it was and no one checked back to ask if it was okay until the meal was over.
The food was...okay. We got the octopus appetizer special. It look more like calamari with the little tentacles etc. I am accustomed to getting a thicker piece of tentacle that you can slice. It was hard to get a real sense of the taste just chewing a tangle of legs. One friend got the pasta with sausage. I got the gnocchi with short rib ragu. The gnocchi was actually very good. Light and airy, it did not feel as heavy as I was a little concerned it may be. The short rib ragu however was extremely salty. My mouth still felt the saltiness an hour later as I was sitting in the theater wishing I had a 2 liter bottle of water. Another friend had the butternut squash ravioli though and it was Best of Show. Absolutely delicious with a brown butter sage treatment. If our other meals were that good, I could almost forgive that it took so long to get a second drink at our table. From the time we wanted one, we tried to get someone's attention for several minutes, then from the time we asked for it, we were finished eating by the time they came. Service just wasnt all that great here tonight.
For restaurants that are conveniently located for the theater, I would probably come again as Aria was still so much better than some others close by.