Restaurant review:Aria



 Aria Ristorante

                   25 York St. Toronto                  

Food: 3 out of 5 suns

Service: 4 out of 5 suns

Ambiance: 3 out of 5 suns
                  

Source: Aria Ristorante

Aria means air in Italian, also the name of those high pitched solos the opera ladies sing. The space is indeed, light cool and airy, but some of the food didn't exactly sing as touted, sitting rather heavily, actually. With all the attention on Aria of late, it seems appreciation for fine dining may be returning after several rounds of restaurant openings centred on upscale comfort food.  
Situated in a rather strange location for local Torontonians, though an ideal one for tourists and game goers right beside the ACC, the fireplace adorned patio overlooks the bustling scene around this fast growing Maple Square. The patio is amazing and on a humid weeknight in June, virtually empty. It's hard to imagine just how welcoming this sterile-seeming space would be crammed with diners.

The simple menu is contains both classic Italian dishes and some with interesting twists. The courses are listed in Italian, so that can be a bit confusing, and seperated into categories like crudi (Italian for raw like ceviches etc.) fritti (fried fried fried) and the traditional antipasti.

I opted for the fried mozzarella, with spicy tomato jam, basil salad ($12). Call me crazy but what I was expecting was a salad with a slice of gooey fried mozzerella on it. What I got was this:

Though the first few bites were indeed rather tasty, this was a somewhat refined version of the mozzerella sticks I could have defrosted from my freezer. One or two may have been good, but 12 balls just for me? Not my thing.

After that indulgence, you might expect me to opt for something light for dinner right? Wrong. Of the five pasta selections, I went with the housemade ravioli stuffed with wild mushrooms and porcini in white truffle butter and parmigiano ($24). Wow super rich, but honestly do-able. The truffle butter most comes through in every savory little pocket. Portion size was decent too and the delicate attention to detail was definitely apparent.

 My friend was a little more adventurous, ordering the Bigoli alla bottarga – Venetian pasta specialty with garlic, chilies, roasted tomatoes, fine herb, shaved bottarga di muggine --also known as roe, like they put on sushi ($22). Surprisingly, the fish eggs didn't overpower this otherwise mild tasting sauce. The nooddles were great too, like long, uncut ridged penne to sop up all the sauce.

 Overall, service was great (the server went above and beyond, when we liked a wine, she went and found out how we could get it, gave us the number of the distributor), wine was decently priced, food was good quality and portion size for price.