I'm giving this place a mixed rating with an overall average of 4 stars. Basically I found it 4 star for wine list and atmosphere. 3-4 Star for food ..depending.
It's a very pretty area with a large bar off to one side and the restaurant with open kitchen off to the other. We came early (not that they ever got busy) and got a nice table by the window (after turning our nose up at the little two top the dingy hostess tried to seat us at-which would have meant someone would be missing the gorgeous water view) It's a very modern decor with high back chairs and lighting that changes from green to blue and ambien music playing in the background. A decent wine list was presented only after we requested it.
We started with a mojito for him and a pear martini for me. which took 15mins to get.mojito was missing something, I'm not sure what but it was definitely lacking. My peartini was very sweet but it got much better the second time around.
We opted to start with a california roll ($ 13)described as blue crab, avocado, ginger & chili sauce. I opted for this as I cant eat cucmber and all the other rolls had it, well when this one arrived it did to. Trying to play nice ( a feat I sometimes fail at) I removed said offensive greenery and muddled through only to find a bland boring generic sushi roll.
Onward we fared to a nice bottle of Bertani, Amarone, Veneto, 2004, Not too bad of a markup at $250. They do have a very nice wine list here.
We shared an appetizer: Sweet Grass Dairy Raviolo
with lil moo cheese, crimini mushrooms, arugula pesto, shaved asher bleu cheese ($9) one large raviloi perfectly plated and served with a sauce I would basically kill for. ABsolutely delicious.
At a weak attempty to be healthy we shared a chopped salad ($9) a not so impressive salad of basic iceburg with olives, feta, salami, carrots and my friend the cucumber ,ring formed and served with a dressing that was decent although a little heavy handed.
On to a second bottle of wine, next we had a Chateau Peyreau Grand Cru -St Emilion, 2008 -again decently priced at $99. Did I mention the pretty impressive wine list?
On to the entrees, I had my heart set on swordfish when I saw it on their online menu and was disappointed to find it was indeed, not. The black bean chili rubbed grouper looked good but I just didnt want the asain effect of udon noodles, bok choy, etc. Dinner date took over and asked the waiter if I could just get the fish with other sides and they were more then glad to oblige me. So I ended up with the grouper, which was perfectly cooked and delicious, the root vegi ratatouille and the red quinoa tabbouleah.($23)He ordered the paella with clams, mussells, shrimp, chicken and grouper ($21) Which was apparently very good as well although I'm positive a digit would have been lost if I had meandered my fork over for a taste.
Too full to consider dessert we ended our evening of decadence. So yes even though Aqua did certainly have it's downfalls it also had some very nice high points. I would go again, and bring friends, but avoid the sushi and the horrid salad.
All in all, a gorgeous restaurant, with nice views, excellent fish entrees and a lovely wine list. As a side note I will say the service was extremely slow to start but certainly picked up once the evening moved along. Not sure what happened, or if the pricey wine purchased influenced this, but the waiter did end up being very professional, very patient, and very courteous (even if I was a tad snarky to start) I was hungry?! What?!! read more