Aida Bistro is in Columbia, so a bit out of the city, but I would say, well worth the drive!
Half of us arrived early to take advantage of their happy hour which features 1/2 price Wines on Tap, $4 craft beers, and $5/$6 cocktails. It was very interesting to see their "Wines on Tap," and while some stuck with wine, others couldn't resist the delicious cocktails, I personally ordered the Appletini! We also ordered two appetizers to share, both of which were delicious!
Arancini Risotto Balls:
Flash-Fried Rock Shrimp:
As happy hour ended, and the rest of our party joined us, we left the bar area and were seated in the dining room. As we were looking over our menus the owner of the restaurant came to our table and asked: "so how many have you visited so far?" When I had called to make the reservation, the hostess had asked me if we were dining for any special occasion, and I had explained that we were working our way through the top 50 list, so I thought it was pretty neat that she had passed that along to the owner, and that he made a point to come over to speak to us. The owner also offered to show us their wine room, and we of course took him up on that offer! He explained that the "Wine on Tap" idea actually comes from Atlanta, which was surprising to me, and that all of their wines are kept in a temperature controlled wine room (that we experienced first-hand) so that their wine is always served at optimal temperature. What I found most interesting was the "green story" behind serving wine on tap ... each "wine keg" holds the equivalent of about 25 bottles of wine, so that's 25 less glass bottles being manufactured and 25 less corks being manufactured which reduces the carbon footprint and also reduces the cost of the wine. All of the wine was stored in kegs which were either reusable or recyclable.
We returned to our table, everyone ordered, the service was great, and everyone enjoyed their meals! Feast your eyes on some of the dishes we ordered below!
Linguine w/Lobster, Shrimp & Crab:
Sausage Ravioli:
Uncle Frank's Shrimp Fra Diavolo:
Cheese Ravioli:
Spiced Almond Encrusted Atlantic Salmon:
Eggplant Parmigiana:
And for dessert ... Warm Apple Crumble:
This is a restaurant I would definitely recommend, for more information check out their website: http://aidabistro.com/
..... just for fun, while waiting for our credit cards to be returned, two of our talented friends created this Masterpiece:
Next up, #43 Tapas Teatro, Charles North
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