Before Amr Diab’s rather disasterous concert last week at, my husband and I decided to try Aroma Lounge for a snack. A mistake we won’t make again.
Aroma lounge is located on the roof of Meeting Point Mall. It is nicely decorated with plush couches and TVs. The menu looked nice, so we wandered in. The waiter insisted on showing us all the possible places to sit, even after we decided where we wanted to go. He was also worried about it being crowded due to a football match that would not even start for another two and a half hours. There was no crowd in the place at all at that point. In fact, there were only two other tables occupied when we arrived.
Nonetheless, we procured a corner seat next to a treacherous looking heater and ordered. I got the vegetable spring rolls and a nutella coffee. My husband ordered a Philadelphia burger and Turkish coffee.
After ten minutes or so, we settled in with our coffees and waited for the food to arrive. We were surprised to note that both coffees came cold. My nutella coffee was ensconced in a thick block of not quite real whipped cream. Seriously, it was at least two inches high. I wish I had taken a picture. Underneath that there was a small smattering of nutella and miscellaneous nuts. Somehow, Aroma Lounge managed to make a nutella coffee that was not at all sweet. Luckily, my husband’s Turkish coffee was alright – just cold.
After another few minutes, the waiter came back by our table to tell us that the food would be out shortly. It was taking so long because the burger needs at least twenty minutes to cook. This rather annoyed us because that seems like information that should be relayed upon ordering – not after.
Anyway, we were annoyed, but we had the time, so we waited and our food came out not long after that. However, both of these dishes were cold, too. There were at least six long spring rolls arranged vertically around two dipping sauces – a Thai sweet chili one and regular soy sauce. They were crispy enough on the outside, but the inside had deteriorated into an unidentifiable mush. The saving grace was the Thai sauce which was quite nice.
The cold burger was another disappointment. It was large enough, but nothing special. You couldn’t really identify the toppings and it was suspiciously lacking in cheese.
One odd thing that both plates had in common was the sprinkling of an unknown spice mix. The spring rolls and the fries that accompanied the burger were overzealously dusted with salt and pepper and something else that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. It was an odd, disagreeable taste that definitely didn’t go with a spring roll.
Overall, the waiters were nice, but slow. The coffee was cold and the food was mediocre. And no crowd ever came for the football match. Aroma Lounge is definitely a miss.