Aroma Coffee & Wine Bar has been open in Thornton Park for a few months now.
The sad part is, even though I live in the neighborhood, I hadn't been inside
until this past week.
Not that I hadn't tried before. It seems every time
my friends and I were talking about "getting a glass of wine at that new place
in Thornton Park," we would walk to Aroma and they would inevitably be
closed.
Some of this can be attributed to the rather early hours most
Thornton Park businesses keep (except our old pal Burton's Bar & Grill,
which stays up until a respectable 2 a.m.). I had even tried popping into Aroma
when the sun was still out. With no hours on the door I was left with Google
and word of mouth as resources, which didn't help that much. I even called and
wrote the hours down, and those ended up being incorrect.
I finally
caught them open when, driving past the bar one evening, I saw folks sitting out
on the front patio area (primo people-watching spot) sipping wine and having a
fine time. I parked the car, walked up to the bar and opened the front door.
There were people inside too. Then I went to order and the man behind the front
counter said "Sorry, we just closed."
Ack! Foiled again!
I did share my story of woe with the cashier, who
handed me the take-out menu with the correct hours. That is until he looked at
them and noticed they were wrong. He took a pen and started crossing out Monday
and Sunday's hours and penning in new ones. Turns out the hours are a work in
progress. You don't say!
For those of you familiar with Aroma in its
former life as The Coffee House of Thornton Park, you know the space is an old
house at a great location on Washington Street. While The Coffee House had more
of an eclectic and funky flair to it, Aroma is more sophisticated. Red leather
chairs fill a seating space between the wine bar on the right-hand side of the
house and a counter with baked treats in front of the entryway. Another room in
the back allows for more seating. But the best place in the house is outside on
the front porch and patio area, probably one of the finest outdoor seating spots
in town.
Italian coffees, wines and food are the focus at Aroma. Baked
goods, antipasti, salads and panini are on the limited food menu. The wine list
had reasonable prices ranging from $4 to $7 a glass, and a large coffee didn't
go past $3.95, a nice change from the pillaging prices of Starbucks
right around the corner. And although Aroma has an extensive wine list and a bar
inside, I think it's probably getting more of a morning crowd during the week
for the coffee and pastries; the wine crowd is mainly weekend evenings, which is
why they keep moving their hours around. If you do catch them open, you should
stop in.
Oh, and what are those hours, you may be wondering? Currently,
they are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday, 7 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 7 a.m.-11
p.m. (or later) Friday, 9 a.m.-11 p.m. (or later) Saturday and 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday.
Aroma Coffee & Wine Bar is at 712 E. Washington St. in
Thornton Park. Call 407-426-8989.
