After leaving Press we had no idea where we wanted to eat dinner. Kudos to us for our primo planning. After walking around Charlotte’s uptown for what seemed like a long time we finally decided to have dinner at Aquavina.
We were really surprised by how dead it was.
Yes, it was 9 PM and we were on the balcony, but the inside seating and the wine bar were both dead as well.
We started the meal off by ordering a martini. We ordered The Knight Theater (named after and to benefit a local performing arts facility).
Delicious. I am not usually a martini drinker, or liquor in general, but I was a little piggy with this guy. Love it.
Then we got to checking out the food menu. After the wine and antipasto platter at Press we were feeling something on the lighter side, and all of the entree options looked a little heavier than we were in the mood for.
Side note: Is it normal to advertise corn fed meat on a menu?
We liked out first martini so much that we decided we would try another. This time we ordered the Harvey B. Gantt. This one was a fail for us. It just could compare to The Knight Theater martini. In fact, we went back for another Knight Theater martini on Saturday night too.
Since all the entrees seemed a little heavy we decided to split several appetizers for dinner, starting with calamari. B loves calamari and wants to order it anywhere that it is on the menu. I hadn’t had calamari in while so I happily agreed, and I am so glad I did.
The calamari was huge! It was seasoned and cooked really nicely, with just the right amount of chewiness. I am not certain but I think it was served with some kind of aoli. Mmmm.
Unfortunately other parts of the meal didn’t quite live up to our expectations after that amazing calamari.
We were so disappointed when we dug into the wedge salad. The huge chunks of bacon looked delicious but it was way too chewy. On top of that the tomatoes and salad dressing really didn’t have much flavor. We love wedge salads and have a preference for ones with a strong blue cheese flavor.
We topped the meal off with lobster roll sliders. They didn’t look like much when the server brought them out but they were a party in my mouth. They had a great lobster flavor lightly coated with mayo and crunchy bits of celery throughout. The bread wasn’t half bad either.
After working all week, walking around the city, and stuffing ourselves with delicious food we were ready to call it a night. So we made our way back to the Westin so we needed to get some much needed rest for our big Saturday plans.
