Aro Latin

This place can’t disappoint! It’s so good and incredibly consistent. The food is amazing, the staff is friendly and the vibe/​energy is on point! Their Aqua frescas are soooooooo good!

Great ambience, food and service is hit and miss. I had a cocktail called a Serrano Boracho, the first one was great, the second one, made by a different bartender, not so much. I had salmon for dinner and loved it, my date had carne asada and hated it. I would give it one more shot, but that’s about it.

I hadn’t been back to Aro for awhile. Now I remember why. The food is hit and miss but the service has always been disappointing. Tonight the female bartender seemed wasted. Her demeanor exuded druggie. She took forever to pour a glass of wine. She dropped a crate of glasses behind the bar. Who know if the shards entered into the ice. They merely swept. The place smelled like disinfectant. My date commented «This place isn’t going to be here much longer.» There aren’t many choices for dinner in South Pass, but don’t waste your money here.

The food was just ok. We ordered the empanadas which tasted a little bland and slightly cold in the middle. The entrees we had were the Paella and the carne Asada. I wish the waiter would have told us that the carne Asada came with empanadas on the side this way we wouldn’t have ordered them as an app. The steak was over cooked and overall a cheap cut of meat, it tasted rubbery and under seasoned. The paella was pretty good. The best part of the meal was the red sangria. Overall, wouldn’t go to eat there again. Too pricey for the quality of food.

Great place, amazing food, perfect atmosphere and awsone live music by Cale! Highly recommend this place.

Aro Latin has definitely come a long way since my first time about a year ago.
April ’16: I’ve been here 3x within 2 weeks!
Thurs Dinner 7:30p — I’d say 40% of the restaurant was full, diverse crowd as per usual. Didn’t catch the waiter’s name but he was spunky and pretty on point
Fri Cocktails 8p — Sat at the bar, new «En La Mesa» options for my favorite margarita! For $ 30 you get a carafe. Apparently there’s a house DJ every Fri & Sat starting around 10ish. Bartender Alejandro was very attentive and always smiling. The manager Ivan (I think) was also making sure we were good, saw him jump behind the bar a few times to help as the night got busier, there was a private party going on
Sat Brunch 10a — We had the place to ourselves. Ordered café de olla, waffles and chilaquiles… Very standard, nothing spectacular. Our server was great! (Oh yea, Bottomless Mimosas $ 15)
Keep up the great service Aro! I’ll be back soon I’m sure ;)

From the service to the food, this place will make you want to stay just a little longer. The fusion of flavors in every single item on the menu will put any foodie into a flavor trans. Karam (owner) sets the perfect tone to this place with his flavorful menu and warm hospitality. You are sure to feel right at home. This is definitely the spot to drop into any day of the week if you’re in South Pasadena. Live music every first Thursday of the month. Delicious food, great hospitality and quality live music. Can’t beat that.

2-​star goes to the drink I had @the bar. House Margerira is solid right on spot!
Bartender guy with hat on is cool n profeesional made me nice Margerita, while the sexy long hair gal/​bartender/​waitress was trying so hard to flirt with male customers @ the bar.
The 2 food items I had were just horribly off the chart… deep fried fish taco (fish cubes was sadly over cooked and I can taste the oil used fur frying was OLD which is gross!) with tons of Mayo on top. Esquite as of a bowl of corn, again, topped with exactly the same Mayo as of my fish taco. Yuk!
Only few customers there while I see most of them were friends of the owner something by their moves. Dj playing music in the background yet its not helping their business to glow by fact. Bad food, wired atmosphere with no sturdy client tails, perhaps it won’t last for more than half year long as I assume. Really sad.

We stopped here for a quick drink after the South Pasadena Farmers market and have been wanting to try this spot out for food. They have a good happy hour with a good selection of beers on taps and tequila specialty drinks. They also have sangria specials. Menu had tacos and quesadillas. Bartender was friendly and helpful. This place as a good tequila selection and had some of my favorites like 1942 and Fortaleza. The bartender said they they do have a DJ on Friday and Saturday nights. something to check out! Cheers!

I’ll start by saying I’m a foodie, both a cook and fanatic.
This has quickly become my favorite Latin restaurant in the city; been here just five times and every meal was perfect IMO.
Favorites: The enormous steak w/​asparagus (giant portion, cooked and trimmed beautifully) + seafood paella (so much umami going on, so yummy)
Why those two?
The steak is probably the best I’ve eaten anywhere in LA, Latin restaurant or not. Puts any gringo steakhouse to shame! Hold the A1, you won’t be needing it!
The paella is exquisite and executed perfectly; nothing mushy, which is a difficult feat given the different meats/​seafoods in there! I know paella too, mind you! Parents are Cuban and this is better than my mom’s! I also like the unique touches here like Basmati rice (which Karim explained to me is inspired by the cuisine of Goa, a Portuguese-​influenced region of India)
Wash it down all with a «Serrano Borracho»
Do yourself a favor and stop reading this; just stop in and try it already!

We were celebrating 3 birthdays. Our first time at ARO. Service was great and the food was absolutely delicious!
Tapas: Lamb tacos, Brussels sprouts, ceviche, sautéed spicy corn and chips and salsa variety.

Service was better than the food (3 stars)
The Cadillac Margarita was good.
Nice chips and 3 different salsas, and out attendant brought a 4^th sauce.
Delicious Chicken empanadas.
Lamb shank was like lamb jerky, really dry and chewy, but the rice and sauce were good.
Seafood dish was with bell peppers and onions in ketchup — see photo.
I ordered a second Cadillac Margarita, but they brought something else. I told our attendant and he apologized and brought another Margarita, and it was not like the Cadillac Margarita that I had earlier.
Service was really good, but the food was a little disappointing.
Would I return ???
Hmmm ???

Aro has a wonderful mix of Latin foods from all over the world. Very nice ambiance and love music. Good spot for tapas and relaxing. Try the Sassy Señorita margarita, amazing!
Tiraditos are ok.
Aguas Chiles are hands down my favorites.
Guacamole is done really well!
Tres Leches cake is perfect.
Sangrias are good but way too much ice. Waters down quickly. Ask for very easy ice.
Esquites (corn) is almost as good as street corn.
Overall you won’t be disappointed.

Came in for lunch the other day and was very happy with the results.
Cauliflower — I really liked the way this was prepared, the cauliflower was cooked perfectly in this basil mint pesto
Brussels Sprouts — not as crispy as I would have liked but the flavors were great
Pollo Mole Poblano — the chicken was very tender and the mole was delicious with a slight kick
Taco de Cazuela — yum, very nicely spiced
Service is awesome. Parking can be a bit of a pain, so take the Gold Line instead!

Aro has a sexy ambiance. Good energy exudes, but it could just be latin fever that came over me. I had low expectations due to the Unilocal public. But despite previous reviews, service was the strong point of the night. Super friendly, efficient, and fun. The food, for the most part, was just okay. So, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Best of the night were far and away the veggie empanadas (5.0 stars, good size, and 4 later) and the fresh cobbed corn with cojita cheese. All else I could take or leave: ribs, cauliflower medly, brussels, chicken mole, ceviche. The mixed drinks were the worst part. Dirty Martini tasted like water and Mojita tasted like weird water. Stick with beer or wine.
All in all, a really nice evening. I would go back to try more. I recently attended a group dinner, sponsored by a friend of mine. The 30 of us took over 80% of the place. A 3.5 rounded down, can’t quite give it a 4.0 star.

How have I not been here since today was the one year anniversary of this restaurant. South Pasadena is a sleepy town with some established restaurants and not necessarily the most modern hip design. I walked in thinking am I in DTLA? The bar is modern and cool design. The entire restaurant has that well placed design where one could probably spend an entire siesta chilling with good drinks and food. We went there for lunch and the Latin fusion food was good. Need to come back again for brunch as it also looked good. Came back and tried the ceviche and empanadas. All great!

My husband and I have stopped by here twice for dinner on weekday nights, since its so close.
Parking: plenty of free street parking
Both times we were able to be seated right away and Luis was our server.
He was very friendly and attentive and made excellent recommendations on both occasions.
Drinks:
Red Sangria-​good
Mezcal Mule-​good
a couple of great cocktails by mixologist (can’t remember but just ask for a recommendation)
Food:
Aperitivos
Esquites-​very good
Guacamole Aro-​good
Aqua Chiles-​good
Platos Fuertes
Salmon con Esparragos-​very good; My Favorite. There’s an asparagus, habanero cream sauce (not spicy) that I think is delicious on the salmon.
Cordero Parrilla-​good
Mole Poblano Con Pollo-​good
We’ll be back.

Eh …
THE AMBIANCE:
The restaurant is nice and all because its new but I visited this place I think on three (3) different occasions and the service was HORRIBLE. The staff is super slow and doesn’t seem to know what they are doing. Orders came out wrong and the food at times came out lukewarm.
THE FOOD:
I have yet to try something I like here besides the guacamole. The guacamole is on point and delicious. I tried the enchiladas and the tortilla was hard. I tried the ceviche and it has mango and jalapeño so its sweet (not my thing) and was too spicy for me. I can’t even remember what else I tried because it was nothing special. Honestly, if I had to come back here for another meeting with my boss I would just order the guacamole and a strong drink.
THE TIPS:
Expect slow service, unhappiness, and $$$. If I come back its not out of my own free will.

I came here twice and I’m probably going to give it another shot.
– DRINKS —
The food was delicious, but the drinks were more enjoyable. I especially enjoyed their moscow mule, the jalapeño margarita, and their sassy señorita. I wish the drinks were a bit stronger because I felt that there was not enough alcohol.
– SERVICE –
The service was great! Waiters checked up on us frequently and refilled the table’s water bottle. The servers were very knowledgeable of the menu and they even gave us comp drinks (name unknown) for ordering a feast.
– FOOD –
I highly recommend the Esquites (sweet corn mixed with some sauce) appetizer. The waiter was hyping up the salmon entrée so I got their Salmon con Esparragos. The portion was bigger than I expected and the fish was drenched in sauce. I thought the salmon dish was good, but it wasn’t great. My partner ordered the baby back ribs –Costillitas and claims that the meat easily falls off of the bones. I also got their short rib taco. The meat comes in a small frying pan and a separated container for the tortilla. The tortilla was made fresh and it was made from scratch! Again, the taco was good, but it’s probably something I won’t remember a few weeks from now.
– ATMOSPHERE –
The environment during the day brightens the whole restaurant with natural sunlight. At night, the restaurant is turned to a romantic candlelight dinner. It’d be a good alternative date night venue.
– LOCATION –
This is in the busy street of South Pas. on Mission & Fair Oaks. It can be pretty hard to find parking… which kind of discourages me from coming here… but Aro Latin is conveniently located next to the gold line station.
– OVERALL –
I enjoyed my time here. I enjoyed the drinks and the venue, but the food was delicious but it was not 5-​star spectacular. I would definitely recommend this place if you want to go to a nice and pricier dinner and if you want to avoid Old Town.

Owned by the same owners of Radhika Modern Indian, this place was kept up to the same standards and did not disappoint.
We actually came here right after dinner from their Indian restaurant, and managed to make it to happy hour. Woo hoo!
I think happy hour drinks are around $ 6. I tried their margaritas and red sangria, and wow! If their happy hour drinks taste that good, I can’t imagine how much tastier their other signature drinks are. Can’t wait to come back!
Note: This is a wine and tequila bar. Oh, and they also have an extensive food menu that I wished I had saved room for… ;)