Aria Italian Restaurant
Station 2, White Beach, Boracay Island, Aklan, Philippines
Last Visit: Feb 2009
"...If you can find another high-quality restaurant that sits on the sand right in front of one of the world's top beaches..."
OVERALL
When you, Mr. and Mrs. Tourists, go to a beach town and find a bunch of restaurants sitting right on the sand (thanks to the impeccable compliance to rules governing preservation of nature) with a view of superb white sand and even sunset, you would first think "oh well, I'll pay through a nose and get crappy food, but I'll at least enjoy the view." Guess what, you are SO wrong if you walk into Aria! I was soooo glad that my preconception was wrong because I can finally enjoy my food with a beautiful view of turquoise water!
FOOD 
You know how I am by now - I don't let the ambience affect my judgment for food, and I wasn't even that hungry when I tried this heavenly Italian cafe for lunch. We were hesitant at first because I was expecting to be ripped off and have a stomachache after the meal, so ordered simple - pasta, pizza and salad - off a rather extensive menu for a small restaurant. It turned out that if you have put their food at a gourmet city like San Francisco, it would still be an outstanding Italian ristorante because it's got such a good grip on the basics.
The salad we had was the first pleasant surprise. We are picky about 
olive oil and balsamic vinager, but the salad was pleasantly tasted
with high-quality oil and vinager. The homemade tagliatelle pasta ("homemade"?? GIVE ME A BREAK, you wouldn't go that far!!) is so Italian and so much better than what we typically get in Manila in a place like Cibo that I almost ordered another one. The ingredients are not obvious, but because they're all top-quality the flavors were full and satisfying. The combination pizza we got was probably the biggest surprise - It's like we're back in Italian! The Northern-style very thin crust and light-on-tomato kind of pizza is just what we love and really missed - The crust seriously felt Italian which is hard to do given that the temperature and humidity is so hard to control here.
Dessert is a tricky thing here - If you order at Aria, you are ordered just a few selections, but you can walk over to the cafe, basically an extension of Aria, and pick from a larger array of delicious-looking cakes. The quality is top notch although they don't taste very Italian, but the coffee is super Italian - it's like back in Italy where the coffee is smooth as silk yet flavorful and carries a kick. Gotta try the coffee if you are a caffeine consumer.
I would say that Aria has a distinct flavor of Italia, a country that I had the privilege to visit, in every little way that it prepares its food. If you go to Boracay to party and just want to have those cheap seafood (or
expired frozen seafood) buffet, it's totally fine and fun; if you want to finish the day or re-energize with solid Italian food, Aria will not disappoint you.
SERVICE
They would have received five stars if it wasn't for some young boy who looks 17 years old and was obvious being coached when he was helping the main waiter. In fact, all the waiters looked pretty nervous for some strange reason, but they really tried very very hard to act professional and do things exactly how a Michelin-starred restaurant would do. One small detail is that I noticed they are trained to try to orient the dish so that it looks the nicest to the person in front of it, which is a cool thing to do and demonstrates attention to detail.
AMBIENCE
I frankly don't know how to begin with this one..... If you look at the first picture closely, you'd see that the outdoor tables are right on the sand. If you turn around, you see the picture below. Blue skies, turquoise water, ladies in bikini (OOPS! Wife, I wasn't looking!) and gorgeous sunset, you pick. It's an ambience that is purely work of God and result of embrasing development vs. preserving nature. But as a beach lover and gourmet eater, I selfishly welcome this attitude - at least they didn't make the mistake of placing a big McDonald there! For those who are strange enough to sit indoor, it's cozy and you are close the bar which gets very busy with foreigners at night.
VALUE The first thing everyone will tell you when you land in the Philippines is "STOP converting prices to US dollars!!" If you converts their prices to USD, they don't seem that bad, but if you compare their prices with the prevailing dining fares in Metro Manila, you know you are paying a small premium for the sand on your feet. Granted it's not huge, you typically would expect a pasta to be at least decent in size because it's US$7, but it's pretty tiny. Then again, if you put a price tag on the beach, then the premium is the tiny one!
BOTTOMLINE
So here is my challeng to you - If you can find another high-quality restaurant that sits on the sand right in front of one of the world's top beaches, enter a comment below this article and I promise I will check it within my lifetime no matter where it is! Aria is not to be missed if you enjoy sand, sun, blue water, beautiful sunset AND downright great food.
BTW
If you go right at lunch or dinner time, you can forget about getting a good seat outdoors. Everyone in Boracay want those seats badly. You need to be there like 2pm or 5pm. You can try making reservation, but frankly it's just not a reservation type of town.
