Aroma Kitchen & Winebar- (Next to BBar)

I was really excited about this charming little winebar. I had walked by it a hundred times on my way to BBar, but never poked my head in to spy on the dishes. The owner is a woman from Malta and a guy from Italy (I assume they're a couple, though their website doesn't specify). Being the drunkies we are, the three of us shared a bottle of luscious Montepulciano. At $32, it was the cheapest bottle of red on the menu. Our wonderful Italian friend (from Jersey) recommended the gratin of gnocchi, sausage, and some other heavenly flavors that was so rich I thought I had won the lottery. On a carb kick from the gratin, the three of us shared 2 pastas. The first pasta, linguine "al cartoccio", baby clams, fennel, white wine, was admirable by Macaroni Grill standards, but for $18, I would have gotten another two glasses of Montepulciano. Our other pasta dish was bucatini "cacio, pepe e uovo", pancetta arrotolata, recommended to us by the server as having lots of mouthwatering cheese. Quoting the first of us who tried the dish, "it tastes like cat food." There was barely any cheese, so we figured it must have escaped from the pasta during the journey from kitchen to table! Or maybe, the egg swallowed it? If I ever go back, I'll just stick to a salad and maybe the sicilian meatloaf which looked good on my neighbor's plate.