My spouse and I
dined at Aroma Restavracija (Restaurant) and Pizzeria for dinner on a Saturday
evening in early September 2016. The restaurant is open daily from 10:00 am
until 10:00 pm.
The restaurant is
located in Old Town on Ribji trg (Ribji Square), which means “Fish Square”. Ribji
trg is Ljubljana's smallest square, created after the earthquake of 1895. In
olden times, the area contained a fishing pier and a fish market, hence the
name. Presently, the square contains a small fountain from the mid-1800s topped
with a neoclassical statue of an ancient Greek girl holding a pitcher atop a
pedestal supported by three iron images of Poseidon, the Greek water god. Until
the early 1980s, the fountain occupied a garden next to Tivoli Mansion.
Aroma Restaurant
occupies the city’s oldest house, dating back to 1528. A plaque on the
building exterior indicates that Volbenk Posch, a merchant and former mayor of
Ljubljana, was its original owner. In 1562, the house was occupied by Primoz
Trubar, the father of the written Slovenian language and the leader of the Protestant
movement in Slovenia. Trubar served as cathedral vicar, canon, preacher, and
superintendent in Ljubljana from 1533 to 1565.
In addition to
indoor seating, you can dine outdoors in the small cobblestone square, or on
Cankarjevo Nabrezje, the promenade along the Ljubljanica River near the
pedestrian Ribja Brv Footbridge. The restaurant interior features lots of wood and high vaulted
ceilings.
Aroma serves
traditional Slovenian dishes as well as pizza, salads, steaks, and desserts. We
ordered two main dishes: goulash (prekmurski bograc) and fried fish and
potatoes (ocvrt oslic krompir); regrettably, despite asking several servers, we
never received the ketchup that we requested for the fries. Our dinner cost
approximately 30 Euros for two main courses and two rounds of drinks.
We enjoyed our al fresco dinner at Aroma amid the flurry of
activity on the promenade and the river.
