Aroma Bar and Indian Grill is getting ready to open two new locations before the end of the year, including sites in Indian Land and Uptown.
Owner Siva Kondamadugula plans to open first in the Redstone Shopping Center in mid-November, replacing Red Rocks at 9648 Red Stone Drive, according to the Charlotte Observer. Customers can expect a variety of traditional Indian dishes, such as Biryani, lamb chops, chicken tikka masala, and butter chicken, in a 5,700-square-foot, second-generation space. A second location is under construction at 401 N. Tryon Street, Suite 104, opening before Christmas.
This will be the second restaurant for Kondamadugula, following the opening of Biryani Pot near Concord Mills Mall five years ago. While this 2,900-square-foot restaurant has been successful thus far, reaching $2.5 million in sales last year, Kondamadugula expects the new Indian Land Aroma Bar and Indian Grill will double that revenue. He chose this area because of its proximity to other popular neighborhoods, such as Ballantyne, Waxhaw, Marvin, and Fort Mill. Eventually, he hopes to incorporate more fusion foods, such as pizza or crab cakes, into the menu.
“A lot of people come from south Charlotte and keep asking, ‘Why don’t you open where we can come more frequently?’” Kondamadugula tells Charlotte Observer. “In that area right now, while there are one or two Indian restaurants, at the scale that we operate, there is nothing. Now we see that uptown culture is back. We see an uptick in the foot count in uptown.”
