Restaurants Downtown Indianapolis

I%26#39;m looking for advice for a good restaurant in downtown Indianapolis.

We are having a dinner with local friends from northern Indiana with three generations coming from California. We don%26#39;t want a real expensive dinner and we also don%26#39;t want a ';beer joint';- a fun atmosphere with good service and good food. A ';Good midwestern restaurant that we will remember';

We prefer to be able to make a reservation because there will be 7 of us.

We are staying downtown and want something close by.

Please rank your top 3 recommendations that meet the above requests.

Thanks,

Steve from San Diego

Restaurants Downtown Indianapolis

Steve:

Let%26#39;s see -- 7 peeps from a wide range of ages, not too expensive but not a dive, fun, downtown, with reservations . . .

I don%26#39;t want to make this complicated after your reasonable and sane request to rank order 3 places. But since I%26#39;m not sure if some of your group are kids or old folk and ';expensive'; means different things to different people, it%26#39;s a touch hard to rank them or narrow it to three.

Based on your criteria, the one place that comes immediately to mind is the Rathskellar. It%26#39;s a German place with terrific food. They also have a nightly ';Bier Garten'; with live music in the summer. It%26#39;s a very cool place. You%26#39;d definitely remember it, though I%26#39;m not sure you%26#39;d say it was brimming with midwestern charm.

After that, it%26#39;s kind of hard to say . . .

Shula%26#39;s Steakhouse is really great IMHO, but to me it%26#39;s expensive. Same thing for St Elmo%26#39;s Steakhouse, Morton%26#39;s Steakhouse, and Capital Grille. I have heard good things about Scholars Inn and 120 West. I%26#39;m a fan of Eagle%26#39;s Nest on top of the Hyatt Regency hotel, which revolves and is fantastic at night. Good food, but pricey and a little formal. Dunaways is a local place specializing in seafood, might be pricy. I wouldn%26#39;t call any of these places ';fun.'; Jillian%26#39;s is fun, but may not be right for older folk. There%26#39;s also a Hard Rock Cafe.

After that, I think you%26#39;re probably looking at chain places like Weber Grill, Palomino, Champps, Rock Bottom, Buca di Beppo, etc. If everyone is drinking age, the Claddagh Irish Pub would be a good choice. Here%26#39;s a link to help you out. It shows menus with pricing.

americascuisine.com/indiana/鈥?/a>

Here%26#39;s another link:

http://indianapolis.diningguide.com/dl1dt.htm

Restaurants Downtown Indianapolis

The area along (or just off) Massachusetts Ave. (the northeast part of downtown) has a good assortment of local restaurants - so many places down by Circle Center ar chains. Rathskellar as already mentioned for German food (on Michigan), Amici%26#39;s for Italian (E. New York), Chatham Tap or MacNiven%26#39;s for English/pub food (both with great selections of beers and scotches), or R Bistro or Scholars Inn (a bit more expensive). To be honest, not sure which if any take reservations.

Thanks for the advice.

The ages of our group are

85, 82, 51, 51, 48, 40 %26amp; 28

Eliminating the steakhouses because the older people don%26#39;t want to spend that kind of money and eliminating the restaurants that primarily focus on Beer (beer is ok, but we are looking for good food %26amp; atmosphere over Beer) then I think we are focused on an average tab of about $22-30.

With this feedback would you be able to give your top choices?

What do you think of the restaurant ';Ram';

thanks

In the $25 range, you are going to principally be looking at the microbreweries such as Ram, Rock Bottom, and Alcatraz or a pub, all depending on how much you want to drink. All of the above have reasonable priced entrees and sandwiches, salads, etc. Of the microbreweries, I am partial to Rock Bottom, but Ram is good as well, I%26#39;ve not been to Alcatraz in a long time. Of the pubs, I would go for The Claddagh or McNivens.

Just visited a RAM in Tacoma (a pretty large chain), and used to like to have lunch at the one in downtown Indy. It%26#39;s a very good restaurant, catering to a wide range of tastes at a decent price (well within your range).

Scotty%26#39;s Brewhouse is a slightly more pub-food oriented place, but on a par with RAM, and is locally owned. It was my wife and my favorite of that type in Indy. It%26#39;s most definitely unique to Indiana - starting in the college towns, seeking out the ';higher end college dining market'; ...

Steve: With that criteria, I%26#39;d recommend Weber Grill, Rock Bottom, or Ram. Rock Bottom and Ram are kind of beer-focused, Weber Grill not so much. Food is good at all of them, good variety, and within your price range.

Agree with most of the comments above (not at all a fan of the Rathskellar, other than its GREAT bar - the best in Indy IMO).

However, ... Indy is WAY too chain oriented. We%26#39;ve gotta support the local guys who create a dining experience unique to Indianapolis/Indiana; or face and even more complete takeover of the restaurant scene by just another version of someone else%26#39;s hometown restaurant.

I%26#39;m not sayin%26#39; ignore the excellent chain places (Palomino, Sullivan%26#39;s, Morton%26#39;s) or the very good ones (RAM, Mo%26#39;s, Weber Grill, Alcatraz) or even the good ones (Oceannaire, Rock Bottom, Buca di Beppo, PF Changs, Champps, etc.). But the local guys struggling to compete and to survive in the sea of sameness deserve strong support - so long as you think they bring quality and service to the table. For example Harry and Izzy%26#39;s, St. Elmo, Peterson%26#39;s in Fishers, Ambrosia in Broad Ripple, Mateo%26#39;s in Noblesville, Brix in Zionsville, Scotty%26#39;s Brewhouse - downtown and Carmel, etc. Personally, I%26#39;d eat at ANY of those local restaurants before choosing to go to ANY chain restaurant, because they%26#39;re GREAT places to eat and they were born in Indiana, created by Hoosiers.

What makes Indianapolis a great city are the things that make it different. Having such a large proportion of chain restaurants makes us look unoriginal. We need to support the originals - particularly in places like this. I mean, WE HAVE GREAT LOCAL RESTAURANTS. We should passionately support them.

... end of rant.

O.K. - that was a little over the top, I should have sent private messages instead of posting here, and had a private, interactive discussion with you all. All are excellent contributors here (Indpls Traveler even seems to only recommend non-chains) ...

Sorry about that.

When you say ';avarage tab $22-30'; what does that include? If you are willing to pay that for an entree and no apps, drinks or desserts then check out places like Harry and Izzys or restaraunts on Mass Ave.

Dave- I was totally with you on that. No need to apologize imho. Of course I go to chain places %26amp; enjoy them, but local is the way to go when you can. And promoting local places is good. I guess my 3 favorite local places downtown are:

Yats

Bazbeaux

R Bistro

All conveniently located on Mass Ave. Not sure if these fit the bill for you erparadise or not. R Bistro strives to use local, seasonal ingredients, but might be a little pricey if your per person tab of $25.00 includes drinks, apps, %26amp; dessert.

SB2

blackheads