Circle City Bar & Grille

For the love of everything’s, don’t
Yes, we know hotel restaurants are overpriced. It’s not a surprise. But his was so blah.
First, I’m at a conference with 1200 people in the hotel. Lunch hits and they only have one part of the restaurant open and we are waiting about 30 minutes to get in. It was raining and Champs had a longer wait, so there we were.
I had a $ 20 voucher and decided to get the $ 20
Pesto dish. Meh. I would have been happier at noodles and company. Quite dry. Small portions. I was starving afterwards.
Other options were great. The folks who got sandwiches and burgers — very small for $ 12 as a starting price.
Sigh.

Ugh — no.
Stopped in while I was in town for a convention. We had 90 minutes to get some lunch and get back to the convention center.
There was a 15min wait to be seated (despite multiple empty seats). After being seated, we were greeted and ordered right away since we were in a hurry. We ended up with two medium rare burgers, a club sandwich, and a few sodas.
51 minutes from the time we were seated before our food arrived. We quickly finished our soda and were never offer refills as we sat to watch multiple other tables receive their meals.
The fries were all cold. The burgers were tepid, charred and, very well done. We ate it without complaint as we simply didn’t have the time to complain. We got very disappointing food, horrible service, and were late retuning to the convention center.

I had dinner here last night. I ordered the burger (medium rare of course) and enjoyed a local IPA while I waited.
I decided to skip the homemade chips and did not substitute any else. I just wanted to test the burger. This was a fresh handmade patty cooked to perfection. It was not overdone with spices and 400 day aged beef, just a solid representation of an amalgamation of bun, cheddar cheese, lettuce, onion and tomato which was the accompanied by some mayo and ketchup. My only complaint, which I am not sure is a complaint was the mayo was from a packet. Not a fan of that.
I ended the evening with a glass of Bullitt, and a mighty fine pouring that was. Sent me to my room perfect.

I can easily say this was an above average experience for a hotel restaurant. Twice now the service has been excellent, with Paulo especially being very polite and welcoming.
The breakfast buffet featured some of the highest quality food that I’ve had at a hotel restaurant, including an excellent omelette station and a nice selection of continental items. For dinner, the quinoa tabouli was particularly good.
It is a little bit more expensive because it is in a hotel and it is in downtown Indianapolis, but other than that my wife and I were very pleased with our two experiences.

I was staying at the Marriott and was starving upon arrival. I ate here for a fast and delicious meal and that is exactly what I got.
I had the chop chop salad and enjoyed it thoroughly. It was so good that I hope to have it again before my business trip is over because I am still drooling over it!

Poor service. We waited nearly an hour for our food and finally had to leave without eating to attend our conference.

Excellent breakfast buffet. They have a chef at the buffet that will cook eggs or an omelette fresh for you. Hostess and wait staff very friendly and attentive.

For Devour Downtown, my wife and I went here for our date night. The atmosphere was very romantic. Free valet parking for the restaurant, which was awesome. They seated us in a booth in the back. Our server really took care of us, very friendly and attentive. I had a Caesar salad and the salmon. The salmon just fell apart in my mouth. For dessert, we had the blueberry butter cake. Another melt-​in-​your-​mouth moment. Everything was awesome. I’d definitely recommend this restaurant.

If it wasn’t for Devour Downtown, I probably would never consider a hotel restaurant. Circle City Grille didn’t disappoint. A lovely, intimate spot for our weekly date night.
First of all, the valet parking is free for the restaurant. I’m already sold! It’s a blessing to not walk three blocks in heels to a restaurant. The quiet, intimate atmosphere was just what we needed after a long day at work. Our server was a doll and really made our night fabulous. Big tip coming your way!
I ordered the goat cheese appetizer and the quinoa bowl entrée. The cheese was divine! Presentation was gorgeous. Is licking your knife inappropriate? Oh well. And the quinoa was a delightful alternative to the usual chicken-​steak-​fish menu at many places. The combo of quinoa and veggies was delicious, and I didn’t feel like don’t after dinner, which is always nice.
And then, there was cake. And it was good. Warm, gooey buttery texture with melting vanilla ice cream and blueberries. Prefect end to a lovely dinner!

I struggle to find something positive to say from last nights experience. First impression was that this place was a poor attempt at converting a conference room into a nice restaurant. Our server couldn’t answer a single question without asking a bartender, a manager or another server. Between my pork dish and my wife’s chicken, everything tasted reheated and rubbery. The best thing we ate came in the bread basket.

This place was so delicious. Very classy and fancy. Something I’m not used to. But I had a gift certificate so I was able to go. The service was great. The server was very friendly. The food was even better. The appetizer was the best part. I had fresh fried mozzarella balls, so good. If you want a classy night with a good menu then I was definitely recommend this place.

Nice hotel spot to grab a decent lunch while at a convention. While I am here this week attending a trade show there are a bunch of my clients exhibiting in a few of the ballrooms in the Marriott hotel. I decided to grab a quick lunch at Circle City since it was getting late and my stomach was grumbling.
The place itself has a nice layout and décor. Think «upscale hotel bistro» as an example. Nice dark wood tables and chairs with a flair of class to the overall presentation. A tempting basket of rolls and flatbreads was placed on my table. Yeah, I gave in to the bread and butter. Damn those delicious carbohydrates!
My waitress was kind and referred to me as «honey» and «sweetie» in a sincere grandmotherly way. She brought over a menu and was patient when I told her I needed a few minutes to decide.
The lunch menu is limited but has a diverse mix of soups, salads, sandwiches, desserts, and main plate entrees. I had a roasted turkey BLT with applewood smoked bacon and lemon pepper mayo on toasted sourdough. I like that you have the choice of french fries or fruit so I took the fruit, and it’s a nice sized cup that was placed on my plate. Everything tasted good and fresh. The sandwich was nice and warm too. For only $ 10 it’s a perfect lunch portion. My iced tea was filled constantly so no complaints at all.
Beats the heck out of the convention center food and crowds. I might come back here again tomorrow.

Its a hotel bar, but the food is really, really good. Its not expensive either. A party of 2 can get in for under $ 50. They have a drink menu, a ton of different liquors and a pretty big selection of scotches. Decent amount of wine. Its a good place to get a nice drink before the Indians game or meeting friends after work. Its very clean, you can get parking validated in the garage for free, it has a nice location… the bartenders are friendly and the food is really good.

I do not enjoy eating in hotels. Especially the ones I am staying in. Especially when they are busy.
However.
This place was certainly different. The vibe was very upscale and somewhat classy, and I really felt as though I should have been wearing a blazer. I wish I would have, truthfully. I asked the hostess, though, what the dress code was, and she surprised me when she said there was none, that sometimes they had people in their bathrobes come down to eat for breakfast.
Weird. BUT. I still felt under-​dressed without a jacket. The lighting was intimate, there were big satin curtains lining all of the walls, and the furniture was dark wood with red accents. Needless to say, I thought the place looked pretty nice.
But then I saw the menu, and I was really surprised. The appetizers were very different from each other, ranging from hummus to hot wings to cheese and deli meat platter, with everything in between, and the entrée options were each creative and tempting. I do not often eat steak out, so I didn’t really factor those items in with that statement because, how can you really change up a piece of meat on a plate?
We had the red pepper hummus for an appetizer which came with Naan (amazing choice) as well as fresh vegetables including celery, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes, and calamato olives. WOW. This appetizer was 8 $ and took up our entire table. I was not disappointed by the price, and the taste… superb.
For entrees, I had sandwich with slow-​roasted pork (not pulled pork) with red peppers and pepperjack cheese in a ciabatta roll with some of the best fries I’ve ever had; she had a roasted turkey leg with a cornette and mashed potatoes. We both stole food from each other’s plates until the food was gone.
Go here. It will be a little more expensive than Applebee’s. But if you go for the food and not the booze (which you notice I didn’t bother to touch on), you can get away with an incredible dinner for two for under $ 50. I happen to think that’s a pretty good deal.

This is the kind of place that’s not a chain, but does everything it can to look, feel and act like one. It is as unimaginative as you can imagine. And the drink menu features absolutely nothing you really crave, just a few things you might tolerate if you were really in the mood, really rich, and not very discriminating.
One day, everything in downtown Indy will look exactly like this. At that point, there will be no reason to come here. There’s already no reason to go to the Circle City Bar & Grille.