Rockbottom Restaurant & Brewery

I do love me some Rockbottom. They have a good variety of food with choices from steaks and seafood to burgers and pizza. I’ve never had any food here that wasn’t good. And their beer is pretty great too. The most impressive thing is how many varieties they offer. Seriously, it seems like they have every style represented here! We also received great service during our last visit, which helps change this from a «would probably go back» to a «will definitely go back» type of place.

We are visiting out of state for the weekend. We wanted to visit local breweries. We first stopped at Granite City. We have a wonder server and he walked us through the tasting sampler. We stopped after and we were so disappointed. Our server was busy talking with a female staff member in the back. He gave no info on the beers. My beer wasn’t my style and I took maybe 2 drinks, the server didn’t explain anything about the flavor and just said «everyone» likes it. Well guess what not everyone. After dropping out drinks off he never came back. After 25 mins my husband ask to host if we could please pay out check. She said the server hard to do it. Again we waited another 15! Our bill came 12.50 for the two beers that we didn’t drink. Inly husband gave him a 20 and the server did not come back for 18 mins! We will not recommend this place to anyone and the serve should be embarrassing for the owners. We drive in from Ohio and we were really looking forward to this stop. Do not waste your time stopping here.

We went here for dinner after being in town for business all week. I enjoy craft beers and was excited to try this place. We tried 4 different beers at Rock Bottom and I couldn’t finish any of them. A couple were too bitter to even enjoy… just bad and my favorite beers are IPA’s.
Next, ordered Salmon. First one came out looking like chicken breast. I questioned the server and they said oh yeah they kind of over cooked it. We’ll bring you another piece. Well, what they brought back was sashimi. Awful. The rest the group was not impressed with their meals either. I don’t know if I’ll ever be back in Indianapolis but if I am I will not return to Rock Bottom.

I was never a fan of Rock Bottom, but I had a gift certificate so we tried this location. I’m a convert. They have a new menu and the service was top notch (ask for Rodge).
The beers at this location are much better than at some other locations I have been to (each Rock Bottom has its own brewmaster).
As I mentioned above, the service was impeccable. Rodge was extremely knowledgeable (without being a know-​it-​all) and friendly (without being fake) and fast (without being omnipresent). All his recommendations were spot on.
The food was very good as well. The bacon mac & cheese (with ale-​roasted chicken) was a winner. The noodles were the perfect doneness and the ale-​roasted chicken was a perfect complement to the rich cheesiness.
This location is very cool. There’s a little retention pond in front so if you dine outside, you get a cool little view.

Cuban cristo was very good with sweet and spicy jalipino berry jelly. I liked this very much.
Flight of beer most OK
Pumpkin spice ale was interesting but would not want a full glass
I liked the specialty dark
The service was fine until the end and then we were left for a long time until we went and got a server to get the check

Always a favorite. Great BBQ Chicken salad and an IPA. Reasonable priced, consistent quality.

Had $ 50 in gift certificates from Rock Bottom due to a prior lack luster experience at the same Rock Bottom a year prior, thought maybe something had changed. Boy was I wrong!
Sat at the bar and decided to have dinner since I had these gift certificates to use. Mind you, it is 8:00 pm on a Friday night after the normal dinner rush and before the HS football game from across the street let out. The bartender at first was attentive and was very helpful at helping me choose a beer that I would like, since what I normally drink, browns and stouts, aren’t in season. Ordered the Baja chicken sandwich for dinner and the wait begins. After waiting for a half hour, the food finally came. Said something to the bartender about it, his response was ummmm… and walked away never to return. After having such a poor experience a year ago, his reaction just put a further bad taste in my mouth about this restaurant. The sandwich too was just Meh.
After getting another bartenders attention, I paid cash for the «entire» bill since my bill wasn’t over $ 25 to use a gift certificate and they won’t give you change back on it. Before walking out the door, I graciously asked one of the hostesses if I could talk to one of the managers. The manager promptly came and asked how they could help me. Told her what went on at the bar with my service and food. Her response was that there was nothing she could do since this issue wasn’t brought to her attention when it happened. I told her I promptly asked the bartender this question and his reaction. She asked which bartender it was, I told her and she promptly escorted me out the door and said thank you for coming. What restaurant treats their customers that way???
Will never return to this restaurant again. May even think of boycotting the location Downtown too.

My friend and I just had drinks at the bar, but I’d go back here for sure. The bartender was friendly, and upon hearing me remark upon the fruity drink my friend ordered — he served me up the leftovers from the shaker in a small glass. I thought that was a nice touch. Good bar atmosphere, this would be a nice neighborhood hangout.

We were in Indy for a baseball tournament so we went eat, there was probably a table of 18 of us. HORRIBLE SERVICE!!! The server was giving us our check BEFORE we even got our food. He said that it would «help get us out of there quicker» haha… 1 hour later we got our food, still no check. We all finished eating. still no checks. We were wandering around looking for our checks then looking for a manager. Long story short … we found a manager and expressed our frustration. She did apologize and was kind enough to comp all our bills. Ugh… thank god for that!

Don’t do it! Now I remember why I haven’t been in so long! Went for a birthday party/​dinner and wanted to try something out of the «norm.» My party & i were highly disappointed. I ordered the steak & cajun shrimp and for the price i was not happy with the food portions. I had a 5oz steak… a 5oz steak! My plate looked like a kids meal that was $ 20! The food was bland & then i took a look around at the crowd… and realized i was at a MCL! The sign tells you exactly what your gonna get ROCK BOTTOM… i just didn’t learn but i know now!

My family and I (6 people) went to Rock Bottom off 86^th St to have lunch and celebrate my daughter’s birthday. We had beers, appetizers and lunch. While our food was good our service was unacceptable. Long delays even though they were not busy. Server didn’t check on us or attend to us. We had to go find him. We talked to the manager and all she said was she’d address it with him. She didn’t offer anything to make it right. Nothing. We will never dine there again or recommend it to anyone.

Wait staff is always good. Food is good lacks presentation However the fact that when you check in and told 2pm minute wait while there are multiple tables empty is a problem. Also, hostess seems like she thinks she is better tan her patrons. Soooo affected.

Beer is unique and delicious. Food is cooked perfectly to order, and everything on the short menu is reliably delicious.
The waiter was fantastic. When I asked for a sample he brought out multiple samples to make recommendations based on my tastes. He was very kind and cared about my selection.
Great overall experience.

I work with a pretty great group of people, and we sometimes want to grab a drink after work. Being so close to Rock Bottom, it’s a no brainer for us on where we go. With awesome happy hour prices on appetizers and a pretty substantial selection of beer, wine and mixed drinks, everyone can find something here.
I also highly suggest joining their frequent diner club. It doesn’t take long to start acquiring points that can be redeemed for pint glasses, free food, and invitations to special events. A few beers, some pretzel appetizers and you’re well on your way to earning points.
The place fills up around 5. especially on Friday evenings, so I usually try and get there a few minutes before 5 to grab a spot in the bar area (which is open seating).

This was a fun get together with my brother as we hadn’t had a chance to catch up. We opted for Rock Bottom as we had a diverse crowd and needed to cover special dietary needs including vegetarian and complete vegan. Rock Bottom provided that experience. The only sad part was that our Vegan could not have the beer, as the filtration material involves non vegan material. That was ok, we were able to go with a light wine. The food was delicious, generous portions, service was great and our server took the time to offer to double check a few things just to be double sure no food specifications were compromised. You do not find that in many places! We will definitely be returning to this location.

$ 50 in gift cards to burn suggested that a phat lunch at Rockbottom was in order. Why not splurge when not footing the bill, right? Wrong. Read on.
We are the odd birds that opted for a late lunch at about 2:30 on a Saturday and chose to sit in the bar where we could see in to the cool brewing area. We were two of about 8 patrons total in the restaurant, so we should have had stellar service, right? Wrong. Read on.
We started with a beer flight — good pours and a good price point at $ 6 for 6 samples which are pre-​set for you. I liked the specialty dark best (of course) and then the New Years ale (brewmasters choice of the day). The Kolsch, White ale, and red ales were pretty good as well. Wasn’t a fan of the IPA, nor was my usual IPA fanboy hubs.
For an app we chose the Ball Park Pretzels — the 2 pretzels were freakishly huge and came with an $ 8.25 price tag. Not a bad gig if you are looking for a filling snack to split with a friend over some beers. However, the spinach/​cheese/​something-​or-​rather dip was served at a barely lukewarm temp. A thick film had even formed over the top. Yuck. Would have sent it back for a warm-​up, but our server was nowhere to be found.
We ordered lunch — the Cold smoked sockeye salmon with roasted habanero tomato salsa, white cheddar mashed potatoes, and vegetables for me and the Baja chicken sandwich with onion rings for the hubs.
Soooo the food comes out and the only thing I could say was, «THIS is my $ 20 salmon meal?» The salmon was rock hard, dry, tiny, and an odd color. My potatoes had the «been under the lamp too long» hard shell on the outside. Hub’s meal came out wrong and had to be sent back due to his specific allergy. Not a good sign.
Hubs went to get a manager (we hardly ever do this) and I could hear her saying «I know what this is about» as she walked up to our table. Close on her heels was the head chef whom the manager quickly defaulted to and disappeared. We explained that the salmon was not flaking AT ALL, was hard, and basically inedible. Initially the chef attempted to explain that the cold smoking process makes the fish this way. Ummmm, no. He took it away and offered to make me something else, so I opted for the Bourbon Salmon instead.
Well, the pictures say it better than I can. Attempt 2 at lunch was much much better… and accompanied by 2 pints of beer compliments of a (now) very apologetic head chef. However, I feel that we were past the point of a big star redemption as our experience was just barely at the «Meh. I’ve had better.» rating.
Don’t get me wrong — I totally appreciate the chef’s attempts to «make it right» by bringing me a new lunch and comping a few pints of their brew. However, when the bill came, I was still charged for my $ 20 inedible first lunch which just struck me as funny at this point. Add the fact that we didn’t even have silverware until after our meals arrived and other random oversights and I feel that 2 stars may actually be generous. There are too many GOOD breweries in Indy to suffer through this place again. Sorry, Rockbottom.

I got the street tacos, 2 steak and 2 fish. The steaks were good but I couldn’t taste the fish in the fish tacos. I also ordered the carrot cake. That was amazing. The service and food was good.
The only bad part was the bathroom. It looked like they toilets haven’t been cleaned in weeks to months. That was super disappointing to see after experiencing the food and service. For that, I am giving it 3 stars.

My family and I decided to come here because we didn’t feel like traveling too far from the house. When we entered the restaurant, the hostess displayed a bubbly personality, welcomed us, and quickly showed us to our seats. The server, I believe his name was Terry, arrived shortly thereafter.
Our server took the drink orders and made sure to brew me a fresh pot of coffee, which I appreciated since I often end up getting old coffee in other restaurants.
I ordered the Asiago Artichoke and Crab Dip, which was served with Crostini. It was good, however, it is nothing that I would make a special trip to get again. My order, as well as my husband’s fish and chips came out in a timely fashion, however my children’s orders came out approximately 15 minutes later. Therefore, my husband and I were almost done eating by the time their food arrived. The server apologized and explained that our orders were sitting in the window so he did not want them to get cold while waiting on the other orders. When the other orders did arrive everyone seemed to be happy with the food, but not particularly blown away.
Rock Bottom Brewery is not necessarily spectacular, however, it is also not a restaurant that I would avoid; as I am sure I will visit again at some point. After all, our server was spectacular (he could not help that the chefs left a large lag time between our meals). Also, I did not have any of their beer, but they have won awards for it so beer drinkers may find it worth their while to come check it out. I gave three stars because the food is not terrible, nor mind blowing, but it is okay. Additionally, the large amount of time that passed between our orders arriving to the table was unacceptable.

I used to frequent Rock Bottom before I started Unilocaling, and still make it back occasionally as a good place to go get some beers and some consistently good America pub style food so I am due for a review here.
The area of town where this is located can be a giant pain in the ass to drive through if you are coming through here around 5:30 or 6. They do have their own large parking lot that is easy to find spots in once you make it here. There is a hostess up front who can seat you in the large quieter restaurant side of the business, or you can venture into the separate bar area and try to find seating around their horseshoe shaped bar or at a number of tables or booths in that same section. There are some views of the brewery space from the bar, but it’s all through windows and getting to see anything very neat is unlikely. It is common to find the bar area completely full on their busier nights or around the 6 o’clock hour when people go after work.
I used to sit at the bar a lot, and always had great service. There was an older bartender there most nights who was one of the more attentive and nice bartenders I have had. Service at tables is always good, and I think that they do a good job of keeping their wait staff sufficiently trained about their beer selection for them to offer suggestions and descriptions of beers. They even provide samples for you to try before you commit to a pint. The do brew their own beer here, but I always find that everything they have is on the safe side of things. It seems like each style is always executed well so you likely aren’t going to get anything bad, but it’s never anything that is outside of just average. I would think a place with its own brewer and setup would get a little more creative and put something out that didn’t taste like it came from a run of the mill 6-​pack. Maybe I am just ordering the wrong beers here.
The food is mostly American style pub food, with a lot of appetizers, big salads, sandwiches, and burgers as offerings. I know that their burgers are good and that the serving sizes are very large. They also have some more interesting choices in which they put some twists on the usual favorites that make them better and more flavorful (and usually more unhealthy) than what you might find on a more generic bar menu. The nachos that they have are good and will easily satisfy a table of 3 – 4 people. I have ordered their mac and cheese and their fish tacos before, and both of them were delicious. I recall them having special happy hour pricing for certain things on their food menu, but I don’t recall what those were.
The wait staff/​bartenders and the fact that their menu branches out from just the standard pub foods bumps this place up to an above average American style bar/​restaurant. The beer probably would never draw me here unless it was to take advantage of a growler fill special. Overall, a safe bet to bring a group to enjoy some food and beers.

From my first visit to the original Rock Bottom Brewery in Denver to this visit 20 plus years later, I have always found their beer to be interesting and often above average. The beer was above average with this visit too.
But the physical space at this particular Rock Bottom in North Indy is looking worn and run down. In particular the mens bathroom was a smelly, scummy disaster. Take some of your profits and redo this mess of a bathroom. Not only is it out of date, but it smells, the floors were sticky and slimy, it has crud everywhere in the corners on the floors at the walls. It is a visual and olfactory insult to your great beer and good food.
Though it has been awhile since I have eaten at a Rock Bottom, I used to be rather a regular at the Chicago location and often visited the Denver locations, on this visit I found the menu items a bit overpriced from what I remember, and the quality, though good enough, wasn’t anything special. This doesn’t mean it was bad, it wasn’t bad, it was good. But it was nothing special. And what was even more of a chuckle for me was the «Burger Specials,» which were nothing particularly special or appealing. Guess when you are able to eat at Kuma’s Corner in Chicago, you expect a special burger to actually BE something special, novel, new, interesting or unique. Not just a burger you can find on dozens of different bar menus all around town.
Our wait person, Cassandra, was wonderful, if a bit over worked, or possibly new. But she was a charm to have waiting on us.
Would I eat here again? Maybe.
This location was a bit of an overall let down as compared to the 6 or 7 other Rock Bottom locations I have been to in my years since I met Harry Carry and Steve Stone at the original Denver location all those years ago for my first visit. This place, for me, is clearly the least of this chain’s locations visited.
I AM glad the beer here was as good as I remembered it everywhere else, as that was a pleasure to enjoy.