Beef & Boards Dinner Theatre — Attraction in Indianapolis

This was our second time here, and it's a nice adult, date night experience. If you go into this with the expectation that you're eating buffet-style St. Elmo's and watching a Broadway cast and production, you're going to walk away greatly disappointed.

That said, we always enjoy our meal: it's fine. Not amazing, just fine. Some menu items are quite good. Others are just OK. It's buffet style, so I recommend getting a little bit of everything that appeals to you. If you like some of your selections well enough to make a meal of them, by all means do so. Last evening, the cod was not great - on our previous trip, it was a pretty solid choice. The spaghetti and meatballs was very tasty - apparently (it was rumored by our nearby table) to be Frankie Valli's personal recipe. With this in evidence, the man must cook as well as he sings! Pasta was all dente, the marinara was flavorful, and the meatballs were amongst the best I have ever had at any price. My wife's prime rib was beautifully cooked and tasty as well. They have a nice salad bar, and the side options are varied and flavorful. They attempt to appeal to a wide variety of tastes, dietary restrictions and proclivities. One should be able to select and construct an adequate meal nearly without reservation at the buffet.

We saw "Jersey Boys" last evening, and it was a lovely production. It is difficult to cast adult male vocalists with the range to play this cast. That said, we enjoyed the show, quietly sang along, and toe-tapped throughout.

We had previously seen "Beautiful" the Carole King musical, which we loved from start to finish!

Nearby tables raved about productions they had seen over the past few years, and we all discussed those shows we were looking forward to later this season.

The one consistently superb element to Beef and Boards is the house staff. From your initial greeting until your exit, the staff is smiling, happy, efficient, and speedy. You will not want for anything for very long. They will most likely anticipate your needs and take care of it before you think to ask. Water and beverages are offered and refilled frequently. The waiters and waitresses are friendly, and quite good at their jobs. They understand the speed and timing is crucial in this environment and the back of the house has anticipated much and is ready to support them to help you have a nice meal, nice entertainment, and an enjoyable time.

If you've never tried Beef and Boards, why not? You will most likely have a lovely time. If you haven't been in a while, you should support this local icon again soon. That's how you keep good dining and entertainment options around for...

Saw "Beauty and the Beast" here. It was a great experience, and we had a fantastic time. The food was good, but I don't know that I'd say "great." But, we weren't coming here for the food anyway. It was for the performance and the whole dinner theater experience.

But, with that said, the food was good. Pretty basic, but with all of the ages of people there -- small children on up to people in their 70s -- and with the large number of dietary restrictions people have these days, there was something for everyone. Good salad bar with lots of options, "side" items like cottage cheese, puddings, corn, green beans, and potato wedges. Finally, the "main" items. Again, nothing too fancy, but something for everyone. The roast beef was by far the best, the fried chicken tenders were average, and the mac-n-cheese was also pretty good. Anyway, solid options, something for everyone, nothing was bad, but nothing really was fantastic either.

The staff -- hostesses, servers, ushers, everyone -- were just amazing. All super friendly, all very helpful, and just treated you like they had invited you into their world and wanted to you love it as much as they did. No one seemed like they were just "working a job."

And the performance was absolutely top-notch. The entire cast had fantastic performances. They played their parts perfectly, the "breaking the 4th wall" moments were occasionally put in there, but always were timed exactly for maximum comedic value, and were just enjoyable all around. The orchestra -- such as it is, with only 5 people -- made it sound like we were listening to a 20 piece orchestra and added that extra depth to the performance that would have otherwise been missing. Lastly, the production folks (stage hands, lighting, and direction) also did a great job. You didn't know they were even there which, in my book, is the mark of an excellent crew. They do their jobs so well, that nobody even noticed them. I always say that if a production crew can see all the faces of the audience, something bad must have happened because they're all turning around looking at you.

Anyway, just a super enjoyable experience. Would absolutely recommend it.

All ages too. Smaller children might not make it at the 8PM performances that will run past 10PM, but if they can make it, they'll have a great...

This was my first time at B&B. I want to start out by saying The Addams Family show was amazing. From the main performers to the chorus, everyone was fantastic.

The good: The busboys were fantastic. They came by probably every 5 minutes. The facility is great. Short lines (if any) at the buffet and restroom. Box office people were helpful and knowledgeable.

The bad: The food. In addition to bread and the salad bar (both were fine), the menu was the following: steamed cauliflower, steamed asparagus, spaghetti with marinara, baked catfish, pesto risotto, chicken stew, and slow roasted beef. Veggies had no seasoning.

You think I mean not enough seasoning…I mean not a single pinch of salt. I didn’t eat the spaghetti, but our daughters said it was “ok but cold.” The pesto risotto was not risotto. It was mushy rice that didn’t taste like pesto and was also under seasoned. There weren’t bowls for the chicken stew. It looked good, but I didn’t want it to spread around the entire plate….you know….because IT’S A STEW. Finally, the beef was “ok.” It wasn’t prime rib. It was basically pot roast, which I usually love. Thankfully they had horseradish to go with it.

The Service. Our server said hello and took our drink orders. We didn’t see him for another 45 minutes, including no refills. We didn’t know about desserts because he never mentioned them. I saw other servers and they were on the ball. I said something about it, and a VIP member next to us commented that they’ve been there many times…and they’ve never had service as bad as this.

My wife and I wanted to join the VIP membership, but we decided not to. If the food improves, we definitely will. If the manager/owner sees this, you provide top notch entertainment, but you may want to rethink whomever is running the kitchen. They are phoning it in. Buffet food can be good; it can be something you can be proud of. Unfortunately, the food currently...