Fat Dan's Chicago-Style Deli, Carmel — Restaurant in Carmel

Good not impressive. I remember trying Fat Dan's many years ago when they first opened in broad ripple. The owner was there and he told us about how he came from Chicago which made us even more excited because we are also from northern Indiana and our playground was Chicago. Food, party, bars, concerts, festivals, car shows, just an entire vibe. Let's not leave out the food. Chi-town has a food game,a vibe in itself. Back to the review. We ordered the best burger we had ever had, the fries were separate, I think that was a new experience for me as at that time most places you could go to a restaurant and at least have an option of ordering combo style. I was relatively new to the area, the prices were a tad bit expensive for just the burger and fries but conversing with the owner, his hospitality and all made the cost worthwhile that day. Fast forward to a location closer to where I live today in Carmel we decided to give it another try with a flashback in mind from the original visit. Chicken wings sound amazing along with pizza, so that's what we ordered vegetable pizza, smoked chicken wings and a burger. The wake and bake burger with egg on it my daughter said was delightful, the smoke wings were good, even better with sauce and a pizza was decent, the place could have used a little tidying up. It wasn't crowded at all, staff appeared to be having time to frolic around and fraternize with one another but the place definitely could use some good housekeeping. Service was good, I'm not rushing...

Fat Dan's Deli portions were extremely generous and tasted amazing, especially the "World's Best Fries"! (They really were the best... made from scratch with some fried taters thrown in, and all piled in a copious heap on butcher's paper! Warning:. Just the small portion easily feeds three hungry people!). Their Italian Beef sandwich was amazingly good, and it's size completely lives up to the restaurant's name! I ordered mine pre-dunked (drowned!) in Au Jus, with an additional bowl of well-seasoned Au Jus on the side for further dipping! ( See photo below!) Eating the fries, along with this euphoria- producing sandwich, took me Hog Heaven! My wife relished her Chicago Style Hotdog with similar gusto! But...without a doubt, the best part of our dining adventure was getting to meet and chat with our extremely friendly, helpful, and caring waiter, Cam. He, along with a couple of his associates, really made us feel that we had been suddenly transported to a place where "Everybody knows our name, and they're always glad we came!". "Cheers" to Cam and to the amazing cooks, and all the staff at Fat Dan's Deli for making our lives just a little brighter, and our stomachs a little bigger, and my wallet not too much smaller! Only 10 bucks for the Italian beef sandwich with chips, 6 bucks for the dog, and the "small" fry order was only 5 dollars! An exceptional bargain in this inflationary age of...

The easy part to review is relative to the atmosphere. There was plenty of spaced out tables but the music was a bit loud.

The service - the young woman who served us was a delight and prompt and polite.

The food - we ordered bread sticks with 2 sauces and a pizza I think called Zelensky. A basic sausage and pepperoni with cheese and some kind of red peppers...a really nice touch. But bread sticks were slices of pizza dough rolled up and baked. And the dough on the pizza was not to my liking and the longer it sat there the worse it was. So I am not saying terrible and reviewing is totally subjective. And pizza is like going to church. We all have our own religion. I did note though this pizza had a nice amount of cheese and the sauce was not bad. I would not ever ask them to change because I tralled 40 minutes to get there with hopes of finding a place that was special. Strangely I did find a special place just next door - Stacco's. They have pastries and also have pizza but only for carryout. So if you live close by - these folks...