10 West Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Cicero

We commonly go out with another couple to try out various restaurants in the greater Indy area, and I can share this is one of the better ones that we've done. First, we love the small town feel of Cicero coming in. We're interested in trying out several of the other local restaurant options. 10 West happens to be the name of the restaurant and the address for the restaurant as it sits on the northwest corner of a traffic light with highway 19. I don't believe they have any designated parking, but the various street options around the block are plentiful. They do take call-ahead seating, so that helped as we had heard they commonly have a decent wait, which was true on this Wednesday evening at 6:30. I've read they have dining in the basement, but we didn't check that out as our booth was in the main room. Our waitress, Carli, was prompt and full of personality in serving us. For appetizers, we ordered their mini grilled cheeses which come with a tomato horseradish soup for dipping ($8.50) and our friends ordered the soft pretzels with cheese. I had seen several mentions before about the tomato soup and they were accurate, it was the star of our appetizer options. My wife plans to try to duplicate it at home from now on. Although Wednesday is popular for their filet special, we each decided to investigate other parts of the vast menu options. Via Carli's recommendation, my wife ordered the Fish Tacos ($9.95), which were both quite filled and were some of the best fish tacos we've both ever had. It also came with a few tortilla chips as a side. I did the 10 West Pasta with Shrimp ($16.95), which was a decent-sized linguini and white sauce dish with a variety of vegetables and was OK, but I probably wouldn't get it again with the other options that are available. The other couple ordered a burger (with chips) and a Cuban sandwich (with cole slaw), which each looked real good and they both liked them. Bottom line, I would definitely come back and am interested to investigate what...

I won’t say that their food isn’t good, because it is. Atmosphere is nice too. I have been a few times and service was always ok, nothing spectacular, but not bad. Tonight was terrible. My in laws were in town to visit and we called in a large order right at 4:30pm when they opened because my two year old hadn’t taken a nap and we didn’t want to take her out to a restaurant. After waiting on hold for quite a while the bartender took our order over the phone and we were told our order would take 20 minutes. My in laws and I went to pick up the food along with my 7 year old daughter. From the minute we walked in we were treated like an inconvenience. When we asked if we could sit at a table and have a drink while we waited for our order (instead of at the bar since my daughter was with us) the manager suggested we sit at the bar and have my daughter sit in the waiting area alone. Since they don’t take reservations (so tables were not already reserved) and the restaurant was still empty we said we would prefer a table where my daughter could sit with us. They reluctantly gave us one and then the waitress rudely asked us what we wanted, brought our drinks 15 minutes later then literally walked by not saying a word and threw our check on the table. When we flagged her down and asked about our to go order 45 minutes later she said “I don’t do to go orders.” When we finally got our food I was so disappointed in the whole experience that I felt compelled to talk to the manager. She was the worst of them all. It’s no wonder the employees are so rude if they are following her example. I was so excited to show my in laws the great restaurants near our lake house and it was such a complete disappointment. As much as I like the food and atmosphere, I won’t come back if they continue to employ rude people who make you feel like an inconvience for patronizing their...

Meh After hearing people gush about this place forever, we finally had our chance tonight. We’d tried two other times but were discouraged by the long wait times and left. Tonight, late on a Saturday: 45 min wait, “or you can sit in the bar.” Nah, we’ll wait. And yes, it was 45 min.

Service doesn’t blow you away. Front door/greeters rushed and not welcoming.

Our waiter: nice enough guy, not very attentive. I’d asked for a lot of extra lemon for my sweet tea...and waited too long for that. Overall, he wasn’t bad, but sort of dropped dishes and ran.

But the really big letdown: the food. Edible. Not horrible, but not, by a long stretch, what everyone has described. Ordered the grilled cheese crostini app. Crostini? It was just little rounds of grilled cheese, texture of bread one step from Wonder. Served with a tomato horseradish something. I defy you to find horseradish in there...there was a small hint. No heat. It was a small bowl of otherwise bland creamy tomato soup.

Salads before dinner: reminded me of being at a ‘supper club’ in the 70’s, nothing special about that salad that also hade WAY TOO MUCH Parmesan cheese. Applebees level salad.

Entrees: husband’s steak cooked to his liking. Plating, presentation: booooooring. Whipped mashed. Meh. Creamed corn. Meh.

My chicken Marsala: just a step or two above a Lean Cuisine. The chicken was beaten within an inch of its life, then cooked to death. Reminded me of a chicken fried steak in consistency. The Marsala sauce and mushrooms: nothing special. Brown gravy.

Wow...was just shocked by how underwhelmed we were.

Now, if Bonges level or Union 50 level cuisine found this location—would be GREAT.

Finally, we are in the basement by bar and aye, it was FREEZING. I always run hot and even I thought it...