The HC Tavern + Kitchen — Restaurant in Fishers

First off, this is a beautiful and quite large dining room. It is multi-level and has an outdoor space for nicer days. Our large group of 7 was seated with 15 minutes of arriving, with a reservation made prior. We loved our table! The waitress was nice but there were a few issues that I would like to mention. Six of us ordered a coffee and the coffee is French press. When it was brought out, only 5 people were given coffee mugs. When asked about the missing mugs, the waitress seemed a little annoyed and said, "I'm washing them." It would have been best to communicate that when the other mugs were delivered. If wait staff communicates well, customers don't have to annoy them with questions. Two people had side dishes delivered about 10-15 minute before the rest of their meal which we thought was weird. It was skillet sweet corn so not really something you want to just sit and eat by itself. It would have been better to deliver it with the meal. One member of our party ordered grapefruit halves. This was a real problem. The sections were not cut loose so they would be easy to remove. That's fine but there was also no utensil brought so she could do it herself. We asked for a spoon for the grapefruit and an enormous spoon was brought that was of no help. We then got a small spoon but ended up needing to wipe of a steak knife to use. She ended up getting it all over her and had to ask for more napkins. If they are going to serve grapefruit halves, they should have serrated grapefruit spoons for the customers to use. That's a common sense item IMO. With all of that, I would like to say that the food was excellent! Our party can vouch for the fried chicken and the ribs being out of this world. Our teenage sons said they thought this was the best food they've had in Indiana. I personally had the filet and it was cooked well but I have had better ones flavor-wise. The desserts were divine!! We can vouch for the cheesecake, the honey pie, and the chocolate mousse pie (with the marshmallow on top). The ambience was very nice. The place was clean and pleasing. I would give the food and atmosphere a 5 star and the service about a 3 star. This is quite above average on cost to dine so our expectation is much higher on service than what we experienced. Overall, we would go back and hope for a better experience since the food was...

If you follow me, you know I do not give out 5 stars easily. I also try to base my star rating off of the type of restaurants I am comparing so it's fair across the board. The category this restaurant falls in is the most competitive category, and it still rose above the rest to claim that 5th star in all areas.

Let's start with the staff. Each time I have been there, I have been treated excellently by the host and the wait staff. Our waiter Justin knew the menu and expertly described the flavors of the dishes we were in between to help us make a solid choice. He never let our table go without, but it was like he just knew when to be available and when to not interrupt. It truly felt like meaningful service instead of a scripted act. For sure, request his section upstairs. It's a great place to sit for any size party with it overlooking the outdoor area.

Now for the food. I mean, where to begin? It feels like fine dining quality food without the overly high prices of fine dining. Get the lobster cargot for an appetizer. It's something you can't find anywhere else. For dinner, get the spinalis steak. I have been to many steak restaurants, and this place takes the cake with the spinalis steak. Wagyu is all the craze, but I would put the spinalis against A5 Kobe any day of the week when it's prepared the way the HC does it. I know it's a bold statement, but fight me. The A5 has a tremendous amount of fat, which makes it tender, yet the tenderness is still achieved but without all the fat with the spinalis cut of steak. I have eaten various entrees at the HC, and they were all fine dining quality. For real, every single one. That is very hard to accomplish.

The atmosphere and the buildout of the restaurant are on a top tier level as well. They truly elevated the entire dining experience with subtle and hand selected choices that just make the restaurant stand out without being in your face.

It really all comes down to attention to detail. These folks do just that. They paid attention to the details in categories and then executed them over and over to craft a really great experience for a reasonable price point and still offer something to even the most discerning of eaters.

Bravo....

We went (gf and myself) for our birthday dinner... The restaurant is absolutely stunning! We had an amazing server Taylor! She was super busy and still gave us perfect service and even found sometime to hangout and joke around with us. You don't just get a server you get a team of people helping. Glad Taylor was apart of our Bday dinner!

Now to the food. I'll start w the only negative I have... Miss the wagu corn dogs. Not tender (at all) like you'd expect and honestly didn't taste much different than a regular corn dog lol maybe a little more gamey. I will say the portion was decent. Like 7 or 8 mini corn dogs.

The corn bisque w candied bacon and chives... Absolutely amazing! Such a deep corn flavor. Tastes like there is barely any filler. A must try!

We got the beet salad (vinaigrette goat cheese yellow and red beets and a pesto sauce which I wasnt huge fan of w micro greens). We also got a side of beets w goat cheese and candied pecans... I'd go w the side over the salad all day if your looking for beets!

Crab cakes... Absolutely amazing. Almost all chunky delicious crab barely any fillers. And they were decent size! Can't go wrong with the crab cakes. Don't quote me but I think it came w a spicy mustard leaf which added a spice w a vinegerret that was perfect w the crab cakes!

Dry rub ribs... A full slab of ribs for a great price comes w fries and coleslaw. It looked dry when we got it but I've never had ribs more tender. The kind of ribs you can't even pick it up by the bone because the meat just falls off. These are fork and knife ribs!

All that food for only 116! So actually incredibly decently priced for the quality of the experience and food!

YOU MUST TRY THIS PLACE!- call ahead and request Taylor lol! I'm sure the other servers are great to but...