Aristocrat Pub & Oxford Room — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Updated Review (Visited 8/3/25):

My wife and I returned early evening on August 3rd. I hesitated to post this because we genuinely like this place—but for contrast, I’m including my previous review below.

This visit, my wife stuck with a proven winner: the breaded pork tenderloin. As always, it looked great, tasted even better, and was big enough to take some home. No complaints there.

I went with the Reuben sandwich. Not bad, but it felt a bit light on the ingredients. Still, the main reason for this update is the appetizers.

We ordered the spinach and artichoke dip with nachos—solid choice. But I also wanted onion rings. I asked to sub them for the chips that came with my sandwich, but that wasn’t an option. You can only get onion rings as a separate appetizer. Fine, a little annoying, but whatever.

The real issue? The onion rings were awful. Clearly frozen, straight out of a bag, and tasted like it. I love onion rings, but these were a mess, flavorless letdown. It’s not that hard to slice an onion, batter it, and fry it fresh. Not only does it cost less for the restaurant in the long run, but when done right, the result is far better—crispy, flavorful, and worth eating. These were not. I had to send them back which is something I have rarely done.

Everything else we’ve had here has been great, which is why we keep coming back. But please, ditch the frozen onion rings. You’re better than that.

(Previous Review Below for Contrast):

Back for our second visit today at dinner around 6pm on 9/20. Classy is your first impression, lots of beautiful woodworking. Tastefully decorated with lots to look at, very folksy. Plenty of seating choices inside and out. Cozy booths and tables await you inside and an elegant bar. Outside plenty of seating with overhead fans when necessary. We sat outside this time around the weather was good and we enjoyed ourselves street side dining. The food here is very good and pleasantly priced. There was a very steady stream of people coming and going. Very busy here, parking could be your challenge, they have a small parking lot some street parking is available you’ll have to be quick. Today we got the - Super Nachos for $14 - STACKED CORN TORTILLAS, CHEESE SAUCE, PICO DE GALLO, CILANTRO AND MEXICAN QUESO FRESCO CHEESE. CHOOSE: AVOCADO, BLACK BEAN, OR CHICKEN this could easily be a four person appetizer. (It’s huge) And both of us choose the - The Hoosier Tenderloin $16 A CENTER CUT FRESH PORK LOIN, SEASONED BREADING, AND FRIED OR GRILLED we both got the breaded tenderloin I got fries and she got broccoli for sides. The Tenderloin’s huge pounded thin breaded and crispy fried. Absolutely delicious the French fries were snappy and perfect. The broccoli was smothered in butter and very tender and tasty. This is a great place to stop by for a bite. They have a large interesting menu, that deserves an eat through. 😊 We look forward to a return trip. We had a great time, good service and...

I had high hopes for Aristocrat being a great place to eat at due to the good looking food and reviews it gets. Unfortunately I hate to say it but our experience was a major letdown.

We walked in at around 6 PM on Friday and they were relatively busy but we got a table instantly. Our waiter got our drink orders and he was SUPER friendly. He was apparently a new guy and was just getting started, but he was super polite and kind to us!

However, here is where it starts going downhill.

It took at least 10 minutes to get MY beverage. My partner ordered a beer and in the end, it took roughly 20 minutes to get that. Apparently the bar was slammed, so that may explain.

Our appetizer, we ordered the pretzel with beer cheese (picture attached below). It was okay, the pretzel was rather chewy and hard to bite into. The beer cheese however, was pretty good!

Then we got our entree order placed. I got the Tenderloin with kettle chips, and my partner got the Crab cake burger with fries. Our food surprisingly came out quite fast. The tenderloin was okay. Although it was huge, It was really lacking in seasoning. But it was fried perfectly golden brown, and was hot and fresh. And again, not enough seasoning in the breading. The kettle chips were decent.

My partner however claimed the Crab cake burger was just average.

So in the end, I will say, our experience was sort of a letdown. The food honestly didn’t live up to the hype I hoped it gets. However, I MUST give props to our waiter. He was so kind to us, apologetic about the slow service, and was very attentive to all the tables he had to do. Overall, he was a great waiter to have!

So overall… Wait staff: A+ Wait time: B+ Food: B+ Vibe: A+ Will we return?: Maybe (I’ll probably try the Fish and Chips or the fish...

I first dined at Aristocrat in 2011 or 2012 and was left with a fairly neutral first impression; BUT, since first returning to Aristocrat in 2017, this near-90-yr-old dining establishment – with it's warm and charming decor & personality, great food, and outstanding customer service – has become a favorite for my spouse and me.

Other than a couple hiccups in customer service, our dining experiences here have been great! So much, so, that we've held two of our four company Christmas parties and several other family and social occasions here, in addition to our many enjoyable just-the-two-of-us dinners.

We enjoy the Saturday evening live entertainment in the main dining room (especially the very entertaining regulars: acoustic folk group, Laughing Jack, the "well-seasoned peddlers of sea shanties, traditional songs, Irish and American tunes") ... and, of course, the consistently great food.

The Hoosier Tenderloin is amazing! The French Dip, Prime Rib, Steaks, Burgers, French Onion Soup – and everything else we've tried – are all consistently excellent!

Staff, and the customer service they deliver, are almost always top-notch – welcoming, friendly, attentive, and caring.

Parking is sometimes a challenge; but even if we occasionally need to find street parking on College Ave or a nearby side street, it's well worth a short walk in the nice neighborhood to make our way to Aristocrat.

Always looking forward to...