Geraldine's Supper Club & Lounge — Restaurant in Indianapolis

We went to Geraldine's for my birthday before a night at the symphony, and I am not sure if we'd go back. It is in an awkward part of Fountain Square, between a busy intersection, a church, a school, and a residential area. We couldn't find street parking at 5:30pm, and their valet is poorly marked- we circled the block a few times before asking the valet, who was sitting on the back stoop, if he was open. He unhappily said yes. It was uncomfortable, and was foreshadowing of my later interactions with this young man. If you go to Geraldine's, make sure you give yourself enough time to find parking in your own.

We went into the restaurant- it is gorgeous and beautifully decorated, and the menu is well planned. There is live jazz music, which was lovely. I had a martini with their signature 1908 gin, which tasted salty and soapy- I wasn't sure if it was the gin, or actual dish detergent that made it taste that way. I was never asked if my drink was OK, and everyone else finished their drinks and were asked if they wanted a second drink before I could muster up the courage to ask for a different cocktail. My waiter happily replaced it, and all was well.

Our dinner was good; we had a charcuterie and cheese board and the gorgonzola chips to start. Both were OK- the chips were really messy and hard to eat in semi-formal attire. My main was a short rib bolognese with hand cut pappardelle. The taste was lovely, but the short rib was not braised long enough to melt the collagen, resulting in chewy meat that you couldn't cut with a fork and eat with pasta.

Service was slow, despite initially being the only table seated. We had two hours before the symphony, and it took 1.25 hours to get our mains. By then we were rushed and had to quickly eat and skip dessert, which I was really looking forward to. We all abandoned uneaten food because we were in a hurry, and when we asked for the check, our waiter whisked the food away- initially we thought he was boxing it up for us, but we realized he had thrown it away without asking us if we wanted it. As someone who has experienced food poverty this distressed me.

When it was time to leave, my mother-in-law offered to drive us, and she asked for our car to be left in valet. After we returned from the symphony at 10pm, there was no one in valet again. I went into the restaurant and the bartender got the valet, who was sitting in the back. The valet proceeded to tell me in front of other patrons that he thought I had abandoned my vehicle ("Skipped out on the valet fee") and had held him up because he wanted to go home early. I asked if they were closed- I would never want to inconvenience anyone- but he assured me that the restaurant was indeed still open- and that he still had another car in valet- but that he wanted me to know that I had inconvenienced and upset him. It was embarrassing, and so uncomfortable. It ruined my whole evening, and my birthday to be talked to that way.

I think Geraldine's has a lot of potential given it's aesthetic and live music, but the location is difficult given the limited parking. I think the bar and food menus are well thought out but execution is somewhat lacking. I think if you avoid the valet and give yourself 2.5-3 hours to enjoy a meal, you will like Geraldine's. I don't know if I would go back given...

Came here to celebrate my sisters birthday, after hearing about what an amazing experience they had in February. Unfortunately, the experience they described was not the one that the three of us received on Sunday, July 10th.

Ill start positive - the food we ordered was cooked well and everything tasted delicious. Ordered one cocktail, crab cakes for appetizer, French onion soup, Cesar Salad, side of mushrooms, asparagus , scallops and a 20 oz. fillet that two of us shared.

Negatives and reason for low review were about service and environment of restaurant.

Empty cocktail drink sat on our table during the entire course of meal. Empty appetizer plates were not taken for a long time.

Server, Joseph, did not explain menu options well, luckily GM, Jason, came over and gave good recommendations.

Ordered a Cesar salad to share between two of us - no anchovies which we were disappointed by. Then hear the table next get offered anchovies for their salads. Ours came in one large bowl and we were able to dish it into two servings, again table next to us got it delivered on two plates. Some envy on the service they were receiving.

After finishing our meals at our dish covered table we waited for over 10 minutes before seeing our server again. Never offered us a dessert menu, we let them know numerous times that we were celebrating a birthday and never saw dessert menu.

Ordered coffee for two, luckily my sister remembering about it since we never saw a menu, from previous experience. Coffee seemed to taste very watering or maybe not the best beans, unclear. No amount of sugary sides was going to make it a good cup.

Got a check and waited another 10 minutes and finally had to go search for someone to pay.

Peaceful Jazz music played for the first hour, then it stopped and we got to listen to hip hop/rap coming from the kitchen.

When using the bathroom got to hear numerous choice words coming from the kitchen. Bathroom had no paper towels and was below the cleanliness standard I would expect.

GM, asked about experience and we let him know many of the issues and brought up not getting a dessert menu, and we still did not get to see one.

Jason proudly told us that he did not have two servers and a server assistant come in because it was slow and they could handle it. The restaurant was not crowded and we managed to spend almost 3 hours there, not by choice. Maybe having someone to clear tables and help could have made this a cleaner, better restaurant this evening.

Jason then coached Joseph in the bar right next to our table about the issues that we brought up as we were still sitting there. It was uncomfortable as the music had stopped so we could clearly hear the conversation.

Total bill for the 3 of us was about $300 after tip. I would expect a different level of professionalism and service than what we got. It was disappointing to hear what an amazing experience they had in February and what we received today.

My sister felt guilty that she picked to come here and I felt bad that she felt this way, but assured her that we had amazing company and that the rest was not important. It was sad to listen to someone apologize for picking a restaurant and having to assure them it was fine and not...

We adore going to Geraldine's, going 8-12 times per year, and recommending it to friends. It TRULY does pain me that I have to write this review, but we feel like we were completely SCAMMED on NYE. Previous New Year's Eve dinners have been wonderful four-course meals including oysters, and even giving sides with the main entree, but this year, we arrived and were disappointed (due to the outrageous price) with the menu, no oysters, or shrimp cocktails. They offered items such as meatballs or a small mushroom tart.

The scammy part: The main problem was there was NO PRICE listed whatsoever, so we assumed it would be comparable to the previous Nye dinners at 70-100$ a plate. the unlisted price of the dinner was an outrageous $150, almost DOUBLE what it used to be, and for a very average meal. The appetizers were tiny; I ordered a mushroom tart that came as one small 2-inch flat tart, and our friend ordered a crab cake that came out the size of a meatball. The second course was a normal cup of soup, and lobster bisque that had no lobster in it. I had to send back the main course, the quail because it was full of bones and so small; when I asked for the other item on the menu the "steak and lobster" she told me in a very stern tone "We are only having a fixed menu" so I had to explain to her it was the first option on the main course...... The steak fillet was good, but the "lobster" that came with it was ground bits of lobster that didn't even amount to half a lobster tail. So, for all 3 people, for a very average meal it 450$. our table of three spent $700+ on Nye and were so disappointed and honestly felt scammed.

To top it all off, this was also my birthday dinner, which we had let them know about ahead of time, maybe it was me being ego-centered but I would have assumed they would at least wish me a happy birthday or do anything small. We felt our waitress was completely annoyed we were there, even condescendingly saying to my girlfriend, "Oh, I know you," because she had previously been ill there. She was not welcoming or warm at all. It was so disheartening to have this level of service and food on a very special night. Most of the staff is great, and like I said I hate to write this but with this level of service and food was just...