Harry & Izzy's — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Sunday after the Zoo we decided to get a late lunch .. We had been to St Elmos a few times and like it ... knew Harry and Izzy's was affiliated so thought we would give it a try. We didn't know but thought it was a more casual cheaper vision of St Elmos ... that isn't the case. St Elmos is known for their steak and the INTENSE cocktail sauce with the shrimp cocktail. Harry and Izzy's also had the same cocktail sauce and we knew we wanted to share a shrimp cocktail to start. When I asked for catchup to tone done the cocktail sauce he offered to bring the regular and mild. LOL their version of mild is still a bit much for me but it was good. I always add extra horseradish to the cocktail sauce ... but not that much. If you have never had their regular cocktail sauce .. I caution you to put just a tiny bit to sample. WOW it is like gasoline lite in your sinus. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. We missed lunch by a few minutes so early dinner. When the waiter told us of the specials they sounded interesting to my husband, so he got both specials with the idea we would share. He knew I'd want seafood and he was going for streak. He'd usually get filet but the waiter said this was similar to filet ... I believe mine was halibut cheeks ... don't really want to ponder that. We were brought our dishes and they had nice presentation. We had both taken a bite when the waiter stopped by to check if it came out ok. By the second bite my husband realized his streak was not cooked to his specifications ..but the waiter was gone . Hubby wanted medium .. but it was over cooked. We both waited and waited by the waiter didn't check back. His drink was empty so i put it at the edge of the table to lure him back. That didn't work .. another waiter finally passed ... and my hubby asked if he could send the waiter over. By this time both our drinks were empty his meal was half gone. The waiter agreed it wasn't medium and took it back. He ended up bringing a completely new streak and potato and this was cooked perfectly and did taste better. I'd share my meal at that point mine was done and we were both comfortably full with thoughts of trying a dessert. he just asked the new meal to be boxed and we ordered a dessert. The second steak only had a few bites taken .. and he gave me a bite before being boxed. I usually only prefer a bite or 2 of meat ... it's a texture issue. We ordered a peanut butter pie .. I've had several versions .. some are fluffy (which i don't like) .. some are too rich .. this was very different ..I really liked it. I asked if it was a peanut butter ricotta cheesecake but they didn't think so. It had a very different texture and taste ... interesting .. then had a peanut butter sauce which my husband thought was too much. I thought it was good and It's my review lol. The bill came and my husband discovered his steak was 75 dollars .. and wasn't even filet. He was a little take aback by that. The waiter hadn't mentioned the cost of either special and we hadn't asked. In our experience the price is typically mentioned but once again we didn't ask. So our early dinner came to around 200 after tip. My husband said his steak was good but ... not that good. He said he preferred steak and it would have been 1/2 the price. Ohh well don't know till ya try. We wanted a nice meal and we had a nice meal. We both enjoyed our experience and we would return here or st elmo's. I pointed out that since they gave him a whole new steak and potato ..that's a meal for another time trying to salve his attitude about the price. It's not the first time we have similar bill at a steak or...

I’m a long time visitor of this establishment, and honestly it’s just gone down hill the last three times I’ve visited.

Let me start by saying that the best restaurant experience I’ve ever had was at this place, when sat at the bar and served by Tony, who was an expert in all liquors and Mixology, as well as gave fantastic food recommendations.

My last three visits however, have gone from lack luster to just bad. I visit Indianapolis four or five times a year and literally look forward to eating here as the highlight of my trip.

Last night, I sat at the bar as normal and asked for a Bourbon recommendations that the bartender didn’t really have much knowledge on. But luckily, together we made an educated guess.

I then had the world famous shrimp cocktail that was as fantastic as ever; and then it was all downhill from there.

I asked about the size of the pork chop (as it wasn’t listed on the menu) to which the bartender did not know and asked her colleague in front of me to which he said in a Very unsure way “9 oz’s”. I asked the barmaid that that doesn’t sound right, as it is a bone in chop, and that’s pretty small. She told me She’s pretty sure he made it up, but made no effort to find out anything further.

I genuinely believe it was a lazy effort to upsell me a steak instead of the cheaper cut pork chop.

So I decided to go for the New York strip (medium). When it came out, I only had to touch it with my finger to know it was going to be under done, and when I cut into it, surely enough, it was a very rare.

I got the waitresses attention; she said that it looked medium rare, and she would get it reheated. While waiting for it, I was flanked by two people who also had New York strips that looked very different to mine, and not just because they were cooked correctly. In fact, I was convinced that I had actually been given a ribeye. The waitress dismissed that suggestion of mine, despite me pointing to my neighbors steaks that looked entirely like New York strips, compared to my flatter more fatty cut.

The re-done ribeye/ New York strip came back to me and it was disappointing that after a $60 steak was cooked incorrectly, I was then given the same piece now cut in half (and as any steak connoisseur will know), minus all it’s juices. A new steak should have been offered. The bread I was given was also stale.

The Whole experience was just soulless, classless and awful. I was on a business trip and too exhausted and disappointed to continue raising issues that in reality, i’d only have been Gaslit on instead of resolved.

I don’t think I’ll be returning to Harry and Izzy’s again; which is truly disappointing to say out loud. I wish more of the employees there were as skilled or cared as much as Tony. For me, it is too expensive of a risk to take to see if they have improved, or...

My first and only visit thus far was on my 25th birthday, the food was delicious! The place has a very elegant setting and a very welcomeing vibe. However my waiter almost destroyed my vibe as he was thoughtless to me. My family considered him not cool or pleasant. But I'm getting ahead of myself, the restaurant has a very beautiful setting I'll recommend this place to anyone looking for an elegant dining experience. I will definitely come back, but if I get that guy again I'll request a different waiter. Anyways when my family and I made it to our table there was a birthday card on the table for me signed my the staff which was so so sweet and unexpected! 😊 When our waiter arrived he came to our table and asked who was having a birthday I rised my hand and said me, he was like oh, okay! Asked me if I was ready to order I said no not yet, but when the time came to start placing orders he went over to one of my brothers and asked if he was ready, so my brother said yes, but take the birthday girls order first, the waiter looked up and asked if I was ready I said yes, so then he said well, I'm already on this end I'll just make my way down to you, so I said okay, when the food was brought out I also received my food last! I've worked in customer hospitality, one of the rules for repetitive guest is to treat the event and the guest having the event as a priority/VIP/Special! I did not get that from this guy at all. But what really put the icing on the cake was when my Birthday cake was brought out. My husband wanted to surprise me by having our waiter bring out my birthday cake he was supposed to the light the candles before bringing the cake to our table, as was clearly explained by my husband to our waiter and the manager moments before, actually the manager already knew because my husband dropped of the cake hours before so the cake would be stored away by them before we got there... buuut.... instead this guy brought it out, sat it down on the stand next to me, looked at me and asked if I was ready lol I was like well yeah, I didn't even know this was happening; He laughed and then lit the candles. My husband planted his face in the palm of his hand and stared shaking his head 😂 My family sang happy birthday as did others in the restaurant. Like I said, it's a very nice welcoming restaurant, just not the waiter we had. Unfortunately I can't remember if the waiter said his name was Brandon or Brian but, I remember what he looks like lol I'll definitely go back again for a great time with family, I just won't have him...