Iaria's Italian Restaurant — Restaurant in Indianapolis

Short version:

Reasonably priced food that tastes pretty good. Service is good, atmosphere is a little more casual than you might expect. Food lacks depth and is comparable to something like olive garden with less salt. Very disappointed to hear that they do not make their own bread or pasta. They make a point to brag about making everything else but as an Italian restaurant not making your own bread or pasta is like being an Asian restaurant and not making your own rice or lo mein. Food quality is certainly adequate but I expect slightly better from local establishments. Would consider visiting again but will be exploring other options first.

Long version:

Stopped here for dinner on a Saturday night with reservation. Was seated quickly upon arrival at a corner booth on the side of the restaurant without the bar. This was fine except that the table needed to be repositioned so that I was not sitting on a hard lump between two Booth cushions. Atmosphere is very casual but not quite as much as something like fazoli's. Felt slightly overdressed in slacks and a polo but not uncomfortably so. We were expecting slightly more upscale atmosphere which this is not. That's not necessarily a problem though.

Waitress was attentive and took our order for appetizer and drinks immediately. We split the garlic bread and an order of the pepperoni dip for appetizers. The pepperoni dip is phenomenal and I would gladly order that again. The garlic bread was honestly a little disappointing. You could tell it was seasoned with garlic powder instead of actual garlic and the cheese had solidified to the point where it basically just came off the bread with the first bite. It was wonderful with the pepperoni dip though but disappointing garlic bread at an Italian restaurant is always a red flag.

I had the cheese tortellini with alfredo sauce and she had spicy Cajun pasta. The tortellini was perfectly cooked but the filling lacked any true flavor. Mostly just a bland she's filling. The Alfredo was similar in flavor. There was a strong lack of garlic any specific cheese flavors and it even lacked basic seasoning like salt and pepper.

As a side note the pepper on the table is cheap dime store variety. The least they could do was spring for the McCormick grinders because fresh cracked black pepper simply does not compare to the stale stuff.

Cajun pasta was good and the sauce was wonderful.

Overall everything was cooked well and the service was good and the food was decent if not disappointing. Everything is acceptable and quality especially for the price but almost everything lacks any nuance or depth that you might expect if you've had real homemade Italian food before.

Overall it was an acceptable experience that I would repeat again if there were no better options. I can't necessarily recommend this if you are searching for good quality Italian food but if you just want something better than fazoli's and don't want to go to Olive garden this...

Instead of heading a few blocks over and attending the Italian Fest - we decided to give Iaria's a go instead.

The building itself is nothing to write home about. In fact if it wasn't for the sign I would never guess that its an Italian Restaurant. There is a parking lot off to the side, or you can park out on the street. The entrance is in the middle of the side and marked with neon signs. When you walk in, you have the option to go to the right or the left. The right side is the bar area - the left is the dinning room. Being that I had no idea what I was doing I went to the right. The girl was very nice at the hostess stand and told me that my reservation was over in the dinning room.

We were immediately seated (once I got over to the right side) and told that our server would be right over. Well it did take him a little bit of time to get over to us. Once he did, however, he was attentive and upbeat. When he returned with our drink order we put in an appetizer for the fried ravioli.

A short time later the appetizer came out. In the mean time, we placed our main entree order. I went with the Chicken Piccata. The fried ravioli was really good. I was happy with it, but yet felt that we should have gotten more than 4 for the $8 price tag. But they were good, and I would recommend them if you have a party of 2. More than that and you might want to order a second one.

In the mean time our server checked on us once or twice making sure that our drinks were full and we had what we needed. When our main course came out I was surprised at how small the chicken was. I mean I am used to places like Olive Garden and Carino's that bring out quite a bit of food. The Piccata came with a side of spaghetti. The spaghetti was good. I enjoyed their home made sauce. It was chunky, but not too chunky. It was just right. And honestly the Piccata was good as well. For the first time having it, it was good. I don't think I would get it again just because for me it had a little too much lemon but I hear that is how its supposed to be. Also the table next to us ordered the Lasagna and it looked epic.

The inside looks like the outside. It doesn't scream to me Italian Restaurant. The back wall is all mirrors to give the appearance of a large dinning area. The decor on the wall is mostly family photos throughout the years.

What I appreciate is that this place is family owned. Its still in the family after opening back in 1933. To me that is awesome - and it shows that the family has kept it looking the same all these years. Normally I'd say that its outdated and needs a full overhaul - but I think for Iaria's that would take away some of its charm and uniqueness.

I would definitely be back again - after all that Lasagna isn't going...

I've been a patron of Iaria's family-owned Italian restaurant for 40 years, and over that time my experience and those of others I've brought to Iaria's has been a mixed bag, ranging from outstanding food and service to just mediocre. Last night was my worst experience and unfortunately my last at Iaria's. The service was simply abysmal, the worst I've ever experienced at a restaurant. I'm a patient diner; I realize mistakes happen and sometimes things don't run smoothly, and I'm always civil and sensitive to servers and staff. But after more than an hour wait on our food and seeing others who arrived at the same time finishing their dinners, I asked for an update on our meal. I received an uninterested response from a waitress who obviously didn't really care about our experience, and after another 30 minutes and not having our drinks refilled, I asked to speak with a manager, since we needed to leave soon. The manager never arrived, but the waitress said the kitchen had gotten backed up, but our food was now coming right out--that seemed to be a lie, since others tables around us had turned over two sets of diners while we waiting. We were basically abandoned without seeing our waitress for 45 minutes. After finding another waitress who was obviously busy, I asked if she could do anything to help, and she was very sympathetic, and helped expedite our food arrival, after we had waited for a full 2 hours. We wanted our food boxed, and to pay our bills and leave, but we had to find the boxes on our own (since our waitress had disappeared again). after interrupting the other table's waitress again, and explaining we need to leave, she tried to help again. After waiting precisely 2.5 hours total, our bills finally came with substantial discounts deducted, but we hadn't asked for a discount and hadn't considered asking; we had asked for honest responses to the status of our dinners, and we asked asked to speak with the manager--requests that were disregarded. We left tips because these typically support all the staff, and I didn't want to treat them unfairly, despite our experience. We won't be...