Murphy's Pubhouse South — Restaurant in Indianapolis

For dinner on Thursday I consulted my list of Franklin Township restaurants I haven’t been to and picked out Murphy’s Pubhouse. They advertised a Bourbon Glazed Sirloin special on Facebook and figured that would be a good place to start.

Murphy’s has four locations around Indy. They have a business history dating back to the 1950s in Indianapolis and opened the southside pub in 2014. I know many Franklin Township residents are regulars at this Thompson Road location.

When we arrived I found the overall vibe to be similar to Flashbacks, but about half the physical size. They had an open dining room, a bar, and a small stage for live music performances. For sports fans there was a gigantic 12’ HD TV screen!

Our server, Kayla, greeted us and provided warm and friendly service throughout our visit. We ordered Fried Mushrooms as an appetizer but were informed they were out of them. So we pivoted to Fried Pickles instead.

I attempted to order the steak special I’d seen posted on their Facebook page that day but was told that it wasn’t the day’s special (the board had a Tzatziki Chicken Sandwich listed). When I asked for clarification and showed the post I was told that the kitchen and social media folks don’t communicate well. So be aware that advertised specials may not be accurate.

I also noted that the menu posted on their Facebook page was outdated and had incorrect pricing. Consult the menu pictures below for current pricing as of this posting.

We again pivoted to another special— a large ($23) Supreme Pizza for the price of a small ($18).

The Fried Pickles were awesome! They were big spears and had lots of crunchy breading. They almost looked like chicken fingers. 😄 An important fried pickle metric is how well the breading adheres to the pickle during a bite and I’m happy to report they passed the test. The sriracha ranch was good too. 🥒

The Supreme Pizza arrived overcooked with black edges on the crust and toppings. None of the toppings particularly stood out and I ranked it just north of a frozen Jack’s pizza. The discounted $18 price still felt like too much. Being completely transparent, tavern-style pizzas aren’t my favorite genre to begin with. 🍕

I want to again highlight Kayla as she was quick with our refills, kept our table tidy, and had an easygoing personality that made us feel welcome. We appreciated her approach to service.

It’s unfortunate my initial visit was plagued by miscommunication and dashed expectations, but I’ve heard they make a good Tenderloin and would be inclined to try that if I was to give...

This pubhouse (this is the "South" one off of Thompson & Emerson) is honestly one of my favorite places to go to get some great food in my area and I regret I haven't added a review sooner! I can say that I have ordered several things off of the menu, too, and have never been disappointed. Most recently after reading several other reviews about the tenderloin being awesome I decided to try it and I am in total agreement! It may me one of the best I have ever had, maybe even THE best. It's not as giant in diameter as the "hubcap" style tenderloin sandwiches and is at least double the thickness of many average/standard ones I have come across in my Hoosier tenderloin adventures (state fair included). Note: the meat itself does still extend beyond the bun some I highly recommend! A family favorite is also the pretzel & dip appetizer too. To be fair I wouldn't say you can compare the chips and queso to a Mexican restaurant but this appetizer was also good. All in all I cannot honestly knock anything I have had there and have never thought "man, I was craving this and now I am disappointed" - That feeling is what I try to avoid when I go to any food serving places.. Murphy's hasn't let me down. Also I want to give credit to Brooke (hopefully spelled correctly) who was very nice and pleasant both when taking my order over the phone and when bringing it to us curbside. I think many servers could use a brush up on customer service but based on this experience she isn't...

The only thing good about this place is the Patti melt. French onion soup was full of pepper and the provolone cheese tasted like plastic. When I told the waitress that it was gross, she asked me if I've ever had provolone cheese. Why, yes I have. I'm a big fan of French onion soup and no, that wasn't it. I think asked for Thousand Island dressing for my Patti melt. She then said, this is a Patti melt, you're think of a frisco melt. I don't care what it is, I asked for something, now please bring it to me or I'll to back there and get it myself. She then turned to my mom and asked her if her food was good and wasn't the soup just fantastic. She made the mistake of kissing the wrong person's ass, because I was the one who tipped her a whole $0.95. Not to mention that it took her about 15 minutes before she even asked us for our drink orders. Then when I asked for half cut tea, she had an attitude asking me half cut what? She is blonde with chin length hair and glasses. The short brown, almost black hair waitress was great, I saw her giving out food 3x faster than the blonde. So beware for this...