Sullivan's Steakhouse — Restaurant in Indianapolis

First and only visit review

Back story: We have gone to the same steakhouse for our anniversary for 20 years, but each year, it seemed to have lost some of its unique touch. We have been to other steakhouses during the year, but we had our anniversary spot and stuck with it. This year, we committed to start trying a new steakhouse each anniversary.

The Stage: Our schedule was chaotic, and so we needed to go out for lunch, rather than our always dinner. We walked in with no reservation at about 12:30 on a weekday. The atmosphere was business class but did not stray into officially formal. They sat us at a booth that faced out to the dining room but did not open the table, so we had to scoot around to our seats. At the time, about 5 tables were seated of the approximate 30 tables in the dining room. They had taken the time to put rose petals and a card on our table which my spouse appreciated.

Our meal: Crab Cake entree: two large crab cakes. The crab cakes were some of the best I have had but were placed on an unflattering tartar sauce. We ordered the entree size because one would not have been enough.

Caesar Side Salad: Chopped Romaine was drowned twice in dressing. I thought I saw a neighboring table receive entire Romaine leaves, so my chopped version may have been because it was just a side order. We each tried a single bite and set it aside to be taken away. Way too much dressing.

8oz Filet: Ordered it medium, and it came out charred black on the outside and possibly a medium plus internal center at best. First note: it tasted burned. Decided to finish it, but the flavor was as you would expect from chewy burned meat. It was the only time that my spouse has considered requesting A-1 at a steakhouse because the taste needed to be masked. They chose not to return it because they are very concerned about repercussions from a disgruntled kitchen staff. This lunch order came with mashed potatoes. My spouse was disappointed that they had not known that the skins would be present, but I actually really liked them.

Crab-Stuffed Shrimp add-on: I think it was three shrimp, I am not certain. These were pleasant in presentation, but generally what you would expect in flavor.

12oz New York Strip: ordered medium, arrived charred black and medium well in the center. No flavor existed other than burned meat. I sent it back. The second try was better.

Lobster Tail add-on: This was from the dinner menu, but I was assured it was perfectly fine to order for lunch. This was really nice: large, perfectly cooked, and nicely presented. Unfortunately, because it was cooked properly and the steak required extra time, I was unable to have them together. They did offer to take it back and make a fresh one with the new steak, but I did not want my spouse to eat alone.

Cheesecake: It was ok but did not appear to be special at all. The texture and flavor were average, and the strawberry topping was a soggy sauce rather than fresh berries.

The service: Much like the majority of the meal, it left much to be desired. Initial greeting was slow. They failed to check on each serving. They did not seem to notice that the salad was taken away barely touched. The second steak was dropped off by someone who definitely didn't want to talk to us and who disappeared as soon as the plate hit the table. All of this may be explainable as they only had one server and they kept seating them, but that does not make it excusable for any higher-end restaurant.

Overall: The bill came to about $265 before tip. At no moment, did either of us feel impressed, cared for, or even welcome. If a steakhouse cannot, at bare minimum, get the steak right, it should shut down and retrain every person from the kitchen to the table to the management on proper cooking, assessing, and guest interactions. If you want to blame the cook because it was lunch instead of dinner, only open the steakhouse for dinner.

I am rating this visit as one-star, not because every single thing was bad but because the overall visit should have been so...

My wife and I usually go to Ruth’s Chris but we decided to give Sullivan’s a try for something different. We each got their “sure thing” prix fix menu. Before getting to the food I will say the atmosphere was nice and the staff were VERY attentive and friendly.

Being regulars at RC it’s hard ti not compare the 2 restaurants (especially since we get the prix fix menu at RC too). To start with, while the bread they brought us was a tasty sourdough it wasn’t warm and the butter that accompanied it was kinda flavorless. Edge: RC.

We ordered a jumbo crabcake for an appetizer and while the tartar sauce that came with it was outstanding,the crabcake itself just didn’t feel like it was worth the price. Edge: RC

The salads they brought us were a good size and the dressing that by wife had on hers (some kind of basil garlic thing) was delicious, better than any of the dressings at RC. Edge: Sullivan’s.

Our steaks and mashed potatoes came next. While we both preferred the potatoes at RC, the potatoes at Sullivan’s are quite good too. Where they lost the most point was on our meats. Both mu ribeye and my wife’s filet mignon were extremely charred on top. So much so that it overpowered the tastes of the sauces that came with them. I also found it odd that we were offered fresh pepper with our salads but not for our steaks or potatoes. I have yet to have a bad steak at RC so they get the advantage here.

Finally came our deserts. Bananas Foster Bread Pudding for me and Key Lime Pie for my wife. I didn’t care too much for mine, but that is on me because I don’t care for bread pudding. I ordered it hoping the bananas foster would override the texture but it did not. My wife’s Key Lime pie however was outstanding! Possibly the beat Key Lime pie I have ever tasted. Definitely give this one to Sullivan’s.

Side note: while I only drank water my wife ordered coffee and said it was extremely good.

So will we go back? Probably not for a full meal as we were very disappointed with our meats. But we quite likely will order some salads and a couple slices of key lime pie to go! I would encourage you to go try them out at least once. If nothing else the terrific staff...

My wife and I were a party of four yesterday evening at Sullivans Steak House. We decided to eat I the bar to enjoy the club style seating. Our waiter was pleasant took our drink and appetizer orders. My wife and I ordered the Prefix menue item, the other two members of our party just ordered two appetizers, Shrimp Cocktail and Beef Wellington Bites. After waiting for some time our drink orders showed up, delivered by someone other than our initial waiter, which is not uncommon in a bar setting. The Prefix menue offering includes; soup or salad, entree, and desert. My wife and I ordered salads, after about 20 to 30 minutes our salads showed up delivered by another person. I ordered a 8oz filet (which was $16.00 up charge, no problem), my wife ordered Salmon entree. After about 45 minutes our entrees were served by yet another person. Entrees were placed on the table and the person disappeared. When I looked at my entree it looked anything but a 8oz fliet. I tried find a waiter to ask, no one was anywhere to be found.. After some time I decided to eat what I was served. What was served looked like a small N. Y. Strip Steak. The steak was tasty and prepared how I requested the fliet to be prepared. My wife enjoyed her Salomon, was a nice size and delicious. We finished our entrees and our other couple finished there appetizers (Beef Wellington was not the same Beef Wellington that ordered previousl) After quite sometime yet a different waiter asked if we were ready for our check. We informed the waiter that we had ordered desserts earlier from a different waiter. They said they would check on our order. After about 20 minutes our desserts were served. I ordered N. Y. Cheese Cake, which was warm and had no flavor. My wife ordered Key Lime Pie, which was just ok. Our other party ordered Crème Brûlée, which they split and was very good. Following dessert we asked for our check which took another several minutes. After 3 hours and several different waiters we paid our bill, of which I’m sure I was charged for an 8oz filet and something else. The best part of the evening was time spent with the...