Upland Brewing 82nd Street — Restaurant in Indianapolis

I must've gone at a bad time for you all. You would think middle of the week wouldn't be THAT busy, and it really wasn't, and yet, here I am writing about why I was so disappointed with my most recent visit.

Our server was friendly enough and chatted with us for a bit but we barely saw him after that. We had to flag him down to get more water (I finally had the good sense to ask for a pitcher of water since our server was, well, distracted.) I ordered some pretzel bread sticks. The most exciting thing about that wasn't actually the bread sticks, but the dipping sauce that came with it. Our server came back with some drinks and asked us if we wanted to order any entrees. I ordered the mac and cheese and my friend ordered the wings. My friend got his wings. I never got my mac and cheese. We had a movie to catch so we had to get out of our seats and find our server. We finally found him and got our bills. I asked our server about my mac and cheese and he insists that he put the order in. I made him take off the mac and cheese that I had ordered and never received.

Am I being really petty and trivial over a lost order of mac and cheese? I was hoping to try it with my breadsticks, but instead I got nothing, so yes, I'll never know how good your mac and cheese is.

I guess I just have to sit at the bar if I want to get some service at your joint.

Your servers were distracted on Wednesday 7/16, and when I was paying for my disappointing bread sticks, I picked the red thumbs...

First time at this location. Food was the same as others. Good but not great unfortunately. I do feel the menu is more limited than similar establishments. The real issue on this visit was the service. The restaurant was mostly empty when we arrived but as the hostess/waitress told us (multiple times) they had a large private party for a young girls' sports team. Upon being seated we waited quite a while, probably 10 min, for the hostess/waitress to come around and take our drink order. The table next to us got water without asking and waiter took their order before we were offered anything. She brought the food and drinks in a reasonable amount of time thankfully but never came back around to check on us or offer drink refills. A good 30 min after we had finished our meals we commented we could probably just walk out and no one would notice. Another 10 min or so passed before I returned to the hostess station and requested 2 checks for our party. She came around quickly with the portable card reader to cash us out but we realized quickly she had charged the entire bill to my card. My fault for not paying attention I suppose but pretty on brand for this experience unfortunately. Waitress was nice enough but we generally felt pretty neglected. I will assume this was just a bad night and would go again but prefer some of the other...

Upland Brewing Company is based in Bloomington, Indiana but they have expanded with 4 restaurants in the Indianapolis area and 1 in Columbus, IN. My family and I had stopped at the 82nd Street location in Indianapolis for dinner. They have more than a dozen of their beers on tap, including the year-round Dragonfly IPA and Wheat Ale, but they also have seasonal selections and a handful of sours.

For dinner, I enjoyed the Nashville hot chicken sandwich with Broad Ripple chips ($15). The giant piece of fried chicken was topped with blue cheese slaw and horseradish pickles on a toasted brioche bun. This was a really good sandwich, not overly spicy, but with a subtle heat that I enjoyed thoroughly.

My wife noticed that any of their burgers can be subbed for grilled or fried chicken, black-bean patty, local bison, or impossible meat. She had the Bad Elmer's Fav with fried chicken, sharp cheddar, applewood bacon, Bad Elmer's Porter BBQ, lettuce, tomato, and onion along with a side of brewery fries ($16.50). This was an enormous plate of food! I think the Nashville hot was the better choice, but still, this was really tasty.

Our kids enjoyed their selections from the kids menu. Our service was wonderful and the meal was pretty quick for a Friday evening. We would definitely return when back in...