Upland College Ave Tasting Room — Restaurant in Indianapolis

The food was mediocre at best, but VERY expensive. The prices on the menu had me excited as a was rightfully expecting some high quality ingredients executed at least decently. Instead, I was met with deep disappointment as everything tasted cheap and thrown together with no care or finesse.

I would be willing to offer some slack normally, but the restaurant was virtually empty (always a bad sign on a Friday night), and we played it safe by ordering some bar menu mainstays; burgers, fries, and nachos.

The nachos were actually good but I'm not sure I can give much props for properly executing a dish that can be made by any college student with a microwave. I will admit that we both loved them, but I'm not sure I can attribute that to the restraunt rather than just our basic love for nachos and the simplicity of the dish.

The burgers were supposed to be cooked medium but they were well done and very dry. Fortunately my burger came with a nice amount of sauce on the side which I immediately poured out onto my parched burger.

However my wife wasn't so lucky, which resulted in us being forced to send her burger back for an order of macaroni and cheese (yet another bar favorite). Shockingly, even the macaroni and cheese was completely botched. The noodles were overcooked, there was barely any cheese, it wasn't particularly hot, and the little cheese it did have seemed to be strangley watery as if it was mixing with the excess water that was stored in the overcooked squishy noodles. All that being said, it was seasoned well and tasted good if you could look past the texture and pooling, slightly cheesy liquid; which my wife gladly did as she was starving by this point.

The beer was good and reasonably priced since we opted for the daily option that was on the rotating beer special list.

I will add that the service was fine, although my glass was allowed to go completely empty twice before being asked if I'd like another beer. To be fair, I didn't wait very long with an empty glass either time, but still kinda shocking that the server didn't ask as he saw my glass nearing empty. It's not as if I was chugging them, and he wasn't busy at all since he only had two...

Allergen / Gluten / Celiac Warning Allergy markers on menu are unreliable as there is no consideration for cross contamination. Even though they have gluten free and gluten free option the items marked gluten free are only done so as they obviously lack a wheat ingredient. No consideration is given to how they are sourced (ie corn tortillas are processed with flour tortillas) or how they might contaminate items (ie: they make their own chips but it's a shared deep fryer). Which then makes me question if their manufactured spices are even allergy free. After reviewing menu with staff there was maybe two items that would have been considered safe but only if the kitchen knew of customers needs.

That all aside; the rest of my party enjoyed their dinner and service was great. I give a star for each of those but otherwise had to score it low given the health hazard risk they present by carelessly labeling things and not having a kitchen (or at the very least menu creator) that is trained in...

Pleasant staff and nice street side, corner location. But, the food and beer were underwhelming. When going to a new brewhouse, ordering a light traditional brew such as a Pilsner is my way of getting a feel for the overall beer quality. The Pilsner, which was also the daily special, was mediocre. Food wise, what bothered me was the salsa we were served, with chips. The salsa was fermenting, strongly fizzy to taste and visibly bubbling. I wonder how long “fresh” salsa has to sit out to ferment? They replaced it with a fresh salsa said to have “arrived today” which I appreciate, but this was further odd since the salsa is listed on the menu as “housemade”. Housemade means “made or produced by the establishment in which it is sold, rather than by an external supplier”. If it was made by some other vender and brought in, it isn’t housemade. Menu trust issues...