Dawson's On Main — Restaurant in Speedway

It both pains and saddens me to write this review. I, my family and friends have been customers of Dawson's since they opened. We've even had a couple family reunion dinners in their banquet room. It has been nice to have a pretty decent local establishment to support versus any of the chain places around town. Unfortunately my last 3 times there have been way below par for what I had gotten, and come to expect, from Dawson's. Recently a long time friend visited Indy and wanted to try a local place. Dawson's immediately came to mind. My friend ordered beef stroganoff and I had the sirloin steak as, for not being a steak place, it was always good. Upon being served it was obvious the stroganoff was not fresh and was barely warm. The sauce was still gelatinous! My steak was gray and also obviously not cooked right. As they were busy we suffered in silence and ate what they gave us. I was so embarrassed after talking up this place to my friend. My next visit there was for my sister's birthday. We both ordered a steak. I was hoping last time was a fluke. It wasn't. My steak was actually cold to the touch. While she said she's had better there before, hers was acceptable enough for her to heat. Now tonight. I dined alone praying for a return of the good steak dinner I'd had so many times before. It was actually the worst. The cut of meat was entirely different. In all previous dinners the steak was about four inches square and about an inch thick, a sirloin filet if you will. Tonight's steak was triangular and not even a half inch thick. While it was at least warm it was not the way I ordered it. And TOUGH. I think they got it off the bottom of someone's shoe. So with three consecutive lousy dinners, I am done with Dawson's. You know, three strikes and you're out. An argument can be made that since I didn't make them aware of any of these they didn't have an opportunity to make it right. My response would be that after 17 years of above average meals to have 3 awful ones in a row tells me their cooking standards have dropped significantly. And I am not willing to pay for what their current standards are. It truly does...

Honestly I was excited to try the food, my wife and I decided to come in for a date night. I got the ribeye medium rare with fries and onion rings and I added 3 pieces of grilled shrimp. My wife got a sirloin medium rare with fries, fruit cup and macaroni& cheese. Our server was friendly but seemed slightly distracted and felt like she was in a rush. It wasn't super busy but, it seemed that their might have been a reserved section with a large party and the staff were short handed with handling them and the rest of the house. I don't hold that against her but still was not a good prelude for the night. We got our food and my wife's steak was medium close to medium-well but very well seasoned, I typically would have sent it back but my wife insisted it was okay "she's 9 months pregnant and was hungry" so I didn't fight her on it. My steak was perfectly cooked a flawless medium rare but, there was no seasoning or flavor whatsoever it was bland and tasteless. Rather disappointing considering the grilled shrimp were perfect as well as both of our sides of fries and my onion rings. She wasn't keen on the fruit cup too many varieties and she said they seemed old in feel and taste and the macaroni & cheese was dry and tasted like it had been over microwaved. Normally I would have asked to speak to the manager but I was too exhausted from a long day at work and getting my waitress flagged down for a brief moment want going to be worth the hassle. I would like to give this another go but for the price point and the service I don't think it'll be worth it. We'd only heard good things about Dawson's but from our experience we can't agree. If management would like to reach out to talk is be happy to but, in my past experiences going around as a food review critic for Google Maps to give places an honest review they don't typically reach out beyond replying to the review with some morbid robotic message, Maybe Dawson's will...

This place is so good!

The first time we went we went with some friends who live in the area and we couldn't wait to go back.

This time we went on a Wednesday night and were seated immediately (in their outside area where the weather was perfect), and our server (shoutout to Chad!) was taking our drink orders pretty much right away. His energy was great and he was extremely attentive and prompt with all of our food. He was ready with to-go boxes before we even had to ask, and all around gave exceptional customer service.

Now, to the food!

We got an appetizer of nachos with chorizo and the chorizo was a great choice. The nacho cheese they use was also quite smoky and savory which complemented the chorizo really well. It's also a huge portion, could very easily be a full meal for one, and is a decent size for sharing with probably up to 4 people.

I also got a Paloma for my drink, and my fiance got a Sunking Wee Mac.

For my meal I got their house tenderloin with the works, which is their most popular item on the menu. I can tell you that it is no joke, it tastes great, and the breading somehow stays crispy even after several hours in the fridge as a leftover. The fries that come with are also the best, super crispy and flavorful.

My fiance got their beef stroganoff (which we overheard another server say was his personal favorite) and it was so delicious and a huge portion - extremely creamy, the meat was super tender, and you can tell that the sauce is made homemade because there were large pieces of celery and mushrooms throughout that you couldn't get from a can or a bag.

This has quickly become a top favorite on our roster for date night restaurants, and we'll definitely...