Grindstone on the Monon — Restaurant in Westfield

This was our first time here and my husband made a reservation for 7:45 shortly before we headed there in case it was busy for a Saturday night (it wasn’t). When we arrived, we mentioned we had a reservation for the 2 of us. The hostess kindly lead us to the bar area and we politely asked, “oh sorry, could we actually have a table somewhere else?”.. she turned to ask a man (who may have been the manager) if there were any other open tables she could take us to. The manager didn’t look at us, but he seemed annoyed and openly stated that the reservation made was for the bar. My husband double checked and it was not for the bar area, however with opentable app, I believe the restaurant has it set up that when regular seating is full, their alternate seating is whatever is available in the bar. As for our reasons for not wanting to sit in the bar- we are conservative Christian’s, neither of us drink but that shouldn’t matter.. what if a customer was a recovering addict? I don’t think an establishment should just assume that everyone is comfortable sitting in the bar or assume that we are over 21 (they didn’t card us or ask).

Following the awkward moment at the hostess desk, we were sat in the enclosed patio area, which was fine with us. Our server did a fine job and was really nice. My husband ordered the prime rib with mashed potatoes and asparagus but his mashed potatoes were very cold and my beef Manhattan was lukewarm, which was strange considering we didn’t wait long at all to receive our food after ordering. Overall, we thought the food tasted alright but we have some indigestion at the moment and it definitely wasn’t worth the price. While this place looks fancy and had what seemed like a promising menu, we probably...

We came in for Father's Day. Didnt know we could make reservations so we waited approximately 40 minutes. We were given the option of sitting outside or at a hightop table. My daughter is very short and has Down syndrome but we chose indoors because it was very humid outside. We were taken to a corner table that had one of the smallest tables i have ever set at! We are big people and needed more space, but when i asked if we could have another location (there were many vacant tables for 4 with much more room), they said no that they were for reservations. So we were seated. The sweet tea was terrible. So bitter! We ordered the crab dip which was very good but only enough for a tsp each. Not worth $8 nonetheless $18. On to the main dish...the best part of our meals were the side salads which were beautiful, fresh, and big portions. We received our food before we finished our salads, but there wasnt enough room on the small table so we finished our salads holding the bowls in our hands.

My husband ordered the8oz filet that had absolutely no flavor and was luke warm at best. My daughter and I had the ribs that were supposed to be fall off the bone. They were quite the opposite... so dry... had to eat with our fingers and teeth to get the meat off the bone. I ate only one rib and took the rest home so we could make sanwiches with the meat. My son got the chicken strips and fries. Both were cold and soggy. I was really hoping for a better experience especially when our bill was just shy of $200.

I gave 2 stars because our waitress was very good and attentive. Otherwise, it would have been 1 star. This place is too expensive to...

My daughter chose Grindstone on the Monon for her birthday dinner. We had not been before so we went for dinner on October 15. She has food restrictions so she has to review menu option when trying to choose a restaurant. Our initial experience was positive. Our server was very attentive. We placed our food orders with my daughter ordering the lemongrass chicken which states on the menu that it is pan seared chicken breast, lemongrass broth, cherry tomato, red onion, red bell pepper, mashed potatoes, grilled asparagus. When the dish arrived it was smothered in a white sauce. We asked our server if the sauce contained dairy. He confirmed with the kitchen that the sauce contained cream which my daughter can't eat. The server was great and allowed my daughter to order another dish and took the lemongrass chicken off the bill. The new dish was brought to the table by a manager. We politely suggested that the menu be refined to state that the dish has a cream sauce. This manger justified that the sauce is a reduced lemongrass broth finish with heavy cream. A Cream Sauce!! This manager then told my daughter that, if she has food restrictions, she should ask about the ingredients when ordering. NO!!! That is what a menu is for. To accurately describe a dish. Then the manager disappeared again.

My beef short ribs were cooked well and the sauce was tasty but the dish came out lukewarm (similar to other reviews) and the grits were clumpy with no flavor of jalapenos. My son ordered the crab crusted salmon which also came out lukewarm with asparagus that didn't have the hard ends cut off. Server was great but the food and manger response...