Review: Grille 39
Author: WIBIA | Filed under: Deal Decoder, Food Reviews, Location: Carmel, IN
Grille 39
11925 N. Meridian Street
Carmel, Indiana
Restaurants at hotels usually are good or really bad, most are bad. We had a short window to go to dinner so I decided to go to Grille 39 based on a lunch recommendation from a co-worker, proximity to our house and I had a coupon for $20 off.
The meal started with an amuse-buoche of a sliced pork tenderloin on a spoon. It was an odd presentation and the piece was a little big for one bite. The pork seemed a little dry and I wasn’t all that impressed. We should’ve left at that point.
I then ordered the Thai Seared Ahi Tuna. 3 tiny pieces placed on a papaya salad and a sweet chili lime sauce. The sauce was extremely sweet and it took away the little flavor that the tuna had. This was not sashimi grade tuna as well, low grade. $11 was a total rip off.
Since I had a $20 off coupon, I ordered the $30 14 oz. Ribeye. So far the meal was pretty bad and I am not sure why I thought that ordering the most expensive thing on the menu was a good idea. Then again, I rarely get up from playing blackjack on a bad table until I run out of cash.
The ribeye was cooked to my spec (rare+ is how I roll), however this once again lacked quality. If I had to guess the grade, it was low level Choice or even select. Regardless, definitely not a $30 steak. You can choose a side with the steak and I went with the parmesan-onion hash brown. They were okay at best. The problem is, they sat my steak on top of the crispy potatoes and the juice from my steak made the hash browns soggy. Sautéed veggies were included, buy they were covered in oil and I decided to pass.
My wife ordered the Rigatoni with Fennel $20 and that was dog shit as well.
Would I Buy It Again? No. This is the reason I started the blog, to tell everyone about places that suck. The menu sounded great, the hotel is pretty nice and the restaurant is as well. The person next to us tried to order a bottle of Cab and they were out. Out of Cab?!?!? I will admit, our server was attentive and she did a great job. I would recommend that she looks for a new gig.
-WIBIA
“My wife ordered the Rigatoni with Fennel $20 and that was dog shit as well.”
I don’t know why, but I LOL’d at that sentence! Thanks for not going easy on the place. I hate it when reviewers refrain from ripping a place to shreds when it really sucks. Good review!
I was just going to post props for that sentence as well. Hilarious.
Please tell me you don’t screw over the server b/c the food sucks. It’s not her fault! (especially if she was hot)
I have the same coupon. Thanks for the heads up. It’s going straight to the trash.
Awesome.
“My wife ordered the Rigatoni with Fennel $20 and that was dog shit as well.” is my favorite line ever on this site.
I tip server’s based on service. 15 is the lowest I would go for bad service. Never stiffed anyone. I always tip in cash as well. I used to be a server, so I try to treat them well..
Damn, you tip 15% for bad service? You’re a more generous man than I… If the service is like, beyond unacceptable, I’ll tip zero. I’ve only done that once, though. I’ve got no problem tipping less than 15% for a really rude or neglectful waitress though. I know their jobs can be very stressful and tough, but they have to at least try to be decent.
On the flipside, I usually tip VERY well when the service is average or above.
I know it is a hotel but the picture leaves you thinking you are standing at the entrance of an emergency room at an old hospital. Cannot see how I would even be in the mood to eat at this place.
interesting review….i did not have the same experience and was impressed with some of the wine selection and what they are trying to move towards. you had one bad experience, and everyone else backs away….i would say give it a shot, especially if you have the promo and that is what it takes to get you to go.
Keep in mind that if you worked in a restaurant that depending upon who worked the grill the food one day could be better than another—true story.
Yeah, I might go 10 on the low side if they are rude. If the meal is ill paced, server is annoying to me etc… I tend to not care as much.
Dude, it’s a restaurant in a hotel in CARMEL. What did you expect? LOL
That is somewhat surprising. I ate their about a month ago with another couple and we all thought the food was surprisingly good. Maybe not an Oakleys or Meridian quality, but still better than many of the restaurants in town. Our biggest problem was the cost. Even with the same $20 coupon for each couple (you can also get the restaurant.com coupon), it ended up being well over $100 a couple. I would recommend the place if it wasn’t for the cost. If it is going to be a special occasion type of place cost-wise, the Renaissance in Carmel is not where I would be heading….
Unfortunately what make look like neglectful or a lack of trying to you, the customer, may be something else entirely. No one is omniscient. What if your pay was determined individually for each task you did at your job by a different person with different standards? What if you were docked a day’s pay because you had a bad day or a headache and didn’t manage to still put on a smiling face and perfect performance? I would never stiff a server.
@JR….Great way to say it actually. If I was at Texas Roadhouse, I would expect this. I think that they charge about $17 for the same steak at major chains.
You are right though, if you want to spend that much, there are plenty of other places that you would go. The setting of the restaurant is actually pretty nice. I felt very comfortable and as I mentioned the service was pretty good. If they were able to step up quality and execute, they would have a great thing going.
I agree with you. They mentioned they were changing their wine distributor to the guy that was pissed off. I don’t agree with the consistency argument though. If you have a weak link on the grill, fire them… simple as that.
Keep in mind that the site is called “Would I Buy It Again”, not “Should you buy it?” I encourage everyone to formulate their own opinion, this is just mine. For $20 off, it is worth a shot… I have had worse.
@Erin: So customers are supposed to tip generously no matter what, just in case a server is having a bad day? I don’t think so. And I certainly don’t expect “perfect performance” from waitresses. Everyone has the occasional bad day, and it’s not terribly difficult to notice that if you pay attention. When I catch a waitress texting on her phone the entire meal when my drink is empty, or something like that, of course I’m going to tip accordingly.
Adam, no, not tip generously. Just not tip them under 15% or stiff them.
(And notice I’m not saying this in the case of blantantly rude service.)
That’s just my opinion.
I’ve walked many miles in “server shoes” and in doing so I understand how easy it is to not give great service, all the time, to every diner, each with their own unique standards for what good service is.
I’ve had pretty good luck with their lunch service (which, while on the high end of reasonable, is about what I’d expect for a restaurant in a luxury hotel), in the past. Specifically, I’d recommend the ahi tuna burger with wasabi mayonnaise and avocado on ciabatta (comes with fries, chips or pasta salad) — at $12, it’s a little pricey compared to, say, ahi tuna shooters at TGI Fridays, but the quality of tuna steak is better and the presentation isn’t quite so “Indiana frat-boy” as I see in other restaurants in the region.
I do want restaurants like this to succeed, because I think the Far Northside has a real dearth of decent fine-dining places and one can only do Taco Bell or Longhorn Steakhouse for one’s lunch hour so many times, before one starts to really despair about the quality of food in Carmel. For those commenters who are all “LOL whut do u expect it’s CARMEL”, um, have fun with your pork tenderloins and deep-fried nastiness elsewhere. Just remember that, culinarily speaking, that’s not always everyone else’s cup of tea (or, uh, can of Pabst, as the case may be).
Had you clarified in the first place that you weren’t talking about blatantly rude service, instead of just saying “I would never stiff a server”, that would have made more sense.
I stiffed a waitress once because she brought me the wrong food, then insisted that it was right and argued with me at length about it. Then she literally refused to bring me what I ordered. Then she completely ignored our table the rest of the meal and I had to go to the register to get my bill. I don’t believe there’s any excuse for that, so I didn’t tip her at all. When a server behaves like that, I think it’s time to look for another line of work.
“Had you clarified in the first place that you weren’t talking about blatantly rude service, instead of just saying “I would never stiff a server”, that would have made more sense.”
I don’t think you meant this to be shitty but sheesh…it’s always the other person’s fault with some people. You sound like some people I’ve waited on.
It’s generally more graceful to accept some personal responsibility is such situations…once again, just my opinion. Or, if this is your Rome: had you read my comment clearly, it would have made more sense.
@Erin: Yeah…I’m going to go ahead and bow out of this one before it gets nasty and someone gets their feelings hurt. This isn’t really the proper venue for an argument not directly related to the original post. I’ll give you my e-mail address if you want to continue this one in private.
First, Adam, you are right and my apologies to the blog owner.
Second, I had to laugh a little as I feel like I just got the virtual equivalent of “do you wanna take this outside?” Nothing’s a big deal, sorry if you took it personally.
No need to apologize and I liked reading what both of you thought. There were no personal attacks. Ha ha to the …do you want to take it outside.
So…….do you wanna take this outside or what?
No hard feelings.