CLOSED Review: Omega Restaurant & Pancake House
Author: indianapoliseater | Filed under: Food Reviews, Location: Indianapolis, IN
Omega Restaurant & Pancake House
6161 East 82nd Street
Indianapolis, Indiana 46250
I was in Castleton, looking for breakfast and had narrowed it down to either Denny’s or Omega. I had coupons for both, but since I had never been to Omega, I decided to give it a shot. Omega has been open for a couple years and I believe is locally owned by a Greek family. Since I see Greek family owned diners that get raved about on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives all the time, I was hoping that I was in for a good meal.
What I Got: Corned Beef Hash and Eggs, $7.29. Served with Corned Beef Hash, two eggs, homestyle potatoes and two pancakes (you can get pancakes, toast or biscuit).
My first thought was that this was a lot of food and I was glad for that, because I was very hungry and I knew that this breakfast would fill me up.
Unfortunately, all this breakfast did was fill me up because it certainly did not taste appetizing at all.
The eggs were rubbery and had essentially no flavor. I had to salt and pepper the heck out of them to get them to taste like anything resembling food.
The potatoes were soft and mushy, much like you would get if you took some frozen potatoes from the grocery store out of a bag and poured them into a skillet. In fact, I’m pretty sure that is what they did here.
The pancakes were crunchy and and bland. For those of you that have eaten or made pancakes before, you know that is not a good sign. It’s a sign of overcooking. Obviously they should be fluffy and soft.
As for the “star” of the show, the corned beef hash was mediocre, I guess, but it also tasted just like the corned beef hash that you would get if you scooped it out a can of hash that you can buy at the grocery store. The only difference was that this hash was cooked on a griddle and had a flaky burn to the top of it. Unfortunately, much like the eggs and also the potatoes, I had to salt and pepper the heck out of this in order to give it any sort of taste.
Just to top of this “glowing” (sarcasm, of course) review, all of this food was served to me at a lukewarm temperature. Awesome.
Would I Buy It Again? No, no, no. Not in a million years. Other than the quantity of the food, there was no redeeming quality to anything that was served to me (even my Diet Pepsi was watered down). This truly was just breakfast slop and I really wish I had gone to Denny’s where the food might not have been much better, but it certainly would have been cheaper.
I really don’t know how a business could stay open as long it has serving this, but somehow they have. It’s either their good location right in the middle of Castleton or they must have some sort of prize winning dish somewhere else on the menu that I just didn’t find. Mix that in with the fact that after tax and tip, I paid over $10 for this meal (even with a $2 off coupon) and you have a complete loser in my mind.
By the way, I wasn’t the only one that had a bad meal that day either. As I was waiting to pay, the manager (maybe he was an owner too, but I have no idea) asked the customer in front of me how his meal was and the customer replied, “the service was slow and our food was cold.” The manager just shrugged, said “oh” and then ran his credit card through. Not only did he not apologize or try to make him feel better, but he also had no problems charging the guy full price for the crap that he just ate! Unreal. Nice customer service and nice business.
-IndianapolisEater
Tags: Breakfast, corned beef hash, diet foods, eggs, Food, omega restaurant, pancakes, potatoes
Thanks for the heads up. I was thinking of checking that place out, but not so sure I want to now. In regards to local Greek family-owned diners, I’ve had some very satisfying meals at the Flapjacks and Four Seasons’ locations. Blueberry Hill on East Washington is very good as well.
saved me a trip! this is another place we’ve been thinking of trying for a while… we’ve often joked their name makes us think they’re some pancake cult.
I’ll stick with the Lincoln Square locations – another Greek-owned diner (with I believe a more extensive menu)… that I’ve found to be quite good, depending on what you order.
-tom
I haven’t eaten breakfast there, but I did have one of the best Greek salads with gyro meat that I’ve ever had, in my life … and I grew up in the Detroit area, where Greek-owned Coney Islands are everywhere. My boyfriend and I’ve eaten at Omega two or three times for lunch when we’ve been in the Castleton area and have always been pleased.
The funny thing is that you had to eat this while being hungover. You probably had your coupon in hand and pumped up the night before about going here and eating a ton. It makes me laugh that it was such a big letdown.
I have come to the conclusion that good breakfast places never issue coupons. If there is a coupon, I can already tell you what to expect.
@Tom – Lincoln Square has a few good items and then some are just plain bad. I didn’t like the omelet at all, but the hash and the French toast were good.
@wibia, agreed – for example I thought their gyros were pretty bad (and off-topic, if anyone saw the gyros on Triple D this week… wow – that is how it’s done).
There is a great Greek-owned diner in my city, and there was a terrible one that lasted just a few months. I visited the latter once, and had hashbrowns that were obviously from a freezer. The entire meal was pretty awful. And much like the customer you mentioned, I complained and was not given an apology or anything. Thank goodness for the good diner in town!
didn’t see DDD this week. I never know when it is new, reruns or whatever.
Sophia’s House of Pancakes down in Greenwood off of 135 and Main St. Greek diner, open 7 days a week closes at 3pm. Most excellent egg white omelets, moist n fluffy pancakes, club sandwiches, fries, perfectly browned crust on the hash browns, huge fresh salads…. huge portions, friendly & competent service, they will customize any order for you. really good value. If you like to judge places by the quality of the jams on the table– they serve Dickenson’s.
@Becky: Dickenson’s is good stuff. I have two or three jars of it at home and love it.
@wibia: I wasn’t hungover , but I had been lightly drinking the night before. As for when knowing if DDD is new or not, try using your on screen program guide. It says whether something is new or a repeat. Ha!
@tom h: I did see DDD this week and that episode (and gyros) just made me more upset about Omega. They could have so much going for them…what a waste.
@Cath: Glad you had several good meals. You must have good luck because it seems that everyone that was there the day I was had bad meals.
I have been thinking about trying it but now Indianapolis eater saved me from a bad breakfast. I love breakfast but have had very few good sit down experiences in Indianapolis. I am also not a big fan of chains but recently had an omelet at the Perkins at 82nd and Allisonville and it was excellent along with very good service.
When I saw this place open it reminded me of one of the best Greek places I’ve ever eaten at down in South Carolina (www.staxs.com/omega.htm) They have one of those ridiculous menus that’s 52 pages long, but every thing is good. When Greek joints are done right they are outstanding, when they are done bad your’re in the bathroom all day. Are there any good Greek diner type places on the northside?
Go to Flapjacks and try the Greek Breakfast Skillet–scrambled eggs, potatoes, onions, green peppers, gyro meat and feta cheese. Delicious! And, even with all that, they STILL offer you a side of pancakes with it for no extra charge. Amazing.
Good review, too bad about the food though. One of the best, and actually lowest cost, breakfast can be found at Blueberry Hill on E. Washington St.. Personally, I think most breakfast meals seem the same to me. Be it from Denny’s, Blueberry Hill, IHOP, the old style Waffle House, etc., nothing really stood out as different. If the food is cooked bad, it is going to be bad. When the food is cooked great to good, it usually all taste the same to me.
I will also say that Sero’s, also out on E. Washington St. in Cumberland, is pretty decent for a Greek establishment. They are somewhat more pricey and I haven’t been in about two years. They have been around for years now, so they must be doing something right.
As far as Four Seasons, we won’t be going back. My parents and many other relatives like their lunch/dinner food, but I had one of their hamburgers and it wasn’t good at all.
I know this isn’t a Four Seasons post, but it’s been mentioned a few times so I’ll hijack this thing. Four Seasons is definitely hit or miss. I had a club sandwich there that was, well, like eating drywall between toasted bread. Bone dry and tasteless. I got split pea soup that was almost equally bad. I mean, how do you mess up a club sandwich? The mere fact that it has bacon alone should bump it up to mediocre… A friend got a breakfast skillet, and it looked good (talk about substantial) but he felt it was bland as well.
Gave it one more chance for gyros (since it is Greek owned) and it was pretty darn good. Probably won’t go back (I moved out of the east side) but for Greek food it’s an option. For anything else, not so much.
I looked at the eggs in the picture before I read the review and thought to myself, “Eww, those eggs look like rubber … ” then scrolled to find you confirmed my suspiscion. Yuck. A breakfast place needs to be able to make good scrambled eggs!!
Just warning you that Sofia’s is probably the same kind of bland and horrible.
Normally I think you guys can be overly critical at times, but in this case you can tell just by looking at that crap that its not a good breakfast. It looks cafeteria food at best. Not restaurant cafeteria food, but the kind you get at school or a continental breakfast.