Houlihan’s
http://www.houlihans.com/

For one reason or another, Houlihan’s has never really registered to me.  My lasting impression is that it is a jack of all trades, master of none.  I have to admit though, I liked their menu a lot.  Pastas, entrees, salads, burgers etc.  They had small plates menu and even a “frites bar”, where there were five different choices of fries.   The drink menu had a lot of offerings as well with lots of martinis that looked good.  A ton of suff to try, that is for sure.

With all that being said, I got a burger.  It just sounded good at the time.

What I Ate:  Burger 72; $9.95.  Topped with a garlic cream cheese mushroom cap, horseradish, parmesan and watercress.

When delivered, it looked great.  The mushroom cap was adequate at best.  I thought that I would really love this combination, but it didn’t do it for me.   The more burgers that I eat (a ton of them), the more of a purist I become.  The spaces around the musroom cap tasted a little dry (an extra dollop of horseradish sauce could’ve cured that).  The burger was cooked perfectly, the meat tasted fresh and the overall quality was surely there.  Then again, for a $10 burger, it should be.    My problem with the mushroom cap is that it wasn’t crispy enough, so there wasn’t a crunchy texture in there.  I like a little raw red onion usually for a touch of crunch with my burger.

Fries were tasty, I ate all of them.quickly.  Nothing special, but hot and fresh.

Would I Buy It Again?  No to the burger.  Sure to Houlihan’s.  The service was attentive and friendly.  The meal was not bad at all, but I just didn’t fall in love with what I had.   With a menu as large as theirs, I imagine that there are a few favorites that people like.  I was pretty boring and ordered a burger, but I would like to go back and check out a few other things they have to offer.   There was nothing wrong with what I had, this is just a matter of personal prefrence.

-wibia

Napolese
114 East 49th St
Indianapolis, Indiana 46205
http://www.cafepatachou.com

Napolese has been around for a little while and it has been a place that I have always wanted to try.   I love pizza and I really enjoy pizza done well.   Knowing the level of detail and focus that goes into Patachou, I was really looking forward to this.

What I Ate: Side Focaccia ($3), Side Tomato Sauce ($2) and Hamaker Pizza ($14).

Having my two year old with me, I wanted to get him something to nosh on while we wait.  If not, he can turn into a diva at times.  The focaccia was bad.  Strips of what appeared to be pizza dough where some of them were saturated with oil and others with dry as a cracker.   However, I liked the sauce.  Plain, light on seasoning just like I enjoy it.  For $5 total, this was not very good at all.

The Hamaker is sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  This is my favorite three topping combo, so I had to give it a try.  The pizza looked good when it was delivered, but  that is where the story ends.   I liked that the mushrooms were left whole on the pizza and they had a little bite to them.  The sausage was okay, but I tend to like a fennel-y sausage more than this versions.   What I didn’t like is the pepperoni.   There were two long slices there were difficult to chew and navigate.   The worst part was the crust because I couldn’t eat it with my hands.  I think the amount of meats pushed enough oil to the crust that you couldn’t pick this up.

When I ate my leftovers the next day, I put it in the toaster over to crisp the crust and I thought it was a lot better.   To be honest, I should’ve sent it back, but that wouldn’t have fixed the pepperoni problem.   However, sending back pizza  is difficult to do wait for another when your kid is ready to jet.

Would I Buy It Again?   I really don’t know.  I can only imagine that this was poor execution.  The quality of the ingredients was there, I liked their red sauce and it was a cool place.   And, if I am ever in the mood to trap a Meridian-Kessler Cougar, this place is like shooting fish in the barrel.

I will give it another try and report back.

-wibia

HotBox Pizza
12510 East 116th Street
Fishers, IN 46037-8907
(317) 849-4200
http://www.gethotboxpizza.com/

If you spent any time in Bloomington, you would know that for a while Pizza Express owned the town.  Mostly because of their breadsticks, cheese sauce and super cheap Big Ten Special  (Large one topping, breadsticks and two sodas in plastic cups).  Most of my friends still have the cups somewhere around.  I’m rambling, but note that HotBox and Pizza Express basically have the same food.  HotBox has six locations with five in Indiana and one in Texas.

What I Had: Large BBQ Pizza, Large Sausage, Pepperoni and Mushroom and two orders of breadsticks.  I had a buy one-get one coupon and the total was around $25.  The BBQ chicken was $18.95 for a large alone and breadsticks are $3.99.

I ordered the S,P & M on thin crust.  Wow, this was bad.  I think they were going for low carb, but the taste was really bad.  The sausage pieces were so small, it had the consistency of sand.  The mushrooms were very small and really sparse as well.  There was very little sauce, but the soggy crust couldn’t handle the weight anyway.

The BBQ was ordered on hand tossed crust which I enjoyed more, but it was pretty weak as well.  Very small pieces of of chicken were sparsely scattered throughout the pizza.   The BBQ sauce was too sweet for my liking and the red onion didn’t add anything.   The crust to toppings ratio was flirting with them being pretty cheap.

The breadsticks were okay.  The cheese has to be straight from a can and the breadsticks were really chewy and salty.

Would I Buy It Again?   No.  I’d rather make a Red Baron and get a kick in the nuts as I would feel better than I did after this meal.  Even with the buy one-get one coupon, I didn’t feel as if I got a deal because the toppings were such low quality and very sparse.  Honestly, it is my least favorite pizza in Indianapolis.  No, scratch that…Indiana.  Sorry.

-wibia

I already tried the Deluxe Angus Burger and I was enough of a fan to try another angus burger from MCD.  My wife hit the drive thru and she ordered the Bacon and Cheddar burger, no mayo.  However, they botched the order and I got the Mushroom Swiss.  I usually avoid Swiss at fast food places because low quality swiss is far worse than low quality American cheese.  A lot of the times, Mushroom Swiss has a funky gravy with them as well.

Oh yeah, this exact ordering mishap happened to WIBIA friend Bronze Chains as well.

What I Got:  Angust Mushroom and Swiss Combo $5.79

When I opened the hood on this burger, I thought… wow that is a ton of mushrooms…. I mean, a ton!  The sandwich was a little dry because I took off the mayo, but I do not recommend ordering this one without mayo.  For fast food, the mushrooms were a decent quality and the beef patty wasn’t bad either.  The Swiss cheese was a little waxy, but I wasn’t offended by it.

Would I Buy It Again?  No, get the Deluxe Angus Burger, it’s pretty good.  If you are a mushroom lover and like a burger with your mushrooms, then this might be yo’ thang.  I doubt it though since it sucked.  MCD should take this off the menu and add one with BBQ, Bacon, Pepper Jack and Red Onion or something along those lines.  A spicy burger would be nice.

Nutrition: Calories with mayo 770, 40g fat.

Btw, they changed boxes from the two guys running to this one.  Much better.

-wibia