Broad Ripple Brewpub

I can’t believe we have lived (back) here 6 years now and this is our first trip to Broad Ripple Brew Pub in that time.  I have been in the past, years and years ago, but I can’t even begin to tell you what I thought of it then it has been so long.  Someone recently told us the Scotch eggs were good though, and we really enjoyed them at MacNiven’s, so we wanted to try them.

We also had the kids with us and they are pretty kid friendly as well, although our server didn’t bring us a kids’ menu until we asked for one.  Honestly, the service, or lack thereof, was actually the first thing I noticed about the place.  There was no one around anywhere, just a lot of signs saying “enter through other door” and “seat yourself” and a pile of menus on a center table.  After we did seat ourselves, it took awhile before anyone approached us too.  I wouldn’t say service is a strength, that is for sure.

We started with the Scotch eggs though ($6.75) and they were good.  It is a boiled egg covered in sausage, breaded and quickly deep fried.  The sausage was a little different from the MacNiven’s version—it was more like country sausage—not quite as spicy.  They also served them with a garlic ranch dipping sauce.  The sausage part was nearly as thick as the egg, and honestly I prefer my egg ratio to be a little higher, but the flavor was good and the outside crust was good and crunchy.  The ranch was very garlicky, and that was a nice change of pace from your traditional ranch.  If I had to choose which one I liked better, I would probably choose MacNiven’s, but these were very good too.

Hubby and I were a little overwhelmed by the sheer size of the menu—there are a lot of options on there—and ended up splitting a 12" specialty pizza ($11.50).  It was the portabella pizza and had portabella mushrooms, provolone, mozzarella and feta cheese (we had them skip the roasted red peppers).  The flavor of the pizza was very good—again, lots of garlic and the different flavors of cheeses made it more interesting than a lot of pub pizzas.  The mushrooms tasted like they were roasted and had a deep earthy flavor.  The feta was a good addition because of the saltiness it added—especially once it is cooked.  The crust tasted good—it was seasoned more than your standard pizza crust. The only problem was the classic soggy in the middle problem.  You really had to eat it with a knife and fork because the middle was so gooey, if you picked it up, the topping would have slid off.  It was kind of a shame, because if it had a solid crust, it would have been a pretty darn good pie.

The chicken fingers that my son had were not impressive (they rarely are). They seemed pretty foodservice to me.  He mainly just finished up the Scotch eggs instead.  My daughter had a half order of nachos off the appetizer menu and was perfectly content.  All in all, for a pub, the food was pretty good (at least the adult food was).  The service was pretty lacking although our server perked up a little when I asked her opinion on some of her favorite things.  The menu is large though—really large.  I know a lot of you guys eat there, so let me know about your favorite things.

Broad Ripple Brewpub

842 East 65^th Street

Indy  46220

317/253-2739

www.broadripplebrewpub.com