Latitude 39

Again, another new place right by our house—Latitude 39 is more of a “fun center” than a restaurant, but since we did ate a meal there (and had an appetizer while we bowled the other day), I figured it was worth a post.

First of all, I know this place is new, but every time we have been there it has been nearly empty (during the day). I am wondering how their business is doing. Who has been in the evening? I wonder if it does more business then.  (A side note, a lot of people I know do not like taking their kids there because it is so expensive—you have to rent a bowling alley by the hour on the weekends (plus shoe rental) and the prices run between $35 and $42 per hour).

We went bowling once (and with only 3 of us bowling managed to barely get in 2 games in an hour) and ordered some guacamole and chips ($8.99) and a “perfect margarita.”  The menu says they make the guac in house and it was pretty good.  You could see some nice chunks of avocado and it had some diced onions, jalapenos and tomatoes.  We all quite enjoyed it—even the kids who are very selective about the guacamole they will eat. The chips were a major letdown though. They were cold and out of a bag, and not even a particularly good bag of chips. The “perfect margaritas” (which are the top shelf margaritas at this place) were pretty tasty too.

A couple weeks later we decided to try lunch.  There were several of us, so we started with the buffalo chicken queso dip ($8.99). As it turned out, this was the best thing we had and we actually enjoyed it, despite its very orange hue.  It certainly had a distinct buffalo sauce flavor, and was very creamy (from cream cheese and cheddar jack).  There were also some nice pieces of chicken breast mixed in. The chips were the same ones as before, and thus, not overly impressive.

Hubby and I then shared the seared tuna appetizer ($10.99) as well. It was crusted in sesame seeds and served with wasabi sour cream and soy sauce.  Eh, I wasn’t overly impressed. The fish had very little flavor and a few of the pieces of fish were a little too fatty. Luckily the cabbage underneath was lightly dressed with a soy/wasabi/ginger dressing and helped season the fish a bit when you ate them together.  But all in all, I would call this one pretty bland.

My son had the cheese pizza, which he had before on a visit with someone else and claimed he really liked it. It actually looked pretty good—real thin crust, but the flavor instantly reminded me of the pizza I would get in the school cafeteria when I was a kid. I don’t know if it was the flavor of the sauce or the crust, but I couldn’t eat it (I didn’t care for it then and I don’t now).  My son did like it though and ultimately that is all that matters right?

The service was pretty bad as well. There was hardly anyone in there eating and our server disappeared for long periods of time. My daughter’s chicken quesadilla had no chicken in it, and it took us forever to get that fixed.  Hubby ordered a “Perfect margarita” again based on the last ones we had, and this time it was really bad. It tasted like they had made it with the wrong alcohol or something. It was totally off.

My thoughts are this—if we go back to bowl, I would be willing to get a couple of the appetizers—both dips were pretty good (except for the chips), but I think I would pass on eating another sit down meal at the restaurant.

I wish someone would open a really great independent place in the Castleton region. We have way too many restaurants with almost the exact same menu. Sigh.

Latitude 39

4016 East 82^nd Street

Indy  46250

317/813-6565

www.latitude39indy.com