Dunaway's

HORRIBLE PLACE FOR GROUP DINNERS!!

by arp2 at Citysearch

Back in May 2010 I had made reservations for a group dinner during a conference. I immediately thought of Dunaway's because I had eaten there and had a pleasant experience plus their rooftop dining was perfect for this summer meeting. I talked/e-mailed the owner and had everything confirmed....or so I thought because even though I called the night before to confirm my reservations I had a co-worker go there for lunch the same day of my dinner and despite the fact that she had reservations the place was CLOSED!! For absolutely no reason she was never called or anything. I called several times during the day to make sure they would still be open for my dinner and no one answered the phones despite the fact their voicemail indicated they were open.

I e-mailed the owner to let him know that if I didn't receive a reply by that afternoon that I was cancelling my "reservation" I heard nothing back even after waiting an additional hour.....inexcusable if you ask me. I scrambled to find another location and ended up having the group go to Fogo de Chao who set us up in a beautiful private dining area and accomodated are large group with only 3 hours of notice. Great staff and excellent food at Fogo, but STAY AWAY FROM DUNAWAY'S!!!!!

• Cons: Inattentive staff, zero communication, no banquet contracts

Excellent place for a date night

by abring at Citysearch

My husband took me to Dunaway's for our first married Valentine's day, and it was a wonderful experience. He made reservations in advance, and when we arrived, we were seated immediately.

You could tell every table was spoken for, but the service was impeccable. We felt like there was a team of wait-staff assigned to our table to ensure we were never without drinks, bread, etc.

We both ordered the filet, which was cooked to perfection. Also, the asparagus was the best I've ever had while dining out (too many places over cook it or cover it in sauce that doesn't taste good).

I consider the valet parking another perk for this restaurant, as finding parking downtown in an SUV is incredibly annoying.

This restaurant was better than the Oceanaire in quality and service. My husband and I will make this our regular date night restaurant from now on.

• Pros: best steak i ever had, stellar service
• Cons: it is pricey, but worth it

Stay Away from Dunaway's

by MsAlnilam at Citysearch

On a Thursday night we ventured to Dunaway's Restaurant for, what we thought, would be a five star meal.

After waiting an hour and twenty minutes for our food, I decided to seek out the Manager. I told him we had been waiting at our rooftop table for our food with very poor service and that we had run out of bread, water, wine and soft drinks.

I would TRY to understand this poor service if the place were busy, but this was not the case. From what I saw only about a third of the tables were taken despite the fact that our waiter said the kitchen was swamped.

When I approached the Manager, his response was "We expect you to stay here two hours, so waiting an hour and twenty minutes still gives you fourty minutes to eat and have desert".

I said "Is that it?"... He said "yes".

I would encourage everyone reading this to stay away from Dunaway's unless you're not in a hurry and it doesn't matter to you that the management there could care less about your satisfaction.

In this poor economy where a lot of people are watching their money, I would think Dunaway's would want to be "on their toes" trying to make sure customers have an enjoyable experience and WANT to return.

The final straw; the rooftop fire escape stairwell was blocked leaving the only access a slow small elevator.

I gave them one star ONLY because it is required by this site.

• Pros: Rooftop View
• Cons: Everything Else

Three Strikes-Yer Out!

by www111www at Citysearch

Ok, three strikes. I'm done with Dunaway's. I entertained some friends from out of town. They were interested in Dunaway's due to the proximity of Eli Lilly. I had been to the restaurant on two other occasions with similiar poor results.

Simply put, the service from the wait staff was slow and seemingly uncaring. I even pulled our waiter aside and asked him to keep a "close eye on us" because my guests wanted to have a good time. Maybe I wasn't clear enough in my request. Our drinks were slow in coming. Entrees were somewhat cold. For 6 of us the bill was close to $600. The rooftop view is unique, but please put a tablecloth over the cheesy WalMart plastic table. Mr Dunaway, you can do better!

I can do better too. My next dinner with guests will be at some other high end restaurant in downtown Indy. There are others to choose from.

One star for the view. (Insert heavy sigh!)

• Pros: Food was good
• Cons: Slow, marginal service

Exorbitant and arbitrary overpricing

by mary567 at Citysearch

Made reservations for 20 to order off of the menu. No written or verbal contract was requested or made. 17 made it for the birthday party. Bill for 17 people was approx $770.00. We were handed our bill plus a $500.00 "extra charge" because our table had not ordered 20 entrees (by the way they were out of the Amish chicken) The owner Jeff Dunaway told that us that he had planned that the table was to have 20 people ordering $60.00 each. Without a contract he had absolutely no right to demand that we pay this charge. Mr. Dunaway then refused to let us leave without paying his fictional charge. The police were called (I am not kidding). They tried to negotiate that we pay half of this charge to diffuse the situation and we refused. Mr. Dunaway told the police that he was taking us to Small Claims Court. I, by the way, had to be taken by ambulance to the emergency room because my heart rate was 150 when the EMT's measured it. By all accounts Mr. Dunaway found it amusing that I was in distress. THIS IS A TRUE STORY. I have been advised by the Restaurant Association that in order for Dunaway to even attempt to tack on this charge it would have to be stated on a contract (there wasn't one) or posted on his menus or walls. And really who would go to a restaurant that stated that the owner can decide on a whim what the bill will be.

• Cons: owner