Rick's Cafe Boatyard

09/17/08

Worst Service Possible

by DCS08 at Citysearch

Visited on a Sunday afternoon expecting to sit outside listening to live music. Instead, due to cloudy weather that morning (it WASN'T and DIDN'T rain while I was there or later) the musicians played inside much to our disappointment. While the music was great, the food and service were terrible. Once the waiter finally made it over to the table to take our orders, he then disappeared and we had to ask for another server. In total, we had FIVE different servers wait on the four of us during our two hour stay. And then we had to ask for drinks because nobody seemed to care our glasses were empty. Needless-to-say, I'm never going back and neither will the guests who were with me. Overrated. Overpriced. Poor management.

• Pros: It's on the water.
• Cons: Service is awful.

02/16/08

Better Choice than the other Seafood Restaurants

by 1stBigMac at Citysearch

If you like the taste of seafood and taking someone along who doesn't, Rick's Cafe Boatyard is a recommendation to consider seriously. It was funny as I also checked into the reviews of Rick's and was concerned about comments of slow and poor service. I looked at the dates to see how recent they were. Six years ago can not possibly reflect the current business philosophy.

I am happy to say it doesn't. Rock's had already filled in its prime reservations slots which made me take one an hour earlier than I wished. I came with three lovely ladies and even though we were twenty minutes late, we were seated right away. No arguments. No problem. We were waited on quickly, food came out quickly, hot and delicious. My salmon roulade was perfect. The board-roasted whitefish drew a wonderful praise as did the Shrimp Scampi and Chicken Parmesean. Never went thirsty and the deserts (cheesecake and creme boule) were eaten down to the plate even though we all claimed we had no more room for any food.

Although the place was packed, we stayed with drinks and talked and laughed as the band played in the background. We should have left much earlier but enjoyed the restaurant for two and half hours without so much of having the check placed in front of us. When the check came, it was good to see that I would be paying about 35% less than I would downtown Indianapolis.

My only complaint? I like to finish my meal with an expresso. I was told Rick's machine was not working. When I asked the waitress "Where is Rick?" half-jokingly, she pointed him out for me. Easily approachable, Rick heard me out and said he would have that rectified. We'll see.

Regardless, I will return again and again. The menu is pretty large to get a feel at one sitting. So, if you want downtown cooking but the outside, quiet views then you need to try Rick's Cafe Boatyard. Remember that everything is ala carte so you pay a little more. Just enough, however, to make it special.

• Pros: Menu selection, quick service, your pace - not theirs, value and experience
• Cons: Parking can be cramped on full evenings but valle is available. Expresso would be nice

10/21/07

Give yourself some time

by belindashort at Citysearch

The food and drinks were pretty good, I had the mahi-mahi sandwich which was a bit dry,and my date had the New York Strip which I sampled and it was excellent. Hickory smoked and cooked the way he asked for it.

I'd stick with the specials (drink-wise) or the seasonal beer. Our service, especially on the deck was very, very slow. We would have stayed outside for an extra cocktail, but we waited nearly 20 minutes for the first drink, and the deck was dead. That's the only reason I took off a couple stars.

A friend of ours used to work there and warned us of the slow service before we went, but we weren't expecting to be there for as long as we were. One thing that helped was the live jazz music in the bar.

All in all, I'd go back, but I'd be prepared to spend most of the evening there.

• Pros: Steak, ambience
• Cons: Slow service