08/18/09

Stay Away from Dunaway's

by MsAlnilam

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

06/06/09

Three Strikes-Yer Out!

by www111www

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

09/03/08

Exorbitant and arbitrary overpricing

by mary567

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

08/16/08

Nice Meal for the Money, Service Was Fair

by missmoore

Had supper there last month before an exhibit. Service was FAIR to POOR. However, the food was fresh, hot and very delicous! The deserts were very good and to our liking. Would come back again next year certainly.

Service was very slow and "oh, well ..."

• Pros: loved the sweets at the end!
• Cons: slow service

06/16/08

Terrible service - food

by 6530

My boyfriend and I went to Dunaways on a Friday evening rather early so we could avoid the usual crowd and take our time. First I was very disgusted with the unclean ladies room. The water did not work on two faucets and there was no soap not to mention paper towels all over the floor. It was also very run down dingy in appearance. Next we ordered Carpaccio DRY - and I specifically said please no sauces of any kind - aioli anything. The waiter assured me they did not serve it that way. My boyfriend ordered a very nice bottle of wine and when he treats me out he spares no expense for me. He has always taken me to very nice expensive places if thats what I want plus he has excellent taste in food and wine. When our carpaccio arrived there was only a very small dish unlike the nice portion u receive at places like Ruths Chris. Hardly enough for one let alone two and the price was overpriced to the portion. Much to my distaste it had a mustard sauce underneath the carpaccio. That taste made my stomach very upset. I could not eat anymore and suggested we cancel and leave. My dinner was ruined there at that point. My boyfriend complained to the manager and the manager did not care and was extremely rude to my boyfriend. We have never ever not even at a small establishement let alone expensive place been treated so rude and unfriendly. We were not even there45 minutes and there wasnt even an apology, an attempt to change the mistake. We did not finish our wine and had to pay for that. I will never return and suggest others think twice before going. Especially since Indy offers so many other fine establishments that offer excellent food and service far above this place. Of all the great places we have eaten - Oceanaire, Ruth Chris, Agios, Izzy & Harrys ect...this was the absolute worst in more than one way.

01/02/08

Bad!!!

by wjsharp

A party of four went on New Years Eve with evening reservations. It took over 30 minutes to have our order placed and receive the bottle of wine we ordered!! After one hour had passed we finally got some bread and salads!!! Finally after the two hour mark and expressing our concern to the waiter we got our order; cold!! That?s when they ask if we want some more wine to drink... We did get some free dessert for the road but by that time in the night all the desserts you would want they were out of!!!!!! We and our friends and family will not be back.

08/19/07

Bad service

by jemmccar

I enjoyed my filet at Dunaways, however, the terrible service my group received will be the reason why I don't plan to go back.

A group of 12 went out for a friends birthday and we were seated on the roof- which was lovely. The atmosphere of the entire place is great, and the roof offers a great view of the city. I had great expectations, only to be let down by the service. The gals at the front desk were unattitive and quick to just point me into the bar to find my party. Once at the bar, it took 10 minutes to receive my martini. Once officially seated on the roof, the waiter was not friendly at all and seemed to rush everyone into making a decision. We had asked for bread several times before it was brought- about about 30 seconds before our food- which came in two seperate trips. Someone ordered crab legs and had something unidentifiable in it- the waiter said it was "probably cartliage" and left it at that.

Our table spent over $1,200 at this restaurant and were treated very poorly.

I will not be going back.

• Pros: the view, ambiance
• Cons: serivce!

05/07/07

Good

by ghl75

I have never been to Indianpolis and was looking for a place to take friends for dinner while we were in town. I found the food at Dunaways to be very good. It was an early dinner on a Friday and the restaurant was surprisingly quiet. Very nice atmosphere. We were seated next to a large window that looks out at the city. The menu was great. Something for everyone. All of the items looked so good it was hard to decide which one to order. The king crab risotto was awesome as were the lobster ravioli. The service was not very good. Very slow and our waiter did not seem very knowledgable about the food. About halfway through our meal we started smelling something like spoiled eggs. We finally asked our server and he explained that there is some type of oil trap down in the kitchen that creates that smell when it is opened. Overall very good food, good atmosphere (as long as they don't open the oil trap), not so good service.

• Pros: Good food, good menu
• Cons: Poor service

01/12/07

Great Place for Large Parties

by jnidey80

I would have to disagree with the last gentlemen. In his years of cooking steaks and eating mash potatoes he must have learned, that you dont throw an undercooked steak out! you simply put it back on the grill until it is cooked properly. It is a bit too much to ask the resturant to burn money away like that. And if i recall sides at the resturant are 5 dollars, not 7.50, and maybe the server thought you, or your wife looked healthy enough to get the extra side. I frequent dunaways quite often, and i found like any place you eat, if you are reasonable they will be reasonable as well. Maybe if a hundred dollar meal to you is such a big spend, try applebee's, they now have a celebrity chef creating dishes for them, it sounds like that is probably more your speed. I have found over the years that resturants, good ones anyway, aren't into compensation. I always have a great time, well knowledgable waitors, generous management, and the best wine selection in town, (when the list is full). thank you

• Pros: great wine list, good food
• Cons: elderly hostess

04/07/06

Bad.....very bad

by houstoib

I ordered and the waitress says, "Would you like the mashed potatoes with that". Of course, I said yes, because they come with the meal. She repeated this process with my girlfriend. Well, I get the mashed potatoes that comes with my meal, and A SECOND ORDER! Are you kidding me? That tricky waitress got me into ordering two orders. She never stated "an extra" or anything, I thought I was just confirming that the mashed potatoes were fine. The same thing happened to my girlfriend.

Needless to say I was upset. You're already spending like $100 at the place, bare minimum. Why they feel the need to talk you into an addition helping, for $7.50 extra is beyond me.

This place is nasty the way they treat customers. It is very expensive and well overrated. Dunnaway's is a disgrace to restaurants.

• Pros: none
• Cons: rude, tricky, expensive