Broad Ripple Tavern

The tavern had an interesting open-air concept with overhead door/windows along Broad Ripple Avenue that were open to let the gentle July breezes (and flies) pass through the area. This was a good idea, since there was someone smoking at the bar right next to us. When my Reuben came, the bread seemed a little over-toasted and dry, but the beef and sauerkraut tasted good. The corned beef was a very pale color, but very tasty. The sauerkraut had a good tang. What was lacking from the sandwich seemed to be the taste of the Swiss cheese and dressing. I know there were slices of cheese on there, but for some reason, they did not stand out enough to be noticed. The only atmospheric negative besides the smoke was that the bathroom floor was awfully sticky for only 11:30 a.m. The wait staff was excellent, though, and accommodated separate checks for our party of about a dozen people. Service was friendly and attentive.

Very attentive service. The sandwich was toasty warm when delivered. I could not taste the cheese. There was an airy atmosphere with open windows. The bathrooms were built for throughput.

I loved the open windows at this place. Okay, so I had to shoo a fly away from my potato salad a couple of times, but I love fresh air, and enjoying it inside in the shade was very pleasant. Even though there were ashtrays on the table, I didn't smell any smoke at all. The dining area seemed very clean, but I heard that the men's room wasn't in the state one might have hoped at 11:30am. Service was very friendly and attentive, and my drink was refilled without my having to ask. I was pleased to learn that I could have ordered a cider, since I don't find ciders as often as I like, but since I was returning to work afterward that was unfortunately not an option. Food was served on china with metal flatware in a paper napkin, and drinks came in glass. My sandwich came with three round pickle slices and a serving of potato salad. The potato salad was surprisingly bland: it was like they had created a neutral base potato salad that could have had mustard or sour cream or bacon or anything added to it, and then stopped before flavoring it with anything at all. It didn't taste bad, but I didn't feel the need to finish it. The sandwich halves were held together with decorative toothpicks. Mine was perfectly toasted, nice and crisp the way I like it, without being so dry as to be abrasive. There were good quantities of beef and kraut, and overall the size of the sandwich was just about perfect: I didn't feel bloated and overfull after finishing it, but I wasn't the slightest bit hungry that afternoon. However, none of the ingredients had a very strong flavor. Okay, so I usually can't taste the cheese anyway, and it's not too strange for the beef and the dressing to be a bit subtle, but the kraut and rye flavors are usually pretty strong. This sandwich had wonderful texture--crisp outside, soft and juicy inside--but flavorwise there just wasn't much there, almost as if it feared to offend. Now that I ponder it, I have to wonder if my nose was stuffed up and I didn't notice, since I didn't seem to smell or taste much in the place at all, but I distinctly remember smelling cut grass on the way back to work so I don't think that's it. So while I did enjoy the sandwich, it fell short of the full Reuben experience, in which all the disparate flavors should blend together to something greater than the sum of its parts. Overall it was a pleasant, inoffensive experience, and one I'd happily repeat, but next time I'd wait until after work so I could have that cider too. And I'd ask the chef to kick the flavors up a notch or three.

The sandwich had good flavor and texture. I got too much reflected sunlight in my eyes and it started out a bit smoky. After the air got moving though, the atmosphere was much better.

A bit more dressing, but overall very good. Appropriate corned beef to sauerkraut ratio. The bread was nicely toasted.

Very nice staff, great place, good sandwich. Parking can be a problem.

Great atmosphere. I liked the fact that they open the garage door windows to give an outside feel. The sandwich was really good for the most part. I would come for it again.

My only comment is that it needed more Thousand Island dressing!

Needs more 1000 island dressing interspersed across the bread.

The sandwich came with sliced pickles--no pickle spears :( The bread held up great! It needed more Thousand Island dressing. I thought the sauerkraut was a bit too sour at times. This would be a great place for friends to meet on a Friday. I would come back!

The sandwich arrived nicely toasted. The flavour of the first half was very good, albeit the edges were lacking in dressing. The second half needed more dressing. The sauerkraut delivered was well-proportioned to the meat. The sandwich was about 2.25 inches in the middle.