Nick’s Chili Parlor

I try to stay away from Lafayette road, but sometimes I can’t help it. When I’m craving footlong chili dogs on a cold Indy night, I cannot help but make the trip to Nick’s. Get ready consume loads of tasty chili. Nothing on the menu is overly impressive, but it’s affordable, filling, and palate-​pleasing. The fries and dogs are nothing special, you won’t want to write about them in your diary, but the chili may stain the pages.

The best chili you will find anywhere. I moved to Indy in 1975 and worked at the Zayre gas station across the street, and have been coming to this place ever since. Even when I lived far away I stopped by as often as I could. I don’t live close but anytime I am in my old neighborhood, I stop in for the best chili I have ever had.
Get it 5 ways. Smiles abound here, everyone is nice.

This is definitely the spot if you’re in the mood for a hot bowl of chili! Many other items on the menu, but I can’t get past the chili. Great on cold days!

Very friendly service.
Chili and tenderloin yum.
Clean dinning area
French fries are good with side options

a quick good solid mid western meal. 2 chili cheese dogs. yummy and exactly what you’d expect.
the dogs were a little soft but I think that’s just a mid western thing.
I love that soupy loose chili with NO BEANS.
and the ladies working behind the counter were SO pleasant.
oh yeh pecan pie was cheap and delish. 7 bucks luck for 2 people? yes please!

We just got back from here. It was our first visit. The place was pretty clean. I ordered 3 regular hotdogs and an order of fries. The hotdogs were good and I did go back and ask for some grilled onions and was prepared to pay for them if necessary but she gave them to me. Although she hardly gave me enough to put on 3 hotdogs. They only have ketchup and mustard on the tables so if you want anything else on your dog then you need to ask for it. I got an order of fries and those were $ 1.69 and she placed some in the fryer and I was like yes I am actually going to get some hot fries. No such luck. She scraped the bottom of the holding basket and gave me a handful of cold fries not to mention hardly enough to justify charging me $ 1.69 for them. The spouse got the Chili 5 way and said it was good. I would go back but they would be cooking me some fresh fries and not be so stingy with the topping for the hotdogs.

I love how you smell like Chili after leaving this place. It really should be bottled and sold as perfume. This Chili isn’t messing around y’all. It keeps you warm and cozy on a subzero Indy day. The hot dogs are the best ever and the grilled cheese makes me warm and cozy. Now the ladies in line might yell or scare you – it’s ok. Just smile and get that Chili home asap. It’s well worth the trip.

This place is great ! Immaculate clean, friendly service and a Detroit style foot long chili dog, piping hot fries and a drink for $ 5.99. Also serve Chicago style all beef dogs. Try it, you’ll like it.

Good place to visit! Ive been to Indianapolis at least 3 times a year the last 6 years and finally stopped in. Has the New York hotdog, it was pretty darn good!!! Great service, folks were really friendly and good atmosphere. Will definetely be back!

No complaints here. Nice clean place with plenty of seating space. Stopped here after a night at the velodrome to get a bite to eat. Tried the tenderloin, burgers, fries, and onion rings. The food was good but honestly for me nothing special. At least half of the order came out of a bag from the freezer. Perhaps the customers fault for not ordering their signature chili dishes.

Pretty awesome food, and the place seems to have some good history. Some of the old photos on the walls show that this place is classic Indy. Too bad the staff serving us today was in a really bad mood. Swearing at each other and acting like we bothered them to be there. Super awkward/​uncomfortable situation.

Didn’t deserve the hype. Tried the chili, tried the overpriced chili dogs, left perfectly unimpressed. I’ve had better from a hot dog stand.

The lunch line is always long. Nick’s is a Cincinnati-​style chili that is perfect on hot dogs and spaghetti. It’s too hard to decide between getting either, so I get both! I’d definitely would eat here more, if it was closer to where I work.

Needed food. Now! Turned into this place, expecting who knows what, and we were very pleasantly surprised. Very very clean, maybe the cleanest bathrooms I’ve ever seen in a restaurant. Good, tasty food, especially for a simple hot dog joint. There are a lot of restaurants that could learn about onion rings from this place. Simple, fried onion rings, without all that silly, bubbly, weird beer battered stuff so there’s almost no onion inside. Tasty! And safe for the shellfish sensitive as well, since they don’t serve the critters like every other restaurant does (makes it problematic to enjoy anything fried in those places.)
This place was fun, clean, and the food was tasty. I like!

Nicks is another staple on the west side that you’ll find affordable, with friendly service and a nice, large dining area in a newly remodeled building. Carry out is popular here and they do it well. We always do carry out and it’s still warm when we get it home to dine with our fur babies. The window tinting is great here but it will deceive you thinking their closed. My husband thought that again tonight as we drove up after dining here forever.
The polish sausages are my personal favorites and we enjoy with sauerkraut, onions and cheese. The sweet potato fries are tasty as well. Other favorites of ours are the chili, chili dogs, tenderloin and fries.
The only problem I’ve had with them is the upcharge of $ 1.00 per dog for a couple teaspoons of sauerkraut. It’s one of the cheapest toppings you can purchase and their upcharge is almost as much as the polish sausage itself. My husband says pay it or leave it off but get over it. I could always add at home but that defeats my purpose of eating out. I have trouble understanding why an additional dollar for sauerkraut? Regardless, be prepared for the dollar upcharge when adding sauerkraut. Great place to grab a dog or bowl of chili.

I went here due to the high reviews and was sorely disappointed.
Yes, this is a fast food joint. Yes, the sell chili dogs. And yes, they sell tamales.
Tamales!!!
Bad tamales at that. The chili dogs were filling — I wouldn’t say they were the best I’ve had but they weren’t the worst either. If you’re coming here, I’d stick with that. The tamales tasted like they were canned and sour — not something I expect for maseca and roasted pork.
I wouldn’t actively seek this place out though…

The building has been renovated (it sure needed it) and it’s clean and welcoming now. Don’t be afraid of the neighborhood, it’s all good once you step inside. It’s located about a mile south of the Lafayette Square area that is becoming Indy’s de facto «International Market». Hopefully Nick’s will be able to capitalize on the massive revitalization efforts occurring just to the north.
Friendly, quick service, and good food at very reasonable prices. Nick’s has been around for decades and with good reason. The chili is very good and won’t break the bank.

I can’t believe that I took so long to check this place out. Really liked it!
I passed by several times over a couple years, and it just didn’t look like it was open. I guess my assumption for this part of town — and for much of Indy, actually — is that any place that looks good is closed down, a mere shell advertising something almost-​cool that once was. That, plus the tinted windows and the mysterious absence of cars in the lot, led me to assume that Nick’s was out of business.
Boy, am I glad I was wrong! This place is solid. The food is good, the service is friendly, and the story is just what we look for. As the posted Indy Star Food Review says, the owners opened the place because they thought Indy just needed a good, old-​fashioned chili parlor. They were right. And now it does!

My wife got a promo for this place that sat unused for a while until the day before it expired. I didn’t really know what to expect when we went there. The food met my expectations because I heard it was pretty good. The service and friendliness of the staff exceeded my expectations. I have been burned by a few chili parlors in the past and I swore never again, but the people at Nick’s opened my heart again.
The place was really clean and looked recently remodeled.
I love Mr. Gyros down the street, but if I’m ever there again and have to use the restroom, I’ll drive on down to Nick’s because their restroom was sparkling clean.

With a renovated building, Nick’s dining room is full of sunshine!
Took a quick trip to the west side location in search of the «dogs» I recalled from years ago. I was not disappointed, for sure.
Love the sign: NOT YET WORLD FAMOUS… a bit humble. Giggle