Sky City Cafe

You would never know this place existed unless someone told you about it. As Derrick T. puts it «a little gem tucked away in the back of the Eiteljorg Museum.» The food is solid but not amazing but decently priced given the size and the fact that it’s at a museum. I went with the quesadilla of the day which had ham, bacon, corn, cheese and I think ranch? It was quite good and I would recommend it. I also went for the brownie since it’s half price when you order a meal, so for $ 2 it was a great addition to my meal. $ 15 total for a nice lunch while sitting on a patio enjoying the view… this is a great casual spot for lunch. However, I imagine it could easily get crowded on the weekend.

This is a little gem tucked away in the back of the Eiteljorg Museum. The good things about this spot are the food is pretty good (better than your average fast-​food), the outdoor patio is fantastic on nice days, for some reason they serve beer, and the general ambiance inside of the museum is pleasing. However, the hours make it more of a lunchtime spot I believe. Still better than a lot of nearby options if you’re in the area.

Not sure when Kahn’s Catering took this over. At least the menu has not changed and become over the hook expensive like the one at IMA (that’s the art museum if you are not from Indy).
Mom and I go here every time she comes to town. This is favorite museum, hands down. Eating lunch has always been a part of our experience, even during special events like Indian Market. After today, we may rethink that.
We opted for the café after Scratch truck sold out and closed down. The place was busy but the line to order was moving along quickly enough. Mom ordered the Mazatlan Chicken Salad and I ordered the Quesadilla of the day (smoked chicken, roasted peppers etc.). The food was good once it arrived, but the kitchen was way behind. Ticket times were over an hour. About 45 minutes after we ordered, the cashier began telling customers that food was taking an hour or more. If we had known that, we would have gone elsewhere. I missed most of the performance I wanted to see at Indian Market. Next time I’ll go try one of the places in the Marriott across the street.

The food display was awesome! The staff was really sweet and helpful and I was in awe of the museum surroundings. I love this place but alas the food needed a bit flavor for me… I had their version of lettuce wraps with chicken and pesto which would definitely get a ‘wow’ from me if there was a bit more flavor and spices in the pesto. Would I go back while I’m in Indy? I prb would but I would try something different…

Arriving skeptical of Southwestern stereotypes, I was pleasantly surprised by the roast beef habanero sandwich I ordered. The soda selection was superb, distinguishing this café from other museum cafeterias that offer nothing but fountain drinks, Snapple, and over-​priced mineral water.
Exceeded my expectations for museum fare.

This is in the nice downtown area by other museums and the canal. There is only drip coffee, iced tea from a machine, and soda, but it is a great place to sit (I didn’t try the food). The balcony is nice and there are computer plugs. They have wireless but it wasn’t working.
The staff was extremely friendly and helpful and went above and beyond to accommodate my drink request.

Sky City Café has become a favorite lunch spot for me and my co-​workers. They have great sandwiches, soups, and quesadillas. My current favorite is the Desert Gobbler. It’s a turkey sandwich with smoked gouda, pico de gallo, and pesto. The sandwich is served on a ciabatta type roll. The sandwiches are big and all sandwiches are served with jalapeño flavored potato chips. You definitely get what you pay for. The menu changes periodically, which is good because you can try new things, but bad if there is a sandwich you really like and it gets removed. There is plenty of parking in the museum parking lot and if you hold on to your receipt from the café, the information desk at the museum will validate your parking. In the warm months, you can sit out on the patio overlooking the canal. They have one of the best patios in the city, it makes it very hard to return to work. Especially since they sell cans of Sun King.

This place is amazing. I go here a lot for lunch during work. A very good and changing menu. The only things I have ever had I didn’t llike was the Caprese salad. It was horrible. But then everything else has been so good.

My favorite place to have chimichanga in town (so far). For $ 8, I had 2 medium size chimichangas with crispy wrap. It came with picco de gallo, guacamole, green salad and sour cream. It tastes much better than the food from a chain Mexican restaurant or even local Mexican restaurant in Indy area. I wish they can make it with chorizo… it could be more delicious (and fattening too).
The kids meal has a standard menu for the price range of $ 4-​$ 4.5. They offer chicken fingers, quesadilla, hot dogs, grilled cheese and few more. They all come with a soft drink and a bowl of fruit. According to them they taste pretty good.
In conclusion, the restaurant offers good (and unique) meals for the museum. They offer many different southwestern inspired dishes such as buffalo chili, and they also serve shrimp po’boy sandwich. I will return and try different dishes next time I come back here. Or I will probably just come back here only to order my chimicanga. Yum yum…

I work within a stones throw of the Eiteljorg and like hitting up this place for a southwestern style meal that I can walk to without getting my car out of the garage.
The Buffalo Chili is my favorite dish and I love the big chunk of cornbread on the side. You can kick up the spice level with Cholula hot sauce or keep it on the mild side. I’m also a big fan of the nachos (big enough to split) and the pulled pork sandwich is really good for museum food.
Is this a great restaurant? No, but it is a nice place for lunch when you’re tired of all the usual places!

Hmmm. Not too sure how I feel about the Sky City Café anymore…
Lets just say I work within a very short walking Distance of the Eiteljorg museum and used to go to the Sky City Café pretty regularly for lunch.
I’ve seriously have probably had everything off of their menu. From the Buffalo Nachos, Chili Cheese Fries, Soups, Quesidillias, Sandwiches you name it! I’ve been going over there for a few years now, and I’ve had my good times and bad times. My hit or miss food items. My good interactions and bad interactions with the staff, and quite frankly I wore myself out with it.
I want to say that the food is really good, don’t get me wrong, but it isn’t Superb! Also, I’ve never had anything here that’s just blown my socks off. It’s just an okay café. Nothing more and nothing less. I haven’t been for about 3 months now, and quite frankly have no desire to go back. Maybe in the future, because they do update their menu quite a bit.

So it’s a Native American-​themed museum. For those who have been to the Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC for their creative, highly regarded cafeteria, prepare to be phenomenally disappointed. Whereas many of the offerings at the DC museum seem genuinely Amerindian-​derived, the «Southwestern» theme here at the Eiteljorg consists of standard humdrum salads and sandwiches dressed in catchy names like Rio Rancho or Prickly Pear Cactus Salad or Mojave Valley Sandwich (portabella mushroom and cheese). Yawn. And even though the menu says they allow substitutions, I asked to substitute chips for something healthy like a fruit cup. «No substitutions.» What if I’m willing to pay more for it? «No substitutions.»
I came at the peak the week day lunch hour, shortly after noon, but it was only about half full. A line of 8 people was ahead of me to place their orders; it took 10 minutes for me to get to the front. And then it took 32 more minutes for my sandwich to arrive. Not even sit-​down restaurants can be that pokey and expect to attract a lunchtime crowd. The Tularosa Grilled Chicken (chicken, cheese, and may – how Native American can you get?) was actually quite tasty. So were those chips I really didn’t want to have – because I generally don’t care for chips. So the food redeems what was an otherwise lousy experience that also made me late for the second half of a conference. Call me biased. But honestly, the Eiteljorg from what I recall is actually a stronger, more intellectually demanding Native American Museum than the one in DC – in fact, some people just skip the museum in DC altogether and go just for the food. But most of us don’t keep coming back to museums week after week. We do, however, go back to good restaurants, and the Eiteljorg strikes out at one of the best opportunities it might have to pull in a little extra revenue.

Great «southwest» inspired food. I love the location, as there is an outdoor patio that overlooks canal~seems miles away from the traffic and noise of other downtown eateries. Other reviewer is correct-​no admission needed to eat at café. Also, the museum offers FREE PARKING if you eat there! Check out menu, details at

I like the Sky City Café. For «museum food,» it’s actually pretty excellent. And don’t forget that the Eiteljorg is the museum of Native American AND Western art, so this cuisine falls a little closer to the «Western» side. It doesn’t really purport to be authentic Native American food.
That said, I really love the buffalo nachos. Buffalo meat is seriously under-​utilized, especially considering that we have buffalo ranches in Indiana. They’re generous with the sour cream, too, which I greatly appreciate. Mmmm, wish I had some now.
The Sky City Café is worth a visit even if you’re not going to the Eiteljorg, which, in my opinion, is quite rare for a restaurant inside of a museum.

This is the Eiteljorg museum’s café, but you don’t have to buy museum admission to eat here. It’s a Native American-​themed place specializing in soup and sandwiches, and the food is above average for downtown Indy, even if it isn’t terribly authentic. The desserts are made offsite but very good. If you approach it from the canal side of the museum, it’s a scenic walk.