Smokehouse On Shelby

We visited during Devour Downtown. It was a great value for the menu however service is very slow. The hushpuppies are delicious, though!

Overall — middle of the road. Come with low expectations and you won’t be disappointed.
Pros: the décor/​location — the vintage signage inside was awesome and the old school working shake maker was impressive, the waitress was the perfect amount of attentive and very friendly, the craft beer selection for being a diner-​like establishment was impressive!
Cons: none of the food had any wow factor to it — it was all straightforward and good enough to eat, but I didn’t feel inclined to finish my meal, said old school shake machine made a noise that unnerved every inch of my body.
We probably won’t be back unless it’s convenient.

Went here for my grandma’s birthday. Took awhile to get our beer and food times took awhile. The wings were sub par but the brisket was a1. Good spot for lunch if not in a rush. And gotta love the local beer selection

Went there for dinner and it was amazing. My waitress was very attentive. We had the brisket sandwich with the sweet bbq sauce, curly fries and Cole slaw. All was very tasty and can’t wait to return again.

Oh man, I was too excited to try Smokehouse on Shelby! I’m a sucker for BBQ but I just never made the time.
Went with a group of 6 for a birthday dinner, and was extremely happy! My husband and I split the sampler dinner – a portion of pulled pork, brisket and ribs, 2 sides, and an order of fried biscuits (like hush puppies) and apple butter. I’m always up for biscuits and apple butter!
The most disappointing portion of it all was the ribs. The dry rub was tasty, but it was quite gritty, which was weird because I think it was the same rub on the pork and the pork was delicioussss!!! I’m an über sucker for brisket and that was scrumptious as ever!
Everyone else seemed happy with their food as well. Highlight reel definitely includes their AMAZING sweet potato crinkle cut fries. Seriously, do not pass those up – you won’t regret it!

Smokehouse on Shelby’s food was nothing short of a disappointment. I couldn’t finish my meal because the pulled pork was too fatty, bbq sauce was bland and runny, baked beans were too thick, and coleslaw was flavorless. My boyfriend liked that entrees included two sides and that he was able to get two different kinds of fries. The service was good, earning them two out of five stars.

This was some of the best bbq I have had! My boyfiend and I stopped here while visiting the city. The pulled pork sandwich was spot on. It came with two sides too. My boyfriend had the brisket sandwich that was kind of pricy but worth it. They were out of coleslaw was the only bummer but we did come at a later time so it’s understandable. The service was very friendly. Highly recommend. :)

Food was just okay. Pulled pork was wonderful but that was the highlight of the meal. Pork tenderloin was good as was the grilled cheese. Sides were just okay: baked beans, mustard potato salad, curly fries, onion rings and cole slaw were good, apple sauce was bad and the mac n cheese tasted like Stouffers. Wine and beer list looked good, but they were out of two of their five white wines. Too bad, the place really seems to have some potential, just needs someone to step up and make it great. Saturday evening and there were only a handful of customers. Great atmosphere though.

Brisket and sweet potato fries. Seriously, you won’t regret it. The ribs are good, too, and you can order vanilla coke or sweet green tea to wash it down. Honestly though, if I could just order a giant platter of the hush puppies and apple butter and not feel like a gluttonous pig, I would. It would certainly be delicious, if not worth the calories! You’d be remiss not to dip the sweet potato fries into the apple butter as well… nomnomnom.
Side note, I shouldn’t write these reviews later when I’m hungry, now all I want is those crave-​worthy hush puppies!

The review average of 3 stars is spot on. The décor and atmosphere, like most of the businesses located in this building is great and worth stopping by once just for that.
I asked the waitress about several items on the menu and she basically said she either hated the food or it made her sick. I appreciate that kind of honesty from a server. Really! I’ve been to too many restaurants where the server ends up being no help because they say everything is great.
So how was the food? It was alright. I got the BBQ chicken breast. It came with hush puppies (yesssss) and I chose green beans and the sweet potato fries for my sides. The sides were good, sauce was alright but the chicken was sorta tough and nothing special. Price was right, 11 bucks for my meal. They have some pretty good beer on tap as well. Overall, not a bad place but nothing amazing. Definitely worth eating there once.

This is the place for ribs, brisket, and pulled pork. They also have great wings. Friendly place and fun atmosphere. Local beer on tap makes it fine. Try the Mac and cheese as a side.

Had dinner here with a large group (about 23) on 3÷13÷15. They were able to accommodate us, get the food reasonably together and WOW was it yummy!
I had the pulled pork dinner. I didn’t really care for the Raspberry Chipotle BBQ that I had on the side, but honestly the pork was spiced so well and was so juicy and tender you didn’t need the BBQ sauce. The sides are homemade and they serve fried biscuits with apple butter which tops my list of comfy food must haves!
The atmosphere is very cool and relaxed with a retro pub/​diner décor. And did I mention THERE IS A BOWLING ALLEY ATTACHED!!! Although we ate too much and didn’t bowl, that is what took it over the edge for me!

It wasn’t that this place was terrible. I mean the environment is nice, the service wasn’t terrible, but I just wasn’t into the nachos I ordered.
I thought something was off about the taste. The cheese on it was kind of odd and there weren’t a whole lot of toppings on it as I expected.
I’d be willing to give it another try, but I hope that the experience will be better.

Was not happy with our food I had brisket so dry looked like roast beef dried out!
Husband had ribs dried out and had no smoked taste, greasy fried biscuits was best part of the meal!
Not sure we would go back!

I won’t say I will never visit this place again because the serve was great, however the food was not so great. I ordered the breaded chicken and I thought it might have been catfish by the way it looked and tasted. My friend had the breaded fish and that look pretty good but I can’t really speak for his sandwich. So I guess what I’m saying is try the restaurant, just not the fried chicken sandwich or Mac n cheese.

All I can say is wow! I’ve heard so much about this place but I’ve never had the chance to try it until recently. I absolutely loved the brisket chili and the pulled pork barbecue plus the prices were very reasonable too. The ambience is very cool being located in the historic fountain square area with many locally owned shops surrounding the restaurant. I’ve been there twice in the past week and plan on taking my kids very soon. Truly a historic Indianapolis gem!

Man, this place was mediocre in so many ways. One things that’s great is that they give you masssiveeeee portions. Well, that may be because we ordered the sampler platter that came with everything when that could have easily been split between two, maybe even three people. Ribs were kind of flavorless, though cooked well and came right off the rib. Same goes for the pulled pork. I like my pulled pork like carnitas — fat juicy and full of flavor. Sadly, this was not our case. The best thing on our platter was the brisket. Only get the chipotle raspberry sauce. Don’t order the sad macaroni and cheese that tastes like the cafeteria platter melted into the cheese. Don’t get the seasoned curly fries because they aren’t seasoned. Do eat the biscuits and dip all of it in the apple butter. Love yourself some meat and just want to fill up? Go here. Otherwise, look for flavor elsewhere.

This is a pretty decent barbecue place in an unlikely location (on the ground floor of a large building facing the fountain in Fountain Square). Prices are reasonable and you get a ton of food.
I’m not sure where the smokers are (I assume they’re in the back alley) but they’re definitely working.
The wings are some of the best in Indy. Not fried, but smoked of course.

I love beef brisket, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. Last week I was talking with someone about it and the craving hit, and I finally couldn’t stand it any longer. I must have some. Now.
Smokehouse on Shelby is one of my preferred places for BBQ, so off I went in search of something to satisfy my craving. «One beef brisket dinner please» I say, only to be told they were out of it. Sorry.
My world almost ended right there.
Instead, I went with the Pulled Pork dinner with green beans and cole slaw. The portion of meat was rather generous and I could only eat about half of it. While it wasn’t what I had my heart set on, it was still good. Slaw was equally tasty, but the country green beans had a strange flavor. Being someone who grew up in the country and knows the #1 ingredient in country green beans isn’t beans (it’s bacon). these were not tasty green beans and didn’t taste like any country beans I’ve ever eaten. A friend ordered a cup of chili as an appetizer and I think there was more down the side of the dish than actually in the bowl.
All told, the dinner was still really good and the service was decent too., even though I didn’t get what I wanted and had to make a last minute change.

Seeing some past reviews, I was a little «iffy» when we started our dinner, since we were with a fairly large group of out of town friends who were visiting Indy for a volleyball tournament.
Turns out, my fears were unfounded. The service was absolutely stellar. Our server did a great job of keeping our drinks filled and checking on us, while giving us amble time to linger and visit a bit.
The food also was above average. The brisket, while not the best I’ve ever had, was quite good indeed. Same goes for the breaded tenderloin… not one of the top 5 in Indy, but I wouldn’t hesitate to order it again.
I thought the prices were VERY reasonable… a breaded tenderloin sandwich with TWO sides, was 7.99…that’s a bargain, folks.
We were very happy with our experience, and won’t hesitate to visit again.