Harvey Hinklemeyer’s

Sad to say our recent experience just wasn’t up to par. For one thing the waitresses are too busy standing around talking and not paying attention to the customers. The pizza is not hot enough and the crust/​taste is different than before. Doubt we will be returning.

Harvey Hinklemeyers has been an institution of pizza in Indiana what seems like forever. It is personally my favorite for two reasons– the salad bar and the sauerkraut.
First– they have a salad bar. Not a dinky little salad bar with a few veggies– but a nicely stocked bar with fresh veggies including broccoli and cauliflower. One can make an incredibly healthy and satisfying meal on just the salad bar alone.
Then there’s the pizza. Harvey’s is my personal favorite because of the large selection of toppings. Toppings that aren’t typical of most pizza joints. My favorite oddity is sauerkraut on a pizza. Harvey’s is the only place I can find it anywhere. Don’t knock ’til you try it– its salty, its tangy– it’s awesome. Besides offering unusual toppings, they do have the more traditional toppings too and Harvey’s doesn’t skimp or cut corners. The veggies and cheese are piled on and baked fresh.
The menu also expands beyond just pizza and a salad bar. There is also a selection of sandwiches and pastas. One of our favorites is the Harvey’s Yummy Vegetarian Sub. A toasted roll with melted cheese topped with onions, mushrooms, green peppers, banana peppers and black olives. The final touch is a dollop of both pizza and BBQ sauce. Even a meat lover would be satisfied with this.
The only thing at Harvey’s I am simply not crazy about is the breadsticks. They are big, doughy and lacking of flavor. They sprinkle a little garlic salt on them but they are still pretty tasteless. I like breadsticks where a sprinkling of garlic salt is not an afterthought. I like when the bread is baked in garlic and butter. However, the spicy cheese sauce the breadsticks are served with really help with the flavor.
All in all, Harvey’s is far superior to those national chains like Dominos and Papa Johns. Plus, they have a much larger selection than most other pizza joints. 4 out of 5 sprouts.
Harvey Hinklemeyers has a website but it is very confusing and appears to have been partially built then abandoned. There is a menu, sort of, on the site though I can’t find any of the pizzas they offer.

Took family there last Saturday night, what a let down. Food came and it was barely warm. Fries weren’t done at all. asked for extra napkins and never got them. I got up and got them myself after about 15 minutes. Service was absolutely horrible, waitresses never came and asked if we needed anything (which we did ketchup) nor did they ever ask if we wanted any more to drink till meal was over. Our granddaughter never received her chocolate milk till we was ready to leave .The only answer we got to HORRIBLE service was to try and give us 10% off our next visit, to which I said no thank you we would just never be back. To bad Harveys has got to commercialized and not the quaint little pizza place across the river in Peru it was in the 80’s

Menu is a mix of pizza, pasta, sandwiches, and plenty of appetizers plus a kids menu. Prices are great. It’s more casual inside than I was expecting. Service was very friendly and attentive.
I had spaghetti and meat sauce. I ordered the regular size (half portions are available) and it was a lot of food — even came with four pieces of garlic bread. My husband had a turkey club and our children had pizzas off the kids menu. No complaints about the food. You get plenty of food for your money — I thought it was a good value.

Yeah, not the greatest of place. Expensive, food was «ehh» and the service was OK. For the price I would expect more and for the food I would expect a lower price.

On a whim, stopped at Harvey Hinklemeyer’s for dinner. «Why not? Let’s give it a try.»
The namesake is an apparent flower child from the 60’s. Tie-​dye everywhere, and Peace-​Love-​Not War. I can get over décor if the food is good. The place was busy w/​lots of families — so maybe the pizza is really good.
Our intentions were pizza and a salad. But after eyeballing the salad bar — elected to spend more time on the menu. BTW — sticker shock on a single trip to salad bar.
After telling our server it was a first time and garnering info on best sellers — we both chose their famous nachos — ½ orders.
Aside from a rather large portion size — Nothing note worthy. Gas station nacho cheese sauce, mexi-​burger, some salsa and sour cream.
Upon finishing, I looked at the west wall mural and decided that would be first thought on passing the place again; ‘Keep on Truckin’. Maybe 2.5 stars on this visit but that’s a stretch.