mesh on mass avenue

another amazingly satisfying meal at mesh!. mesh is by far one of my favorite local eateries in the indianapolis area. this time i was going in celebration of my birthday, and with my fiance therefore trying new items on the menu. we were seated promptly which was amazing because it was mother's day. the staff was attentive and prompt. we began our delectable journey with the mushroom strudel. this was the first time my fiance had been to mesh, therefore he was instantly shocked by the prices- which to some may seem a little high but i feel are easily attainable for the quality and quantity your receive. the mushroom strudel was $9. that's another thing i love about mesh, the pricing is similar to european's in that they don't use the .99 or .79 crap which is really just a buffer to make the food seem cheaper. (side note: i've spent much time traveling in europe and therefore have attained a knowledge of the culinary style.) when the mushroom strudel arrived my mouth dropped to the floor. i was expecting a little patty sized cake of mushrooms in bread and cheese. however i was surprisingly greeted by an aroma of local wild mushrooms with fresh made goat cheese in a flaky phyllo dough. it was almost the size of a 6inch wrap filled entirely with wholesome goodness. the strudel sat among a creamy but refreshing tomato bisque aside the most perfect frisee salad with a lemon vinaigrette. it reminded me so much of the food i had while traveling in southern france. replicating this dish by serving it aside the frisee salad with the vinaigrette, i was in heaven. this could easily sustain as a lunch course, for 9 dollars i was delightfully surprised. then our main course came. the menu may seem a little odd, but the staff is very friendly and understanding when answering questions. because my fiance is less adventurous than i we ordered steak frittes. this is simply steak and fries. however at mesh it is a prime cute peppercorn crusted 12oz steak whose juices cover you palette with the first bite. aside a pile of hand cut french fries with a fresh parmesano crust. there are fancy dipping sauces included such as a horseradish mayo, however they are served on the side and can be substituted for a simple ketchup that they make in house. we decided to split this each having a serving of a 6oz steak, which although quite a battle neither of us could finish or portions and ended up with leftovers, which could easily serve another person. i ended the meal with my special birthday treat. a bread pudding with white chocolate hand made cherries and raisins bathing in a bourbon whiskey sauce and glaze with homemade vanilla ice cream. with is normally 7dollars however it was my birthday so it was free! please do not normally attempt this meal. we sat for agoodfifteen minutes trying to leave however we were so pleasantly filled that we just sat there and enjoyed the urban atmosphere. do not let the appearance fool you. mesh is simple, delicious, with an upscale twist. in the end its all about the food and mesh trumps all.


-----24 nov, 2011-----

fusion deliciousness!. mesh is a fusion restaurant, combining high class dishes with the comfort of soul food, i had the slow braised sandwhich which was amazingly delicious and the fries are to die for.

high quality. my boyfriend took me here for my birthday at my request. the overall experience was very good. we got there 20 minutes early, yet they were still able to seat us right away on a friday night. the fish tacos appetizer was amazing, very fresh with a creamy cilantro sauce that made it a bit messy. i had the short rib slow cooker sandwich that came with sweet potato chips. i loved my sandwich. it had a big mound of meat and was covered with provolone and other toppings. my bf had the amish chicken, which was also good. his portion was perhaps a bit smaller than we were expecting. the goat cheese ravioli that were served under the chicken were so good.

by signing up for their email club, i got a coupon for a free birthday dessert. the bf tried the chocolate marjolaine that everyone on urbanspoon seems to rave about. i went with the bread pudding. his was too rich for my taste; i'm definitely glad that i went with the bread pudding that was drizzled with a sweet caramel sauce and served with vanilla ice cream.

servings aren't enormous, but we definitely left feeling stuffed since we had an appetizer, complimentary bread, entrees, and desserts. with a couple of beers, the total tab was under $70. for the quality of food, this was a verygooddeal.

fancy.goodfood & great atmosphere. if you are looking for a nice dinner out for a special occasion, this is the place to go. they havegoodfood & have private booth seating upstairs. very pricey...so be prepared to spend a lot.

mesh's fish tacos disastrous. i've been going to mesh since it began. been there for brunch, lunch and dinner many times with groups or just me and my partner.

we decided to try the fish tacos on the lunch menu. a total disaster. not only are they over-priced but the alleged "tacos" are actually more akin to french crepes. as soon as you try to pick them up, the fish contents and the 'taco' falls apart, dissolving into a tasteless 'mush.' the waiter apologized and said others had complained and the chef had been told. well, i guess the chef 'didn't get the message': crepes in the french style are not tacos! i've had fish tacos in other establishments which are far superior. it's a great dining place but 'ditch the fish tacos' !


-----29 jan, 2012-----

improve wait and reception staff. what is it with mesh? when you do get the attention of your waiter, chances are, he or she may disappear for long stretches and appear clueless. i would vote down both the wait staff (i've had too many negative experiences with friendly but inept and inattentive wait staff) and the immature reception people who sound like my 14 and 15 year old nieces and nephews.


-----29 jan, 2012-----

improve standards of reservation and host staff. can mesh do better than barely-out-of-teen girls with high pitched rapid "valley girl voices" to take reservations and also the same, greeting you at the front desk? twice now, my reservation, confirmed by phone with name and cell, have been lost by these girls. when i arrived with my party of six, although the reservation had been made 24 hours in advance, they had no record of it. i was livid and said to whom i made the reservation; as it turned out with much apology, they took us on the fact that my name was in their system, having been there no less than a dozen previous occasions. on another occasion with the party of four, about five months later, the same snafu. this time i demanded to speak to the manager and explained it was notgoodpr for them and that others had made the same complaint several times. the mgr was at a loss to say what went wrong, gave us two rounds of free drinks in compensation and after a fifteen minute wait, got us in. clearly someone is not overseeing the duties of these young staff persons.


-----29 jan, 2012-----

great food marred by noisy venue. mesh's offerings are consistently good. when the owners took over the former failed "scholars inn" and transformed it for the better i will admit, still, the designers failed to take into account the high decibel level of noise which makes conversation impossible; this is a consistent complaint i've heard from many friends who dine there. you practically have to yell at your dinner companion to be heard.


-----12 dec, 2011-----

relatively consistent but amateur reception. i've been to mesh no less than a dozen times both for its sunday brunch and for many dinners. despite the liabilities of the poor acoustics which renders conversation almost impossible due to the high level of noise, their offerings are consistently good, in particular my favorite, "steak frites."

if i offer any criticism, it is in the crucial area of reception and welcome. i can't count the number of times we've been greeted by a sullen or indifferent host at reception who creates the impression when a guest walks in, of 'oh, what do you want?' surely considering this isn't some cheap dive, the cunningham group should train its staff more effectively. a cold or indifferent initial experience has the potential to turn off diners. it is unfortunate that in the (much-needed) re design of the former scholars inn, no consideration was made for the terrible noise level. overall i would offer this:

train your waiters and receptionists better. some truly seem as though they are bewildered teenagers even though i know they are much older.

very good.goodservice. lots of verygooddishes.

superb in every way.. i have written over 920 restaurant reviews to date and out of all of those, only 13 of them had wow'ed me to the point of me declaring/voting them as my "favorites." mesh is now number 14 on my list.

mesh, you did everything perfect last night. from the person being kind and caring in my reservation process to all 3 people at the hostess stand quickly shutting up and giving us their full attention when we walked up to our excellent, excellent server whose name i can't remember for the life of me. the whole evening was excellent. first, on sunday nights they apparently have all of their wine bottles 50% off. schweet. however, the one thing that made me scratch my head that night was that the wine menu was already cost-adjusted to represent the half off savings. a california chardonnay, which our server declared was a "steal" because other places in town were selling this particular bottle for up to $300, was now just $36. we looked it up online and sure enough, it was running anywhere from $76 to $140, so i'll be darned, he was right.

up next, the appetizer came out which was a sort of bruschetta smothered with goats cheese, arugula and blackberries. excellent flavors. then came the coupe de grace with my wife getting the crabcake and myself getting the ny strip steak. i didn't realize how much i love ny strip steaks over ribeyes lately, but this place confirms the tender and juiciness are all still there. the sauce on the top was semi-sweet, but went perfectly with the great beefy flavors. the waiter happily obliged my request of substituting potato puree ( a fancy way of saying mashed potatoes) with the bleu cheese mashed potatoes. these things were absolutely terrific as well. not too strong, not too weak, just right. the fritters (all two of them) were the star of the show even with so little of them and i'd love to learn how to make them.

the perfect finale to our meal was that although we politely declined dessert (our secret agenda included going to graeter's afterwards), our perfect waiter brought us the bread pudding dessert anyway saying that we couldn't leave without it. compliments of the house. this was such a kind and thoughtful gesture and it was almost as if he knew my wife lusts after bread pudding in the first place. crazy. of course it was excellent and amazingly, he said that they used graeter's ice cream on top of it all! it was almost toogoodto be true.

our bill came to a high $114 or so, but it was worth every penny. there was nothing i would change and nothing that they could do better as everything was already the best. i'd come here every day if i could and mesh is one of indianapolis' few gems in fine dining.

excellent service. i can't say enoughgoodthings about the service at mesh. one member of our party uses a wheelchair, and the staff at the restaurant not only went well out of their way to accommodate us (calling ahead to help us navigate mass ave, reserving parking, opening doors, making sure seating was in the right spot, and even offering to wash the diner's special utensils) but also served us a great meal along the way. when a restaurant makes its guests feel this special, we'll definitely be back.

a bit expensive, but i had an amazing steak here.goodlooking dessert menu also, but too stuffed to eat any more!

i agree with the previous user comment about poor reception and staff. when mesh first opened we loved it but since it has been gaining popularity we haven't been back because of the bad attitudes we have been greater with-- specifically one night there were three ladies at reception who steadily ignored us while chatting amongst themselves. when we finally got their attention and they found out that we didn't gave a reservation they rolled their eyes, told us that it was well over an hour wait. when we asked of we could sit at the bar they basically saidgoodluck with that and went back to ignoring us. the bottom line is the food is not so stellar that i am willing to be treated like it is a favor for me to be served at mesh.


-----22 feb, 2011-----

very good! nice atmosphere and nice beer selection.

excellent lobster bisque!. we're out-of-towners and the mesh menu piqued our interest. i started with the lobster bisque, which was absolutely delicious! for my entree, i had the applewood chicken salad. i was really surprised at the size of the salad--it was huge! i was able to finish only half of it after the soup and complimentary bread. it was delicious, though! if i could do it over again, i would have tried one of the smaller salads with my soup, or just the entree salad alone. my partner enjoyed the cuban chicken sandwich, but thought it needed some extra zing. the mango jalapeno relish didn't have enough kick for him. overall, we had agoodmeal!

disappointed again!. i had high hopes for mesh. passed on our way down mass ave and went in on the fly after readinggoodthings. wasn't disappointed after walking through the front door. bar was straight ahead, very modern space there which continued into the dining room where we sat. crowd was typically cool for the area. server was knowledgeable and pleasant. after we first ordered drinks could tell this poor guy was overwhelmed with his coverage. service continued to be slow and spotty but, imo, not the fault of service.

she ordered beet salad and the sea bass. appetizers where on. i ordered wedge salad and strip steak. both entrees came severely overcooked. clearly frustrated with the back of the house, our server took my steak away and got another one on temperature.

given bottles of wine were 1/2 price, i asked if i could take a double pour and give the rest to service. i was told no. interesting practice at a place that considers itself fine dining. i received the energy that this was not agoodplace to work.....translation....great bones potentially very bad experience. i would give it a pass if i was at a pub or more lower end casual spot but i think when you go in at $150 for a couple you should feel great when you leave. not so at mesh. my recommendation....continue down the street....r bistro or black market awaits!

try it!. great menu items,goodatmosphere! great place for a business dinner!

eh.... we went there around 10pm on a sunday night. we ate food off of their $2 bar menu, which was quitegoodespecially considering the price. nice variety of food, especially for my pescatarian friend.

however -- the entire experience was ruined for us for two reasons: (1) my two friends and i ordered a maker's mark manhattan each. they showed up as nothing more than a splash of bourbon over a lot of ice and topped with a cherry. if there was any vermouth or bitters in there, we could not taste it (and we drink manhattans often). truly a let down. (2) the bartender, who was agood20 feet away from us, was talking -- loudly -- to two patrons at the bar about his politics. disparaging, ignorant and totally uninformed comments. i don't care what his opinions of the obama healthcare reform is. not a pleasant atmosphere.

all that said, we would have ordered at least one more round of drinks -- possibly two -- but chose to go home instead.

oh yeah, on top of agoodfood experience, the service was really great.

breath of fresh air...... this will be short and to the point. i wish they would have changed a little bit more so i didn't feel like i was in scholars but they still did an amazing job. service was great and quick. the pictures on the wall is all i could complain about. and if that's all i could that find i didn't like, then i'm happy!!goodjob mesh!! my wife and i will return. thanks for making up for the bad experience we had earlier in the night at a new place downtown.