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    Balena

    4.8 (13 reviews)
    Closed 4:30 pm - 10:00 PM
    Updated 3 weeks ago

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    BALENA ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Happy hour specials
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Balena

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    Pulpo
    Tiffany N.

    My partner and I were craving pasta and this happened to be the closest place to us in the moment! I didn't realize this place was a newer restaurant. The interior decor was kind of minimal but cozy. I was surprised that this place was relatively busy on Tuesday night. We enjoyed our meal and would come back! The complimentary bread was warm and yummy, I like that there was a chew but not tough (Not the most familiar with Italian cuisine just a heads up) Carpaccio 7.5/10 Garlic aioli seemed like a unique sauce? Beef was good Fritto 7/10 Seemed a little underseasoned for labeled seasoned, fried well, and the cuts of squid was fair. I didn't think the spicy garlic aioli was spicy at all Polpo 8/10 Seasoned and grilled well Caesar salad 9/10 A little savory and just enough lemon! Gamberi 8.5/10 Love the tomato sauce and the slight acidity Tonarelli 8/10 I wanted to try something different bc I usually enjoy spicy foods... the lemon sauce is creamy and mellow which allowed the ink noodles come through, the chili flakes were in there but didn't taste them. I'm glad I tried this

    Kimberly T.

    Cute, charming Italian restaurant with excellent service. My waiter, Shawn, was personable, polite, and attentive. In a time when most restaurants no longer serve bread while you wait, it was refreshing to be served a warm basket of bread alongside olive oil topped with fresh ground pepper and Parmesan cheese. For my entrée, I ordered the Valdostana. A juicy, tender chicken breast topped with prosciutto, Fontina cheese, and a white wine butter sauce. It was served with creamy garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus. Of course, when Shawn offered to top the plate with Parmesan cheese and fresh ground black pepper I said yes. Everything was delicious.The portion size was perfect. It was satisfying without leaving you overly full. As great as the food was, the service stood out the most. Shawn made the entire experience great, and I'll definitely be back.

    Nonna and Nonno

    Balena -- Indianapolis Balena is the seafood-forward restaurant Indy has been waiting for. The tartare and ceviche are both outstanding -- fresh, bright, and the kind of thing you'll think about days later. The squid ink pasta is a must-order, and the pork chop holds its own for anyone not in a fish mood. The menu has enough variety that you could come back several times without repeating yourself. The space is beautiful without being stuffy, and there's a private room available if you're planning a group dinner or special occasion. Just go. You won't regret it.

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    1 month ago

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    Manuela A.

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    19 hours ago

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    28 days ago

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    1 month ago

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    1 month ago

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    12 days ago

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    1 month ago

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    Manuela A.

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    27 days ago

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    Manuela A.

    Thank you for your review and we hope to see you again soon!

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    1 month ago

    Had a beautiful experience ~ food was incredible. Excellent service from Jenny, alicia. shawn and Geno.

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    Manuela A.

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    1 month ago

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    Manuela A.

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    2 months ago

    Good quality, service, atmosphere great. Ambiance portions amazing went well great time

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    Review Highlights - Balena

    Balena -- Indianapolis Balena is the seafood-forward restaurant Indy has been waiting for.

    Mentioned in 3 reviews

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    Oakleys Bistro

    Oakleys Bistro

    4.4
    (380 reviews)
    0.0 mi
    $$$

    I had dinner Friday night as part of a party of 10. The restaurant was packed. I strongly recommend…read morereservations for this restaurant. I will say that I've eaten here at least 3 times before and it's always been top notch. I will be back again. But I did not think it was spectacular last night. My table started by ordering several appetizers and salads. I split the beet salad with my friend. That was a mistake. This is hands down the best beet salad I've ever had. It is delicious. My friend doesn't like beets and loved the salad. It's not very big. I don't recommend splitting it. I'm not a fan of the shrimp corn dog but everyone else loved them. A friend ordered them for the table. Someone ordered the prime rib dumplings and said they were ok. They looked good but I didn't try one. They really enjoyed the bacon wrapped apricots. Another person liked the pesto goat cheese Mac n cheese. The deviled eggs were wasabi this time. The preparation is always different. The table didn't love this preparation as much as others in the past. I thought they were good. I had the Stanley meatloaf. I'm not a fan of the very large broccoli they plate. The meatloaf was very dense. I won't order it again. But I will note that it typically gets rave reviews. It's just not for me. My friend who got the beef short ribs wasn't excited about them. I had those last visit and they were excellent. I was hearing a lot of "ok" when people were asked how their entrees were. But everyone cleaned their plates, except me. I barely ate my meal and the server did ask if there was anything wrong. There wasn't anything wrong with the meal. I just didn't care for it. I boxed it up and brought it home. I will say that everyone really enjoyed the cocktails, appetizers and salads. Our entrees were fine but no one raved about theirs. We always eat at fine dining establishments when we go out. We loved Freeland's see my review for them. So we had high expectations here and left having had a good time together but the food kind of missed the mark. My bill came to $104 for two cocktails, a beet salad and meatloaf, incl 25% tip. I think when I go back I'll definitely get the beet salad again and stick to appetizers rather than an entree. My friends also ordered several desserts. They really liked all of them. The service was very good and the waitress handled our large party very well. It took a long time to get the food. There was a lot of time between our appetizers and the entrees. I think the kitchen was slammed. We were there for 3 hours. There is a 20% tip for tables of our size, but it was not automatically charged. There is no question Oakleys is a great place for fine dining. I recommend going there. It just didn't excite me last night.

    Oakley's is truly a special experience. Chef Steven Oakley is an award winning chef serving…read moreseasonal ingredients in an artful way. Oakley has received accolades from Bon Appetite, James Beard, USA Today, as well as local awards. We stopped for lunch last week. Oakley was visible, working in the kitchen. The dining room has been remodeled since our last visit. Hues of green cover the traditional style walls. Autographed copies of famous cookbooks sit above booths. The place is romantic. The lunch menu is complex, yet affordable. A wine list features specials starting at $20/bottle. We start with a Shrimp Corn Dog. The "seafood dog" was made famous by Chef Oakley when he beat Bobby Flay with this innovative concoction. The variation of the seafood dog is artfully presented, drizzled with honey and fresh herbs. It is delicious. I ordered the Shrimp Risotto. I loved the spicy sauce on the rice. The mix was filled with bits of squash and onion. The shrimp were tender and flavorful. My husband was blown away by the Wild Boar Koran-Style Sloppy Joes with awesome house made chips and slaw. We had impeccable service from Nate. He was attentive, friendly and made recommendations. They bring a bottle of cold water to the table, so you can serve yourself. Nate stands behind every dish on the menu. Oakley's is truly a 5 star experience, perfect for date night. I'll be bringing visitors to Indy that I want to impress.

    Photos
    Oakleys Bistro
    Short Ribs
    Short Ribs
    Lobster Waffle

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    Lobster Waffle
    Solely Wine

    Solely Wine

    4.8
    (52 reviews)
    9.0 mi
    $$

    Cute small place for wine. There is a decent selection of wine to choose from. The place has a…read moregreat atmosphere and doesn't fee too loud.

    This is my second time stopping into Solely Wine (first time was for a Yelp event) and both times…read morehave been great! When I had first visited and found out that they do wine bingo, I knew I had to come back. My bestie and I used to love going to Wine Market & Table for wine bingo, but after they closed a few years ago we never found anyone else who did it. Solely Wine has solved that! They have a nice selection of wines available by the glass, but they also have a much larger selection of wines, separated by type, that you can buy by the bottle (you can't grab them yourself off the shelf, a staff member has to do that) to open and drink there or take home. My friends and I each started out with just a glass of wine and then ended up buying some bottles to share while playing bingo since we were staying for a few hours and it was a better price point to share bottles. It can get expensive buying by the glass. They also have some snacks/appetizers available for purchase if you get hungry. The inside has lots of different seating options: cozy arm chairs and couches, large family-dinner-style tables, and smaller tables along the windows. They also have a beautiful patio! Towards the back they also have an art gallery and additional seating, although I don't think that space is always open. The bathroom is kept very clean and the staff are helpful and attentive. Can't wait to come back for another girls night.

    Photos
    Wine Flight
    Wine Flight
    Glass of Wine
    Glass of Wine
    Bacon wrapped dates

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    Bacon wrapped dates
    Aberdeen Social House

    Aberdeen Social House

    4.2
    (113 reviews)
    1.6 mi

    Really like the intimate areas and finishes of the space. What we really loved was the bartender,…read moreJustin, who knew how to make a drink! We challenged him to do variations on cocktails we love and he had incredible creativity and made some magical combinations. You will not find a better mixologist than Justin. Amazing!

    Vibes are pretty modern and simple (we were seated in the side room, the outside looked like they…read morehad a bit more fun furniture going on) Service felt elevated. Appetizers - pretty yummy WTF roll - 9/10 had dried Wagyu which made it more savory, rice is chewy (in between sushi rice and sticky rice) could be a little less rice; the potato threads were crispy and yum Wagyu Perogi - 7.5/10 was good, but not as meat focused as I was hoping, filling was very soft but I like the pasta dough (had some chew) Entrees were cooked well, I think the flavors were straightforward and not too complex. Chicken Wellington - the pastry dough was as buttery as biscuits. Sauce had dates and the dish was on the sweeter side (I prefer more savory entrees so this was not my taste) My partner ordered this and he loved it Miso Black Cod Fish was done well and not dry. Broth was a bit one dimensional to me. I thought my soba noodles were gonna be the brown ones but they were thicker like ramen white noodles The herbs really captured the pho broth well. I've noticed the effort put into the menu was done really well. I feel like with food fusion, I noticed a lot of things do end up getting misspelled but I noticed the accent and spelling were all correct on the menu. Liz was our server and she was very knowledgeable on the menu also!

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    Aberdeen Social House
    Tuna Tartar
    Tuna Tartar
    Patio

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    Patio
    Lone Pine

    Lone Pine

    4.0
    (46 reviews)
    4.9 mi

    I can see why Lone Pine is getting recognized by the James Beard Foundation this year. Why? In…read moreshort: The food is dope, the service is attentive, the restaurant is classy but approachable. But mostly it's for Aaron Hansen, the chef at Lone Pine. He's a semifinalist for the Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH) category. What an honor! I'm curious to see if he gets the medal, but even if not, hopefully this recognition will draw people to visit Lone Pine, because people really need to visit. I don't know how Lone Pine would describe its menu, but I would call it elevated comfort food. One of the things my table ordered was chicken piccata. When was the last time you saw chicken piccata on a menu?! It was delicious, and served with mashed potatoes and lettuce leaves that added a nice, fresh crunch to each bite. We also got the roasted salmon, which was served with fingerling potatoes in a pesto sauce, with arugula on the side. This, too, was delicious and rich, yet fresh. I ordered the short ribs, which came with polenta and caramelized pearl onions. The short ribs were just fatty enough, and the sauce that they were surrounded by was unctuous and wonderful to eat with the polenta. I guess I should have started this review by writing about our first course! We got the French onion soup, bloody Mary wedge salad and the Caesar salad. The Caesar salad at Lone Pine is probably the best Caesar salad that I've eaten in Carmel, and maybe in all of the Indianapolis area. The thing that Lone Pine does differently and spectacularly is that they use breadcrumbs and not croutons. That makes all the difference! Granted, it does look a bit like a pile of pencil shavings on a plate, but sometimes the dowdiest foods are the best-tasting foods. The result is a satisfyingly salty, crunchy, creamy, crispy salad that I couldn't stop eating. I know I will be back to Lone Pine for the Caesar salad. We ended our meal by sharing two desserts: the apple pie panna cotta and the Lone Pine chocolate cake. Both desserts were amazing, but the cake won us all over because it looked deceptively heavy, but it was light and airy, and came with slightly sweet whipped cream. The service at Lone Pine is exceptional. They pay attention to detail here, and all of the little things are taken care of. Our server gave us just enough time between courses. Our water was refilled unobtrusively. We didn't get asked whether we've dined there before (because who cares?) and the menu wasn't over-explained (thank goodness, because I can indeed read). One thing we also noticed that we appreciated: The music was just loud enough to hear it, but not loud enough to notice it too much! It's these little things that come together to make a great dining experience.

    Unfortunately, my second visit to Line Pine may have been my last... We attended last night for my…read moremother-in-law's birthday. She wanted to try a new "fancy" place in Carmel. My first experience at the restaurant was decent, so I figured we would give it another shot. I recall my first meal being a bone-in pork chop that was overly salted. I'll make my review brief. The restaurant was not too busy but our service was fairly slow, two separate drink orders that were requested never made it to the table, the environment was noisy/music too loud, etc. I decided to go with something very basic for my food order. My thought was, "I'll see how good they are at doing something simple." I got the black and burger cooked to the chef's preferred temperature (medium). My burger came out dry/crumbly/crispy/well done. Yikes. The server did offer to provide a complimentary drink while he asked the chef to prepare another burger (a nice gesture). However, the second burger came out raw (see photo). I'm a medium rare steak guy but this was inedible. The fries were very good. I'm not typically someone who is overly critical of restaurants but for the amount of money you're paying for these meals, the food and service should be excellent. My two experiences were fair and poor. This is very unfortunate because I've visited the sister restaurants (Beholder and Milktooth) many times and have had nothing but great experiences at both. Probably the last time I'll go.

    Photos
    Seating
    Seating
    French onion soup
    French onion soup
    Short ribs with polenta

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    Short ribs with polenta
    Foyt Wine Vault

    Foyt Wine Vault

    4.4
    (63 reviews)
    9.5 mi
    $$

    A friend and I made a reservation for a "fast six tasting". They had already set up a spot at the…read morebar and had iced waters waiting, which was a nice touch. We didn't really know what to expect, but you essentially choose sixes wines each from their list. Unfortunately, they were out of 2/3rds of red wines. They had 12 wines left, so each of us took six, deciding we would share and try everything they had to offer. We noticed that any of the sweet offerings were from Oliver winery, and they confirmed they don't have sweet wines at Foyt. After trying them all slowly with a charcuterie board and conversation, over a period of 90 minutes, there were only 2 wines that I liked, and only 1 of them that I would ever order a glass of. This experience was fine, and the place is nice, but considering it is a tasting, I expected to learn about the wines. No information was shared with us when we made our selections. Lastly, we noticed there were two other groups at the bar, each of them with a different tasting set ups. They had large glasses in a row with all their options in front of them, but we were given a mini glass that was refilled when we made new decisions. I'm not sure what the difference was.

    Other sites say a must do when visiting the area. I'm sure it's nice but it is not open to the…read morepublic.. EVER. We went in while visiting Indy and we were rudely told this is a country club environment only for members. We were not welcome. No apology just told we were not allowed to stay. Not even allowed to look at memorabilia. The open sign was lit up in entrance & unless we missed it did not see a sign on door stating members only. Guess not many members as place was completely empty except person working.

    Photos
    Foyt Wine Vault in May 2024
    Foyt Wine Vault in May 2024
    Small size charcuterie for 1-3
    Small size charcuterie for 1-3
    Foyt Wine Vault

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    Balena - wine_bars - Updated June 2026

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