Wife and I had dinner here on Saturday, 7/2, @ 6:30. Restaurant was maybe 1/3 full, probably due to it being a holiday weekend. We were promptly seated in a booth, given water and had our drink orders taken. Ordered a bottle of wine from a limited quality menu, but then the prices weren't ridiculous either.
Ordered the shrimp cocktail. Their cocktail sauce is much more "eater-friendly" than St. Elmo's; while it still has a kick and will tickle your sinuses with its horseradish, it won't take your breath away if you get more than just a taste of it on your shrimp!
Wife ordered the prime rib and I ordered the special for the evening, a 7 oz. filet with onion and bleu cheese topping, both with a baked potato, and onion soup and salad included. I had the made in-house honey-mustard dressing and wife had the made in-house French dressing. The honey-mustard was creamy and the best I've ever had; the wife said the French was also excellent.
The onion soup was very good. Yes, the cheese is on the bottom as others have said, but they tell you that when they bring it to you. Don't know why this is a big deal to some people...! It's still very good.
Wife's prime rib was huge (32 oz., I think); plenty to take home! She ordered it medium-well (as opposed to medium rare where it's usually cooked to) and it was done just right. It came with both au jus and horseradish sauce. It was very good.
Ordered my filet medium-rare. It maybe leaned a little more to the rare side, but was still very good and not worth the time to send back for another couple minutes of grilling.
As opposed to what some others have said, the baked potatoes were a good sized (not gigantically wasteful) and were perfectly done with a slightly salty skin. Only very minor issue is that they give you plenty of butter, but barely over a thimble-full of sour cream. They did bring two more small servings when my wife asked though.
Overheard the server giving the extensive list of dessert choices to another table and, even though we were too full to have any, they sounded quite good.
Our service, between two different servers, was very attentive, yet unobtrusive...water glasses filled multiple times, empty plates cleared promptly, etc.
To dispel some other reviews on here...this is not in "the hood" as someone from Zionsville has stated. No, it doesn't have over $300K houses around it, but it has well-kept older homes...maybe that's considered "the hood" for some people from Zionsville (and no, I don't live in the area around the restaurant). Some people just need to get their noses out of the air if they have a problem with a neighborhood like this, or the unassuming décor of the restaurant, or the attire of the clientele. Just enjoy the food and the company of those with you.
Anyway, off my soapbox...we've eaten at all the high-priced steak restaurants downtown and in other cities. Our two experiences at Bynum's over the last couple of years have been nothing but good, with the food being equal to those restaurants. The quality of meat is comparable, so the price is not excessive (as several have stated) seeing as how your bread, salad and soup are all included. I guess some people think it should be cheaper because the servers aren't in suits/tuxes and the surroundings not as "posh."
I'm sure there have been times when the service is not as good as it should be and times when the food isn't prepared perfectly, but I've seen that happen at any restaurant.
If you want a very good quality steak in quaint, unpretentious surroundings, Bynum's is a great choice. read more