Vida - Indianapolis

My wife and I chose to eat at Vida to celebrate our anniversary. We were very impressed with every part of our experience at Vida. We used to live in Chicago so our expectations are relative to the Chicago dining scene. We ordered the chef’s tasting menu with wine paired for each course. We like wine but we didn’t feel like thinking and making choices. Each course was beautifully plated and well described by our server. Our server gave us the perfect amount of time at our table and allowed us to just enjoy a night out. The experience of going out to eat in Indianapolis was also pleasant. We grew accustomed to heavy traffic in Chicago and allowing at least an hour to drive to a restaurant was the norm. We are so thankful to have a restaurant like Vida within a half hour of our South Indy home. Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5

I read countless reviews about this being the best restaurant in Indy right now, and this being the best food they’d ever had. It was hard to believe that it could be that good. It was. It’s unbelievable how flavorful and well thought out each dish was. At the risk of being dramatic, this was possibly the best food I’ve had in my life. Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Price per person: $100+ Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5 Recommended dishes: Scallop, Ricotta Doughnuts, Doughnuts, Amuse Bouche, Goat Cheese Cake, Buttermilk Fried Chicken Thigh, Yellowfin Tuna Tartare

In my 50+ years, I have never felt compelled to write a review on a restaurant but on this occasion, I felt it was important to share my thoughts on what was an extremely disappointing experience in dealing with Vida. My end goal was to simply organize a surprise 70th birthday dinner party for my partner. It should be noted that the size of the intended dinner party was 8 (not 80! guests and we are repeat offenders , having dined happily at Vida on a number of occasions in the past .... but what followed was anything but the Cunningham VIP experience. My dealings with their lead reservationist was a painful process and the apparent restrictions imposed at multiple levels, including the menu options were extremely disappointing (given the $1500 minimum spend and to be brutally honest, ridiculous, especially for a restaurant that markets itself as being in the “premier league”. My dealings with Vida suggest otherwise. It was especially curious to be told 5 weeks before our planned dinner event that the reason for this was because their kitchen was likely to be short staffed. That is “crystal ball gazing” at its best, I would suggest. Having reviewed my lengthy email exchange with their lead reservationist who did not cover herself in glory and badly mishandled my attempts to make a simple reservation for 8 diners, the facts are as follows: 1 At least three of her emails started with apologies for her late responsiveness. 2 Her emails were confusing and unclear to me at least; I actually made that comment during one of our exchanges. 3 There was a suggestion that if I was not prepared to concur with the very limited menu options, I should look elsewhere. Really poor public relations, I would suggest. Not impressed! 4 For a party of eight (8 people where I am expected to pay a minimum spend/charge of $1500, to have little to no choice for three of the four courses seems ridiculous. I’ve had the good fortune of traveling all over the world and enjoying fine dining experiences at excellent restaurants globally, and I regret to say that my estimate of Vida on this occasion is . needs to do better. A simple five minutes phone call to another equally good, fine dining establishment in Carmel resulted in a firm reservation for eight people being made with no restrictions. In fact, they expressed clear surprise when I inquired about limitations on menu options due to the size of our party. Therefore, in sheer frustration, I moved our event from Vida without hesitation. To date, I have had many good dining experiences at Vida, but this particular encounter has tainted my view of their establishment. To their credit, their general manager reached out to me to address my concerns but quite frankly, it was a case of too little, too late.

Amazing food, amazing ambience, amazing service. I visited from California and this was by far the best American cuisine I’ve had in the US

Excellent and Fun.. Worth the visit.!! Service: Dine in Meal type: Dinner Food: 5 Service: 5 Atmosphere: 5