Propylaeum Club

I have attended two events at The Prorylaeum Club (the dine and bling and dinner and a makeover) and both times walked away very disappointed. On their website they show a beautiful beaded necklace for the dine and bling event; however, we made earrings that looked like something a kindergartner would make. The dinner and makeover event states everyone will get a makeover and hairstyle suggestions and each person will get a before and after photo. Absolutely none of that took place; instead it was an opportunity for Mary Kay representatives to sell their products. I will never go back to The Propylaeum and will recommend everyone stay as far away as possible. It's a total ripoff and I honestly feel the owner should be charged with false advertising. more

If you're expecting St.Elmo's food and service, then by all means this isn't the place to go. If you're looking for a unique experience, good conversation, and to leave knowing things and people you didn't know before, then this is a wonderful experience! My husband and I have done the wine tasting dinner, beer flights, and numerous other events at the Propylaeum Club. The owner is a wonderful and knowledgable woman and the house is amazing. No, you're not going to get the highest quality food and things run at a *very* slow pace, but the food is not the point. The point of these experiences is to learn something new (beer, wine, something about a new person) and to converse with your neighbor. If you embrace that fact and have fun and start a conversation instead of the normal ""only pay attention to your date/friend/partner and ignore everyone else around you"", then you're not going to get the full experience and end up having a 1-star experience like everyone else on here. We most definitely plan on going back for more tastings and events and can't wait to make more new friends! more

Our table guests all purchased tickets a couple of months in advance of the event and we all looked forward to attending. However, we were all more than disappointed not only in the quality of the food, the small portions we were served, and the lack of professionalism of how the murder mystery portion of the evening was presented. Back to the food: extremely small portions (one of our guests only had two soup spoons of mushroom soup), the salad was suppose to be a beet salad which in reality was a small portion of Romain lettuce with three croutons a a splash of dressing, the linquine was a baby sized portion with two small sections of tomato and one 1"" piece of aspperagus, the stuffed chicken was so dry (and virtually no stuffing) and hard to swallow that most at our table ate but half or less of it. In fact, the first piece served one guest was burned to a crisp on the bottom. The advertised dessert never was served to us. As far as the ""Game"" part of the evening went, two words, Too Long! The facilitator kept talking about Ireland using the same game for what reason it impacted us I don't know, and was using a microphone to tell the 300 guests scattered through out the building what to do next, but she yelled so loudly, it was very annoying and unnerving . So, would I recommend this to anyone else? Easy to answer, NO. For that kind of money, you're much better off heading to St.Elmos! more

We had a group of eight for the eight course wine tasting and pairing. We had a great time however it was not thanks to the food and wine. Our table was always the last to be served so all of our food was cold by the time it came to us. By the time we were being served our food it was time to discuss the next pairing and we hadn't even started. There was one point the server forgot to serve us food at all. Same also happened with the wine tastings. Usually when we were suppose to be tasting the wines we did not even have ours poured. There were at least two incidents where the server ran out of wine at our table and never came back so there were two wines a couple of us never even tried. I think it's a good concept however the service was poor, the food was very poor. It may have been average if it had actually been warm when we ate it. Unfortunately with this experience I know there are eight of us who will not recommend this as a way to spend an evening. We ended up at another restaurant afterwards because we were hungry! more

Never thought I would sign up for a review site to post a negative review but feel I am doing a public service to anyone who might visit. My wife had several good experiences a few years back at the Prop, so we took a client to tea this winter. What a mistake. The tea was not hot with only 2 choices and the scones not edible. The service was poor, and the manager on duty was belittling an employee in front of everyone. We could not hear each other as the same woman was speaking so loudly on her cell phone about personal problems. Round two: my wife makes reservations for Easter dinner here, which is the only place we could get in (should have been a big clue). An even worse experience. The food was flavorless, limited choices, poor service, and very overpriced. Frankly, I had not heard good things about this place recently, but we now know for ourselves. This food critic has done his due diligence here, and will not be returning anytime soon. more

My boyfriend and I went to the Propylaeum for a wine tasting dinner just a few months ago and had a wonderful time! The Propylaeum itself is such an amazing building. We arrived early to tour the whole thing top to bottom. I love architecture and am just so impressed that such a beautiful, well-preserved gem is here in Indianapolis! During the event, the food was great, and we even joked around with the waiters, who were really nice. The owner herself led the discussion about wine pairings - I learned a lot since she was very knowledgeable. She seemed really passionate about her business and making sure her guests had a great time. Be aware that at pretty much any event like this, there are going to be multiple parties at a table. So if you're looking for a romantic, secluded evening, this isn't the event for you. But chatting with others during the evening can be a lot of fun! We had a blast and plan on returning, either for another wine tasting evening or one of the Propylaeum's other events. more

A for architecture. This building is a gem on the old northside and has a wealth of history that has been well preserved. more

I just had the best date of my life this week end. Took my new friend to the wine tasting dinner and had a great time. Eight course meal with a different wine for each course. It was just the right amount of food and wine for the perfect evening. The Propylaeum is a hidden treasure in this neighborhood. more

I saw the Groupon for their 8-course dinner with wine pairings and thought that $35 (originally $75) was a great deal for this package, so I purchased 5 certificates to take my family. The ""8-course dinner"" was very misleading because the helpings were sampler/small plates in size. Even more misleading is the use of the phrase ""wine pairing"". You were given enough for wine tasting, but certainly not wine pairing for an 8-course meal. So basically, you got to ""taste"" 8 types of dishes and ""tasted"" 8 types of wines paired with the dishes for $35. Okay, that's fair. But here's the real rub. We were given an event calendar and saw that these 8-course dinners/wine pairing for $35 were listed in the events....not the $75 that they said was the value in Groupon. So Groupon wasn't a discount after all. The real kicker though is that they added 18% gratuity and 7% sales tax on the $75/per person price! They were charging sales taxes on the other $40 that was never a sale! They eventually took $20 off my final bill, but the other 150 diners last evening without a doubt overpaid. The wine was nice, but the food was not consistent. There were two dishes (sample plates) a beef burgundy and chicken with rosemary that could have been an MCL cafeteria selection. So for the evening, I paid $250 for 5 people to have 8 sampler plates and 8 tastes of wine. Take that money and head for Fogo de Chao. more

A friend of my wife recently got married and had her reception here. It is truly a lovely place and we anticipated a lovely evening. We entered and were directed into a small back room where staff was eating. Our food was cold upon arrival. We could not hear anything from the main room and the acoustics were awful/non-existent. We never received cake, and witnessed one of the employees yelling at the groom in front of the entire room. The guests we chatted with shared that the staff, one member in particular, had treated the bride, groom, and the families very poorly. I hope that they do something since their event was ruined by this bad behavior. You can't get away with that for very long or you will be out of business. We will never go back and that seemed to be the sentiment of those around us too, along with pity for the bride and groom. Too many other great places to enjoy than to go through hell with this place. more

I had a very bad experience with a waiter that nearly overshadowed an otherwise wonderful evening. The staff at the Propylaeum Club is very small, so a problem with a staff member can be a very big deal. Our waiter was menacing from the start. He smiled with his mouth, but his eyes betrayed his extreme hostility. Nearly all of his comments were dripping with sarcasm (""Whatever makes YOU happy"") and he was defensive and inattentive. Our table was served last and my 6-year-old was very hungry. I asked the waiter if he could get my son a roll while we were waiting and he told me that since we had messed up his schedule (we needed our table to be nut free as my 9-year-old has a life-threatening allergy) we would have to wait. I told him that it wasn't my son's fault that he had a nut allergy. After that, our table was ignored. Our dinner plates were still on the table when the dessert plates were being cleared from other tables and we weren't even offered dessert. My 9-year-old asked our waiter if he could have dessert and the waiter simply smiled and walked away. This was the worst experience I have ever had at a restaurant. Pros: Elegant Place, Good Food Cons: run-in with waiter more