Oaken Barrel Brewhouse and Restaurant, Greenwood, IN

Posted By Ken Sunday, 26 October 2008 10:51

Oaken Barrel Brewhouse and Restaurant

Oaken Barrel Website

Overview
Parking: Free Lot
Smoking: No
Audience: All Ages

Ken's Review

Food: B+ Oaken Barrel has a fairly wide menu selection. Some of the appetizers are pretty unique to this restaurant, like Idaho Nachos, consisting of everything regular nachos have except that instead of nacho chips they use waffle fries. Others like wings, quesadillas, and such are pretty standard. For meals they have everything from good sized salads to Mediterranean pasta to steaks and sandwiches. The tenderloin sandwich was rated one of the best in the state and overall I have never had a bad meal here. Everything I've tried has been great.

Drinks: A- Oaken Barrel is a brewhouse as well as a restaurant, brewing up several various beers which can be purchased in six packs at the restaurant or in liquor stores around the state. Some other restaurants around Indy also serve their beer. My favorite is the Alabaster, which is a Belgian Witbier. They also brew an Amber, a Razz-Wheat, an American Pale Ale, Porter, and IPA. There is also a beer of the season that is available depending on the time of year. The beers are pretty solid, and on weekdays they offer pints of a beer of the day for $2 a glass.

Entertainment: N/A Oaken Barrel doesn't really do anything as far as entertainment goes. They are more of a restaurant before a bar, and with the medium size of the restaurant there isn't a lot of room for anything except diners. There is a back patio area that is covered and heated for outdoor dining, but even that doesn't offer room for much outside of diners.

Atmosphere: A- The atmosphere in Oaken Barrel has some unique talking points. The main bar area as you walk into the restaurant has clear windows to where the beer vats are, and you can on occasion watch the brewmasters working on making their great beer. There is a seperate dining room which connects to a small banquet room. The wall in this room is lined with barrel shaped mugs, which are given to patrons who are members of their Schmoozer Club. The Schmoozer Club is a program where you get a point for every visit to the bar, and earn a $5 gift certificate every 5th visit. As you build up the points, you can get into the Mug Club (which I've heard takes years and a lot of visits) and have your very own barrel mug that you use every time you come in. This program is based on waiting until people fall off the list and you move up towards one of the spots they have. As mentioned before, they also have a back covered and heated patio area for outdoor enjoyment.

Overall: A- Oaken Barrel is a good place to eat, and has a nice variety of food. You could take a friend or date and both of you could find something to eat. The atmosphere is very warm and the service is very good. I don't recall every waiting very long for food, more drinks, or anything I needed. If ever in this area, it is definitely a good place to try as it is one of the few "original" places around Greenwood. And in the area of the restaurant, it beats the other regular choices of Denny's, Taco Bell, McDonald's, and Bob Evans.