Topo’s 403

Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum. Yum.
This place was absolutely perfect for a business dinner. They have online reservations available which makes scheduling just that much easier. Also, they have variety for any kind of allergen-​freindly that you may want to accomodate.
The staff was extremely friendly and professional. They really complement the theme and motiff. It is a historic building beautifully redone with lots of hardwood (wait, is this a real estate listing?!).
They had a full bar with some hard to find liquors (i.e. my favorite Skinos). The bartender made a killer drink and the drink prices are fair.
For the food fare, the options were great. I wouldn’t want to afford this place on a usual dining budget, but for a splurge or when someone else is buying it is well worth the cash. I am not saying change the prices… the quality is truly there. This is truly a perfect place for a special evening.

I have to say that Topo’s is on par, if not better, than anywhere I’ve eaten in Bloomington! I come to Bloomington several times a year to visit family (I live in NYC) and we have our typical go-​to restaurants (Uptown, Finch’s, C3, Scholars, etc). During my first trip to Topo’s, the service was fantastic and the food was even better! Every single part of our meal was great but my favorite was the grilled vegetables souvlaki — the flavors were impeccable. The new chef (Anthony) came out to see how our meal was and chatted with us about taking over as head chef and his passion for his food is apparent. It’s my first time here so I can’t speak to how good it was before, however I can’t imagine it being better than it is right now. HIGHLY recommend!

So this place got a new head chef in April 2015, so don’t pay attention to reviews before that. I just had my first visit tonight for dinner and it was amazing. The service was great, and most importantly the food was to die for. We ordered some «basic» items and they far exceeded my expectations — an appetizer of grilled eggplant spread (aka best baba ganoush ever” and then shared two entrees– lamb and pita and the vegetable souvlaki. Come here and try it!!!

I would like to try this place again. Initially I had a reservation for Valentine’s Day that was canceled a few days before (not thrilled about that). I went for a nice meal on a Sunday, but their menu was shortened to offer family-​style meals. I was really looking forward to getting something off their all-​other-​days menu! The reservation was at 5pm and we got there 5 minutes early and the door was locked. We were let in at 5:02pm. It worked out fine, but we might have gone somewhere else if it was raining and skipped our reservation. Their fries are delicious, the staff was courteous and genuinely friendly, and I like the atmosphere. My potatoes were definitely on the crunchy, undercooked side, but I liked the flavored. So maybe I can try Topo’s again on another day.

I had dinner recently with a group at Topos 403 and enjoyed my time there very much. It as a perfect evening and we sat outside. Traffic was not too terribly noisy. Or if it was, the half price bottles of wine offered that evening helped us all compensate. Several in our party had steelhead trout wrapped in grape leaves and were well pleased. The others had the coffee rubbed braised lamb and pita. It was tasty, however it is not hard to make lamb very tender and this had some hard parts which detracted from our pleasure. Nonetheless I look forward to my next visit.

In terms of a «high end» restaurant in Bloomington, this place takes the prize for value and for genuine creativity and quality of dishes. This is my personal opinion, there’s Topos, Finches, and Tallent… In that order. Tallent is a bit ridiculous when it comes to price and execution can fall short with the model they follow. The dishes can also be bland and unimpressive when they’re busy. You may think that I have left a few out — this is intentional. I give a shout out to C3 but they don’t quite match this group.

Food was good, service was good, prices fair. I ordered Braised Chicken which was good but just a note if you want white meat you will have to request it.

Seriously overpriced, very limited options. Tiny servings, pretentious, poor execution, and almost unbelievably long waits (one hour between ordering and receiving food? really?). And frankly, just bad taste when it comes to figuring out what flavors go together. I’m told their old menu was better.

I can only deduct a star for the price, which was still understandable given the atmosphere and menu options. Not only were our cocktails brilliant (I believe that I had the Helen from Helen), but the appetizers, main dishes, and overall service were beyond my expectations. I would highly recommend the duck confit salad and visiting the restaurant on a night they have a musical guest (check their website!)

I am embarrassed to admit that while in town house hunting, my hubby and I loved the food so much we have dined here three times in one week! Twice on our own, and then friends invited. Each was a delectable experience. Perfectly cooked imaginative fare, a warm atmosphere, and great live music. What more could one want? Don’t miss this gem! P. S. The wait staff is fabulous and friendly!

Several hits and a big miss. We came here due to raves about the grilled octopus. Ours was under cooked, and not the star of the dish. (They made a great bean and shroom salad and tossed a few tentacles on it.) The muscles and spanakopita were the hits of the meal. We followed the meal with coffee (Greek of course) and loukoumades. The contrast in flavors worked well. All in all I would stop in if near Bloomington, but would not drive out of my way.

There is the good the bad and the ugly.
Unfortunately for the three of us visiting that day this way UGLY.
The atmosphere is nice even though we were promised music at 8 we stayed until 9 and there was no music.
The food: This was by far the worst «Welcome sir would you like a lovely wine» place I’ve ever been to to date. Hopefully they will improve because none of our food was good.
Let’s start wit the aioli. It came out thick and crusty and we could tell some of the appateziers were supposed to warm but came out cold or luke-​warm. The pita was not completely baked and the «fried watermelon» tasted like a watermelon with some salt added.
The diet coke we ordered (three times to get it right) was first flat and funny tasting, second time it was fizzy but funny tasting, third time without ice semi-​flat and funny tasting. Even the staff admitted it had a weird taste.
Once the meal came (still no silverware so I asked for some… I noticed another reviewer had the same experience with silverware) the aioli was runny. We said that this aioli is different from the previous one and we were told that the previous one was «OLD». Great ok thanks for serving us crusty aioli and this new aioli still sucked.
The burger bun was not baked the first time, I sent it back and second time it wasn’t baked either. My friends pita wasn’t baked and another friends dish was just plain flat.
The manager was nice enough but with experience like this they just need to cover their losses and move on but we paid for four drinks and shelled out 40 dollars. A bit steep 10 dollars for drinks. I had a vodka cranberry with rail vodka and the cranberry juice was like a sickly pink and the drink wasn’t even strong.
Me thinks not worth a second try.

It is to my disappointment to give this restaurant such a low rating. It had been my favorite place to grab drinks and listen to jazz, which I would recommend if the band follows the time table and the drinks don’t have funky ice, but when it comes to food I was sorely disappointed the first go around and can say it will most likely be my last.
First off, service is pretty mediocre, I can say the multiple times I have been there I have always had to ask for silverware, and the check has been a pain to get at times as well.
So getting a diet coke took 3 tries, first there was no carbonation with a funky chemical taste, the 2^nd time there was carbonation but still a funky taste, last time there was no ice and still a funky taste, which was confirmed by the staff when they tasted the coke.
My friends lamb burger, which was mad small for $ 16 had uncooked buns not once but twice. My lamb pita which had a grand total of 3 maybe 4 pieces of lamb consisted mostly of gristle.
The Garlic Aioli was first a batch of mayonnaise, then it came out to be a more watery sour cream like mayonnaise, the waitress said it was because this was a fresh batch and the thick mayonnaise batch was old. Not exactly what you want to hear.
What I can recommend here, the fries are decent and the jazz pleasant.

Ordered the ribeye — cooked perfectly but lack of flavor. Really amazing watermelon salad for an appetizer and really solid cocktails. Great ambience. Nick Lane is the sous chef and he is amazing. Solid wine selection. Overall, a nice evening but nothing overly exciting.
In fairness, their Greek dishes appear to be their specialty which I did not have. My date thoroughly enjoyed the meatball appetizer. Check it out for a nice evening!

Excellent service, a beautiful and intimate space, and good food. The restaurant is an old house which has been tastefully restored. I love that they still kept it as smaller separate rooms/​spaces rather than making it into one giant, loud open space. The number of vegetarian options has increased since it first opened and all that I’ve tried have been good, especially the briama. I’ve also tried the pita and spreads and the dessert doughnuts. All excellent. They typically have a good beer and wine list and drink specials several nights of the week. They also have a nice bar area.

I WOULD EAT EVERY MEAL HERE IF I COULD!
In all seriousness, this restaurant pretty much has it all.
Let’s start with an excellent bartender, who knows his mixology. I’m a big fan of cocktails, and the bartender that has been working for my last three visits makes a great old fashioned and manhattan.
The starters are great. We had the bread and hummus plate, Frito Misto, fries, and about 3 more that I can’t remember. Even with our group of 10 people, we were all happy.
I ordered the lamb burger for the first time, but we also had the scallops, strip steak, and vegetarian dinner. All excellent!
Of course we closed with 3 orders of the donuts… nuff said! They donuts with the carmel sauce are pretty much heaven.
Like I said… I have eaten here 4 – 5 times, and it has always been awesome!

Came here tonight for our «gfs date night» — a freezing cold Tuesday. It was super quiet but we enjoyed ourselves. Solid food and service. To start had glasses of wine that satisfied our cravings.
We would’ve ordered multiple starters but my gal pal and I were trying to be good so we got the mussels — the sauce is exquisite and we only denied ourselves additional bread for it because we were on good behavior.
My friend had the tuna entrée and I the lamb shank. Both were very yummy. I wish the lamb was saltier but I am also a salt fiend!
Ended with a much debated baklava. Good behavior just got shot in the face.
Hidden nice space — clean design, spacious, yummy food that is different than the typical American spreads around the nice spots in town. Classy folk of Bloomington should check it out!
We will try and be back before graduating!

We ended up going here after our first dinner choice was unexpectedly closed, and this ended up being one of the best unplanned decisions of our dining year. Topo’s is in a historic old building directly across 8^th street from Kilroy’s Sports, and it’s a bit hidden if you don’t know what to look for. We entered and were seated in the bar area. There weren’t many people there due to it being the day after Christmas. The bar area is smallish, with two four-​top tables in close proximity, and several other tables spread throughout the various rooms downstairs.
Cocktails were on special at only $ 5 each, so we both ordered one, and were both very pleased by what we were served. The bartender recommended the Mussels and Pita as an appetizer, and we were both very impressed by the quality of the mussels and the robust flavor of the broth.
Our dinners were quite enjoyable — my wife ordered the lamb shanks, and I got the pork chop with rice pilaf. The pork chop was aged and cooked perfectly, and had a wonderful subtle spice rub that took a few bites to really detect and appreciate. The lamb shank was succulent and very tender.
The complaints about portion sizes that I’ve seen in prior reviews were unfounded. We felt that the portion size for all aspects of the meal was more than generous, so please do not let that dissuade you from coming here. I also thought the prices were perfectly reasonable — nothing was over $ 30. The service and atmosphere were excellent — if Malibu Grill is like being on a crowded cruise ship, Topo’s is like being on a yacht in the Aegean Sea. Looking forward to our next visit here.

I’ve been here twice now, and this may be my new favorite spot in Bloomington, at least for getting a little bit classy. In this town, it’s rare to get a combination of good food, good drinks, good atmosphere and good service, yet I feel that Topo’s succeeds at achieving this.
My first visit was for an event, and I only had drinks and a bit of an appetizer. First thing that struck me was the beer selection: it’s good. They had a New Albanian, a rarer Upland, and a few good German beers, all on tap, with a very respectable bottle selection. The wine selection is also excellent. Really one of the best in the city. On our most recent visit, we shared a bottle. The server was very knowledgeable about the list and able to field questions.
Both times, I’ve sat inside. The interior is a remodeled older house, and it’s very quaint inside. The first time we came, it was crowded, and it was loud. I think this is because of the high ceilings. However, if you take a room that’s not adjacent to the bar, then I think you could escape this. They also have a large patio. I think it would be helpful to add some kind of barrier, like a hedge, in between the patio and Walnut Street, as the fence is not very attractive and the noise is a little much.
Something that struck me on the second visit was the staff, in that I recognized some of them from my first visit. As that visit was when the place first opened, I take it as a good sign that they don’t have high turnover (a problem in Bloomington). The server we had was awesome and really made the dining experience all the better. Very professional, polite and not awkward, which is rare in Bloomington.
Parking is actually pretty easy for Downtown standards, as they have their own lot in the back. If that doesn’t work, there’s usually street parking along 8^th, 9^th, Walnut or even College. That may not be the case on Fridays or Saturdays though.
As for the food, I did really enjoy it. The one knock is that my burger was overcooked: I asked for medium and it came out almost well. I’m not that upset about it though because, 9 times out of 10, when I’m asked how I want the burger cooked, it comes out overcooked. It was still good, but it could have been better on that front. Past that, everything about that burger was great. Fries tasted house-​made and the ketchup was definitely house-​made. My companion’s meal of a daily special made me a bit jealous. Her comment was that it could have used more vegetables, particularly since it incorporated asparagus which is locally in season right now.
If you haven’t already looked at the menu, you should just be aware of the pricing. Yes, it’s about $ 15 minimum, but you have to look at the variety of the menu as well as the interesting ingredients they’re using. They seem to rotate it with the seasons, which is great, and have a rotating dessert menu that looked awesome.
In reading through some of the other reviews, I feel like I have to stand up for the portion size. I think it’s nice to see a reasonable amount of food on the plate in the Midwest, as it seems like restaurants here often stress quantity over quality. I feel like it’s a good sign that, instead of concentrating on the space left on the plate, they’re concentrating on what’s already on the plate. The better restaurants I’ve been to practice this, and I wish others would follow suit more often.
Good nights to go would be Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday has ½ off wine bottles, while Wednesday has $ 5 cocktails. It’s a very good deal because, like I said, they have a good wine selection.
I think we’ll be back here a lot more.

The focus is on Greek/​Mediterranean food and I went with 4 others and have also spoken with several others who have went.
Food Hooray: 1) I (and every other person I have talked with) totally disagrees with the previous post where they are anti-fries…because they are great! Yes, Farm has great fries, the toppings at Farm are better but the quality of the fry is better at Topo’s, 2) Again, I totally disagree about the soup — I loved it and have heard nothing but great reviews from others, 3) hooray for mature, interesting, and not syrupy-​sweet cocktails!
Food Nay: 1) Vegetarian — I mean, you guys are in Bloomington… do you really not have a dedicated vegetarian main entrée? crazytown! yes, I know there is a pasta dish listed up with the starters but c’mon, if you expect people to come there then you need to expect that we might bring our vegetarian friends — and they would pry like something that takes longer than 10 minutes to make at home, 2) The $ to quantity ratio for the fava bean hummus is insane — you get 1 poofy pita and about 1 ½ tablespoons for $ 5 — it is completely insane, 3) Dessert/​Hours — this is the sort of place that could really benefit from a great dessert menu — as I might not choose to eat dinner here but after dinner drinks and desserts would just fit so nicely here
What is Great: 1) Indoor Décor — the space has really been done nicely — the décor is sophisticated but cool — thankfully, they kept some of the integrity of the historic home that it is in and, as such, many separate rooms are created — making for a fairly large seating capacity but without one gigantic room (nice) — some of the back rooms would be great for a small group, 2) Outdoor Seating — lots of great, outdoor seating that is set back just a bit off of the street
Room for Improvement: 1) Bike Rack — you guys are 3 blocks off of the B-​line and in the heart of downtown… get a bike rack — and don’t have your servers complain (in front of patrons) when somebody leans their bike (out of the way) along your fence, 2) Vegetarian — as mentioned above — really need some work in this area, 3) Logo/​Branding — the logo is hard to read and people are confused about the name… I get it, it is because it is in the Topologus building — but I would totally work on the sign above the door — hard to read with the busy background and swirling lines