Cafe Zuppa

Not at all what I expected for 13 bucks. Reminds me of Old Country Buffet with limited options.

Very good Cubano flatbread. Flavorful and right size for lunch. Saw several people having soup so I know what I will try next time

I’m not quite sure how Café Zuppa was voted one of the best brunches in Indy, but I think someone got a little something extra for putting them on the list. They don’t make my top 10 (or 20, or 30) best brunch places in Indy. Here are some of the reasons.
— Not a fan of the cafeteria style, load up your plate and pay the man at the end of the register atmosphere. The serving utensils were covered in food, making it difficult to really get anything.
— The first batch of eggs were almost empty and cold. The second were cold and runny.
— I wouldn’t call this a brunch. Instead, I’d call it a breakfast with a lunch dish thrown in for good measure. Seriously. 10 items on the hot side of the buffet and only 1 (maybe 2) were lunch dishes.
— Drinks. Fountain machine minus ice, coffee, and apple/​orange juice. I took the last of the OJ on my first glass and it wasn’t filled back up the entire time I was there.
–Over $ 13 is completely too much to pay for this buffet. I would have expected to pay $ 8 – 9 for something like this.
— Although they take credit cards, you can’t tip on them. Seriously?
I’m guessing this place is much different during the week for breakfast and lunch for the people working downtown, so perhaps that’s enough to support them. While there were other people dining, I didn’t see anyone else except my group actually go to the buffet and get food. Maybe they were just there for the air conditioning and oddly placed TV in the lobby turned to some show about lobster fishing.
Will I go back? meh. if someone else wants to go, probably, but I won’t be the one suggesting it.

The atmosphere and appearance looked nice. The menu sounded good.
But then it all stopped there.
The service was surly and awkward. You can tell they do not enjoy their jobs.
The food was mediocre.
I had the quarto Panini; it was meh. kinda gooey. but kinda greasy. I had high hopes for the black bean soup. But it was so bland. Maybe some hot sauce or spice or something? But I do appreciate the visual beans :-)
And the chips. Oh, I was so excited for what appeared to be fresh, handmade chips! But alas, they were old, stale, greasy, and cold.
Crossing of my list…

Tried the Sunday brunch recently… yeah fail. Read some reviews and expected a little more from Café Zuppa on our road trip breakfast.
Not a terrible tab considering the options, however most of the items were underwhelming, and some inedible. We were met with undercooked, runny eggs; old, dried out flatbreads; questionable meat (sausage?); confused bread pudding; and very floury biscuits and gravy. It wasn’t hard to tell most of the items being served had been out (steaming) way too long.
Service was fair, and the employees were hospitable, but it’s hard to overlook the lack of quality dishes and attention to detail. Concerning brunch, it was our first, and last, visit to Café Zuppa.

OK. The Hubs calls me a food snob for not really liking this place very much. I think he is being a little too hard on me for that comment. Let me try to explain.
I will start with the positives. The establishment was clean and the service was friendly. That’s about it. Unless you consider the food not being inedible a positive… I don’t know. I guess I expected Sunday Brunch to be just a little better. In my opinion, the biscuits and gravy tasted too floury and too salty (I am a salt lover). The eggs were average and the bacon overcooked. They had some type of dessert spread but you could totally tell the donuts came from a box.
It was definitely not worth the $ 12.00.

Honestly, I’m done, I give up. People keep inviting me here for lunch, I keep accepting, and then I keep regretting it.
I’ve had a number of things on the menu — last time I had a burger-​sandwich thing and clam chowder. The chowder was truly terrible — tasted almost chemical-​y somehow — the sandwich was adequate, the chips were boring, and I was $ 13 poorer. Everything I’ve had has been forgettable at best. I’ve tried the pizzas (fine, small for the price, but fine), the sandwiches (meh), two different soups, and one salad. None of it stood out.
Décor is nice. Clean. Waitstaff is friendly. But the food doesn’t hold up for me, compared to the other options within a block. So I’m done!

I really like Café Zuppa… I’ve had pretty much all of the sandwiches on their menu but the Club has always been my staple — stacked with turkey, ham, bacon, lettuce, and tomato on your choice of bread. Served with chips, it always hits the spot at lunchtime.
I work at the City-​County Building, so it’s a little bit of a walk — but well worth it!
You need to check this place out if you work anywhere downtown. I highly recommend it, especially for their sandwich offerings.

I need more turkey on that cranberry pecan turkey panini sandwich! Way too light on the meat but otherwise tasty. The included kettle-​style chips had a nice crunch and weren’t too greasy, but could have really benefited from more salt.
A decent, non-​mind-​blowing lunch for a very good price. I wouldn’t mind returning here to try something else.

I usually come here for lunch though I do think that it’s somewhat pricey even with their soup/​panini combos. I usually get the steak fajita panini and the fire roasted vegetable soup (that or the broccoli asiago soup).
Overall, it’s decent for the occasional visit.

I actually chose this place from the good reviews on Unilocal.I was visiting Indy for the weekend & Unilocal as always is my main reference for finding good dining. I came here for breakfast & ordered biscuits & gravy. Sadly it was the the worst I had ever had.
The place was clean& the staff was friendly but the food brings my rating way down.

Given that Café Zuppa is only open for lunch M-​F, before I found out about the brunch buffet, I had never been there. My fiancé is a big breakfast guy but I don’t like eggs. I hate paying $$ to go to a buffet and munch on whatever they have without eggs. What was great about this buffet was the variety. Of course they had eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, and pancakes, but they also had a couple of salads, flatbreads and even a chicken and pasta dish. So, he was able to load up on breakfast and I could eat more lunch food. Ah, the beauty of brunch!
For the two of us, each with a drink, it was just under $ 27. Service was efficient. The only weird thing is the restroom situation. I had to wander around the lobby of the Chamber of Commerce building before asking the security guard where to go – the third floor. Um, ok.
That aside, I’d be willing to make this a part of our Sunday routine, especially since we can walk or ride our bikes to church then over to Zuppa for some grub.

We checked out Café Zuppa because of the Foodie Indy cards (which are great, by the way).
The location is great for a sunny Sunday afternoon. Downtown parking is free on Sunday, and it is a nice area to walk.
The décor is pleasant but not particularly interesting. Think lots of B&W pictures of Indianapolis themes, pendant lights, and trendy paint colors.
The food is okay, but not great. A few things stood out, like a warm pastry with gooey caramel and nuts. Most of it was mediocre and barely warm. I would have been pleasantly surprised to find a brunch buffet with flavorful and creative food. I was not pleasantly surprised today.
My biggest complaint is that they have a ridiculous pricing structure for families with small children. I had to pay the same $ 6.25 for all four of my kids, including a 1 year old and a 3 year old. The 1 year old ate crackers and one pancake. The 3 year ate nothing. Nada. I also paid the adult price ($ 11.95) for a 12 year old with us.
I would have been less irritated shelling out like that for great food that would have inspired these little foodies, but for dry biscuits and wilted lettuce it was insulting.
We have a mythical family «List» of the great places to eat around Indy. Café Zuppa is definitely not on The List.

Great, fresh food in a convenient downtown location.
I met an old friend here for lunch and it was just right — a bright and sunny space with tasty food at reasonable prices.
Hilariously, we ordered the same thing unbeknownst to each other — a Zuppa White flatbread paired with a spring mix salad.
The flatbread was warm, gooey and tasty; the salad chock-​full of craisins, feta, crispy noodles, fresh greens and mandarin oranges. It also came with a handful of crunchy, salty homemade potato chips. All very tasty and sufficiently filling.

How am I the first two star review of this place? Here is an honest account of my lunch, and if I’m off, please tell me how this is more than two stars. And just to be clear, I’m not a bitter food snob. Or at least I wasn’t until this sandwich. I eat burritos. I eat burgers. I eat beer. I just wouldn’t eat this lunch again.
I got the half-​panini/​soup combo with the turkey cranberry panini and the broccoli asiago soup. The price was definitely fair at just over $ 8. Things were looking good. Then I got the food.
It was one of the smallest, saddest half-​anythings I’ve ever seen. There was one slice of turkey breast (maybe two… but we’re talking thin) tucked into nothingness. I don’t know how you make cranberries bland, but this did. I think they may have forgotten to put the cranberry chutney on there, because the only thing that was remotely red was the cranberry cream cheese, which tasted like… cream cheese. While the presence of cranberry chutney is unclear, they definitely forgot to put pecans on there. Either that or apparently I’m unable to discern the presence of chopped nuts in an otherwise soft sandwhich (which I find hard to believe).
Before I got the sandwich I asked if there were any greens in there, and they said no, so I added spinach. I’m glad I did because the five or so leaves of spinach they put in there were the only things I could taste.
The soup was okay or maybe just less than okay. It definitely wasn’t good. Both broccoli and asiago are pretty strong flavors, but the soup was more creamy than flavorful. There were chunks of broccoli in there (which I like) but they were so cooked they had no more flavor (which I don’t like). Overall it was short on broccoli and cheese, heavy on bland broth.
On the plus side, they were nice about adding spinach and the staff seemed helpful/​pleasant in general.
So, to sum up, I basically had a cream cheese sandwich on white bread and a bowl of cream. With potato chips. Yum. Michelle Obama would not approve. To me that’s pretty much the definition of «Meh. I’ve experienced better.»

There are few things better than a breakfast buffet on a Sunday morning.
Seriously, let’s not complicate things.
If President Obama, Prime Minister Cameron, and the other western leaders played host to President Ahmadinejad at Café Zuppa for a Sunday brunch, this whole nuclear arms thing would be solved in no time.
I really think breakfast buffets will ultimately be the thing that unites us as human beings. First, let’s just get all of this extra food to the parts of the world where people are starving (this is the Debbie Downer part of the review).
The food here ranges from decent to very good. The usual heavy hitters are represented: scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, biscuits & gravy, hash browns. They also have different eats that are pretty tasty like breakfast flat breads with egg, ham, spinach, and cheese.
This isn’t your father’s Shoney’s. The meats and eggs are local, organic, etc. The owners and staff are locals and very friendly.
I’ll see you there soon when President Obama HOPEFULLY moves the upcoming G8 summit from Chicago to Café Zuppa!

If you’ve never heard of this place, is because it’s tucked in the Chamber of Commerce Building. There is a back entrance to this building located in an ally for those downtown workers that live near New York and Illinois.
I always get the soup/​panini combo. I love the turkey cranberry panini and their soups are Delicious!
Their staff and service is excellent, quick and friendly. There is a little older lady who always walks by and takes your plates/​trash and will even fill up your drink!
So nice!
The atmosphere is great with the ever changing art work, warm colors, and ambient lighting.
The manager is friendly, always smiles and is helpful with any questions on the food. They have a new breakfast menu too!

I went to Café Zuppa today for lunch, and ordered a flatbread & soup combo. The service was quick and friendly, and it only took about 5min to get my food.
They had a lot of great looking flatbreads, paninis, & soups, but I chose the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Flatbread and the soup of the day, French Onion. The flatbread was delicious, it had chicken, applewood-​smoked bacon, cheese, red peppers, & jerk sauce. It was also a good size, I really didn’t even need the soup but I love combos.
The soup left a little bit to be desired. It had too much oil in it, making it taste like onion-​filled oil with some herbs. The homemade croutons that went in it were yummy though!
Overall I liked it, and I’m looking forward to going again soon.

Love Café Zuppa! Since I discovered it (via a friend) less than 2 months ago, I think I’ve been averaging nearly two visit a week. It’s a nice place with colorful décor, reasonable prices, and great food.
They have a wonderfully unique menu with lots of great soups, flatbread pizzas, and salads. I especially love the Tomato and Red Pepper Bisque with BBQ Chicken flatbread as my lunch combo — but everything I’ve tried has been excellent. They even mix it up with off-​menu items nearly every day I’m there. There’s always something new.
On top of that, there’s a nice old lady who keeps your drinks full and clears away plates while you eat, and she always has a smile and chats with the customers. Zuppa is without a doubt my favorite place for lunch. Free Wifi too.

I used to think that a brunch buffet was lost on a city such as Indianapolis with such staples as Bob Evans, IHOP, and McDonalds gracing this lovely cities interstate and mini malls. But behold Café Zuppa! A true treat for those that venture to their downtown location.
The brunch is set up in a buffet style line that will run you right around $ 12 – 13 per person. The food ranges from scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast pizza (amazing with vegetarian options), at least two special salads, fresh fruit, 3 soups, a bread bar, and multiple drinks to choose from.
I’m completely blown away that this place is not packed every Sunday. I have told all of my friends of this place and am hoping this review will bring in more positive business for the owners of this private establishment!
Come here and enjoy conversation and a fantastic brunch with your loved ones and friends. You will not be disappointed!