The Lighthouse Brewery & Restaurant

This business is now closed. No wonder. Very slow service and mediocre food. This place is attractive, needs a chef and manager familiar with the restaurant business!

If you know me, then you know that I’m pretty much a lighthouse fanatic. So, you can imagine my delight when I discovered that my donated accommodations for my night in the Randolph County area on my Tenderness Tour were right next to The Lighthouse Brewery & Restaurant in Winchester, Indiana.
While it may sound a tad weird to have a lighthouse-​themed restaurant in a landlocked city, and it is a bit weird, the restaurant is decorated in a sort of lightly nautical theme with several prints of mostly well known lighthouses. You sure won’t confuse it for a lighthouse, but it had enough of the theme going on that I was pretty happy with it.
I was informed by my road volunteer that the «brewery» part of the equation hadn’t quite happened yet, though it doesn’t seem like the restaurant is actually that new. I will admit I got a few reservations going through my head as I entered and realized it had very few customers with more in the separated bar than the dining area. The restaurant sits in the parking lot alongside the Randolph Inn, where I stayed for the night. Winchester is a small city, but it’s a fairly advanced city with county-​wide fiber optics and a nearby racetrack that has some significant acclaim. Randolph County itself is fairly light in population and Randolph Inn is the major motel with a few smaller B&B options scattered around the county.
The Lighthouse has accessible parking and two different entrances — one for the bar and one for the restaurant, though both places are accessible from the other. It looked like they also had small group rooms that could be used.
I was greeted hospitably by the manager for the night, though I quickly learned she was on her last night at the restaurant. My server was also hospitable, though not quite with the energy of the manager. The foods ranged from steak to seafood to sandwich options. As I’d just wheeled 20+ miles on my event, I opted for a plain steakburger with some fries. I ordered my usual unsweetened iced tea and ended up having dessert — a brownie/​hot fudge sundae concoction.
I’d been tempted by their tenderloin — hoping that I’d find a new gem for fellow Unilocaler and Tenderloin Connoisseur Rick Garrett. I checked out the Unilocal photos and pretty much figured it wasn’t going to dazzle. I’d also hoped the burger might be a hidden gem for another friend who writes a burger blog. Unfortunately, while the burger wasn’t disappointing, it also isn’t a hidden gem.
The burger was delivered medium. They didn’t ask how I wanted it, but I will admit that I’ve never been a fan of medium. That said, it was tasty and fresh. I enjoyed it, but it lacked that certain spark that separates the best burgers. Lighthouse serves up french fries of a shoestring variety — I found them edible but a tad underwhelming.
The brownie/​hot fudge sundae mix was nicely done with a warm brownie and nice mix of ice cream and brownie. While $ 5.99 seemed a tad steep, it was good. The entire bill came in at right around $ 18. It’s more than I usually spend on the road, but I’d had a pretty rough road day and was in the mood to spoil myself.
I enjoyed a nice rapport with the manager. I also enjoyed the other diners who were present. The atmosphere was definitely pleasing. The restaurant is definitely wheelchair friendly, though it looked like this was not true in the bar.
I found myself feeling like the place hadn’t really developed a true identity. It’s sort of like the 50’s joint that throws up a few neon lights and turns on some 50’s music and thinks it’s a 50’s diner. This felt like more of a novelty than a true theme. They sold $ 10 Lighthouse mugs that truly tempted me, but I resisted. This was good and I’d definitely revisit in the area, but with this kind of theme I think I was hoping for a destination dining experience. It’s not.
Lighthouse Restaurant & Brewery does also offer some outdoor dining options, though it’s actually off the bar side of the establishment. While located in the same parking lot as the hotel, they do not share owners.

Thought we would give it a try. After 15 minutes of waiting for a waitress we called the restaurant and asked if we could get a waitress at our table. It took a bit to get our beer. We both had tenderloins. They were nice size and a nice thickness. But, not a $ 9.99 sandwich. I had Mac n cheese. It was good and I would recommend it. The kitchen was a bit noisy with yelling and laughter.

We were told there would be about a 15 minute wait to be seated. We waited over 45 minutes, although they were not particularly busy. Several parties came in, waited a few minutes, and left because the hostesses were no where to be found (on a break?). Some people in our party had finished eating before others received their meals. Food was okay, but overpriced. Overall, not a good experience. We won’t be going back…

This place looked like it had potential but it’s severely lacking.
We were seated right away so that was a bonus and the only good thing that this place had going for them.
Our waitress didn’t have a clue about anything. That is not an exaggeration! I asked several questions about the wine selection and pricing on bottles to which her response was «Um I think we sell wine by the bottle but I’m not sure» She didn’t offer to go find out either.
My sister in law asked «How fresh is the Lobster Bisque?» Waitress «What do you mean by that?» SIL literally had to explain to the waitress what she wanted to know in detail. The waitress said «I assume it’s fresh but I’m not sure» again, didn’t offer to find out.
We ordered our drinks and it took a long time to get them to the table. The kick is that this place was NOT busy. When she brought the wine it was already opened (poorly and not at our table), she sat it down didn’t show us the bottle to ensure it was the correct one or pour a taste test for the person who ordered it. She also didn’t pour the first glasses either. When I went to pour the glasses I found that one was pretty dirty. I asked for a clean glass. After a good amount of time the waitress brought back a wet glass and asked me «Is that clean enough? I tried to wash it» WAIT WHAT?! Do they not have enough glasses, are they limited to just 2?!? And why if you washed it was it not dried before presenting it to your clients to pour wine in?
Food was ok, nothing amazing but not terrible. My SIL said the Lobster Bisque was good and my brother loved the Jalapeño Poppers. I must say the poppers were good.
We were planning on ordering more drinks so we could sit and visit longer after we finished dinner the waitress disappeared and never came back. We finally gave up and decided to go up front to the hostess stand to pay our bill that was never dropped off to us. We had to wait for a short while but someone grabbed our waitress from the back. The waitress asked us if everything was ok and we said that we were planning on ordering more drinks from the bar but since she never came back we decided to leave. Her response «oh, ok» No apology or attempt to right the wrong. She said earlier that she has been there for 5 months and although I wouldn’t expect her to know everything I would expect her to have the common courtesy to go check on questions and give the appropriate responses.
All in all we will not be back. It’s worth the drive to Muncie or Richmond for a semi expensive quality dinner.

Huge fans of the changes to the former Randolph Grille! We had sworn off ever eating at the Randolph Grille again, but when we heard it was under new ownership we decided to give it one more try… since we love eating outside. That one more try has turned into 3 so far and we will be back! The food and atmosphere has greatly improved. The place has a more casual sports-​bar feel now, I have liked everything I have tried so far. I am looking forward to the brewery being in house ASAP!

It is the old «Randolph Grille» it has new owners and they have changed all the important problems. I had great service and great food. They are not yet a brewery but the serve New Boswell from Richmond. The steak was cooked perfect and the new pretzel appetizers are awesome. Try it. Drink craft beer so they’ll open the brewery.