Panorama Grill

I’m in Indy for the month working on a project and am excited to try your city’s dining options as did is one of my favorite topics! I was very happy to find this delicious restaurant! I’m not sure of the name but I had this beef dish with rice and beans. Yummmmy!
The beef was incredibly tender and the sauce was amazing (as I was told it would be!)
I would highly recommend this place.

I’ve had a hankering to visit, ever since I went to a snooty place across the street and thought «a DOMINICAN restaurant in Indy?! Hells yes!!» I was not disappointed.
There’s metered street parking right in front, so if you head there during a slightly off hours time, you can get a great parking spot :)
There were children playing inside, which off the bat tells me this is a family-​owned restaurant. Good.
Seating consists of booth seats across the back wall with tables and chairs on the other side. We sat at the raised platform, next to the tv with salsa videos running constantly. The music is dope. You’ll have fun.
Our server was friendly and we got the hummus as an appetizer. Since this place is billed as Dominican/​Middle Eastern, we thought that was interesting. The ME aspects consist of hummus, tabouli, and a gyro (so it is rather minimum).
The hummus: grade B. It’s solid, with a thick consistency. But it’s not exceedingly special. For a gal who grew up near Dearborn, I have yet to find great hummus in Indy. The pita bread was warned (yay!) but just one circular piece of regular pita you purchase at the supermarket. And it was not enough for the hummus; unbeknown to us the extra pita we requested was $.75. For $ 6 this is a rip-​off, given the quantity and quality. I know I’m perhaps spoiled by great hummus and pita from where I’m from but…
Luckily the main dishes — both Dominican — are hella good. Stick with this part of the menu.
Me: Mofongo with chicken and a side salad. Every entrée gets a salad and side but not Mofongo (cause it’s a lot). I still got an order of the fried plantains.
This? AMAZING. A PARTY IN MY MOUTH. I had Mofongo in the PR and loved it. This was great. Amazing. Scrumptious. The chicken in the side dish is cooked on the bones in a succulent (seriously) sauce. The salad is meh — lettuce, onions, and 3 cucumbers, but who cares about that. MOFONGO
ALL THE WAY.
Him: goat in a sauce that he says tastes better than my chicken and Mofongo. Side of beans and rice, which were awesome.
The side of fried plantains were great. If you’ve never had them before, think of potato chips. They come with what seems like a mayo-​based sauce. He loved it, but I don’t like mayo so I wasn’t a fan.
Altogether, I cannot wait to go back. A true gem in downtown Indy!

As a transplanted Puerto Rican residing in Indianapolis, I was extemely excited when I found this place. Their mofongo is better than many I’ve had in the island. They have just the right amount of garlic and pork rind to give the mofongo its traditional flavor and texture. I used to have to wait until I traveled to PR to have authentic mofongo, but now I can drive a few minutes to downtown Indy and have some that will rival the best I’ve ever had. The staff is very friendly, especially the owner, Jaivy. She makes you feel like family. I highly recommend Panorama Grill.

Very good food and the service was excellent! Would come back in a heartbeat! First time eating Dominican food… Great choice!

Great food. Indy, if you haven’t tried dominican food, you’re missing out on a lot. The service is great.

A delightful find!
I heard about this place from a coworker. It’s located just east of the Central Library in downtown Indy, just a few blocks from where I work. It is a somewhat unique combination of Dominican and Greek food. The ambiance inside is nice with soft merengue music playing in the background.
The favorite dish of most of my coworkers is the Yaroa, otherwise known as loaded Caribbean fries. I honestly don’t know what is on these, but they are SO GOOD and incredibly addicting. My best guess is chicken, fries, and some delicious mystery sauce. You can order a small order and share it with many people. The only sad thing is that they can’t come as a side. However, many of my coworkers will simply get an order of the small loaded fries as the entire lunch meal. I love the Gyros and the Falafel for the main entrees. The fries that come as a side are still delicious, though not to the degree of the loaded fries.
The service has always been good and friendly, though there are usually not many other people in there when we come in. We are usually in and out within 45 minutes, which works well for a lunch break. It seems like there are some regulars that come in pretty frequently.
The last thing that helps everything out is that the food is actually very reasonably priced. Most of the dishes are less than $ 8, which is great for the quality of food.
All this to say, it’s one of our favorite lunch spots at work and a great little place with a lot of culture and flavor! I’ll definitely come back here in the future.

Well about midway through my day off and already blowing through money all over town trying all the places that are closed while I’m at work, (I had a really weird experience at Milktooth where another customer came in and sat right next to me at the counter and sat next to me in an empty restaurant and preventing me from getting a proper breakfast) so I had to check this place out! I mean Greek and Dominican food in one stop! Where could it go wrong?
I went inside and was greeted with a warm smile by the waitress and told her I would be dining outside on the patio, as it was a gorgeous day. The waitress came out promptly with a menu, since I was so damn hungry I wouldn’t let her leave until I ordered. Several other reviewers recommended the stewed chicken which they no longer had:(. I asked what was the closest thing to that and she recommended the pollo y sal (sorry for butchering the Spanish). After about 15 minutes the food came out as I was enjoying the sun. Wow! What a lot of food! Basically it was almost a whole chicken in a red sauce that looked spicy. I got this and a mountain of white rice and red beans all for $ 10. My mouth was watering, my blood pressure was rising to dig in. Unfortunately it stopped there, for all the great looks it really didn’t deliver, the chicken was tender but not flavorful, and didn’t taste like it had any salt. The red beans and rice were good, and the rice was well cooked and seasoned. But the chicken – oh for as good as it looked it just wasn’t there for me. After the meal the owner came out to ask how I liked it, which was a nice touch. Maybe I just got the wrong thing. I’ll give it another go on my next day off and order from the Greek side perhaps.
Service 4
Food 3
Ambiance 4
Lack of online menu or take out menu 2
Only a 3 overall.

Great skirt steak, rice and beans… yummy. and the flan :-)

Absolutely love their lunch specials! Gyros, red beans and rice, and stewed chicken are all amazing. Put it right up there with Sams Gyros and Greek Islands.

This place is a gem. Having traveled to the Dominican Republic, I have been searching for a place that serves authentic Dominican food and this is it!
I ordered the tamarind juice, shared sides of cheese empanadas and fried plantains, and had the gyro for my main course (not Dominican, but I’m a sucker for a good gyro). Everything I tried was delicious and authentic. I would definitely return for a snack of guava juice and fried plantains. My friends ordered the chicken dishes and enjoyed them although as the Dominicans do, they had to eat around the bones.
My review is only 4 stars because the service was a little slow (which I feel bad saying because our waitress was really sweet) and the interior leaves something to be desired.

Are you sick of your monotonous commute on I-​65? Need a vacation? Stop in Panorama Grill on your way home from work for some savory Dominican and Mediterranean dishes. Although small, this quant little joint will make you feel like you’re on a tropical island surrounded by an expansive ocean… not tall, brick buildings. Service is superb, seating is comfortable, and the shawarma sandwich is scrumptious.

Had an excellent lunch at Panorama. The stewed goat was the best I’ve ever had — both the quality of the meat and the preparation. The mangu side dish was the best preparation of plantain I have had. Service was friendly, efficient, attentive, and as fast as cooked-​to-​order food will permit. Many previous comments have mentioned slow service, but that was not the case — maybe that has been resolved with the new management. This is one of the best places to eat in downtown Indianapolis.

My girlfriend and I tried Panorama Grill on Valentine’s day. The first time around it was just good, but nothing to write about. We went back tonight and had an amazing meal. I had the Pollo Frito (Dominican fried chicken) and she had the Chicken shwarma. Both hit the spot. The service was great. The waitress even remembered us from Valentine’s day. I will definitely be coming back again.

Good food and quick service.
Best Mediterranean and Dominican spot.
Very quick and convenient and accessible from downtown.

Kudos for restaurants expanding in the «just north of downtown» area [before you hit the I-​65 underpass]. This location/​area is definitely walkable to/​from my apt [5/​5 stars] which I’m always looking for. My friend & I were walking from the Handicraft Exchnage/​Talbott St Art Fair & were famished. We were both adventurous and were curious what «Dominican/​Middle Eastern» entails…
Unfortunately, it took FOREVER to figure that out. Was worried after the reviews that service would be slow, and it was. Food was amazing– get the stewed Dominican chicken or goat with fried plantains or red beans/​rice.
But it seemed like both servers working outside forgot about both tables [ours included]. Almost 10 minutes until someone said hi/​came out to get our drink order;10 minutes to come back with drinks/​take our food order; 20 minutes for food;15 minutes to get our check; 10 minutes to receive our cards & checks back.
I’ll come back, but it has to be once their service improves.

The lunch special is a deal for $ 5! However, the service was awful. Yes our server was new, but we were one of two tables and it still took forever. Food wasn’t served all at once so there was that awkward… Do I go ahead and eat? And I’ve had better hummus from the grocery store.

Excellent customer service.
I came here for lunch with coworkers. I saw and wanted the ½ lunch special advertised but due to dietary constrictions I couldn’t have the meat with they gyro. Our server made great efforts to accommodate me and it was much appreciated.

Funny, I have been passing their sign for over a year, I’m sure, and misread it every time: I thought it said Panama or Panamanian. ha.
I’d heard it was Middle Eastern and had always wanted to try. the falafel was really stellar, the rice and green beans side, not so much.
As noted by others, don’t be in a hurry. And if background noise drives you up a wall, you may want to give it a miss – they had music playing way too loud and in such a confined space, it is irksome.
There is outdoor seating and houkas, and it’s across from the library. Frankly, I miss the early Urban Element days.

The empanadas were SOOOO amazing! I tried both the chicken and the cheese ones and they were fresh, crispy, delicious. The stewed chicken was ok. Tender, decent flavor, but I’m not a big fan of gnawing chicken off the bone. The rice & peas were very dry and lacked flavor. The salad (which I do not ever eat) was very fresh with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and a simple but tasty dressing on the side. I drizzled a little dressing on the rice side so it wasn’t so dry. However, the lunch special of stewed chicken, rice & peas, and salad was under $ 5 so I can’t fault it too much for it not being perfect.
The menu has both Greek (shwarma, gyros, baklava) and Dominican (empanadas, stewed goat and chicken, flan) choices.
The server was really nice and apologetic about my wait but she was also very slow. I found out later it was like her 2^nd-​3^rd day. The patio is well-​shaded in the middle of the day and with the breeze I really enjoyed sitting out there. It took 15 minutes to get a glass of water.
My food took 47 minutes. That’s completely unacceptable. There were 6 – 7 tables, when I first sat down there were only 4 (2 couples outside, 4 guys together inside plus one other 2-​top). The story from the server was «the kitchen got backed up». The restaurant was well under capacity and no one else seemed to have trouble getting their food. A hispanic couple sat down about 45 minutes after I did and got their drinks within 3 – 4 minutes of sitting down and their food came out about 5 – 10 minutes after mine did. Why is all of this down-​to-​the-​minute? I had to feed the meter! I was very aware of time because I’d set the timer on my phone so I wouldn’t get a ticket.
The part that really ruined the experience for me was the people who seemed to have ownership of the place: a younger latino man and woman. The man came around, delivered food, refilled drinks, and checked on all the other tables on the patio TWICE but didn’t talk to me a single time. The woman had walked in around 12:30 — 12:45 wearing a little backpack and had stopped to chat (in Spanish) with the couple who came in 45 minutes after I did. When I went inside to ask for a box, then went inside AGAIN to ask for a check, this woman was apologizing to a man, saying «Sorry to keep you waiting… this is my brand new server.» If you have a brand new server, why would you roll into your restaurant that late in the day? Leaving her to fend for herself for at least an hour? She never apologized to me for my wait, and didn’t say a single word to me. Didn’t ask how the food was or anything else.
I left glad that I’d experienced the fantastic empanadas but really wishing I had gone to Datsa Pizza instead… I think I would’ve eaten in half the time and saved myself at least $ 1.50 in meter charges.

The upside:
–Some of the best darn falafel I’ve ever had — to boot, the sandwich was only $ 5.95. Moist, flavorful balls of chickpeas rocking my world.
–Glad to see this space on Pennsylvania boasting something with a wee bit of pizzazz
The downside:
–It’s quite possible I could have ran home and made the falafel myself in the amount of time it took for this to-​go order to happen. Unfortunately, there were only three tables being occupied during my entire wait. I know you can’t rush a good thing, but it just seemed like they had a few kinks to get out in their system (understaffed in the kitchen? hmm — not sure)
–Tabouli salad: cannot be ordered as a side, only in a ginormous salad-​as-​a-​meal portion, which, I don’t know about you but I’m not very likely to run out to the garden and wipe out the entire parsley crop in one sitting.
**The falafel was good enough that I’ll be back — I’ll just have to make sure I have plenty of time to spare when I do return.