Among the many restaurants downtown that offer a unique experience for your friends, family, clients or date is The Old Spaghetti Factory.
This restaurant sits quietly in a nice area of downtown known for its expensive shops, probably unnoticed by some residents and visitors alike.
Actually, The Old Spaghetti Factory is popular among local politicians and business professionals, and has developed a solid reputation based on word of mouth and repeat business.
Indianapolis’ location is part of a national chain of restaurants launched in 1969 by Portland, Ore., based entrepreneur Gus Dussin.
Dussin’s devotion to customer care and quality food at fair prices led his enterprise to go from one restaurant with a few hundred customers making less than $400,000 a year, to a network of franchises that serve tens of thousands and earn nearly $10 million annually.
Still, The Old Spaghetti Factory has a “mom and pop” neighborhood feel to it, with a comfortable, traditional-style setting, and a courteous atmosphere that fits its name. In case you were wondering, the restaurant does serve more than spaghetti and its Italian based cuisine features a variety of options that include several traditional favorites and a few unique surprises.
For the health conscious, The Old Spaghetti Factory prides itself on providing gluten-free pasta. Gluten is a protein composite used in grains that some say can cause medical problems related to the stomach and immune system.
The Old Spaghetti Factory is open for lunch and dinner, and popular appetizers for both times of day include shrimp, spinach and artichoke dip, olive tapenade and garlic cheese bread.
For our convenience the restaurant offers a different lunch special each day of the week, such as chicken cacciatore on Monday to the interesting shrimp Newburg on Friday. I have had the pleasure of enjoying the Tuesday angel hair Florentine, a culinary masterpiece that includes Italian sausage, mushrooms, spinach, fresh tomatoes and Romano cheese over pasta.
Other popular lunch items include fettuccini Alfredo, chicken parmigiana and (for vegetarians) spinach and cheese ravioli. You can get spaghetti pretty much any way you want – with tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, rice meat sauce, clam sauce, etc.
The dinner menu is a slightly different affair, with items such as lasagna, chicken Marsala, meatloaf, eggplant Parmigiana and salmon Tuscany.
For those who have trouble coming to a decision, the restaurant offers platters like potpourri (spaghetti with different sauces and toppings), half and half (ravioli and spaghetti with different sauces), the premier (lasagna and chicken) and the meat lovers treat.
Mud pie, caramel turtle pie, New York-style strawberry cheesecake and the new chocolate mousse cake are some of the dessert features.
Most entrees at the Old Spaghetti factory range between $7 and $12, and this is a bargain when you consider that the price includes salad or soup, bread items and ice cream.
When you develop a craving for Italian but don’t want fast food or to pay high prices for premium traditional cuisine, then The Old Spaghetti Factory is your best bet.
