Detour: An American Grille

I’ve been here 4 times, it got a little worse each time I visited. I was given somekind of rewards card, thet never worked and each time I came back, they had no records of the last visit. The manager came to the table each time to re-​explain the concept layout, and I am fine with that. Loved the drink machine, anytime you can realy confuse me with drink options, I’m good. I’ve tried the flatbread pizza’s and a couple burgers, they are ok, but like I said, not so good last visit.

There is normally a pretty solid craft beer list which is nice. Service has always been good, but not great. You can normally get a table pretty quickly. The menu has a lot of good bar food options. Their nachos are huge, make sure there are at least three or four people if you want to tackle that mountain of chips and cheese.
I have tried their tripple bipass sandwich. This is their eating challenge. Its a 30 inch hoagie with three lbs of Italian beef and provolone. It comes with a side of 2 lbs of waffle fries and plenty of au jus for dipping. Great sandwich but the beast was too big for me, I didn’t get it done.‘
Good bar, good enough food, but nothing to write home about.

Having never ventured up north to Carmel when in Indy, one of the locals in the unit suggested we hang out up there and avoid the downtown due to the Big 10 championship game. A good call considering the game.
Inside, it’s nothing ostentatious — it’s a big bar with tables on the fringe. Patrons tend to keep to themselves, largely absorbed by whatever screen they’re staring at. I didn’t have the food (no room after eating a Big Ugly across the street), but did have drinks, which were reasonably priced.
Service was a tad slow — I wasn’t sure if they were understaffed or if it’s just the low-​key nature of the place. But a bar is a bar and it served its purpose of serving me an adult beverage.

Location, location, location! That is the prime reason Detour is a nice place to chill. Right on Main and overlooking the Monon. We have been in the summer and it is great to watch the kids run around and dogs walk past.
Food wise, we haven’t been wowed. Flat bread pizza app was lacking and the nachos we had late one night were just really lousy in the sense that the toppings were very disproportionate. But they were HUGE considering we split between four people and still had leftovers.
We love the drink specials. They have trivia nights. The staff is always friendly but kinda slow. Just need to keep trying new things on the menu I guess.

Pros:
–Location. You can’t beat being right off the Monon and Main Street across from Bub’s.
–Giant Pile of Nachos. It’s hard for 4 people to finish this this monstrosity.
–Larger Beer Selection.
–Outdoor Patio
Cons:
–The service is seriously mediocre. It’s hard to wave down a waiter even if you set off an emergency flare.
–I have never had a decent entrée there. Nothing tastes or looks good.
–Always busy and crowded.
You need to be a pretty spectacular place to get me out of my kitchen and off my couch. I can make a giant pile of nachos, go for a beer run, and watch the game in my living room. That way, I’d save a lot of money, time, and everything would taste better.

Seems like a high turnover at the bar. Service is slow and bartenders are unengaged. Come here often but it’s loosing my confidence as well as many. Here for Colts 835 away game and NOTHING specific here to the Colts. Too bad. Could own the sports bar arena in Carmel. It’s been 20 min with 3 bartenders, it’s slow and no one asked me what I want to eat with my menu closed in front of me… come on, it’s not that hard!

We started out going to Bubb’s Burgers, but the line was crazy long. I like a «Big Ugly» as much as the next guy, but there’s not a chance in hell that I’m waiting in line for an hour to get one. Soooo, what to do?
My cousin recommended we give Detour a shot (he’s always been the smartest of all the cousins). The name seemed appropriate since we were having to change our course of action due to Bubb’s popularity. Well, there was no line and the place looked like fun. In we went and were seated with menus before we knew it.
The service was good, the food was fine, and best of all, we got to spend time visiting with my cousin and his family before we left town. All was right with the world.
While I love Bubb’s, my days of waiting in line there are over. If anyone from Detour actually reads this review, I strongly recommend they find themselves a gimmick like Bubb’s did. Maybe they can start stealing more folks away from Bubb’s.

Thankfully our server was pleasant otherwise they would have received 1 star. Buffalo wrap should have been offered as a salad. Very little chicken and was very sloppy!
Sorry, gang but I’ve had better!

They have Upland Wheat on tap…
They allow dogs in the outdoor seating…
They have nachos…
What more in life do you really need?

My wife and I met two other couples there for dinner and to play trivia two nights ago (8÷7÷13) We only ordered one food item: the chicken nachos. It was litteraly 12 to 15 inches high and enough for four to six people. It was ok, but not great. The cheese was wattery and it didnt have sour cream included. Right from the start, we noticed our waiter was not the zippiest. It took him a while to bring our drinks and then a while to come back. They were no where near packed so that shouldn’t have been an issue. After we finished eating and were left playing trivia, he must have thought he was done with us. There was at least a 30 minute window where he didnt come back at all. All the glasses and bottles on our table were empty.
The location is great and the décor is nice, but overall, it was just a so-​so experience.

It always mystifies me when restaurant owners receive free feedback in the form of social media, yet do nothing to resolve the completely legitimate complaints.
We experienced everything that everyone else has detailed here. No hostess. Waitress who came to the table 4 times total. Okay to blah food. Good tv’s. High drink prices.
I would not refuse to come back, but I would not come back on my own. Too many other places to try.

Man, do I want to be able to support this place. I want to say our experience was amazing. That it lives up to its great location and wonderful décor.
But I can’t. Because our service was slow. And our food was bad. It was just… bad. For my $ 11 lunch special of a half salad and grilled cheese sandwich tasted crappy. The salad dressing was gross, and I have never turned up my nose at a salad dressing in my life. The grilled cheese was literally a couple pieces of cheddar on white bread — so boring. So overpriced. So BLEH.
I plan on trying this place for drinks on the patio this summer and hope to walk away impressed. Because it has to do something well, right? (Actually, the only person in my group who ordered a burger loved his food. So apparently they do burgers well. Good for them.)

My friends and I came here to watch the IU game a few weeks back, while it was busy, I did not think it was busy enough to affect service the way it did. We walked and were greeted by… no one. There was no one at the hostess stand, and when no one came to seat/​greet us after a few minutes, we wandered around to the bar area. We found a waitress and asked her if it was open seating, and turns out, no you had to be seated by the hostess. She graciously showed us to a table. Soon after a couple of guys were seated next to us. Both of us waited in our section for 10 minutes for a waiter. Finally, we got some service and ordered our drinks. When we finally got our food order in after another long wait, and our food arrived, we were not disappointed. We split the fish tacos and the bypass wrap. We got waffles fries and a side of the «Messy» mac n cheese, which was the clear stand out of the night. If you go here, I would highly recommend you putting that deliciousness in your mouth.
Anyhow, we waited another long wait to get our drinks, and finally one of the girls just went to the bar and got our second round. Another friend joined us, and again, we waited and waited to put her food order in.
Our experience was «bad» but could have been made a hundred times enjoyable by not having to worry and watch for the next waiter/​watiress to pass by to find ours, and get another round, etc.
The food was definitely good, and that is what would make me come back again.

I can see both sides of the review scale… similar to any sports bar that you go to though decent to mediocre service fun family/​sports atmosphere are server took good care of us and the food was decent! All in all a great addition to the Carmel community that isn’t quite Buffalo Wild Wings nor Applebee’s…I appreciate it as it is something different more similar to Scotty’s than anything else.
Where there could be improvements in some of the service and food quality. I would say this is a sure winner for Carmel and I would go here over any national chain any day!
Thank you Detour for your wonderful addition to mainstreet Carmel! You help to make downtown Carmel a fun place to hang out!

I’ve heard so many good things about this place so I had to try it for myself. The rock shrimp was good. They copied the recipe from their sister restaurant which is Sansu. Everything else that we ordered was just ok. The buffalo chicken wings is just ok as well as their signature Detour burger. It was served on a hot plate with waffle fries. The burger was just ok as well. They don’t have enough selection of desserts.
Overall, detour is a good place to go for drinks and maybe some nachos. Atmosphere is lively and very much of a sports bar.

I had an internship in the Arts and Design District a couple of summers ago … and during this time they were in the process of adding new buildings and restaurants. Detour was one of the «buildings in progress.» Now, it’s open and alive. Many of the shops and restaurants along Main St. and Rangeline are low key and quaint. It’s nice that they’ve added a place for game watching, relaxing with your buds and beer chugging (or drinking. depending on your pace.)
I was walking through the District last night around 8:30 and although most of the businesses were shut down for the day, Detour was still thriving and filled with a happy crowd. I love that there are places to go besides downtown that I can truly enjoy.

After reading some of the other reviews of Detour, I had pretty low expectations, but I was pleasantly surprised when I visited for lunch yesterday. Our waitress of was nice and attentive and the food was really good. I had the Bypass Sandwich (italian beef with peppers) and it was excellent. The waffle fries were also pretty good with a nice seasoning on them. My wife had the burger with onion rings and really liked it. The portions here are pretty big, so if you don’t eat a huge amount, you might want to consider splitting a sandwich.
Although we did not partake, they have a pretty lengthy list of beers on tap and the bar area is huge. Given the fact that it was 100 degrees yesterday, they had the wall of garage doors, which lead from the bar to the outdoor patio, closed. On a cool and sunny day, this would be a great place to hang out.
The only criticism I have is the prices for the sandwiches seem a bit high. $ 12.00 for a sandwich, in Indy, is a bit steep. I would rather seem them reduce the oversized portions and reduce the price.
I would recommend giving them a try.

The name of the game at Detour is big portions. The Under Construction nachos is probably the largest that I have ever seen. It’s not the best nachos I have ever had but if you are hungry it will work. I ordered the Bypass Wrap which is a wrap version of their «signature» Bypass Italian Beef sandwich. To my disappointment I couldn’t (or didn’t want to) finish it. It’s not too often that I doggie bag food home. That’s how big the portions were. On the other hand the prices tend to be more expensive. Most of the wraps/​sandwiches I can get somewhere else for a few bucks cheaper.
Atmosphere wise it’s your standard sports bar w/​outdoor seating right by the Monon. It gets packed on the weekends w/​live music so good luck finding a seat or getting a drink. Having said that I think the Carmel Arts & Design District can use a place like Detour. It’s probably more fun than the other bars on Main St.

I love downtown Carmel, except for the parking situation, which is a whole other issue. That being said, somehow this placed has been overlooked by me on several occasions, but a girlfriend (hi, Yuki!) recommended it for a girls’ night last Monday and it was great! First, we got to sit outside and without a reservation (they don’t take them), they were more than able to accommodate our group of 11 girls. :) Score one!
Service was above average for a sports bar/​grill. It really was wonderful, fast and friendly! Our server was also super accommodating to me and my two week old who took up a LOT of space at the table with our stroller and all the oogling and awwing! She was so sweet to us and made us feel super welcome! Very impressed.
They were more than happy to also split the checks (servers make more money this way — I don’t know why it’s an issue at some restaurants). Annnnnnyway, all was great in that arena. Score two and three for Detour!
The food was great! I ordered a BLT and had the chips with guac on the side and it was fresh, hot and delicious. I would get it again. The pickle chips were also a nice treat (there were a couple of PG chicks with us who ordered a second round!).
I really enjoyed my experience. We have decided to go back for Trivia Night in the coming weeks (they have something every night). I think this is definitely great for fun nights out with friends, family dinners or a date night with a fun girl/​guy.
Walking distance to lots of other great downtown Carmel features as well to make a nice «night of it».

Ok, update time! This place has really gotten their act together since the last time I was there! Went for lunch with the hubs on a Saturday at noon. Got seated right away, and were greeted immediately by our adorable server. Everything I took points off for last time was completely fixed this time. Silverware was laid out on our table when we got there, food came out fast and hot, and she even asked me if we needed mayo or mustard when our food came out! (Did they know I was the one who wrote that other review??? Who cares, I loved it!)
Of course I had to get another lemon shakeup drink, and it was even better than I remembered it. It even had a sugar rim! Fun! The food we had this time was also great. I had the «you’re my boy blue» burger, which was delish, and my hubby had the buffalo chicken wrap, which he liked a lot. But I’ve gotta say, the star of the meal is the FRIES! OMG their fries are amazing. I will not, not, not eat soggy smushy fries, and I can’t stand those big fat steak fries. Their fries here are the perfect amount of crispy golden deliciousness. I could make an entire meal out of just the fries.
Bravo, Detour, on rocking my world this time!